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From: Evenbit on 28 Feb 2005 12:23 Herbert Kleebauer wrote: [snip]> > Where do you live that you can take a picture at 20:42:35 > without a flash and with a exposure time of 1/1000 sec? > [snip] > Model - Digimax101 [snip] > DateTime - 2005:02:14 20:42:35 The Digimax is a bargan-basement el cheapo that doesn't keep the correct date/time info. I snapped those two pics yesterday (2005:02:27) at roughly 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon (and obviously forgot to reset the clock first). Nathan.
From: Evenbit on 28 Feb 2005 12:45 PC> Pah, some of us are happy at (checks thermometer) -8 C. EB> Converting that for us civilized folk who use meaningful measurements, I get +17.6 F -- that's not too bad...let me know when it gets to about -23 C. Nathan.
From: Evenbit on 28 Feb 2005 12:50 wolfpack cried> The wheather announcement said something about -20°C EB> About -4 F, yeah, that would turn one's balls blue. ;-) Nathan.
From: Evenbit on 28 Feb 2005 13:30 HK> Where do you live... EB> A mid-Atlantic state that goes by the motto "Almost Heaven" and came into existence as the result of a war. Nathan.
From: Beth on 28 Feb 2005 20:04
> PC> > Pah, some of us are happy at (checks thermometer) -8 C. > > EB> > Converting that for us civilized folk who use meaningful measurements, > I get +17.6 F -- that's not too bad...let me know when it gets to about > -23 C. Fahrenheit "meaningful"? I think you've confused the two... Celsius (or "centigrade") is based on making the freezing point of water zero degrees and boiling point 100 degrees (at sea-level, at normal atmospheric pressure ;)... Fahrenheit is completely arbitrary and is unrelated in value to anything "meaningful"... But, of course, the _REAL_ way to measure temperature is in Kelvin...based on "absolute zero" - the lowest temperature that can possibly be - but, otherwise, is completely "compatible" with Celsius (literally, add 272 to "convert" from Kelvin to Celsius :)...always a positive too ("absolute zero" is technically unachievable because tiny "fluctuations" at the atomic level keep it from ever being _exactly_ "absolute zero" :)... Mind you, you could argue that you can just use Rankine instead (same kind of thing as "Kelvin": Base it at "absolute zero" but the degrees are "Fahrenheit sized" rather than "Celsius sized" ;)... The point with Celsius is that it _IS_ "meaningful", where Fahrenheit isn't...when the weathergirl points to a blue circle with a big "zero" in it (or minus figures) then this has a _significance_...water - rain, puddles, lakes, etc. - freezes at zero...hence, if the temperature is in minus figures and it rains...well, it doesn't rain and that's the point: It _snows_ (taking in account "wind chill" and other factors, of course)...if you've left water in a bucket or something outside, then it'll be starting to freeze over...this tells people something to see the minus sign that's _meaningful_ and _practical_...if you have some "paddling pool" with water in the garden then seeing "-8 C" on the weather forecast is a warning that it could freeze...a nice simple "test" anyone can do: "<=0" (as it usually requires being just slightly below zero, then, yes, a "just look for a minus sign" test is your very simple visual "warning" of preparing for bad weather...it also allows terms like "minus figures" to be used in conversation: "I heard the weather will be going into minus figures tonight"...this has _meaning_ in suggesting things will _freeze_ (and that it may _snow_ :) and allows you to make this point without actually having to really specifically know which "minus figure" in particular you're talking about...it doesn't quite work the other way around, though, does it? "It's going to be less than 32 tonight!"...huh?!? ;)... Also, 100 degrees is boiling point...this is also _meaningful_ and _useful_... Okay, let's make a "test" to demonstrate this...setting a thermostat, I heat up some water in a water heater and fill up a bath to a specific temperature...would it really be "safe" to get into the water? Right, it's set to "180 Fahrenheit"...without looking that up, would it be "safe" just to dive head first into this bath water at that temperature? Okay, you might personally know where "boiling point" is on the Fahrenheit scale to be able to roughly "judge" that temperature...but how many people - even those who _only_ know Fahrenheit - would pass this simple little "test"? On the other hand, if I take some "Celsius" people and tell them that this same bath is "82.2 degrees Celsius" (when part of the definition of Celsius is that the boiling point of water is 100 degrees...and, if they've ever used a washing machine, then you typically set the water to around 90 degrees for a high temperature "whites" wash cycle, also sometimes considered to be "boiling the wash" in a colloquial sense :)...then I think it'd be a really hard sell indeed to try to get them to jump into that water happily... So, as we can see: _MEANINGFUL_...it helps you easily judge when bad weather and problems with things "icing up" in the garden will likely happen (when you might also expect snow and such :) and also to judge when things AREN'T too safe at the other end...these two points conveniently placed at easy to remember numbers: zero = freezing, 100 = boiling...even "ordinary folk" can appreciate "freezing water" and "boiling water" (indeed, might have spilt some while making tea or coffee to directly know just how hot 100 degrees is...ice cubes giving a personal experience of roughly where zero lies too)...and they are put at easy-to-remember values, so people's _JUDGEMENT_ of temperature really is _IMPROVED_ by using Celsius... And before you think "bloody Europeans!", Britain was NOT invaded by Napolean...that "foot" in "feet and inches" was the length of one of _our_ King's feet (and we still use "feet and inches" for heights and things)..."miles" and "miles per hour" are ours too (the word "milestone" in the English language, for example, is a _literal_ stone with the names of places and their mileages that you can _still_ see dotted around Britain :)...we not only use all the non-metric measurements too, in many cases, we _invented_ them...in fact, did you know that Britain only went "decimal" with money ("100 pence in a pound") in the '70s? Only fairly recently did the "duality" of showing _BOTH_ Fahrenheit and Celsius on the weather stop...Britain is strangely "in the middle" on this issue and, if you like, "bilingual" with both systems of measurement (indeed, it's rather odd sometimes when you ask someone's height and they, of course, reply in the traditional "feet and inches"...all the signs have "miles" and the speed limits are in "miles per hour"...but then you go to the shop and ask for a "kilo" of something and a "litre" of something else (well, we have at least put our "mark" on metric that way: it's "metre" and "litre" to us, "meter" and "liter" to everyone else...well, it's English tradition not to spell things correctly, yes? :))... I make these points simply because Celsius really is _better_ as a scale (okay, getting used to it is another thing but, once you do, it's much more useful generally :)...not any "nationalism" about it...because, well, as you know, all the "non-metric" units are typically called "English" measurements, yes? Actually, it's all rather "deeply ironic": The "scale" with the clearly Germanic, European name - "Fahrenheit" - is used in America, where they use "English" measurement that, ummm, England itself doesn't much use anymore...and, in England, the system of measurement is often called "imperial" - because we exported it to our "colonies" when we had the Empire (so, "imperial" as in "this is the measurement used in most of our empire"...hey, at least we _acknowledged_ that it isn't only "English"...when, ummm, you'd think it would be the arrogant "empire" that forgets to acknowledge that it's also used in Australia, for example, not the ex-colony that fought so hard to get away from us English! ;) - yet the country that fought for "Independence" is more _FAITHFUL_ to wanting to maintain a measurement system based in one instance, for example, on the length of a previous British Monarch's _foot_ (hence, the name :) than the originating country which still has that monarchy in place...so, strangely, you seem to find our Monarchs more "sacred" than we do... It's just all the wrong way around!! Aarrgh! ;) Beth :) |