Felsius - The Obvious Solution to an Age Old Problem

Cultural@19. True that. I toss great humor at Chinese seminar audiences and they just sit there.

 

Only sensible way to measure temperature is by reference to absolute zero. But regardless of 'grain size' it is just so clunky that humans won't sign on. Without that one has negative temperatures which are just whacked physics.

A Botany prof. once went to great lengths to convince me that negative pressures exist inside plants. He was both distracted and displeased by my giggling.

 

My presentation on getting Australian Foreign Investment Review Board approval for investments in Australia by Chinese State-owned enterprises always gets a laugh.

 

I know I shouldn't, but I get very annoyed when people say "Ooooh, it's twice as hot as it was last week". No it isn't.

 

You have my permission to be annoyed.

Even something as simple as 'twice' is such an important concept. People ought not poop there.

 

All this and Scottish Man of Letters William Rankine has yet to be feted

 

Of course it took the Scots to develop a good way of measuring really cold temperatures.

 

If this list hanna the Smoot I cunna recommend it:
List of humorous units of measurement - Wikipedia

 

Suppose some day I could contribute some ScanGauge XGAUGEs to read various temperatures in Felsius. Unless somebody beats me to it....

-Chap

 

Too much knowledge can dilute humour, it seems.

 

This makes me think about the "skill" of doing simple mathematics in one's mind. I've always taken up this task in stride - looking at it as a form of translation from one language to another. Of course this was reinforced during my education and subsequent career as an engineer.

Unfortunately, I run across a majority of people who look at any type of arithmetic as something to not even bother themselves with. Most people seem perfectly happy to exclude themselves from any critical thought where numerical navigation is required. I think this is sad.

 

Actually?
I find an infinite universe to be rather comforting.

The potter's hand......

 

I've got a hard time groking what causes the seasons. The whole universe, oy vey.

 

That's easy.

You know how a fan cools you down? Well, it is the wind that causes the weather to get cold in winter.

The wind is caused by the trees, which sway, fanning the wind along. You will have noticed that whenever it is windy, the trees sway. There is a cause-and-effect thing here.

In summer, the extra weight of leaves on the trees mean they can't sway as efficiently. In winter, the bare trees can blow the air around really well, so it gets windy, and that's why it gets cold.

Don't be embarrassed, though. A lot of people don't know this.

 

With your kind forbearance I'll mention a second-order thing about math. With computers being more comfortably being interfaced to humans, it is common to 'do' analysis of variance, least-squares regression, and many other things. By just preparing data columns and pressing the 'do' button.

It is a convenience and in some cases (like Fourier transforms) there is really no alternative. However, knowing what machinations are appropriate for what data collected in what way can be subtle. Actually doing steps and keeping track of results puts one much closer to issues of applicability.

Certainly readers are rolling their eyes back now and I hope you precede those with stretching exercises so ya don't hurt yourself.

But the thing is, not only is math hard (in a way) not all maths are appropriate at all times. Those concepts are neatly tied together by the term rigor. Spelled rigour in some remote outposts. Which might be preferable as there is a 'u' (you) in it.

There is a you in it.

 

i used to do this on tests, but teachers insisted i show my work. can you take a mental picture?

 

Partial credit, at least.

 

I was lurking on the internet today and found the Debye, a Non SI unit still used by Scientists

Debye - Wikipedia

There appears to be no legal SI unit available.