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+--- Thread: What's this white, powdery stuff? (/showthread.php?tid=1612)
What's this white, powdery stuff? - A Black Falcon - 19th February 2004
As I said, silly Southerners! 50 is long sleeve shirt weather at most. A cool summer day well might hit the mid 50s... 40? Light coat probably, if you have one. Maybe a winter coat, but it's on the edge...
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Great Rumbler - 19th February 2004
A Black Falcon Wrote:As I said, silly Southerners! 50 is long sleeve shirt weather at most. A cool summer day well might hit the mid 50s... 40? Light coat probably, if you have one. Maybe a winter coat, but it's on the edge...
You crazy Notherners.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - A Black Falcon - 19th February 2004
50 degrees and you wear a COAT? You'd be wearing one 9 months of the year around here... :)
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Great Rumbler - 19th February 2004
And that's why I don't live up there.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Weltall - 19th February 2004
A Black Falcon Wrote:As I said, silly Southerners! 50 is long sleeve shirt weather at most. A cool summer day well might hit the mid 50s... 40? Light coat probably, if you have one. Maybe a winter coat, but it's on the edge...
So much for ever SWIMMING.
Unless you like pneumonia.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - A Black Falcon - 20th February 2004
I don't swim in the ocean in Maine. The water is way too cold. :)
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Weltall - 20th February 2004
I know. I probably said so before but I spent my 14th birthday in southern Maine in the middle of July and it was in the damn 40s. I mean, what the hell is up with that?
On a much brighter note, it was a fantastic 60 degrees today.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - OB1 - 20th February 2004
Man... I'd hate to live in Maine. And can you imagine living there and not liking its only perk-- seafood??
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Great Rumbler - 20th February 2004
Quote:On a much brighter note, it was a fantastic 60 degrees today.
That's about how warm it was here.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Weltall - 20th February 2004
OB1 Wrote:Man... I'd hate to live in Maine. And can you imagine living there and not liking its only perk-- seafood??
The ONLY reason we went there that time was for lobster, and I hate lobster. I was perfectly fine with not going any farther north than Massachusetts, because Bar Harbor's water seemed like 50 degrees warmer than Maine's.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Fittisize - 20th February 2004
-9 today. :) I didn't wear a coat to school, it was so warm.
Weltall, you wouldn't last one year living in Canada. You sissy.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Weltall - 20th February 2004
No, I most certainly wouldn't. But then again, you wouldn't last through three months of a good, steaming Virginia summer either, with air so hot and so thickly-wet that you can barely breathe it.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Great Rumbler - 20th February 2004
Quote:No, I most certainly wouldn't. But then again, you wouldn't last through three months of a good, steaming Virginia summer either, with air so hot and so thickly-wet that you can barely breathe it.
I know what you mean.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - A Black Falcon - 20th February 2004
It was pretty warm today... must have gotten above freezing for sure because snow melted and I didn't need to zip my coat...
Oh, and the ocean water is in the 50s usually in summer... maybe 60s if you're lucky, but usually not. 40s is possible though if it was cool. :)
Oh, and Acadia National Park (Bar Harbor...) is nice. Cadillac Mountain has the first daylight in the country I think, because of its height...
And as I've said before I happen to consider Maine's weather one of its strong points, not one of its weak points. And the weather in the South is a major negative of that part of the country. :)
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Great Rumbler - 20th February 2004
Quote:And the weather in the South is a major negative of that part of the country.
Not having insanely cold winters is not a negative point.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - A Black Falcon - 20th February 2004
Yes it is. I like winter, and think cold weather is just fine. And the insanely hot summers in the south... that would be awful...
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Fittisize - 20th February 2004
Hmm, I don't know which I'd rather prefer: insanely cold, or insanely hot. I'm used to the insane cold (and this year, it has just been INSANE. Four days in a row where it was minus 40....that's both celsius and farenheit), or insane hieat. I was in BC for a hockey camp last summer...three days in a row where it was above 40 degrees celsius (bah, Farenheit is a dumb way to measure temperature) and I got through that...I didn't bitch at all, anyways. :)
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Weltall - 20th February 2004
You know why we'll never change to Celsius? Because when you say it was in the 40s and how hot it was, it just sounds really wrong. I know Celsius is more practical, being based on water, but Farenheit seems more intuitive to me.
That aside, 40 celsius is about 105, which is pretty hot. However, if it's dry heat, it's not that bad. I love 80, 90 degree weather when the air is dry. However, in my corner of the world, it is extraordinarily humid, and that makes anything above 80 uncomfortable, anything above 90 bad, and anything above 100 murderous. If you never felt it, you just can't know. You know how wind chill makes the cold worse? Humidity makes the hot worse. And consider that we go through a good three to four months of that. And, if it rains, it's relief then, but once the sun hits the rain water, you almost literally cannot breathe the air from the humidity... it's so thick it makes your head swim.
Now, for much of my life, when I was fat, I agreed with ABF: I loved winter and hated summer. The cold could never penetrate my fat, but the heat absolutely destroyed me. Now that I'm normal-sized though, the cold gets right into my bones by way of my hands and it's awful, but the heat doesn't bother me a bit now. I went to Florida in the dead of July, which is stickier and hotter even than Richmond by quite a bit, and I felt just fine.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Fittisize - 20th February 2004
Bah, saying that 15 degrees is cold just sounds wrong.
To me, anyways. :(
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Weltall - 20th February 2004
Metric isn't as poetic, either. Could you imagine The Who singing "I can see for kilometers and kilometers, I can see for Kilometers and kilometers"?
Oh yes, it's been bothering me for days now, so forgive me, but I have to do this.
Quote: What's this white, powdery stuff?
COCAINE! ROFL.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Fittisize - 20th February 2004
Quote:Metric isn't as poetic, either. Could you imagine The Who singing "I can see for kilometers and kilometers, I can see for Kilometers and kilometers"?Around here we call 'em 'clicks'. :) Not as poetic? Phhhh. 'meter' just rolls right of the tongue, and then you have the harsh sounding 'foot'.
btw, how many feet are in a mile?? I'm just curious.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Dark Jaguar - 20th February 2004
I gotta agree with ABF, I can't stand the heat. Can't really stand freezing temps either, but the difference is I can actually change my own temp for winter easily enough (even if I have to do it every single time I go out, well unless it's Oklahoma like it is, meaning that sometimes you can easily go outside in shorts and be perfectly comfortable in the middle of January, but later that day the temp will drop down really fast and it'll snow). I also like snow, but summer doesn't have any sort of thing like that does it? Sun flakes, gotta invent those... Sure, it'll probably kill us all, but in the mean time, golden sunmen!
Is it true people in england use "stone" as a measurement of weight? That's nuts! I heard someone say something on TV like "and it weighed about 2 and a half stones" and I was all like "what on Earth? How do you even decide what stone to use?".
Metric is just better if you ask me, all around. Personally I'd go with Kelvin if I had the choice. Nice to have something like the absolute lack of any heat energy at all to determine 0. Eh, but the main advantage is still the ease of conversion. I hate the whole concept of learning all those ridiculous and arbitrary numbers. Plus, you either have to learn a whole slew of conversion formulas or do multiple conversions from feet to miles to blah blah blah just to get what you want, rather than just a single conversion using a very simple formula. Honestly, America is the only country that seems to have a big problem with metric. We're behind, and we need to accept it. The rest of the world is almost completely metric, and they just ablige us because of how big a market we present to them. Really, what's holding us back? Is it the same thing preventing any REAL school reforms? Money won't be enough for sure, because I've seen what happens when a school gets more money. They buy TVs for every single classroom so that the announcements can be seen as well as heard, and they don't have to wheel in a TV from the media lab to watch the occasional movie (watching those movies was still just as rare afterwards) and meanwhile, the books are still outdated and the computer classes still just have programs for improving typing speed.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Weltall - 21st February 2004
Fittisize Wrote:Around here we call 'em 'clicks'. :) Not as poetic? Phhhh. 'meter' just rolls right of the tongue, and then you have the harsh sounding 'foot'.
btw, how many feet are in a mile?? I'm just curious.
5280.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Great Rumbler - 21st February 2004
We'll never accept metric!! NEVER!!!
Quote:COCAINE! ROFL.
No don't eat it it's anthrax!!!
Quote:I like winter, and think cold weather is just fine. And the insanely hot summers in the south... that would be awful...
Well I absolute hate anything even marginally cold, so for me it's a negative.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Fittisize - 21st February 2004
Quote:5280.See, that's much too complicated to figure out how many feet are in long distances. How many feet in 27 miles? I could figure it out, but I'd first have to grab a calulator and do a calculation...and by that time too much time will have passed.
See, in 27 km, there is 2,700 meters. Much easier to convert.
And yet another reason why the metric system kicks ass. :p
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Weltall - 21st February 2004
Fittisize Wrote:See, that's much too complicated to figure out how many feet are in long distances. How many feet in 27 miles? I could figure it out, but I'd first have to grab a calulator and do a calculation...and by that time too much time will have passed.
See, in 27 km, there is 2,700 meters. Much easier to convert.
And yet another reason why the metric system kicks ass. :p
But who the hell ever needs to know how many feet are in a mile, anyway?
If you grow up with it all your life, it's natural for you. And, there are many things in America that are metric, or at least dual. For instance, many dry measurements are done in grams, almost all cars display KMH, and there is, of course, the ubiquitous 2-Liter bottle.
And as The Onion once said, metric is very well-known in the inner cities. Anyone there knows that gun bores are measured in millimeters, cocaine is measured in grams, and heroin is measured in cubic centimeters.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - A Black Falcon - 21st February 2004
DJ: Yes, it is true that in England they have a unit called the "stone" they use to measure their weight by. It's a Standard unit (ie not metric) but they still use it... I forget how many pounds it is though.
Oh and Metric temperatures are just bizarre. I can't figure out what they are... I guess 30 is hot but that's so odd, 30 is ... well not cold but it's right around freezing (32). It was in the 30s in the last few days... as I've said, warmer than it had been for a while and some snow melted. But we got another inch today to make it better. :)
Anyway, Farenheight is better. More precice without going to decimals -- it's got almost twice as many numbers (180 vs 100 in Celcius)between freezing and boiling, after all!
And sure there are standard units you forget, like all the levels of liquid measure... um, I don't even remember what they are all called not to mention how many there are in each level... you remember the ones you use much, and forget the ones you don't. If you forget and need them you look them up. :D But 5280 feet in a mile is easy. And it's 1760 yards in a mile I think... 5280/3...
We will never change! ... well except for the things that have... but I don't see us changing all the way over. It's too ingrained and too many of us (like me! :)) don't want to get rid of it.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Great Rumbler - 21st February 2004
Standard measurements are already too ingrained in us for us to change over to something else, even if we started using metric we'd still think of things in standard and then convert the measurements over. Besides, like ABF said we don't want to use metric! It's un-American!
What's this white, powdery stuff? - A Black Falcon - 21st February 2004
England was forced to switch by law -- it's illegal to sell things by Standard and having Standard scales in a store is illegal and if they find them they can be confiscated...
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Weltall - 21st February 2004
A Black Falcon Wrote:DJ: Yes, it is true that in England they have a unit called the "stone" they use to measure their weight by. It's a Standard unit (ie not metric) but they still use it... I forget how many pounds it is though.
Oh and Metric temperatures are just bizarre. I can't figure out what they are... I guess 30 is hot but that's so odd, 30 is ... well not cold but it's right around freezing (32). It was in the 30s in the last few days... as I've said, warmer than it had been for a while and some snow melted. But we got another inch today to make it better. :)
Anyway, Farenheight is better. More precice without going to decimals -- it's got almost twice as many numbers (180 vs 100 in Celcius)between freezing and boiling, after all!
And sure there are standard units you forget, like all the levels of liquid measure... um, I don't even remember what they are all called not to mention how many there are in each level... you remember the ones you use much, and forget the ones you don't. If you forget and need them you look them up. :D But 5280 feet in a mile is easy. And it's 1760 yards in a mile I think... 5280/3...
We will never change! ... well except for the things that have... but I don't see us changing all the way over. It's too ingrained and too many of us (like me! :)) don't want to get rid of it.
Plus, could you imagine the costs of switching? For simple starters, you would have to replace every road sign in America, and what with the world's most extensive highway system, that would literally be countless millions of signs that would have to be replaced.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - A Black Falcon - 21st February 2004
The sign and paint companies would love it... :D
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Weltall - 21st February 2004
Road signs are done with decals now. The paint companies would get shafted.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Fittisize - 21st February 2004
Hundreds of millions of signs to be replaced? Well, that's only like, what, $10 in extra taxes from each citizen? You could replace all the signs within a year.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Weltall - 21st February 2004
Okay. Now factor in the costs of the labor needed to replace them, and then the problems of highway stoppage. We're talking tens of billions of dollars just to replace a system that already works perfectly well.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Fittisize - 21st February 2004
Well, if your flawed system of criminal justice could work, you could just use your slaves to take down all the signs!
Yeesh, maybe if you guys DIDN'T go to war you could have afforded to get rid of all those crappy signs that don't have metric on them. But NOW look where you're at!
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Weltall - 21st February 2004
We wouldn't change to metric if we didn't go to war. Hell, we could completely cut government spending, stop all wars, erase all debts, enslave every criminal in America, dance the Charleston naked on a flagpole and shake the hand of Jesus Christ Himself, and we'd still never waste our time on a silly conversion.
Besides, kilometers (or even more stuffy, kilometres) sounds too European, and as we all know, Europeans are sissies.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - A Black Falcon - 22nd February 2004
Kilometres is the European spelling. Here Kilometers is right. :) And it was a European invention but now all but three countries in the world use it... it's us, Liberia, and the dictators in "Myanmar" (aka Burma)...
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Dark Jaguar - 22nd February 2004
Eh, it's not exactly like it needs to be done all at once. BAsically, just have a new ordinanec so that whenever a speed limit sign faded or was knocked down or stolen or something, it's replaced with a metric sign.
Odd story, yet amusing for some reason. One time, my mother and I were amazingly lost in some backwoods nowheres land. Pavement had long since left us behind and dirt roads were all that could be seen. At any rate, we came across a speed limit sign that not only had kilometers on it, but ONLY had kilometers on it. For the first time, to get to the speed limit, we actually would have to use that smaller kilometer scale on the spedometer, and it was in hicsville at that. Almost makes me wonder if hillbillies are actually geniuses PRETENDING to be morons... Maybe there's some cloaking device hiding some advanced civilization, with a barely understandable drawl...
Speed limits aren't the first thing on my mind when converting anyway. Just convert everything ELSE to metric, easy enough, scales support it, most foreign machines use metric units, and even various soda bottle use metric. Save the whole speed limit thing for last, and maybe it won't even be needed to convert. After all, no one even pays attention to speed limits any more :D. It'll be rather odd telling someone how far away a place is in kilometers and they are reading MPH, but who cares?
Besides, it's superior!
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Great Rumbler - 22nd February 2004
Standard is way cooler than Metric.
5280 Feet = 1 Mile
1000 Terameters = ????
See? What's a terameter mean anyway?! Who knows!
What's this white, powdery stuff? - A Black Falcon - 22nd February 2004
No, it's not. The cost would be immense. Absurdly large. And the public outcry if anyone tried it would be huge too... ever wonder why when we tried a few steps in the '70s it didn't go far? Yeah, because people don't want to use Metric... we are used to the units we've always used and couldn't just switch over to a whole different way of thinking (and if you think about it it would be, almost like having to suddenly spend the rest of your life speaking a foreign language...). And people teach their children the units. Yes we are using Metric more now, what with 2 liter bottles, Metric parts in lots of machinery and cars, teaching Metric in school science classes, etc... but I don't see us switching over all the way. Not anytime remotely soon, certainly. It is both unrealistic and would just be ... wrong ... :)
Sure Standard is more complex, and it's next to impossible to remember all of hte units, but as GR says that's part of the charm... as well as the fact that Imperial (British) Standard is/was actually a bit different in some units from US Standard... :D
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Fittisize - 22nd February 2004
Quote:we are used to the units we've always used and couldn't just switch over to a whole different way of thinking (and if you think about it it would be, almost like having to suddenly spend the rest of your life speaking a foreign language...)But we Canadians switched! All thanks to the greatest PM ever, Mr. Trudeau. So there is no reason why Americans shouldn't be able to switch to....
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Great Rumbler - 22nd February 2004
The things is we don't want to change, we like Standard.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Fittisize - 22nd February 2004
But you'll like metric! Trust me...just give it a shot. For only one year.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Dark Jaguar - 22nd February 2004
1,000 Terameters is 1 Petameter, duh. Further more, it's also 1,000,000 gigameters, which is 1,000,000,000 megameters, which is 1,000,000,000,000 kilometers. See? The conversions are EXACTLY like all other metric conversions. Also, data is measured metrically, the most basic unit of which is the bit or the byte. Byte is rather arbitrary, but bit is a fundamental unit that actually can't be divided further. You won't ever hear about a centibit.
You see, THAT'S why metric is so great. The conversions are just THAT easy. I didn't need to remember a thing except what name is higher or lower than the other and the fact that adding or taking away a few zeros did the job and boom, converted.
"Charm"? Ya know, I don't use measurement systems because they are charming ABF...
Sure it'll be weird, but it's gotta be done sometime. Why not now? Well, yeah, I know why not NOW. But, you know later, when our economy ISN'T in the toilet we should do it asap.
I say it HAS to be done sometime because it DOES have to be done sometime. PROGRESS will not wait for those who don't adapt, right ABF and your low resolution which SUCKS? And now I'll shout the word science. SCIENCE!
Oh yes, and I'm only suggesting changing public thought, which doesn't cost much, and leaving the road signs alone for the time being. That'll come later, after the next generation has been taught to use metric and say "why don't we get rid of those old road signs?". You see? It's BULLET PROOF!
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Weltall - 22nd February 2004
I dunno. Maybe people will like being weighed in Kilograms, since they're numerically smaller than pounds. They need to make that method of attack.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Fittisize - 23rd February 2004
Hmm....actually we mainly use pounds up here for weighing...people. Everything else is weighed in kg...mostly. But on your drivers license and stuff it has your weight as kilograms.
It's all weird, man!
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Weltall - 23rd February 2004
Fittisize Wrote:Hmm....actually we mainly use pounds up here for weighing...people. Everything else is weighed in kg...mostly. But on your drivers license and stuff it has your weight as kilograms.
It's all weird, man!
They list weight on your driver's licenses?
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Great Rumbler - 23rd February 2004
Standard is easy to convert.
12 inches = 1 foot
3 feet = 1 yard
5280 feet = 1 mile
3(4?) miles = 1 league
1000 miles = A long way
12 long ways = A really long ways
1000 really long ways = Like all the way to the moon
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Dark Jaguar - 23rd February 2004
Haha, of course! Why didn't I see it before? Good man GR...
Weight on a liscense? Yeah that is weird when you think about it, that CHANGES. What possible use could it have? Height is at least somewhat stationary by the time a person gets one anyway. Also, yes it IS very odd to still use pounds to weigh people but kilograms the rest of the time, and sometimes still to weigh people... I mean, what's the deal with that? Guess it's like containers using both gallons and liters here, basically just sticking with whatever unit that standard of container first came in. Metric for soda, standard for milk... Oookay...
An attack plan like "you weigh LESS kilograms than you do pounds!" would probably work Weltall! There are likely enough people dumb enough to fall for that line of thought (mainly because it's on TV, and TV has standards don't they? :D) and not enough people who will say "But kilograms are heavier than pounds so it's the same thing, the SAME THING!" to really make a difference, plus those people who point that out would be the same ones who would want everyone to go metric anyway so they'd keep quiet anyway :D.
What's this white, powdery stuff? - Dark Jaguar - 23rd February 2004
Oh yes, tempurature would be the hardest front to hit. Everyone likes farenheight, though I myself have no idea what 0 and 100 sit at. I only learned that for celsius, simple enough, 0 is freezing, 100 is boiling. Wow that threw me off as a kid hearing that things are "100 degrees in the shade" and thinking "I guess the body is pretty near boiling all the time, it's just a few degrees from burning I guess...". Heh, that's why I wouldn't mind so much going celsius, though the other half of me is the part that has become used to F, the only point I know of though is 70 degrees, which is "comfortable", and everything else is either "hot" or "cold".