Hamartiogonic

joined 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (9 children)

I don’t really use the Fahrenheit scale for anything, but when I bump into it, I prefer to think of those values as: 0°F is a cold winter and 100°F is a hot summer weather. Makes sense for the human experience, which makes it a very practical unit. The original definition was more technical than that, but it was also severely limited by the technology at the time, so it had some flaws.

You also have to look at these units in the proper historical context. Measurements were a complete mess, so having at least something that sort of makes some sense and is somewhat repeatable, is a clear improvement. Both, Fahrenheit and Celcius scales totally addressed those concerns, and that makes them both good enough. Absolute zero and plank temperature weren’t even known back then, so what can you expect.

When it comes to using these units in serious scientific and engineering applications, you run into problems, but the kelvin scale addresses those pretty well. It’s not exactly elegant, but at least it’s functional. Because of historical baggage, we’re pretty much stuck with these units, but it could be worse.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (22 children)

Yeah, well that’s a cultural thing really. Celcius and fahrenheit scales are both quite arbitrary. The kelvin scale uses absolute zero, which totally makes sense, but the other fixed point is pretty arbitrary when you think of it. The fahrenheit scale makes sense for the human experience of weather, while the celcius scale makes sense for generally life on Earth where water plays an important role. Neither of them are particularly universal, and they both suck in their unique ways.

see also: natural units

(Edit)

Life Pro Tip: If you take the piss out of two units at the same time, you can make everyone equally angry.

[–] [email protected] 66 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

LOL, the original Celsius scale really is 10/0 cursed.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

It was the same thing with IE back in ancient times. A popular browser violates web standards so many sites were designed with that rogue browser in mind. If you use a browser that actually follows the standards, some sites just won’t work properly for you.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 weeks ago

Welcome to the unexpected factorial commuity.

[email protected]

unexpectedfactorial

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

But there’s water all around it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

True, but since size wasn’t explicitly mentioned as a condition, it should be fine.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (5 children)

What about Australia? It’s sort of dangling from Papua New Guinea, isn’t it?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Time to make a new text expansion: “ “=“, ” This way, every time you hit space, you also get a comma.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

Clearly illustrates the role of politics and economy. If you want to change things, you should make sure laws and regulations facilitate it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

And that’s why you always ask for a full glass instead.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Was it Randall or someone else who mentioned in a speech that infinite patience could be a superpower? Like, when you arrive at the store just when it closes, you would just stand there outside the locked door until it opens again. Anyway, this comic connects beautifully with that idea.

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