NationStates

AiliAiliA wrote:Pedestrian crossing lights that show how many seconds remaining to cross the road before the lights will change.

OK, that's something that DOES make sense, OP was asking the opposite.

Well, any country that doesn't at least TRY to make its people use Metric. I can't understand that.

The metric system is overrated, for many reasons.
And also Celsius, which is even more overrated

Galloism wrote:

AiliAiliA wrote:
First adopted by Revolutionary France ... OK, that's close enough to "socialism" I guess

Ever notice every measurement has the same number of units?

10mm to a cm, 10cm to a decimeter, 10 decimeter to a meter, etc?

Compare that with the imperial system, which each type of measurement has earned its number of units. 12 inches to a foot. 3 feet to a yard. 5280 feet to a mile.

Your way eliminates our measurement differences and forces all the measurements to behave the same. It's socialism.

You call it socialism, I call it common sense

Auze wrote:

AiliAiliA wrote:Pedestrian crossing lights that show how many seconds remaining to cross the road before the lights will change.

OK, that's something that DOES make sense, OP was asking the opposite.

Well, any country that doesn't at least TRY to make its people use Metric. I can't understand that.

The metric system is overrated, for many reasons.
And also Celsius, which is even more overrated

Just gonna leave this here....

The Interstellar Federation wrote:Australians don't ride kangaroos to school.

(Yes, I had a friend that told me he had met some Americans who actually believed that we Aussies ride kangaroos to school.)

Australians prefer beef to kangaroo meat. The farmers shoot kangaroos and leave them to rot (if they can't sell them for pet meat) to protect the pasture for cattle and sheep.

Well sheep are bloody useless, the only sheep farmers making money are keeping sheep indoors (for the finer wool: when sheep get cold they grow thicker wool, but thick wool isn't what buyers want. Ultrafine wool is the internationally marketable product) or else they're running down their assets of pasture and stock. The other market, sheep meat, is for lambs not mature sheep that can graze a paddock. The future in meat is also indoors, factory farming not free range.

Meanwhile kangaroos survive and reproduce on unimproved land, using much less fresh water than either sheep or cattle. If only the stupid consumers would adjust to reality, and buy the leaner more-organic cheaper and more sustainable kangaroo meat, Australian ranchers could stop trying to kick shit up a hill running fundamentally European stock on intractably Australian pasture.

In summary, don't buy Australian beef just because its free range and/or organic. It's good beef, I won't deny that, but the cost of providing it is the pointless slaughter of kangaroos and the waste of fresh water in a continent which has pitifully little fresh water. If you're going to eat meat from Australia, demand the lean, organic and sustainable meat that Australia makes best: kangaroo meat.

Galloism wrote:

AiliAiliA wrote:
First adopted by Revolutionary France ... OK, that's close enough to "socialism" I guess

Ever notice every measurement has the same number of units?

10mm to a cm, 10cm to a decimeter, 10 decimeter to a meter, etc?

Compare that with the imperial system, which each type of measurement has earned its number of units. 12 inches to a foot. 3 feet to a yard. 5280 feet to a mile.

Your way eliminates our measurement differences and forces all the measurements to behave the same. It's socialism.

And all the unit names have "meter", "liter", or "gram" in it. It's like calling everyone "comrade".

Bombadil wrote:

Galloism wrote:Ever notice every measurement has the same number of units?

10mm to a cm, 10cm to a decimeter, 10 decimeter to a meter, etc?

Compare that with the imperial system, which each type of measurement has earned its number of units. 12 inches to a foot. 3 feet to a yard. 5280 feet to a mile.

Your way eliminates our measurement differences and forces all the measurements to behave the same. It's socialism.

In the 12th century, King Henry I of England fixed the yard as the distance from his nose to the thumb of his out-stretched arm.

Frickin' genius..

"I'd like my garden to be a good 24 yards long please"
"Alright, let's get the king over here then"

Honestly, it's more legit than repeatedly redefining what the length of a meter is because you found out that it isn't really what you said it was...

Auze wrote:

AiliAiliA wrote:Pedestrian crossing lights that show how many seconds remaining to cross the road before the lights will change.

OK, that's something that DOES make sense, OP was asking the opposite.

Well, any country that doesn't at least TRY to make its people use Metric. I can't understand that.

The metric system is overrated, for many reasons.
And also Celsius, which is even more overrated

Celsius is flawed, I must admit. The freezing point of water is not exactly 0 C and the boiling point of water is not exactly 100 C

But at least it tried, and at least it got close, to a scale based on two properties of water.

While Fahrenheit has only one anchor, it's human body temperature, and it got that wrong by two whole degrees. The other anchor, 0ºF, is way out in nowheresville, some nonsense about ice and salt and a dodgy thermometer that some guy built himself.

Celsius is arbitrary, it's bad, and it is embarassing to have to include it in SI units, but Celsius > Farhenheit any fucking day.

AiliAiliA wrote:

Auze wrote:The metric system is overrated, for many reasons.
And also Celsius, which is even more overrated

Celsius is flawed, I must admit. The freezing point of water is not exactly 0 C and the boiling point of water is not exactly 100 C

But at least it tried, and at least it got close, to a scale based on two properties of water.

While Fahrenheit has only one anchor, it's human body temperature, and it got that wrong by two whole degrees. The other anchor, 0ºF, is way out in nowheresville, some nonsense about ice and salt and a dodgy thermometer that some guy built himself.

Celsius is arbitrary, it's bad, and it is embarassing to have to include it in SI units, but Celsius > Farhenheit any fucking day.

I never really got into science and the "0°C isn't where water freezes" isn't that relevant in high school physics, I guess. How far off is it? Would it be possible to redefine Celsius the way it should be without massively fucking over everyone?

Savojarna wrote:

AiliAiliA wrote:
Celsius is flawed, I must admit. The freezing point of water is not exactly 0 C and the boiling point of water is not exactly 100 C

But at least it tried, and at least it got close, to a scale based on two properties of water.

While Fahrenheit has only one anchor, it's human body temperature, and it got that wrong by two whole degrees. The other anchor, 0ºF, is way out in nowheresville, some nonsense about ice and salt and a dodgy thermometer that some guy built himself.

Celsius is arbitrary, it's bad, and it is embarassing to have to include it in SI units, but Celsius > Farhenheit any fucking day.

I never really got into science and the "0°C isn't where water freezes" isn't that relevant in high school physics, I guess. How far off is it? Would it be possible to redefine Celsius the way it should be without massively fucking over everyone?

Hmm. You called me out on something I can't really give an expert opinion on.

As I understand it, we could define "water" as pure H₂O at standard temperature and pressure, but we couldn't actually measure its freezing point. Because what we have isn't pure H₂O. We'll get closer and closer, constructing a sample molecule by molecule using nano-engineering, but even then there will be some quantum wiggle in the molecules of our sample. It will always be a measurement, not an objective definition (the way we can define a number in mathematics), and always be subject to some uncertainty about how we measured it and what we measured.

A metre or a gram is also, ultimately, a measurement of something. It's not pure mathematics. Any measurement (distance, time, mass, etc) is subject to further refinement and correction in the future. And it will never be perfect.

AiliAiliA wrote:

Savojarna wrote:
I never really got into science and the "0°C isn't where water freezes" isn't that relevant in high school physics, I guess. How far off is it? Would it be possible to redefine Celsius the way it should be without massively fucking over everyone?

Hmm. You called me out on something I can't really give an expert opinion on.

As I understand it, we could define "water" as pure H₂O at standard temperature and pressure, but we couldn't actually measure its freezing point. Because what we have isn't pure H₂O. We'll get closer and closer, constructing a sample molecule by molecule using nano-engineering, but even then there will be some quantum wiggle in the molecules of our sample. It will always be a measurement, not an objective definition (the way we can define a number in mathematics), and always be subject to some uncertainty about how we measured it and what we measured.

A metre or a gram is also, ultimately, a measurement of something. It's not pure mathematics. Any measurement (distance, time, mass, etc) is subject to further refinement and correction in the future. And it will never be perfect.

Is there a theoretical possibility to absolutely define any measurement?

Censor free speech.

Savojarna wrote:

AiliAiliA wrote:
Hmm. You called me out on something I can't really give an expert opinion on.

As I understand it, we could define "water" as pure H₂O at standard temperature and pressure, but we couldn't actually measure its freezing point. Because what we have isn't pure H₂O. We'll get closer and closer, constructing a sample molecule by molecule using nano-engineering, but even then there will be some quantum wiggle in the molecules of our sample. It will always be a measurement, not an objective definition (the way we can define a number in mathematics), and always be subject to some uncertainty about how we measured it and what we measured.

A metre or a gram is also, ultimately, a measurement of something. It's not pure mathematics. Any measurement (distance, time, mass, etc) is subject to further refinement and correction in the future. And it will never be perfect.

Is there a theoretical possibility to absolutely define any measurement?

The amount of bollocks spewed by Katie Hopkins is always 100% of what she says (I am pretty sure that is an absolute definite certainty).

In Mali I've seen quite a few people who still use old trade muskets for hunting or defense. Like full on flintlock, black powder muskets

AiliAiliA wrote:

Auze wrote:The metric system is overrated, for many reasons.
And also Celsius, which is even more overrated

Celsius is flawed, I must admit. The freezing point of water is not exactly 0 C and the boiling point of water is not exactly 100 C

But at least it tried, and at least it got close, to a scale based on two properties of water.

While Fahrenheit has only one anchor, it's human body temperature, and it got that wrong by two whole degrees. The other anchor, 0ºF, is way out in nowheresville, some nonsense about ice and salt and a dodgy thermometer that some guy built himself.

Celsius is arbitrary, it's bad, and it is embarassing to have to include it in SI units, but Celsius > Farhenheit any fucking day.

Celsius isn't SI. The SI unit for temperature is the kelvin (K). One kelvin is 1/273.15 of the temperature of the triple point of water (not of its freezing point).T in Celsius is defined as the T in K - 273.15 ; that is Celsius is a technical unit derived from SI but not part of it. Just like the kilogram-force or the litre.

When writing the date, there are foreign countries that put the month before the day. mm/dd/yyyy as opposed to the vastly and chauvinistically superior dd/mm/yyyy.

Savages.

AiliAiliA wrote:

The Interstellar Federation wrote:Australians don't ride kangaroos to school.

(Yes, I had a friend that told me he had met some Americans who actually believed that we Aussies ride kangaroos to school.)

Australians prefer beef to kangaroo meat. The farmers shoot kangaroos and leave them to rot (if they can't sell them for pet meat) to protect the pasture for cattle and sheep.

Well sheep are bloody useless, the only sheep farmers making money are keeping sheep indoors (for the finer wool: when sheep get cold they grow thicker wool, but thick wool isn't what buyers want. Ultrafine wool is the internationally marketable product) or else they're running down their assets of pasture and stock. The other market, sheep meat, is for lambs not mature sheep that can graze a paddock. The future in meat is also indoors, factory farming not free range.

Meanwhile kangaroos survive and reproduce on unimproved land, using much less fresh water than either sheep or cattle. If only the stupid consumers would adjust to reality, and buy the leaner more-organic cheaper and more sustainable kangaroo meat, Australian ranchers could stop trying to kick shit up a hill running fundamentally European stock on intractably Australian pasture.

In summary, don't buy Australian beef just because its free range and/or organic. It's good beef, I won't deny that, but the cost of providing it is the pointless slaughter of kangaroos and the waste of fresh water in a continent which has pitifully little fresh water. If you're going to eat meat from Australia, demand the lean, organic and sustainable meat that Australia makes best: kangaroo meat.

Buying organic is a losing proposition, anyway.

It's not a sticker of quality, sustainability, etc.

It's a sticker saying nothing.

Golgothium wrote:When writing the date, there are foreign countries that put the month before the day. mm/dd/yyyy as opposed to the vastly and chauvinistically superior dd/mm/yyyy.

Savages.

I'm more and more using the yyyy/mm/dd format. Works much better on computers for sorting by date.

Alvecia wrote:

Golgothium wrote:When writing the date, there are foreign countries that put the month before the day. mm/dd/yyyy as opposed to the vastly and chauvinistically superior dd/mm/yyyy.

Savages.

I'm more and more using the yyyy/mm/dd format. Works much better on computers for sorting by date.

This is fine. The point is that it follows a logical process. It will proceed from the year to the day, or the day to the year. Not month/day/year or year/day/month. From my wee time spent in Japan, I understand that they also write the date beginning with the year too.

Golgothium wrote:

Alvecia wrote:I'm more and more using the yyyy/mm/dd format. Works much better on computers for sorting by date.

This is fine. The point is that it follows a logical process. It will proceed from the year to the day, or the day to the year. Not month/day/year or year/day/month. From my wee time spent in Japan, I understand that they also write the date beginning with the year too.

Yeah, month/day/year weirds me out.
Fucks me over working on American customer computer systems as well cause they use that format, so I end up grabbing completely different groups of data than I wanted

Tolerant Fellow wrote:Censor free speech.

While I find America's tendency to let everything pass (unless its sexual or cursing) extremely odd ^^

Savojarna wrote:

Tolerant Fellow wrote:Censor free speech.

While I find America's tendency to let everything pass (unless its sexual or cursing) extremely odd ^^

Open and transparent society. *

* unless you're one of Alex Jones' "globalists."

Savojarna wrote:

Tolerant Fellow wrote:Censor free speech.

While I find America's tendency to let everything pass (unless its sexual or cursing) extremely odd ^^

On that point, the notion that in American media, you can show as much violence as you want and it's fine, but a tit or a swear word is too far.

Longweather wrote:Dutch breakfast sprinkles

I guess I'm missing something

The Swiss have railway platforms that lead directly to the side walk across the entire length, no ledges, fences or anything. So weird.

Alvecia wrote:

Savojarna wrote:
While I find America's tendency to let everything pass (unless its sexual or cursing) extremely odd ^^

On that point, the notion that in American media, you can show as much violence as you want and it's fine, but a tit or a swear word is too far.

It is really interesting. I was shocked to see foreign programming properly when I went overseas. Here Rambo 4 is perfectly fine, but a lewd joke on a comedy show is a big fine. Seemed the other way around there.

Golgothium wrote:When writing the date, there are foreign countries that put the month before the day. mm/dd/yyyy as opposed to the vastly and chauvinistically superior dd/mm/yyyy.

Savages.

There's only one that I'm aware of that does that - and if you work in an industry where start and end dates have massive relevance, it's enough to make you go totally postal at regular intervals.

Cabra West wrote:

Golgothium wrote:When writing the date, there are foreign countries that put the month before the day. mm/dd/yyyy as opposed to the vastly and chauvinistically superior dd/mm/yyyy.

Savages.

There's only one that I'm aware of that does that - and if you work in an industry where start and end dates have massive relevance, it's enough to make you go totally postal at regular intervals.

I'm an analyst, so formatting differences like that in larger databases really drive me up the wall.