raymac46 Posted December 21, 2022 Share Posted December 21, 2022 Fahrenheit did have a sorta logical point to his scale. He defined 0 as the equilibrium temperature of a mixture of ice, water and ammonium chloride. That was about as cold as he could get in the lab under his control. Then he selected 30 as the freezing point of water and 90 as approx. human body temperature. These points got refined to 32 and 98.6 eventually and the boiling point of water was then worked out at 212F under standard conditions. No problems, eh? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted December 21, 2022 Share Posted December 21, 2022 Boardwalk at Halifax harbor, October 2022. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted December 21, 2022 Share Posted December 21, 2022 1 hour ago, raymac46 said: No problem as I have been using the metric system in science for close to 60 years now. 'Bout 45 or so for me, but I still don't have to like it. Although, I will reluctantly admit that it does make more sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted December 21, 2022 Share Posted December 21, 2022 Some Imperial measurements are kinda strange. For instance building lots in the older parts of town are 66 X 132 feet. That is 1X2 square Gunter's chains or 32 square rods or 1/5 of an acre. OK, then... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted December 21, 2022 Share Posted December 21, 2022 My favorite though is "standard gauge" for railroads. When George Stephenson built the first long distance railroad in England, he measured the axle width of 100 farm wagons and took the average - 4 feet, 8.5 inches. Since British locomotives were exported to the world, so was the gauge they were built for. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted December 21, 2022 Author Share Posted December 21, 2022 7 hours ago, V.T. Eric Layton said: Sometimes, Roger... you miss my obvious sarcasm. I, of course, am quite aware of the different temperature scales (Centigrade, Celcius, Fahrenheit, Kelvin, etc.), but having been born and raised and educated in this backward ex-colony of Great Britain, I just cannot get to where I like using kilometers or liters or other weird things like that. I much prefer to stick with comfortable measuring units I'm used to... giraffes, tons-a-sh*t, fat cats, little whiles, longer whiles, justa' sec, wee tads, and such. I got the sarcasm but made the deadpan reply to point out how weird the Fahrenheit scale is, as are most imperial measurements. We used to use them here in Australia until around the 70s so I had to unlearn some schooling. We even used the old English style pounds, shillings, and pence until 1966. One pound = 20 shillings, 1 shilling = 12 pence. That was totally nutso. We do use other units of course - Olympic swimming pools, MCGs (that's the Melbourne Cricket Ground) eg, enough people to fill 11 MCGs. Also tads, bee's dicks, and I have seen giraffes used recently too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 HA! Yes, when I read some older literature like Dickens and such, I always got lost on the pounds, shillings, pence thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, ME - October 2022. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted December 28, 2022 Share Posted December 28, 2022 On 12/22/2022 at 1:10 PM, V.T. Eric Layton said: HA! Yes, when I read some older literature like Dickens and such, I always got lost on the pounds, shillings, pence thing. Wot no halfpennies or farthings or guineas. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted December 28, 2022 Share Posted December 28, 2022 Not to mention thruppence, groats, half crowns or crowns. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebrke Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 Or the weight of something being expressed in stones (14 lb). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 When I lived in Australia, the only thing I had trouble with was temperature. Then someone told me Temperate 20's Torrid 30's Fiery 40's. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crp Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 On 12/21/2022 at 9:24 AM, raymac46 said: Fahrenheit did have a sorta logical point to his scale. He defined 0 as the equilibrium temperature of a mixture of ice, water and ammonium chloride. That was about as cold as he could get in the lab under his control. Then he selected 30 as the freezing point of water and 90 as approx. human body temperature. These points got refined to 32 and 98.6 eventually and the boiling point of water was then worked out at 212F under standard conditions. No problems, eh? Also easy to understand that if the temp outside is 100 degrees than it is really hot outside. Having it be 35 degrees? Not so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crp Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 On 12/28/2022 at 2:37 AM, abarbarian said: On 12/22/2022 at 5:10 AM, V.T. Eric Layton said: HA! Yes, when I read some older literature like Dickens and such, I always got lost on the pounds, shillings, pence thing. I blame the move to decimal in 1970 for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 19 hours ago, crp said: Also easy to understand that if the temp outside is 100 degrees than it is really hot outside. Having it be 35 degrees? Not so much. The Celsius scale works pretty well for this actually. (if you're a Canadian at least.) -40 Brutally cold -30 Really cold -20 Uncomfortably cold -10 Rather cold 0 Meh + 10 Rather warm + 20 Comfortably warm +30 Really warm +40 Brutally warm I think the coldest I've ever been out in is -33 and the warmest probably +36 but humidity and windchills can make it feel more extreme than that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 Adventure of the Seas docked in Portland ME, October 2022. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted January 6, 2023 Share Posted January 6, 2023 On 1/3/2023 at 3:10 PM, raymac46 said: Adventure of the Seas docked in Portland ME, October 2022. Me I would be scared to travel in a ship like that. I can count 15 lifeboats on this side of the ship, I expect there are 15 more on the other side, so 30 in total for how many thousand passengers ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted January 6, 2023 Share Posted January 6, 2023 (edited) Probably 4000 passengers and crew and they have enough lifeboats for everyone. Chances of hitting an iceberg in the Caribbean are remote. You are more likely to die of alcohol poisoning. https://familycruisecompanion.com/are-there-enough-lifeboats-on-cruise-ships/#:~:text=The usual maximum capacity for,to meet the required capacity. Edited January 6, 2023 by raymac46 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted January 6, 2023 Share Posted January 6, 2023 Ooooh, that's a BIG petri dish. 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ulfi Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 The thing about ships is, you never know who's steering the thing. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 Nautical survey ship Acadia - built in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1913, in service until 1969. Now a museum ship in Halifax. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted June 2, 2023 Share Posted June 2, 2023 Flying the fla tux. He does misbehave a lot though, gets tangled up in the most peculiar way. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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