Easygoing Eyebeast Dantius Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 Jeff is in Seattle, so I would presume that the server would be there, as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk nikki. Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Originally Posted By: Dantius THIS IS AMERICA! And the world is a poorer place for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Alorael at Large Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Originally Posted By: Artie Luv You're just in denial. I am not. —Alorael, who may, instead, be Maimonides. You, however, are not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Dikiyoba Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Originally Posted By: Dantius It's possible to survive at 100 degrees below body temperature by wearing heavy clothes. It's definitley not possible to survive at 100 degrees above body temperature 1. Surviving in extremely cold environments requires that you wear specific sorts of clothing as opposed to just slapping on another coat whenever you start getting cold. 2. Short of doing something really crazy like jumping into a volcano, where on Earth do you expect to find temperatures that hot? Dikiyoba. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chittering Clawbug Dakkanor Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Originally Posted By: Dantius Oh, and I use Fahrenheit, because only commies in Europe use Celsius. THIS IS AMERICA! Wow arrogant much? America is one of the few places that still uses all the out dated IMPERIAL systems which is clung to even tho its just a hang over of when America was just a British colony ironic aint it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotghroth Rhapsody Hypnotic Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 So this has downgraded into a bash the Americanthread. *Sigh* I perfer Hot to cold. Thats just because on hot days, you feel like doing nothing, so when you do nothing, you can blame the weather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Dantius Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Originally Posted By: Dakkanor (I can't believe you just posted that) Protip: Whenever someone who has shown that they are not off-the-wall insane uses the word "commie" or some variation, there is an extremely high chance that they are not being serious. I actually use metric quite often, but can't get used to celsius. So, in casual conversation, I will use meters and degrees Fahrenheit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk nikki. Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Originally Posted By: Hypnotic So this has downgraded into a bash the Americanthread. *Sigh* You lot started it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall A less presumptuous name. Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Originally Posted By: Sister, I'm a poet. You lot started it. Don't we always? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chittering Clawbug Dakkanor Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Sorry if i said sommat seriously insulting i tend to harp on at things that tick at me. Especially when stressed and when people say things like "THIS IS AMERICA!" i take it as an invite to cut things down a size (or up 4 if its clothing size) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Understated Ur-Drakon Callie Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Originally Posted By: Dantius Originally Posted By: Dakkanor (I can't believe you just posted that) Protip: Whenever someone who has shown that they are not off-the-wall insane uses the word "commie" or some variation, there is an extremely high chance that they are not being serious. I actually use metric quite often, but can't get used to celsius. So, in casual conversation, I will use meters and degrees Fahrenheit. I don't think you should expect us to assume that. When I first read your post, I thought you were actually saying that using the metric system is communist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Dantius Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Originally Posted By: Excalibur Originally Posted By: Dantius Originally Posted By: Dakkanor (I can't believe you just posted that) Protip: Whenever someone who has shown that they are not off-the-wall insane uses the word "commie" or some variation, there is an extremely high chance that they are not being serious. I actually use metric quite often, but can't get used to celsius. So, in casual conversation, I will use meters and degrees Fahrenheit. I don't think you should expect us to assume that. When I first read your post, I thought you were actually saying that using the metric system is communist. The Metric system was invented during the French Revolution, IIRC. Communism didn't come around until the Russian Revolution (not counting ideals, only the practical inception). How could using the metric system be communist if it had been around ~100 hears before communism? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unflappable Drayk Toby-Linn Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Back on topic....Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends! Us Canadians have ours in October. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Understated Ur-Drakon The Almighty Doer of Stuff Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 It was actually last Thursday, but I sent my girlfriend a card for it today. I bought it a month before Thanksgiving but forgot to send it to her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast keira Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 I gained 8 pounds. Just checked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Understated Ur-Drakon Callie Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Originally Posted By: Dantius The Metric system was invented during the French Revolution, IIRC. Communism didn't come around until the Russian Revolution (not counting ideals, only the practical inception). How could using the metric system be communist if it had been around ~100 hears before communism? A handful of things that are occasionally labeled communist aren't even communist at all, so I don't assume that everyone I meet on the internet knows what is and what is not communist. Anyways, many of the ideas in the Communist Manifesto had already existed previously. For example, there was a pamphlet (which I can't remember the name of) written in the early sixteenth century which endorsed commonly owned property. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Dantius Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Originally Posted By: Excalibur Originally Posted By: Dantius The Metric system was invented during the French Revolution, IIRC. Communism didn't come around until the Russian Revolution (not counting ideals, only the practical inception). How could using the metric system be communist if it had been around ~100 hears before communism? A handful of things that are occasionally labeled communist aren't even communist at all, so I don't assume that everyone I meet on the internet knows what is and what is not communist. Anyways, many of the ideas in the Communist Manifesto had already existed previously. For example, there was a pamphlet (which I can't remember the name of) written in the early sixteenth century which endorsed commonly owned property. From Wikipedia: Quote: In 1586, the Flemish mathematician Simon Stevin published a small pamphlet called De Thiende ("the tenth"). Decimal fractions had been employed for the extraction of square roots some five centuries before his time, but nobody established their daily use before Stevin. He felt that this innovation was so significant that he declared the universal introduction of decimal coinage, measures, and weights to be merely a question of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Understated Ur-Drakon Callie Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 That's interesting! Though the second paragraph wasn't relevant to the point I was making. The early sixteenth century is earlier than 1586, by the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Balladeer Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Haven't actually stepped on a scale in, oh, three months. So we'll say I did gain that three pounds I predicted. I'm going to lose it this week in all the running around I'll be doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Dantius Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Well, yes, but just like you can trace Communism back to basically tribal eras, in hundreds of centuries BC, you can probably also trace forms of the Metric system, and counting based on the base-10 system that far back, as well. So I guess that they are old enough that it really becomes ridiculous. I still think I'm, right, though, and counting is older than sharing. After all, we're human. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Mea Tulpa Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 The real insight though is not measuring based on 10's, but measuring with the same base you use for your counting system. If we counted in base 8, the metric system would be foolish rather than simplifying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall A less presumptuous name. Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Even more than that, it's simply brilliant to count in the base corresponding to the number of body parts. For example, we have 10 digits on our hands. Some cultures used base 5 or 20, for one hand and toes+fingers, respectively. Finger counting makes math so much easier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Randomizer Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Originally Posted By: Dantius I still think I'm, right, though, and counting is older than sharing. After all, we're human. First came the tax collector, then came the government that collected the taxes after the victims wondered what happened to their taxes and the collector needed troops to protect him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Alorael at Large Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Our systems that use minutes and seconds, those being measurement of degrees around a circle and time (around a clock face?) are borrowed from Babylonian systems. They used a kind of hybrid base 10+60, so 60 made sense for them. It makes less sense for us, but metric time really isn't likely to catch on. —Alorael, who imagines that space-dwellers who lack an enforced 24 hour day might become accustomed to a different unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Student of Trinity Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 12 and 60 are both good because they are readily divisible into multiples: 12 is evenly divisible by 1 through 6 except 5, and 60 gets 5 in as well. And dividing evenly was probably the killer app for counting in the first place. Measuring time was probably also about dividing it evenly, long before it was ever about making appointments — everyone has to spend the same amount of time on night watch, or whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Dantius Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 If I had to invent a new timekeeping system, I would use 30 hours in a day. Readily divisible into terminating decimals for 1-6, and easier to deal with. Also, no AM/PM, more like military time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast keira Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 If I were given the opportunity to change the standard timekeeping method, I'd just have everyone use Unix timestamps. And hope to God that our brains aren't storing time in 32-bit when 2038 rolls around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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