Solstice Open Thread

by afew
Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 10:40:43 AM EST


Login
. Make a new account
. Reset password

Display:
The xkcd cartoon has nothing to do with the winter solstice. So shoot me.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 10:42:41 AM EST
But is nevertheless a good thing.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 10:52:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]
It is absolutely freezing at work where we have reached the limit of the heating's ability to keep back the cold air.

It took an hour and a half for it to warm up enough for me to take off my scarf this morning.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 10:53:35 AM EST
Ah yes, British insulation... Well, over here it's cold, the snow is deep, and it's perfectly snug inside. ;)

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
by Starvid (arvid.hallen at gmail.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 10:54:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]
An old building that I'm not sure is insulated at all.

and yes I do that it is criminal that there are no stautory obligations for new buildings to have swedish style insulation.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 10:59:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]
19 degrees here in Jerusalem (was 21 earlier today). Hope they sort out all the train and airport problems by the time I come back to Munich on Saturday.
by gk (g k quattro due due sette "at" gmail.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 11:11:01 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I don't know what the figure was for Munich, but Düsseldorf was closed on account of a whopping, insurmountable 13 cm of snow.

But I wouldn't worry about your flight back. Central Europe is scheduled to revert to its dark and damp winter norm by then.

Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine - Patti Smith

by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 11:14:01 AM EST
[ Parent ]
9 in of snow all around over everything, water froze, even after i left it dripping for 3 days, it just came back on hallelujah. house is toasty with 2 woodstoves running and extra insulation fron the snow on the roof. i went up to try and sweep the snow off the PV panels, but it was too icy to be working on a pitched tile roof.

the road's impassable, luckily i stocked up just before it hit, watching what was happening in n. france and england.

so many beans to eat from the experiment last year, (pity the donkey ate the soya).

filthy head cold, now receding. prolly a bug i picked up in some airport. great to be back home though, now if only i could teleport to costa rica every morning for some rock and roll wave action!

gotta set something up in costa rica...

"Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do." Jim Hightower

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 06:38:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine - Patti Smith
by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 10:58:07 AM EST
See! It IS possible to reconcile a fundamentalist Islamic world view with Western Capitalist Economic Society and ValuesTM!

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer at eurotrib.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 11:22:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I guess the Salafist would say that it's OK to deny people health care as long as you don't charge them interest.

Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine - Patti Smith
by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 11:36:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, it is back home to the tropics tonight.  Despite the cold, I wish I could have stayed longer.

"Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark." Cheyenne
by maracatu on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 11:36:29 AM EST
Find a conference in May in New York. I once arranged a week long PBX school for late May in Elmsford, just north of NYC. Classes let out at 3:00 PM and it got dark around 9:00 PM. The Hudson River Valley and NYC were glorious while I was there.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer at eurotrib.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 11:51:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Seems to have been a wonderful blizzard.  I'm kinda miffed now, because they shut down the federal government today, so I missed a day off.  I was half-expecting Obama to call DC'ers a bunch of pansies again and demand everybody show up even if Metro shut down.

Which would've been awesome.  You could throw a cup of ice on the Beltway in the middle of summer, and these idiots would be abandoning their cars.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 12:46:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
As promised by the Met Office, it rained here this afternoon but turned to slush and ice in the cold air and ground.

the South East of England has apparently ground to a halt. It took me nearly 100 minutes to do a 20 minute journey. I nearly didn't make it up the main hill into town at all and was crabbing to gain traction.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 01:28:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
You don't used spiked wheels in Britain?




Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

by Starvid (arvid.hallen at gmail.com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 02:18:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]
For a couple of days inconvenience once every 10 years, it's not worth it. Plus it started snowing at 3 pm and before that the roads were fine. Spiked wheels would have destroyed the roads.

England doesn't tool up for snow because we don't have enough to justify doing so. The 2 or 3 days of inconvenience are cheaper than having a load of kit hanging around unused for years.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 05:29:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]
South East England?  You mean Sussex got snow?  I remember it snowing in Brighton once.

"Beware of the man who does not talk, and the dog that does not bark." Cheyenne
by maracatu on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 04:56:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Basically all of the home counties (those around london) got swamped. Brighton too.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 05:30:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Just seen someone from there on TV complaining that they had had no warning. and I have to ask did they expect a personal phone call from the Met office? theyve only been saying its going to happen for about four days.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 06:32:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]
LOL, that's just ridiculous. Like you say, the Met Office have been warning about it for days.

All you might say is that it went from sunny and clear to "OMG I can't see in this blizzard" in about 10 minutes.

I really think that what screwed everyone was that the roads weren't gritted properly. That nearly caught me out on a short steep hill that had no grit or salt whatsoever. It wouldn't have hurt to have sent the gritters out in the early afternoon.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 06:41:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
No snow here in Arkansas. We generously allowed ours to fall on the east coast instead. But it has been unseasonably cold.  I might be forced to sharpen the chain saw blade and cut up the 18" diameter oak tree that came down in last year's ice storm. Problem is that then I would have to split the resulting 18" sections into four pieces with a splitting maul. That will get me some exercise.

I had over a cord of cut wood from what I have previously cut up but have gone through about a quarter to a third of that in the first 20 days of December. Lows have been in the 20s F or below more often than not in December so far. The heat pump works great down to the high 20s, depending on humidity, so it will suffice during the day, but the wood stove in the living room has been what really heats the living areas to a toasty, tee shirt comfort level.

The wood stove has the additional advantage of attracting the dog and cat to lie on the carpet in front of it, but out a ways, as the stove stands on a ceramic tile pad. The advantage is that neither is now clamoring to be on our laps--at least not as persistently as otherwise. Fortunately, the house is well insulated.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer at eurotrib.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 11:47:17 AM EST
I've always wonderd; how much is a cord of wood ?

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 01:24:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Eight fool long, four feet high by four feet wide. Usually cut into 16" lengths so as to fit into fireplaces. People will sometimes call a single 4x8x16" section a cord, but it is not a proper cord. Hard to know exactly what I really had, as it was in four different piles.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer at eurotrib.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 01:38:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
16" version is called a face cord in US, no?

Skennah Kowa
by Crazy Horse on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 01:41:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Sounds about right. As I recall how a half cord fit the width of our garage wall, when I was a kid, about 2x4x8. 2-3 deliveries each winter. in Michigan. You can guess who had to tote the wood inside.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 03:01:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The man I bought a pickup load from last winter still, in his heart, thinks the proper length is 24", which is fine for most fireplaces.  But I have a wood stove and it has an interior width of 20 inches. I have about 20 split logs that are over 20 inches which I will have to cut with the chain saw. My woodsman told me that it was his job growing up to keep the house warm and wood was the only source of heat. That was at least 30 years ago, by my estimate of his age.

From what part of Michigan do you hale?

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer at eurotrib.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 04:38:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Oh, SE, 'round Detroit, Grosse Pointe, Bloomfield Hills. Parents moved there just before the riots. (That's one of my earliest memories.) Eventually, NW 'burbs (out 8 Mile)'til I evacuated to college. Got fond feelings for upstate, beautiful country in summer. Never been past Mackinac though.

The house I grew up in had two fireplaces. I don't remember the log lengths being regular -- anywhere 12" - 20". My mother couldn't tolerated the smell of oil, baseboard heat. So she claimed. She kept the thermostat at 65 and had us stoke the fires. Started every one with NYT. There were plenty mornings I dressed under the bedcovers. LOL.

You be careful. I'm saving for my Pocket Chain Saw. I may have a need for one in spring. Hobo House has a gas furnace and no fireplace. Truth to tell, gas powered tools scare me.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 07:05:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]
You be careful. I'm saving for my Pocket Chain Saw.

Yes Mam! So far my boots and shoes have taken the nicks and saved me! Perhaps I should be sentenced to watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for each time I nick my footwear with the saw. I am afraid the pocket chain saw would be inadequate to my needs. I have had to cut up down trees up to 20" in diameter in the clean-up from the ice storm. I was never fond of gas powered tools either, but I have finally mastered getting and keeping them running, thanks to my neighbor, who, early in his marriage, used to cut and split a cord after work so he could sell it to his father-in-law's charcoal kiln for $40 the next morning before going to work!

He recommended a Stihl and I bought a 16" saw in Feb. of last year. It has been handy, though I am prone to dulling the blade due to an inability to stop the blade from hitting the ground. We have rocky soil here. But my neighbor showed me how to sharpen the blade and I purchased a sharpening kit. Where I grew up over in Oklahoma there was not enough wood for anyone to buy a chainsaw or crosscut saw. Another skill learned late in life.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer at eurotrib.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 08:57:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
In Canada the cord (French la corde) is the same measure, 128 cubic feet. The term is used in France for a similar amount of wood.

In this part of France (SW) the term corde is not used, but la pile or more commonly la canne. It's still approximately the same amount of firewood: 2 metres x 1.4 m x 1.4 m = 3.92 m3. (128 cu ft is a bit more than 3.6 m3). Looks like an old measure was rounded up to fit the metric system.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 04:12:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I never cease to wonder at the measures that in the metric system are just bastardized traditional measurements.  While certainly convenient for computation, the basic lengths of the metric system seem less well adapted to human use.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer at eurotrib.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 04:41:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Huh? If you lived with the metric system I think you'd find it's perfectly well adapted to human uses! And tell me which of the Imperial British or the American traditional measures are the right ones? :-)
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 02:00:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The pint !! The English Imperial Pint. For which the metric equivalents are either too small or too large for decent drinking.

And what is 4 ft, 8 and 3/4 inches in metric ? (And despite Dodo's protestations, I will persist in suggesting that it's the width of a roman cart).

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 04:52:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The metric measures seem to work fine in Bavaria.... (though can get problematical during the Starkbier season in Lent).
by gk (g k quattro due due sette "at" gmail.com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 05:12:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]
A half litre is too little, two gulps and it's gone. A litre is too much cos it goes flat and is too heavy for easy drinking.

Tested over millennia of drunken revelry to be just right.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 05:32:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Why are "the metric equivalents" of a "pint" restricted to a half litre and a litre? The Pint is 568 ml so how is 600ml not a "metric equivalent" of it?

And how is 568ml just right and 500ml too small? The difference is just over 10%.

As for the rail gauge, according to wikipedia it's 1/2 inch, not 3/4 inch. Then, 4' and 8 3/4" is not exactly exact as far as imperial units go. If you remember it to the nearest 1/2 inch, that's just like remembering it to the nearest centimetre so 144cm works as a "metric equivalent" and 144 is an easy to remember number (being a perfect square, and all)...

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 06:17:11 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Wikipedia: Early origins of the standard gauge
There is an urban legend that Julius Caesar specified a legal width for chariots at the width of standard gauge, causing road ruts at that width, so all later wagons had to have the same width or else risk having one set of wheels suddenly fall into one deep rut but not the other.

In fact, the origins of the standard gauge considerably predate the Roman Empire, and may even predate the invention of the wheel. The width of prehistoric vehicles was determined by number of interacting factors which gave rise to a fairly standard vehicle width of a little under 2 metres (6.6 ft) These factors have changed little over the millenia, and are still reflected in today's motor vehicles. Road rutting was common in early roads, even with stone pavements. The initial impetus for the ruts probably came from the grooves made by sleds and slide cars dragged over the surfaces of ancient trackways. Since early carts had no steering and no brakes, negotiating hills and curves was dangerous, and cutting ruts into the stone helped them negotiate the hazardous parts of the roads.

Neolithic wheeled carts found in Europe had gauges varying from 130 to 175 centimetres (4 ft 3 in to 5 ft 9 in). By the Bronze age, wheel gauges appeared to have stabilized between 140 to 145 centimetres (4 ft 7 in to 4 ft 9 in) which was attributed to a tradition in ancient technology which was perpetuated throughout European history. The ancient Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians and Greeks constructed roads with artificial wheelruts cut in rock spaced the wheelspan of an ordinary carriage. Such ancient stone railways connected major cities with sacred sites, such as Athens to Eleusis, Sparta to Ayklia, or Elis to Olympia. The gauge of these stone grooves was 138 to 144 centimetres (4 ft 6 in to 4 ft 9 in). The largest number of preserved stone trackways, over 150, are found on Malta.

Some of these ancient stone rutways were very ambitious. Around 600 BC the citizens of ancient Corinth constructed the Diolkos, which some consider the world's first railway, a granite road with grooved tracks along which large wooden flatbed cars carrying ships and their cargo were pulled by slaves or draft animals. The space between the grooved tracks in the granite was a consistent 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in).

The Roman Empire actually made less use of stone trackways than the prior Greek civilization because the Roman roads were much better than those of previous civilizations. However, there is evidence that the Romans used a more or less consistent wheel gauge adopted from the Greeks throughout Europe, and brought it to England with the Roman conquest of Britain in AD 43. After the Roman departure from Britain, this more-or-less standard gauge continued in use, so the wheel gauge of animal drawn vehicles in 19th century Britain was 1.4 to 1.5 metres (4 ft 7 in to 4 ft 10 in). In 1845 George Stephenson copied the gauge of British coal wagons in his area (about 1.42 metres (4 ft 8 in) for his new locomotive, and for technical reasons widened it slightly to achieve the modern railway standard gauge of 1.435 metres (4 ft 8.5 in).



En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 06:27:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Migeru:
The largest number of preserved stone trackways, over 150, are found on Malta.

So now we know...

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 08:37:01 AM EST
[ Parent ]
We all know what happens on Malta....

You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 11:06:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]
And how is 568ml just right and 500ml too small? The difference is just over 10%.

I think the difficulty is psychological in how many people (in UK I grant you- but I've heard similar complaints from germans) approach drinking. Generally when you get a beer, you have a good drink of it to start and then slowly drink off the rest of it and then when it's nearly finished you polish off the final 2 cm in one go.

The loss of that 10% interferes with the middle "grazing" period of drinking. You have the first glug, then a couple of sips later, you finish it off. Gone in seemingly no time.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 06:36:26 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Okay, how is 600ml too much?

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 06:51:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Until this morning, no one ever offered it as an option. I'm sure it'd be fine, but that's not how weights and measures go. Halves and wholes generally.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 07:05:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]
that's not how weights and measures go. Halves and wholes generally

That's ridiculous. Inches are divided in powers of 2, but with the metric system you just add one more decimal place. So, any multiple of 100ml is an acceptable option at that level of tolerance. If you need a tighter fit, multiples of 10ml...

I don't think I have a single half-litre or full-litre glass at home and I live in metric-land. Plus, in Spain a customary measure for beer is a third of a litre (tercio, probably something like 330ml), which is also the standard measure of aluminum cans and small bottles.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 07:11:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]
It's more likely that pints were simply rounded down in order to charge people 10% more for their beer. If a pint had been 666 ml it would have been rounded down to 600ml for the same reason.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 07:14:11 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The difference is just 6 or 7 centilitres. If a half-litre is "two gulps", then so is a pint, pretty much. And don't let's forget that the US has another set of most of these measures, including a (smaller) pint.

The rest is just a matter of what you're used to.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 08:27:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I thought the proper way to drink beer was quaffing it...

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 08:52:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I really liked the tiny ice cold beer glasses used in Amsterdam. I'd drink more beer if it was served in 1 dl glasses: those first two gulps is all the pleasure I get from beer.

You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 11:09:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Small glasses are associated with drinking beers that have low carbonation, such as kolsch (around Cologne), where any more than a taster and they'd go flat.

Can't think of one in Amsterdam it'd apply to but I'm sure that's the reason

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 11:32:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Interesting. So that's true of all beers with low carbonation? Or is flatness appreciated anywhere?

You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 12:01:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
In the "English" system of measurement the foot and the inch are the most basic measures of length. The centimeter and the meter are too small and too big respectively. I actually have preferred the metric for calculations since high school, but I think the choice of units of lengths in the metric system was flawed. I think having a decimal system with the foot as the standard unit of length, the inch as a tenth of a foot, a ten-foot, hundred-foot, thousand-foot and ten-thousand foot measure would be handier.

The basis for the meter was intended to be a sub-division of the circumference of the Earth, but turned out to be off significantly. But the whole criterion for unit selection was inappropriate, imo. I think the concern should have been to best adapt the unit to human needs. But perhaps this should have been the subject for a Christmas Diary on Feet and Mouths.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer at eurotrib.com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 11:35:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]
the foot and the inch are the most basic measures of length. The centimeter and the meter are too small and too big respectively.

Well, the metre and the yard are within 10% of each other. Why is is the foot better adapted to human measurements than the yard? Why should people be 6 feet tall rather than two yards tall?

Then, you're picking the centimetre and the metre which are a factor of 100 apart, compared to the inch and the foot which are a factor of 12 apart. You forget the decimetre (10cm) which is about halfway between the inch and the foot (one decimetre = 4 inches, one foot = 3 decimetres) just like the foot is halfway between the decimetre and the metre (almost exactly halfway between the decimetre and the yard).

The centimetre is like the half-inch. I don't see why one unit should be better than the other in an absolute sense. This is all a bunch of rationalisations for preferences based on familiarity.

The basis for the meter was intended to be a sub-division of the circumference of the Earth, but turned out to be off significantly.

Huh? The metre is not significantly off the 10-millionth part of the distance from pole to equator (it's off only by about 0.02% !!) and the order of magnitude has been known since Eratosthenes in the 2rd century BC to within a few percent.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 12:15:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, the ten-millionth part of the distance from pole to equator is how the metre was defined in 1789. The difference is due to measurement error... I suppose it came from misestimating the non-spherical nature of earth. (The Paris meridian was only measured in France.)

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 01:39:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
So why are the foot and the yard better adapted to human needs than the metre and the centimietre?

ARGeezer:

I think having a decimal system with the foot as the standard unit of length, the inch as a tenth of a foot, a ten-foot, hundred-foot, thousand-foot and ten-thousand foot measure would be handier.

So you're arguing that imperial measures are less suited to human use (other than the foot)?

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 12:23:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I just find the foot to be at an aesthetically pleasing scale to the human body.  Simply personal perception and preference. I don't like the yard or the meter as a basic unit and I could be quite happy with an "inch" that is a tenth of a foot. Since I was 15 or 16 I thought the metric system's decimal divisibility was a major plus, but have never come to be accustomed to using anything but meters and millimeters.

My preferences don't matter in the scheme of things and I, of course, have no idea what my preferences would be had I grown up using the metric system. But the USA is still largely on traditional measures, for better or worse. I carry some conversions in my head. 1m = 39.37". 1" = 2.54 cm. 10cm ~ 4". 1km = .62 miles. But I have never had the opportunity to obtain customary familiarity with "native" use of metric measures of length. Yet for small volumes ccs are more intuitive to me than teaspoons or tablespoons, etc.

The metrics I live with are truly bastardized.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer at eurotrib.com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 02:42:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I think I prefer the cubit to the foot...

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 02:52:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
2 metres x 1.4 m x 1.4 m = 3.92 m3

That is interesting - a standard measure of 4 cubic metres - 1.4 being an approximation of the square root of 2. It reminds me of the definition of the A4 sheet of paper: First define the aspect ratio to be 1 to the square root of 2 so that dividing a sheet in half preserves the aspect ratio, and then make the area of an A0 sheet equal to 1 square metre.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 09:16:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]
A stack of wood 4' high, 4' wide, and 8' long.

The real question is: how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck would chuck wood?

by Magnifico on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 01:38:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Guardian: Taxing bankers' bonuses 'does not breach their human rights'

When it emerged that Alistair Darling was planning to announce a tax on bankers' bonuses in the pre-budget report, some figures in the City seemed to think that their human rights were about to be infringed.

Bill Dodwell, the head of taxation at the accountants Deloitte, revealed that he had taken calls from bankers wanting to know if they could use the Human Rights Act to protect their cash.

The prospect of legal action always seemed slightly far-fetched, but the joint committee on human rights - a committee of MPs and peers - took the issue sufficiently seriously to launch a mini-inquiry. And, in a report published today, it concludes that the bankers are not having their human rights abused.


by Magnifico on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 02:00:03 PM EST
human rights ? don't you need to be human to qualify ?

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 02:28:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Maybe that's the reason they decided the Act doesn't apply?
by gk (g k quattro due due sette "at" gmail.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 02:31:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Would someone kindly hip me to how to post an ET thread to your fb status, or something equalling "share."

Skennah Kowa
by Crazy Horse on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 02:33:14 PM EST
Copy the link to that page and drop it into your status line there.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 03:02:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Thanks, but then doesn't it just look like a copied url?  Is there a way to get the lead photo posted, with some kind of headline.  And directly clickable for the friends. Seems so easy to do that from many sites with a share button.  I'd like to be able to post ET references that look smart as well as being smart.

Skennah Kowa
by Crazy Horse on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 03:10:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It'll pick a lead photo from the page and given you a few to scroll through.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 03:17:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Thanks guys, seems to have worked easily.  Though apparently it's a link, and doesn't show up as a status update.

Skennah Kowa
by Crazy Horse on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 03:32:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]
((tp19qiash2U))
by Magnifico on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 02:34:49 PM EST
by Magnifico on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 02:35:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
This is brilliant and very well conceived.

Skennah Kowa
by Crazy Horse on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 02:50:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
When did Converse All-Stars become expensive?  Used to be you could grab a pair for fifteen bucks (worst-case I've seen was £15 in Britain).  Lightweight, comfortable, and they'd last for years and years.

Now suddenly they're more like fifty bucks.  WTF?

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 02:35:09 PM EST
Chuck Taylors got expensive when Converse was purchased by Nike and Nike closed down all the U.S. factories and shipped their manufacture overseas to Asia.
by Magnifico on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 02:37:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That would explain it.  Last pair I bought was in 2001/2002, I think.  Maybe even earlier.

Fucking Nike.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 02:39:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That would also explain the 6-7,000 different designs on them now.  The Clash-themed Chuck Taylors, Kurt Cobain-themed ones, but damned if I can find the regular old black-and-white or navy-and-white ones.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 02:48:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
yep. High fashion now for tweens. Demand for knee-highs is making its way westward. ho.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 03:05:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I never worry about brand, I just go into a shop and buy something that's half decent and cheap.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 02:48:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That was traditionally why I sought out the brand.  I generally like the look of them.  They've traditionally been a lot more durable than generic brands I've worn, they can be worn with anything but a suit, and they always sold at the kind of prices you'd typically find at the megabox retailers like Wal-Mart and Target, despite not being a megabox shoe.

Now I'm stunned to find how much the big brands -- Michael Jordans, etc -- sell for.  $200 for a pair of shoes?!

(GET OFF MY LAWN....)

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 02:54:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Has anybody read James Lovelock's work (climate change, Gaia Theory, etc)?  I'm debating whether to grab one of his books for a family member for Xmas, so I'm curious to hear others' opinions.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 02:37:58 PM EST
Whatever one might think of the work for which he is famous, he has become an old codger whose current thinking shows signs of isolated dementia.  (Whatever the scientific merits or not, the frame of Gaia was healthy for humans to learn.)

Skennah Kowa
by Crazy Horse on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 02:46:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes, I've read quite a few of his books.

If you want to induce fatalism and general feelings of hopelessness, panic, pessimism and doom, then they make the perfect Christmas gifts.

I like his works and agree with many of his points about how human civilization is doomed, but his works leave me very depressed. I generally only read his works in the spring, Christmas is far too depressing to read more Lovelock for me.

If you want a sample of his views and writing, The Guardian has a nice collection. You may also want to read his 2007 interview with Rolling Stone, The Prophet of Climate Change: James Lovelock. Here's a taste:

In Lovelock's view, the scale of the catastrophe that awaits us will soon become obvious. By 2020, droughts and other extreme weather will be commonplace. By 2040, the Sahara will be moving into Europe, and Berlin will be as hot as Baghdad. Atlanta will end up a kudzu jungle. Phoenix will become uninhabitable, as will parts of Beijing (desert), Miami (rising seas) and London (floods). Food shortages will drive millions of people north, raising political tensions. "The Chinese have nowhere to go but up into Siberia," Lovelock says. "How will the Russians feel about that? I fear that war between Russia and China is probably inevitable." With hardship and mass migrations will come epidemics, which are likely to kill millions. By 2100, Lovelock believes, the Earth's population will be culled from today's 6.6 billion to as few as 500 million, with most of the survivors living in the far latitudes -- Canada, Iceland, Scandinavia, the Arctic Basin.

By the end of the century, according to Lovelock, global warming will cause temperate zones like North America and Europe to heat up by fourteen degrees Fahrenheit, nearly double the likeliest predictions of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations-sanctioned body that includes the world's top scientists. "Our future," Lovelock writes, "is like that of the passengers on a small pleasure boat sailing quietly above the Niagara Falls, not knowing that the engines are about to fail." And switching to energy-efficient light bulbs won't save us. To Lovelock, cutting greenhouse-gas pollution won't make much difference at this point, and much of what passes for sustainable development is little more than a scam to profit off disaster. "Green," he tells me, only half-joking, "is the color of mold and corruption."

by Magnifico on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 02:47:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, Gaia wasn't really his fault: his second(?) book explains is was a metaphor. I guess this heresy cut into his income, because he seems to have backed off that now.

He's a professional doom prophet as best I can tell. This is not a recommendation.  

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 02:56:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
From a comment to a Guardian cartoon...

Paris, under global warming snow.

As the Titanic was steaming towards New York, a machine room crew discovered that there was a hole in the hull, a hole that was getting bigger and bigger.

The Captain, made aware of the situation by his Chinese Second in command, realized that such a hole could only be contained if all the passengers gave their metals, be it gold, lead or copper, metal which would be welded into a plate that would be plated upon the hole in the leak

The lower deck crew was ordered first to surrender all their meagre belongings and they pointed out quite rightly that with what they possessed you could not make an armour plate larger than a handkerchief.

The Higher Ranking Crew when asked pointed out that everything they had was property of the Company and that willing as they were to make sacrifice, they could not surrender which was not theirs

The Captain then addressed the passengers; First class passengers were horrified and rushed to the cable room to send aggressive telegrams demanding the dismissal on the spot of the Captain and preferably that he should made to walk the plank. Who could blame them? They had paid for a fare from London to New-York with hard earned money earned by their beloved grand-grand-father and now their rights were trampled and obscene demands put on them.

Third class passengers, those parked in the holds were more than willing to contribute rags an d sweat but told that regretfully this would not sufficient

In the meantime the hole was getting bigger, and the First Class passenger complained bitterly that there was not enough tortoise taste in the soup and that they were incommode by the leaning of the ship and ordered the Captain to shift the hold scum to the other side of the ship so that they could enjoy their rightful rights to a luxury travel. How would they be expected to dance if the dance floor was leaning?

As the hole in the hulk was getting bigger and bigger the ship was slowed down and never even noticed the iceberg floating in the darkness on the starboard.

Finally, the ship arrived in New York, the corpses of the drowned machine room members and third class passengers that had been drowned were very discreetly disembarked.

The Capture never set his foot again on the bridge of a ship.

The first class passengers were so upset, they had to recruit new maids and servants to replace those that had been drowned.

Old Nils, Un elephant dans mon carburateur

Skennah Kowa

by Crazy Horse on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 03:24:21 PM EST
CH, if you ever desire to forswear wind, I foresee a great future for you as a an author of children's books.

Something along the lines of Horton Hatches the Ecopocalypse.

Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine - Patti Smith

by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 03:49:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Wait wait wait, me no write that.  Was just a copied comment from the Guardian discussion of that cartoon.

Though i have published illuminated writing for children in the far distant past.  illustrated, too, but not by me.

Skennah Kowa

by Crazy Horse on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 04:01:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Crazy Horse:  
Wait wait wait, me no write that.

Never Get Ahead© by not taking the credit for other people's work.

No one could have predicted

by ATinNM on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 04:19:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes, well, who's to argue that Lovelock is wrong these days. Apart from the rich who will buy their well stocked bunkers, we are all screwed.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 03:50:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Friggin' RNA!  Who would have guessed?

How the dogma has changed in 35 years.

I love the smell of roast chicken in the morning!

by THE Twank (yatta blah blah @ blah.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 03:34:21 PM EST
Huh?

Are you referring to transcript factors being modified by hormones?


No one could have predicted

by ATinNM on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 03:43:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I have not a clue what you mean, but this has to be the in medias res comment of the night.

Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine - Patti Smith
by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 03:52:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 03:44:24 PM EST
Harrumpf.  Obvious photoshop merde.  No Scottish technology doesn't not account for freezing temperatures.

Eurostar be damned, the drilling tools in the Chunnel dig were managed by my former chief at Howden Wind Parks, from Glasgow.  We called him Dr. Death behind his back, but he was very competent, if not way too fricken competent.

So don't show me no fake photo os Scotsman freezing technology not working because it freezes.  or i'll shiver your timbales.

Skennah Kowa

by Crazy Horse on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 04:09:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Ah. But this is an American Scotsman.

Probably from Loch Ness, Nevada.

Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine - Patti Smith

by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 04:18:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
???  (Where does the link go?)

Skennah Kowa
by Crazy Horse on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 06:44:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Because if there's one place in America you want to go looking for lochs, it's Nevada. ;)

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 08:16:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Here is the US approach to 'unitising' income from intellectual property.

Unit License Rights

Unit License RightTM ("ULR") contracts provide use of select patented technologies via standard form licenses on publicly viewed terms. ULR contracts address the current inefficiency of technology transfer including the time, expense, redundancy and uncertain outcome of traditional bilateral licensing negotiation.

The Intellectual Property Exchange International ("IPXI") serves as the intermediary between the patent owner(s) and potential licensees. IPXI is authorized to market the IP licenses and facilitates one or more offerings of consumable "license rights."

Each ULR contract purchased gives the buyer the right to use a pre-established unit of IP, for example the right to make and sell up to an established quantity of products covered by the patents in question.

IPXI is responsible for auditing consumption of the units and publicly reporting this information. Importantly, in the event of infringement, IPXI is usually responsible for enforcing the rights under the patent or other IP.

Kudos to IPXI for ingenuity. It's a variation on the Canadian Income Trusts slowly being strangled by the tax-man.

My approach is for the IP to remain in custody and for "n'ths" to be available for sale within a partnership framework rather than a company and/or trust law framework.

Modern conservatives engage in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy: the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.Galbraith

by ChrisCook (cojockathotmaildotcom) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 04:36:18 PM EST
OK, a bit stream of lack of consciousness here, but i just saw an incredible movie.  i don't know why i've never heard of it, perhaps because i'm becoming an isolated demented old codger, but The International is brilliant (as far as filmmaking can take us.)

It's the best international finance of weapons movie i've ever seen.  i watched it because some guy i never met put it in my hands in a video store, and i thought what the hell.

i admit to getting more and more spellbound the deeper it got.  Brings up a few questions.  Is this a movie everyone else has already known about and seen?  Why didn't i hear about it?  Is it because...?

So, leave aside for a moment that i'm an idiot for not knowing about this film.  i'm watching stunned the entire time, it's a thriller, a modern thriller, but it's so classically Yurpeen that my Ardbeg breath is taken away.

At the end, they run the credits, and i discover (i didn't even look at the jacket of the film, partly because the disc comes just as a disc, in a box from the video store, and there's nothing except the title on the disc)

that the director is Tom Tykwer, who went to school with my ex.  Lola Rennt, Run Lola Run.  Perfume.

well i digress.  if top of the line international finance thrillers are your forte, you've probably already seen this.  i'm probably an idiot for even mentioning a film that's already garnered attention, especially by the ETerratti here.  Though i'm dumb enough not to have known of its existence,

But if not, three thumbs up.  How do you spell Lux em bourg anyway?

Skennah Kowa

by Crazy Horse on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 06:39:15 PM EST
It only came out a few months ago. A quick check on IMDB shows that lots of people had similar reactions to yours, but they often mention bad reviews and a lousy trailer as reasons for having no expectations before they saw it.
by gk (g k quattro due due sette "at" gmail.com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 12:26:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]


If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Mon Dec 21st, 2009 at 07:12:51 PM EST
We had huge lumps of slushy snow falling down.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 04:49:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]
We were headed for a pretty normal year of precipitation in NoVa until this storm.  About 8 inches above normal beforehand.  Now I guess we're about 25 inches above normal on the year.

This is gonna be a mess.  Temps were above freezing Monday, but they fell back into the low-20s today, so the runoff is going to freeze over again.

Really, they should've kept the feds open yesterday and closed them down today.  Dealing with snow isn't so bad.  You can walk and drive on it, especially in larger quantities.  And the cars will help heat up the road to melt it off.

Black ice is a a different story.  I didn't fully appreciate the concept until I did 30 feet of what one might generously call "walking" from my apartment and decided I'd go ahead and wait on the bus instead.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Tue Dec 22nd, 2009 at 08:29:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]


Display:
Go to: [ European Tribune Homepage : Top of page : Top of comments ]