Re: Kanji for 'ishi' (stone) can be pronounced 'koku'

Sean <sean@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 2006-09-04 13:17:24 -0700, Bart Mathias <mathias@xxxxxxxxxx> said:

Sean wrote:
[...]
1. Decimal system. It's why celsius is better than fahrenheit.

I'm pretty much with you on the deleted parts, Sean (except I don't
really know who Ann Coulter is, and don't think I want to).

But celsius is no more decimal system, or metrics, than Fahrenheit.

Right. But it has nice, round touch points. Freezing at zero and
boiling at a hundred are nice and, uh, symmetrical.

Why? Or why not begin with a scale that at least can pretend to have
some physical basis; say, 0 being the absolute theoretical lower limit
and 10 being the boiling point of (say helium) or 100 being the boiling
point of hydrogen?

A certain gentlemen
might suspect that I don't know that the freezing and boiling points
differ according to air pressure and so on. I don't live in such a
complicated world.

Well, most of us don't live in a controlled lab environment, or large
plastic bubbles.

When I look out my window at the thermometer I have
hanging outside and I see it's at zero or thereabouts, it's enough
information to help me make some accurate enough predictions about
likely driving conditions, sweater requirements and so on.

How odd; my mother has the same reaction when she looks out a window and
sees that it's 32 degrees or thereabouts. What wonderful 'symmetry'.

Now, a one might note that the vast majority of your objections are
little more than you personally weren't raised with them, therefore they
are inferior. How does that line of "thinking" seperate you from (oh,
to pick a purely random example) the Ann Coulter's of the world?


Mike
.