Posted by Calgary on December 28, 2006, 11:57 pm
wrote:
>On Thu, 28 Dec 2006 17:14:45 GMT, Calgary
>>wrote:
>>
>>>FWIW, I ran into one of the local TV weathermen last night. He out
>>>doing a remote. I asked him, "What about these 40 knot winds we're
>>>supposed to get?" He said, "40 miles per hour, not knots."
>>>I thought, fine, but I don't think I could tell the difference between
>>>knots and MPH. Could you?
>>
>>It's not a huge difference but if I was sailing I would want to know
>>if it was kts or mph.
>Why? I mean, if the wind is approaching gale force, or strong enough
>that it would force you to seek shelter, it wouldn't matter, right? If
>the wind is so light you can't make headway, it wouldn't matter.
>Our senses are weird. We can tell color differences fairly closely. We
>are pretty accurate at differentiating sound tones. When I get in the
>ocean, I can tell the water temperature to within 2 degrees. But our
>sense of smell is just ballpark gross, and I can't tell how fast I'm
>going within 15%, at best. And there's no way I could accurately tell
>how fast the wind is blowing.
In the sense we rely on our senses to define the speed we enter a
corner on our bikes. That said I do use my GPS indicated speed and the
suggested speed limit signs to aid my decision making. When sailing as
when riding I prefer having the most accurate information available to
help make my decisions. A 5% error here combined with a 10% error
there might make for a weak decision.
Would the difference between kts and mph affect my decision to take
shelter or not? Not likely, but if the winds are light it might make
the difference in my going out for the day or not.
--
24 hours in a day
&
24 beer in a case
Coincidence?
I think not
Posted by David Steuber on December 28, 2006, 11:35 pm
> wrote:
> >
> >Well, to be fair, the 'common' foot in normal use is exactly .3048 m,
> >not the 0.30480061 m of the US survey foot. That's only about one
> >extra wavelength of yellow-orange light per foot anyway, close enough
> >for _most_ jobs...
>
> Well, tbh, that was the conversion we used at my work.
> 30.48 metres = 100 feet.
Does it make a difference that the towers of the Varizano Bridge in
New York are about 25mm out of parallel due to the earth's curvature?
--
This post uses 100% post consumer electrons and 100% virgin photons.
At 2.6 miles per minute, you don't really have time to get bored.
--- Pete Roehling on rec.motorcycles
I bump into a lot of veteran riders in my travels.
--- David Hough: Proficient Motorcycling
Posted by BrianNZ on December 27, 2006, 6:11 pm
Tim Kreitz wrote:
> Michael R. Kesti wrote:
>> I doubt, however, that this journalist understands the principles of
>> accuracy that make his statement acceptable. Nor, apparently, do you.
>
> That assertion is based on your interpretation of the journalists
> meaning, not on how it was actually presented. Had the word
> "approximately" or similar been employed, I wouldn't have mentioned the
> discrepancy. What I do know is that meters and yards are not
> interchangable. 1 meter equals 1.093 yards. That may indeed be close
> enough to get you "new math" students by, I suppose. Just please don't
> apply for any engineering positions.
>
> Tim Kreitz
> 2003 ZX7R
> 2000 ZX6R
> http://www.timkreitz.com
>
...."new math"....bwaaahahahaha....good one! :)
I'm in the engineering field as well and rough enough is not good enough.
Posted by Rob Kleinschmidt on December 27, 2006, 6:37 pm
BrianNZ wrote:
> I'm in the engineering field as well and rough enough is not good enough.
Depends on the application.
For purposes of describing a confused motorist driving
into a porta-potty, I'd really, really hope that "30 meters
(32.80839895 yards)" wasn't really needed even for
the most dweebish of engineers.
Posted by BrianNZ on December 27, 2006, 6:57 pm
Rob Kleinschmidt wrote:
> BrianNZ wrote:
>
>> I'm in the engineering field as well and rough enough is not good enough.
>
> Depends on the application.
>
> For purposes of describing a confused motorist driving
> into a porta-potty, I'd really, really hope that "30 meters
> (32.80839895 yards)" wasn't really needed even for
> the most dweebish of engineers.
>
Those extra 2.80839895 yards would make all the difference if you were
standing there!
To quote two measurements as the same is shoddy reporting, thats all.
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>>wrote:
>>
>>>FWIW, I ran into one of the local TV weathermen last night. He out
>>>doing a remote. I asked him, "What about these 40 knot winds we're
>>>supposed to get?" He said, "40 miles per hour, not knots."
>>>I thought, fine, but I don't think I could tell the difference between
>>>knots and MPH. Could you?
>>
>>It's not a huge difference but if I was sailing I would want to know
>>if it was kts or mph.
>Why? I mean, if the wind is approaching gale force, or strong enough
>that it would force you to seek shelter, it wouldn't matter, right? If
>the wind is so light you can't make headway, it wouldn't matter.
>Our senses are weird. We can tell color differences fairly closely. We
>are pretty accurate at differentiating sound tones. When I get in the
>ocean, I can tell the water temperature to within 2 degrees. But our
>sense of smell is just ballpark gross, and I can't tell how fast I'm
>going within 15%, at best. And there's no way I could accurately tell
>how fast the wind is blowing.