Dear Jim and All,
I have interspersed some remarks.
on 2001-02-23 00.12, James R. Frysinger at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Great stuff, Pat. Thanks!
>
> Let me comment on a couple of things here, not meaning to detract from
> the material, but taking the occasion raised by the notes below.
I am delighted that you have taken the trouble to do so. One of the
strengths of the USMA list is the support we get here from our colleagues
before we sally forth to attack our backward thinking neighbours.
> A pace to the Romans was two steps. This is what Joe Reid referred to
> as a "double pace", a "pace" to him (and you) being one step. Thus one
> thousand paces (= 2000 steps) in Latin evolved to the word "mile".
I have responded to this issue elsewhere.
> In your temperature chart you include phase transitions for water. I
> would like to remind those on the list that those are no longer
> defining points. Pure water freezes very, very close to 0 and boils at
> normal atmospheric pressure very, very close to 100 on the Celsius
> scale, but the scale is defined based on the triple point of water and
> the size of the kelvin (thus on the zero point of the thermodynamic
> scale).
You are right of course - it was sloppy writing on my part. Perhaps these
are better words that make the point without the nuisance (to technophobes)
of any technical qualifications.
Some common temperatures are:
The lowest air temperature ever recorded was 89 °C
Water freezes at about 0 °C
A normal human internal body temperature is about 37 °C
The highest air temperature ever recorded was 58 °C
Water boils at about 100 °C
> That's a new version of the temperature ditty. I've been toying with
> "forty is scorchy" as a new line at the top of the old one, but then I
> end up with an odd number of lines.
I, too, have played with this rhyme. I think I took the essence of it - the
first four lines - from a posting by Dennis Brownridge. However, I had to
add the last two lines to suit Australian conditions - it is often above
40 °C during summer, and sometimes (rarely) above 50 °C.
Since I sent my last version to you, I have asked my wife, a professional
musician, to look at it. After muttering strange words, like scansion and
metre, she reduced it to this:
Temperatures in degrees Celsius
Zero's freezing,
10 is not,
20 pleasing
30 hot,
40 frying,
50 dying.
I have recited this several times now and it is the most pleasing,
rhythmically, of the versions that I have seen, and heard. Like all kids, I
am inclined to overact outrageously when I get to '50 dying'.
