A quick note about my experience in South Africa. Please read it carefully:
Ek het in Suid Afrika groot geword. In Johannesburg, tydens die wintermaande dal die temperatuur soms tot -5°C maar in die somermaande styg did tot 35°C. Did you understand what I wrote? Probably not, but I suspect that most Brits could pick out three items – "Johannesburg", "-5°C" and "35°C" so they could hazard a guess what I was writing about. The British are probably as monolingual as the Americans, but how many Americans would understand "-5°C" and "35°C"? This is a very good reason to use the International System of Units. Martin Vlietstra From: USMA [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ressel, Howard R (DOT) Sent: 23 July 2020 15:26 To: Tony Abell; Michael Payne Cc: USMA List Server Subject: [USMA 1499] Re: More garbage I think it’s just another in a series of retorts that tries to justify staying with WOMBAT because we are better than everyone else. What works for 99% of the world just wont work here. There was no study, no scientific proof, psychological analysis to explain his point. Do those in countries using Celsius temperature scales really have a problem deciding when to wear a coat or if it is hot or cold outside? If the world really needed a finer temperature scale France would have developed a modified Celsius scale based on 10 where perhaps Freezing was Zero and boiling 200 or 1000 but then again how much simpler is a system that does not use triple digits for most common use. Oh and if scientist need a more refined scale we have that – Kelvin and it’s SI based. Howard Ressel NYSDOT Rochester NY From: USMA <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Tony Abell Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2020 9:31 PM To: Michael Payne <[email protected]> Cc: USMA List Server <[email protected]> Subject: [USMA 1498] Re: More garbage ATTENTION: This email came from an external source. Do not open attachments or click on links from unknown senders or unexpected emails. I'd like to see an experiment where people enter two identical rooms which differ in air temperature by 1 °F and try to say which is warmer and which cooler. But even if many people can discern that difference, a larger 1 °C difference in outdoor temperature is not going to change what you decide to wear. As far as assessing weather conditions for practical matters, a whole degree Celsius is perfectly precise enough. The advantage of having the freezing point at zero, in climates that get that cold, is useful enough in itself as to justify Celsius over Fahrenheit. If you need more precision, use a decimal point. The author does make an indirect point: if your only use for temperature is to make note of it or set a dial on an oven, it doesn't matter much what scale you use. It's just a number. The practicality of Celsius as part of a rational measurement system may seem somewhat theoretical to the average person. On the other hand, knowing what the rest of the world means when they speak Celsius is a significant plus, unless xenophobia is your thing. Americans just aren't exposed to Celsius all that much. And it doesn't help that the National Weather Service is deeply dyed in °F even though they are fully conversant with °C for anything higher than 2 m above the ground! On Tue, Jul 21, 2020 at 9:45 AM Michael Payne <[email protected]> wrote: https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zmescience.com%2Fother%2Ffahrenheit-vs-celsius-did-the-u-s-get-it-right-after-all%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cusma%40lists.colostate.edu%7C8d3a80ac205c4842517b08d82fd38ac9%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637311932905530318&sdata=RkbZv9uscWLxTN0HHT5pcoi5yv8qDLv%2BYIIcSQsv%2B5s%3D&reserved=0 Mike Payne _______________________________________________ USMA mailing list [email protected] https://lists.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usma
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