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07-04-2017, 15:41
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#436
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Senior Cruiser
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Port Moresby,Papua New Guinea
Boat: FP Belize Maestro 43 and OPBs
Posts: 12,888
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Re: Metric system dumbs us down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TrentePieds
We started off with a joke about cultural differences of no particular import. These 430 posts later, posts about a triviality, I think the thread has transmogrified into a joke about fanatiscism.
Pax vobiscum!
TP
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I think the thread has transmogrified into a really interesting and broad ranging discussion about all sorts of real world measuring systems. I'm really enjoying it.
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07-04-2017, 22:38
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#437
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Moderator
Join Date: May 2012
Location: At sea somewhere in the Pacific
Boat: Jeanneau Sun Fast 40.3
Posts: 6,351
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Re: Metric system dumbs us down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StuM
I think the thread has transmogrified into a really interesting and broad ranging discussion about all sorts of real world measuring systems. I'm really enjoying it.
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Indeed. A true learning experience
__________________
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=carsten...ref=nb_sb_noss
Our books have gotten 5 star reviews on Amazon. Several readers have written "I never thought I would go on a circumnavigation, but when I read these books, I was right there in the cockpit with Vinni and Carsten"
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07-04-2017, 22:48
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#438
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: ashore in So Calif.
Boat: No more boat (my medical, not the boat's)
Posts: 1,453
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Re: Metric system dumbs us down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StuM
I think the thread has transmogrified into a really interesting and broad ranging discussion about all sorts of real world measuring systems. I'm really enjoying it.
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Here is one that, somewhat surprisingly, has not been discussed or even mentioned, unless I plain missed it. What is the size of a pixel? It is probably best not to answer if you are even slightly apixelated, or is it pixelated?
__________________
"Old California"
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07-04-2017, 23:37
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#439
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Senior Cruiser
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Port Moresby,Papua New Guinea
Boat: FP Belize Maestro 43 and OPBs
Posts: 12,888
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Re: Metric system dumbs us down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzstar
Here is one that, somewhat surprisingly, has not been discussed or even mentioned, unless I plain missed it. What is the size of a pixel? It is probably best not to answer if you are even slightly apixelated, or is it pixelated?
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It varies depending on screen size and resolution.
A Pixel is one "picture element" or dot on the screen.
So divide your screen width and height by the horizontal and vertical resolution you have currently set and that will tell you the current size of a pixel on your system.
Change the screen resolution on your computer back to the old 640x480 standard and each pixel will probably be at least 4 times the size of one on your current monitor setting.
A pixel will be several inches in height and width on a giant scoreboard in a sports stadium. On a modern computer monitor , they may be in the 1/100ths of an inch range.
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08-04-2017, 00:32
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#440
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Moderator
Join Date: May 2012
Location: At sea somewhere in the Pacific
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Posts: 6,351
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Re: Metric system dumbs us down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StuM
On a modern computer monitor , they may be in the 1/100ths of an inch range.
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oh dear - mixing the meteric (1/100th) with imperial (inch)
Will the confusion never stop?
__________________
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=carsten...ref=nb_sb_noss
Our books have gotten 5 star reviews on Amazon. Several readers have written "I never thought I would go on a circumnavigation, but when I read these books, I was right there in the cockpit with Vinni and Carsten"
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08-04-2017, 05:08
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#441
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Senior Cruiser
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Port Moresby,Papua New Guinea
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Posts: 12,888
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Re: Metric system dumbs us down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by carstenb
oh dear - mixing the meteric (1/100th) with imperial (inch)
Will the confusion never stop?
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That's because the common practice with screens and printers is to use DPI (Dots Per Inch).
Oh, BTW it's metric, not meteric
And metric is not a synonym for decimal. It means based on the metre.
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08-04-2017, 05:24
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#442
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Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 6,192
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Re: Metric system dumbs us down.
When I was a scout we plaid a game, sort of a simple version of "Kim's game": Toss a number of coins on the table so they fall in a random pattern. The "test subject" is to tell you how many coins there are. People will perceive the number instantly, without counting, if the number is six or less. Some people can instantly perceive that there are seven and a very few can instantly perceive that there are eight. Beyond eight, people have to actually count them. I've done it with university students too. Same result.
That's why, I do believe, the "old" system works far better than the decimal system for so many things. We are wired for six!
And something that really tickles me is that tomorrow I'll be knocking up a jig for making finger-joints to join the corners in wooden drawers. The "air" you need to have in each little notch to accommodate each little "finger" so the pieces come together easily, yet will not be too loose, is - you guessed it - 6 "thou"!
I tell you: Homo sapiens is wired for six! The decimal merchants will never win :-)
TP
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08-04-2017, 05:37
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#443
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Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 6,192
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Re: Metric system dumbs us down.
Quote: "And metric is not a synonym for decimal. It means based on the metre."
Jai Pedantry - the world needs more of it! :-0)!
Seriously - it does!
My scanner "halftones" material. You can choose between several DPI values. Dunno whether it's useful or not, since I cannot conceive of a situation where you'd ever make a "paper (printing) plate" on a PC. Tho I guess if I played with the function that "copies" photographic negatives, the need for "screening" would emerge.
TP
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08-04-2017, 07:13
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#444
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Moderator
Join Date: May 2012
Location: At sea somewhere in the Pacific
Boat: Jeanneau Sun Fast 40.3
Posts: 6,351
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Re: Metric system dumbs us down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StuM
That's because the common practice with screens and printers is to use DPI (Dots Per Inch).
Oh, BTW it's metric, not meteric
And metric is not a synonym for decimal. It means based on the metre.
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The meteric comes from not proof reading adequately - I meant to write metric.
But I agree that metric doesn't mean decimal, although both are in factors of 10
__________________
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=carsten...ref=nb_sb_noss
Our books have gotten 5 star reviews on Amazon. Several readers have written "I never thought I would go on a circumnavigation, but when I read these books, I was right there in the cockpit with Vinni and Carsten"
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08-04-2017, 08:54
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#445
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Massachusetts
Boat: Formosa 41
Posts: 1,019
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Re: Metric system dumbs us down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TrentePieds
When I was a scout we plaid a game, sort of a simple version of "Kim's game": Toss a number of coins on the table so they fall in a random pattern. The "test subject" is to tell you how many coins there are. People will perceive the number instantly, without counting, if the number is six or less. Some people can instantly perceive that there are seven and a very few can instantly perceive that there are eight. Beyond eight, people have to actually count them. I've done it with university students too. Same result.
That's why, I do believe, the "old" system works far better than the decimal system for so many things. We are wired for six!
And something that really tickles me is that tomorrow I'll be knocking up a jig for making finger-joints to join the corners in wooden drawers. The "air" you need to have in each little notch to accommodate each little "finger" so the pieces come together easily, yet will not be too loose, is - you guessed it - 6 "thou"!
I tell you: Homo sapiens is wired for six! The decimal merchants will never win :-)
TP
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Very cool:
https://www.google.com/search?q=subi...&client=safari
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08-04-2017, 10:48
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#446
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Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 6,192
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Re: Metric system dumbs us down.
Well, whaddayaknow! I never thought any more of it, than that it was another one of Baden-Powell's bits of "field craft" from the Boer War :-) Didn't know it had been made into a science :-)
From another article I found as a result of looking at the one you referenced: "They see the domino as composed of two groups of four and as "one eight." Bingo!
You will recall I said "so [the coins] fall in a random pattern". I was aware of the phenomenon of "grouping" because when you play the game you can actually quite readily see this happening. If the random pattern happens to be an "organized" one, the mind "sees" the number of GROUPS in the pattern, but again with a limitation of six to eight, the limit depending on the "subject's" perceptual acuity, which seems to be unrelated to IQ as manifest in a classroom.
Cool indeed!
Thank you very much :-0)!
TP
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08-04-2017, 15:55
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#447
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Senior Cruiser
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Port Moresby,Papua New Guinea
Boat: FP Belize Maestro 43 and OPBs
Posts: 12,888
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Re: Metric system dumbs us down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Flare
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Thanks for that - I haven't run across the concept or the word before.
See, that's what I love about threads like this, always some new knowledge to pick up.
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08-04-2017, 19:02
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#448
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: ashore in So Calif.
Boat: No more boat (my medical, not the boat's)
Posts: 1,453
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Re: Metric system dumbs us down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by carstenb
oh dear - mixing the meteric (1/100th) with imperial (inch)
Will the confusion never stop?
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Oh goody! I created confusion for some. /s/ Loki
__________________
"Old California"
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09-04-2017, 03:31
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#449
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Moderator
Join Date: May 2012
Location: At sea somewhere in the Pacific
Boat: Jeanneau Sun Fast 40.3
Posts: 6,351
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Re: Metric system dumbs us down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TrentePieds
Well, whaddayaknow! I never thought any more of it, than that it was another one of Baden-Powell's bits of "field craft" from the Boer War :-) Didn't know it had been made into a science :-)
From another article I found as a result of looking at the one you referenced: "They see the domino as composed of two groups of four and as "one eight." Bingo!
You will recall I said "so [the coins] fall in a random pattern". I was aware of the phenomenon of "grouping" because when you play the game you can actually quite readily see this happening. If the random pattern happens to be an "organized" one, the mind "sees" the number of GROUPS in the pattern, but again with a limitation of six to eight, the limit depending on the "subject's" perceptual acuity, which seems to be unrelated to IQ as manifest in a classroom.
Cool indeed!
Thank you very much :-0)!
TP
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But wait! most peopel easily recognize a "9" of spadesor hearts etc. Maybe from the pattern? What about "10"s?
__________________
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=carsten...ref=nb_sb_noss
Our books have gotten 5 star reviews on Amazon. Several readers have written "I never thought I would go on a circumnavigation, but when I read these books, I was right there in the cockpit with Vinni and Carsten"
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09-04-2017, 04:32
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#450
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2011
Location: St-Barthelemy Island, French West Indies
Boat: Ericson 34
Posts: 339
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Re: Metric system dumbs us down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzstar
In sum total, metric, imperial, and traditional, it is still donkey dust.
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"Donkey dust" ??? Do you mean "Nun's fart" ???
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