Wapsi Square Forum

Jabberwonky wrote:

shadowinthelight wrote:I'm pretty sure I remember Paul saying Bud pulled that time estimate out of her ass so any calculation based off what she said is pointless.

I thought her hatch was on the front...

I'm prepared to take what I thought I knew and toss it. For all we know, Bud could have several such storage compartments.
Conceivably, if she keeps junk in her trunk, that would make her a hatchback.

GlytchMeister wrote:So a couple people saw me doing my calculations on this whole thing, including the elephant on a ballpoint pen... I think I just solidified my position as head goof at my school.

Heh. Shoulda seen the looks i got when i was spotted recalculating the gravitational constant into furlongs cubed per slug-fortnight^2...

MerchManDan wrote:

Jabberwonky wrote:

shadowinthelight wrote:I'm pretty sure I remember Paul saying Bud pulled that time estimate out of her ass so any calculation based off what she said is pointless.

I thought her hatch was on the front...

I'm prepared to take what I thought I knew and toss it. For all we know, Bud could have several such storage compartments.
Conceivably, if she keeps junk in her trunk, that would make her a hatchback.

Gives "hot hatchback" a whole new meaning.

Fairportfan wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote:So a couple people saw me doing my calculations on this whole thing, including the elephant on a ballpoint pen... I think I just solidified my position as head goof at my school.

Heh. Shoulda seen the looks i got when i was spotted recalculating the gravitational constant into furlongs cubed per slug-fortnight^2...

...I'm struggling to figure out what, in either this universe or any fictional universe I've heard of, that kind of unit conversion would be useful in. I've never even heard of a slug as a unit of mass until now (also, just found out the blob and the glut are units of measurements as well).
...I think you've caused a short circuit in my brain... My lower right eyelid is twitching.

GlytchMeister wrote:...I'm struggling to figure out what, in either this universe or any fictional universe I've heard of, that kind of unit conversion would be useful in. I've never even heard of a slug as a unit of mass until now (also, just found out the blob and the glut are units of measurements as well).
...I think you've caused a short circuit in my brain... My lower right eyelid is twitching.

Hey, speeds measured in furlongs per fortnight are very traditional, in the places I used to hang out (college CS lab). It's a very useful unit to know if you're measuring the growth rate of kudzu.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FFF_system

GlytchMeister wrote:

Fairportfan wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote:So a couple people saw me doing my calculations on this whole thing, including the elephant on a ballpoint pen... I think I just solidified my position as head goof at my school.

Heh. Shoulda seen the looks i got when i was spotted recalculating the gravitational constant into furlongs cubed per slug-fortnight^2...

...I'm struggling to figure out what, in either this universe or any fictional universe I've heard of, that kind of unit conversion would be useful in. I've never even heard of a slug as a unit of mass until now (also, just found out the blob and the glut are units of measurements as well).
...I think you've caused a short circuit in my brain... My lower right eyelid is twitching.

I doubt it would be useful in any universe.

It was an exercise in absurdity.

=================

I also took a whack at the gas laws using Rankine temperature units.

GlytchMeister wrote:

Fairportfan wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote:So a couple people saw me doing my calculations on this whole thing, including the elephant on a ballpoint pen... I think I just solidified my position as head goof at my school.

Heh. Shoulda seen the looks i got when i was spotted recalculating the gravitational constant into furlongs cubed per slug-fortnight^2...

...I'm struggling to figure out what, in either this universe or any fictional universe I've heard of, that kind of unit conversion would be useful in. I've never even heard of a slug as a unit of mass until now (also, just found out the blob and the glut are units of measurements as well).
...I think you've caused a short circuit in my brain... My lower right eyelid is twitching.

I doubt it would be useful in any universe.

It was an exercise in absurdity.

Back in the day when i was wondering how big a black hole with one g gravitation at the event horizon would have to be.

=================

I also took a whack at the gas laws using Rankine temperature units.[/quote]

But... But this?!?
...
furlongs ^3 per slug-fortnight^2

Furlong x Furlong x furlong Volume
---------------------------------- = --------------
Slug x fortnight x fortnight Mass x time^2

...
I just looked up what units the Gravitational constant can be expressed in, and I was thoroughly surprised to find that your... Mess... Is mathematically valid. I honestly thought that was bullcrap for the sake of humor.

Unit cancellation is wierd.

The usual CGS units are cm^3 per gram-second^2, so it's just a matter of plugging in the conversions...

==============

Speaking of unit conversions - i used to have a couple of inexpensive plastic measuring cups (made in China, of course), marked in both fractional cups and fluid ounces.

The bigger one was three cups.

By the time you got to the top of the cup, the cups and fluid ounce scales were (estimating by eye) about two ounces off - that is, "twenty-four fluid ounces" was quite a bit below "three cups".

Apparently the two scales were independently calculated, using conversion factors from milliliters, and since the rounding error on the two conversions was different...

GlytchMeister wrote:But... But this?!?
...
furlongs ^3 per slug-fortnight^2

Furlong x Furlong x furlong Volume
---------------------------------- = --------------
Slug x fortnight x fortnight Mass x time^2

...
I just looked up what units the Gravitational constant can be expressed in, and I was thoroughly surprised to find that your... Mess... Is mathematically valid. I honestly thought that was bullcrap for the sake of humor.

Unit cancellation is wierd.

I suck at Math (unusual for one who got shuffled into the "gifted" classes). Where would the perfectly spherical balrog come in?

kingklash wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote:But... But this?!?
...
furlongs ^3 per slug-fortnight^2

Furlong x Furlong x furlong Volume
---------------------------------- = --------------
Slug x fortnight x fortnight Mass x time^2

...
I just looked up what units the Gravitational constant can be expressed in, and I was thoroughly surprised to find that your... Mess... Is mathematically valid. I honestly thought that was bullcrap for the sake of humor.

Unit cancellation is wierd.

I suck at Math (unusual for one who got shuffled into the "gifted" classes). Where would the perfectly spherical balrog come in?

Stage Left.

kingklash wrote:I suck at Math (unusual for one who got shuffled into the "gifted" classes). Where would the perfectly spherical balrog come in?

Anywhere it wants. Nobody wants to stand in a doorway, when there's a 30-foot ball of flame-spouting Maia protoplasm bearing down on them. Even Indiana Jones would run away from that!

Fairportfan wrote:The usual CGS units are cm^3 per gram-second^2, so it's just a matter of plugging in the conversions...

==============

Speaking of unit conversions - i used to have a couple of inexpensive plastic measuring cups (made in China, of course), marked in both fractional cups and fluid ounces.

The bigger one was three cups.

By the time you got to the top of the cup, the cups and fluid ounce scales were (estimating by eye) about two ounces off - that is, "twenty-four fluid ounces" was quite a bit below "three cups".

Apparently the two scales were independently calculated, using conversion factors from milliliters, and since the rounding error on the two conversions was different...

Difference between dry cups and liquid. Liquid cups are 4 fluid Oz. Dry cups are a tad larger than that by an amount that varies with the manufacturer of the cup (I.e. there's a "fudge factor" but not everyone uses the same "correction").

Opus the Poet wrote:

Fairportfan wrote:The usual CGS units are cm^3 per gram-second^2, so it's just a matter of plugging in the conversions...

==============

Speaking of unit conversions - i used to have a couple of inexpensive plastic measuring cups (made in China, of course), marked in both fractional cups and fluid ounces.

The bigger one was three cups.

By the time you got to the top of the cup, the cups and fluid ounce scales were (estimating by eye) about two ounces off - that is, "twenty-four fluid ounces" was quite a bit below "three cups".

Apparently the two scales were independently calculated, using conversion factors from milliliters, and since the rounding error on the two conversions was different...

Difference between dry cups and liquid. Liquid cups are 4 fluid Oz. Dry cups are a tad larger than that by an amount that varies with the manufacturer of the cup (I.e. there's a "fudge factor" but not everyone uses the same "correction").

That only makes sense if the scales are marked that way. And "cups" is a volume measurement, as is "fluid ounces" (which, BTW, were an ounce of wine, hence a bit larger than an ounce of water), so a cup of flour is the same as a cup of vinegar.

kingklash wrote: I suck at Math (unusual for one who got shuffled into the "gifted" classes). Where would the perfectly spherical balrog come in?

Right Here!

No no no - "...assume a perfectly spherical cow of uniform density..."

NOTDilbert wrote:

kingklash wrote: I suck at Math (unusual for one who got shuffled into the "gifted" classes). Where would the perfectly spherical balrog come in?

Stage Left.

Fairportfan wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote:So a couple people saw me doing my calculations on this whole thing, including the elephant on a ballpoint pen... I think I just solidified my position as head goof at my school.

Heh. Shoulda seen the looks i got when i was spotted recalculating the gravitational constant into furlongs cubed per slug-fortnight^2...

After this one, I utterly must post the images explaining the differences between nerds and geeks, as well as their intersections, and other related freaks:

BTW, concerning furlongs and fortnights, although not slugs, the first time I encountered such was in a corollary to Murphy's Law:

Dimensions will always be expressed in the least useable terms. For example, tape velocity will typically be expressed in furlongs/fortnight.