• ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    Ugh, I’m one of those people who will defend imperial as not being irrational, just built ad-hoc for purposes that aren’t in alignment with modern ones and … No, that’s not what Fahrenheit is.

    Fahrenheit was trying to make a temperature scale that was easy to recreate to ease the calibration of thermometers. Zero is a temperature that can be created in your garage with some ice, salt and water. 100 was his best, ultimately inaccurate, attempt to measure human body temperature, since it’s another easy calibration point, and from there water was defined as 32 and 212 so that they were 180 degrees apart, which would fit will on a temperature dial.
    Not irrational, not a comfort scale, and not in alignment with current needs.

    It’s pure coincidence that it kinda lines up with comfortable outdoor temperatures in the opinion of a good chunk of a population living in the northern part of the western hemisphere.

    • OldChicoAle@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Yeah we know it’s a coincidence. That’s kinda a part of the joke. No need to flex your knowledge here Mr smarty pants

  • KaChilde@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    100% hot by what understanding? If I set my oven to 100F, the peak of heat by this memes reckoning, that roast chicken is going to kill my family.

    If I run a warm bath at 50F, the medium-est of heats, My testicles are going to implode faster than a billionaire in a homemade submarine when they touch the water.

    If we are talking human comfort, then 50F is also way too cold to be considered “50% hot”.

    • Random Dent@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      I worked retail for a decade. There is no bottom to the barrel. There are people driving around in cars who genuinely shouldn’t be left unsupervised with metal utensils.

      • jj4211@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I suppose the takeaway is once the weather is 100 or higher, I don’t care it’s just too damn hot.

        After being in 115 degree heat, 100 degree heat still feels just terrible.

        Similarly below zero, subjectively I didn’t need specifics anymore. I know that salting ice outside is probably not going to work anymore. Yes it does make a difference, but comfort wise I just hate it either way.

        So I can see, mostly joking but a grain of truth that you have “stupidly cold” then 0 to 100 scale of usual air temperature then “too damn hot”.

        It’s like the only way the farenheight scale is kind of appealing from a “humans like 0 to 100 scale”, but it’s mathematically painful and nonsense apart from comfortable human temperatures.

        • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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          2 days ago

          I’m one of those people who knows we should standardize, bit also finds Fahrenheit just very convenient.

          Like, when people say it’s 50 out, I immediately know that it’s going to feel about halfway between what I know 0 and 100 feel like. No one can even put up the pretext of doing that with Celsius, because not even the most pedantic person ever bothers to tell you when it’s 100 c out.

          In seriousness though, the Fahrenheit scale isn’t non-sense, it’s just addressing things we don’t much need help with anymore. The zero point was chosen as a temperature you can create reliably without particularly sophisticated tools, and the range is so freezing and boiling are 180 degrees apart, putting them on the opposite sides of a dial.

  • m0darn@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    You guys are too ignorant to see how full of shit OP is.

    50F is not 50% hot, it’s cold. If your house was 50F you’d be saying “something is wrong with my HVAC”. You’d never heat to only 50, and you’d never cool that far. It’s cellar temperature (colder than a wine cellar, warmer than a root cellar).

    70F is 50% hot. It’s a temp you’d cool to in the summer, and a temp you’d heat to in the winter.

    100F isn’t 100% hot either, most people enjoy a hottub to be a little hotter.

    Tldr: OP is wrong

    • LordPassionFruit@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      50°F is when I might start wearing pants instead if shorts. I will still be wearing a t-shirt, and won’t bring a jacket until at least 40°F.

      70°F is the hottest it can be outside before I become uncomfortably warm.

      When I get in a hot tub that is at 100°F, I will turn it down to at least 95°F and know that I won’t be able to stay much longer.

      This is the other problem with Fahrenheit, there is no universal “100% hot”. While Celsius doesn’t have the granularity and is subject to “just ask water how it feels” criticism, at least “what temperature is water” is a consistent way to explain it as opposed to saying “at 100°, you’ll be hot”

      • wavebeam@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        32 percent hot is water freezing tho? Idk… 1/3 hot seems like not the right amount for water freezing.

    • Dogyote@slrpnk.net
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      3 days ago

      You clown, hot has been defined as 100°F since 1724. Therefore 50°F = 50% hot.

  • chetradley@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Celsius is the perfect system to describe how hot or cold it is, assuming you’re a water molecule.

  • pH3ra@lemmy.ml
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    4 days ago

    Americans using the word propaganda for “something I don’t understand because my school system failed me so now I overcompensate by making up factoids that make me look even more uneducated by the rest of the world”

    • PugJesus@piefed.socialOP
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      3 days ago

      Americans using the word propaganda for “something I don’t understand because my school system failed me so now I overcompensate by making up factoids that make me look even more uneducated by the rest of the world”

      Whoosh.

      • Fmstrat@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I’m geniunly curious why you are getting down voted. The “propaganda” word choice is clearly part of the joke.

        I mean, I wish we used C instead of F, but this take is still a whoosh.

        • person420@lemmynsfw.com
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          2 days ago

          I’m curious, why? I think metric makes sense in most regards but I like the granularity of F. The difference between 70F and 75F is pretty noticeable, but in C, it’s like what? 1 degree?

          • Fmstrat@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            Because my partner uses C. The constant jump scares from temps is annoying 😀

            Separate from that, I use temps for what to wear, so exactness is less important to me. In truth AQI and humidity are much more important metrics to me.

            Plus:

            • Equipment temps are always in C
            • Using C is a gateway to metric use
            • Devices built for C are just… better. Example: Any washing machine for C has the temperatures listed on the settings vs the ever so useful “warm” or “colors”
            • Kettle boils when it hits 3 digits. More fun.

            So, lots of ancillary reasons I guess, vs any one direct reason.

  • Aljernon@lemmy.today
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    2 days ago

    The only temperature system that isn’t arbitrary would tell you how spreadable butter is. Zero degrees butter is utterly not spreadable while 100 degrees butter is the maximum spreadability it could achieve before melting.

        • offspec@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Yeah but I can’t be -10% naked, at 0°f I’m 0% naked, I have on all the layers that I could possibly layer. At 100°F I want to be 100% naked, minimal clothing socially required because it’s hot outside. My outfit might change from 90 to 100, but after 100 I’m capped out on what I can remove before I need to either move to a place that allows public nudity or just resolve myself to public indecency charges. At 32°F I can still run out to the mailbox in shorts and a hoodie, that’s not 0% naked that’s frankly still a long ways away from fully clothed.

  • Typhoon@lemmy.ca
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    4 days ago

    I like how they claimed Fahrenheit made sense by relating it to a scale between 0 and 100 because a grade divided into 100 pieces (centigrade) is a system that is easy to handle. If only there was a unit of measurement that was already like that.

    • Cort@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      No they’re relating average earth temperature/weather to a centigrade scale, instead of relating liquid water to one.

    • JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl
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      3 days ago

      I might catch flak for this, but I understand Fahrenheit made a ton of sense of an illiterate bygone era (well, I guess coming back maybe)

      The vast majority of people were uneducated. Decimals were a non-starter, maybe negatives were also difficult?

      0-100 was very easy. Under 0? Don’t go outside if possible. Over 100? Don’t go outside if possible. >50/halfway? Time for a coat. Having the same scale from -15 to 40 might have been confusing and not centered for them?

    • adarza@lemmy.ca
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      4 days ago

      that’s when the two scales collide…

      -40FC…

      ‘fucking cold’

    • makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      I understand you’re being sassy but below zero you do start saying “no but seriously, how can it be this cold?” Zero is about the lower limit before temperature stops being distinguishable and just becomes cold

      • kadu@scribe.disroot.org
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        4 days ago

        The feeling of cold weather is entirely subjective. A Brazilian from Bahia will wear a winter coat and feel cold at 20C, but somebody from northern Canada would be going out for a swim in their shorts.

        Which is why any attempt at using “oh it means cold percentage” or “oh below zero it just feels the same” is extremely dumb and a easily refutable attempt at saving a bad scale.

        • Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca
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          4 days ago

          Yup. We were at an event and it was a hot weekend, mid 30’s C, sunny, so we were in shorts and staying in the shade. My sister, who had just come back from a tour in Afghanistan, was wearing a sweater and shivering.

        • definitelynotavampire@piefed.social
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          4 days ago

          I grew up in the Northeastern US. I lived in the Southeastern US for a few years. My first year there it was 65F in March and everyone was still in their winter coats with scarves and hats commenting that they couldn’t wait for spring and I was in a t shirt with sweat literally rolling down my arms and face and I remember saying “wait, this isn’t spring?”

        • Zoot@reddthat.com
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          3 days ago

          Point was, doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, once it gets to -40 it’s “fucking cold” to literally everyone

      • Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca
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        4 days ago

        There is a BIG difference between 0F, -20F and -40F. And as someone that has worked in areas that has often seen -60F, -20F feels like spring in comparison, the local Inuit wouldn’t even wear a jacket at 0F.

        • hydrashok@sh.itjust.works
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          4 days ago

          It is funny how 40 in the fall sees most folks bundling up with everything they have, and 40 the spring is shorts and sandals weather.

          I don’t stop wearing shorts until it’s about 0F out or the wind is insane. Not to like shovel the driveway or anything being out for extended periods, but going out shopping or whatever is fine. Today was 0 with a -20 windchill and my Costco run was done in shorts, a sweatshirt, and a baseball cap.