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Comment: Relating the conceivable to the perceivable (Score 2) 835

by Gothmolly (#43817455) Attached to: White House: Use Metric If You Want, We Don't Care

The point of a system of measurement is to relate dimensions which are not directly perceivable to those which are. Thus, while you can't "see" a mile, you know that it's 5280 feet, the "foot" being related to some portion of the body (or some particular person's body). Likewise the inch, the yard, the fathom, etc. Using metric, while perhaps more "scientifically" determined, replaces one non-human, non-perceivable value with another. Instead of an imperceptible distance being some large multiple of an average person's foot size, it becomes some multiple of wavelengths of light, another imperceptible value.

Comment: Paging Mr Darwin (Score 0, Troll) 273

by Gothmolly (#43773221) Attached to: Uptick In Whooping Cough Linked To Subpar Vaccines

With population exploding, shouldn't we return to an era where the weak were culled out? With chronic unemployment as the new norm, maybe there's just too many people. It's like managing these "lifestyle" diseases - back in the day old people had the grace to die of diabetes or a heart attack, now they live until 90, but don't work the last 30 years of their lives, effectively eating the seed corn of the new generation. We're soon going to be victims of our own successes.

Comment: who gives a crap about Google (Score 2) 198

by Gothmolly (#43765667) Attached to: Data Center Managers Weary of Whittling Cooling Costs

Typical modern groupthink - if you dont match up to some artificial social standard you lose. Watch your own checkbook, don't chase some mythical metric that others self-report. You'll never win, they'll just keep moving the goalposts. Spend less money as you expand capacity, and you're doing a good job.

Comment: Re:I believe I speak for a dozen people when I say (Score 3, Insightful) 164

by Gothmolly (#43755553) Attached to: Amtrak Upgrades Wi-Fi

People don't understand how large and empty most of the US is.

The rest of the country languishes because everything is so far apart. Do you want to spend days on a train to get from Chicago to LA, or do you want to spend 4-5 hours on a plane? Even high speed rail can't beat a jet. In the Northeast the density of cities plus the ability to work/talk/move around on a train trumps the cost and hassle of air travel, elsewhere not so much.

"Hello air travel? It's train travel... you win."

Comment: cause and effect, how does it work? (Score 2) 1097

by Gothmolly (#43752329) Attached to: 97% of Climate Science Papers Agree Global Warming Is Man-made

Most Americans have a shaky understanding of cause and effect, courtesy of years of public education where feelings trump facts, opinions trump research, ineptitude trumps ability, and equal outcomes trump equal opportunity. As a result, other than saying "stop global warming", nobody really cares - they assume that "someone" will fix it, and that someone is probably "the government". You'll hear things like "global warming is bad, but I need a minivan to drive my 4 kids (which I _chose_ to have) to soccer" or "they should just tax rich people" or "blame China". Nobody wants to be the guy who actually sacrifies anything.

It has been said that Public Relations is the art of winning friends and getting people under the influence. -- Jeremy Tunstall

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