On Fri, 10 Nov 2006 02:57:02 GMT, "George E. Cawthon"
wrote:

Default User wrote:
Dave Smith wrote:


We have been officially metric for almost 30 years now, but most
people over 30 still seem to thing in Fahrenheit. I don't
understand it because Celsius makes so much more sense. Water
freezes at 0 and boils at 100. That 0 C makes a big difference in
weather conditions. When it drops below freezing it is cold, so
having a scale that zeroes out at the freezing point makes a lot
of sense. You are quite right about being able to detect a one
degree difference in temperature. One degree C is noticeable
while one degree F is not.

I disagree, even though I have a science background (Physics). Metric
is great for doing that sort of thing, but for weather, not so much.

Fahrenheit is good because 100F is really nice and hot, and 0F is
really nice and cold. Bounds the temps that humans deal with rather
nicely. 100C is outside the range of experience (one hopes) and 0C is
coldish. Who cares what temperature water boils at?

The degrees F have nice granularity, so you don't have to deal with
fractional ones when describing the weather.

Granularity? You mean spacing? Doesn't matter my
electronic F deg thermometers measure in tenths
anyway.


I have such a thermometer too. Usually the accuracy of the
thermometer is so low that the extra digit provides no useful
information. I round those numbers almost automatically. One night the
low was 32F (the actual display was 31.8F).





Brian

--
45 days until the winter solstice celebration

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"God was invented by man for a reason, that
reason is no longer applicable."