Post

Eric TF Bat
@flurf.net

I prefer the Furlong-Firkin-Fortnight system (FFF), but there is something to be said for the Potrzebie System of Weights and Measures, invented by future computer science god Donald Knuth when he was 19 and published in Mad Magazine #33 in the 1950s sometime.

are-we-dead-yet.bsky.social
@are-we-dead-yet.bsky.social

Why do they square the equivalent of one inch in centimeters? You only have one inch. When you square one, it's still one. You MUST convert to non-equivalent units BEFORE squaring to get the result to diverge.* But that wasn't what they said. They said "a square inch", not "a square 2.54cm".

alt bot
@handle.invalid

THIS NEWLY-DESCRIBED INSECT CAN DEVOUR UP TO A SQUARE INCH OF GRASS PER DAY. OH, NEAT. ...IT EATS A SQUARE INCH, OR 6 CM², OF GRASS PER DAY... ...A 6-CENTIMETER (2½ INCH) SQUARE OF GRASS, OR 36см²... ↓ ...A 36 CENTIMETER SQUARE, OR OVER A SQUARE FOOT... ✓ ...A SQUARE FOOT, OR 900 CM²... ↓ ...A 90...

eightpix
@eightpix.bsky.social

The speed of light, C, is a measurement, which must include its unit. Squared, then: C^2 = (299 800 km/s)^2 = 89 880 040 000 km^2/s^2 = 89 800 040 000 000 000 m^2/s^2 Multiplying by mass in kg, you get the unit for energy, J. So, a tiny mass contains a huge amount of energy.

ptom
@ptom.net

I've seen the "business math telephone" version of this, where in additional to general ranging and conversion errors you have increased pressure to provide optimistic figures the higher up the chain you go. A realistic estimate with error bars gets an order of magnitude glow up by the end. :/

Andrew
@lesswrongmorekind.bsky.social

My work sells a device that can be reset by holding a button for at least 10s. So people write 12s, just to be sure. Then 20s to give leeway, people sometimes count too fast. When the instructions get up to 60s, someone will notice and correct it back down to 10s, and it starts over again!

Craig
@doozr.net

I once estimated that a bug fix would take a day. My manager padded it. His manager padded it. *His* manager padded it, and so on. By the time it reached the customer it had hit 6 months. They approved it. It actually only took half an hour to fix. Because I padded it.

Chapter 23
@chapter23.bsky.social

Who said capitalism was the most efficient way to do things? Maybe we just need flatter (direct as possible to customer) companies. I hope you don’t work in the government… if so you’re lucky Elon@xhitter isn’t on Bluesky.

Kal Feher
@kalfeher.bsky.social

Since wombat poo is cubed and contains mostly foliage and wombats are Australian, it stands to reason that this insect is actually a dung beetle for a planet sized wombat

actinokite.bsky.social
@actinokite.bsky.social

Yes the way Americans describe their squares is very confusing. And after asking online about whether pounds measure mass or force (got no consensus), I'm not about to ask online about the difference between "square inch", "inch square", and "squared inch".

Lethargic Maze
@gambariste.bsky.social

Since Australia is about the size of the contiguous US states, it’s probably contained there also. So it defoliates the entire North America once a day. And the Americas, north and south, twice on Sundays.

technobill.bsky.social
@technobill.bsky.social

There's a tech-related Youtube channel which constantly gives areas as something like "256 millimeters squared". Every time I listen to this I have to exclaim out loud that they should say "Square Millimeters!". There is no consumer-grade GPU with a core that's over 25 centimeters on a side, lol!

tunisandwich.bsky.social
@tunisandwich.bsky.social

I’m convinced that this is happening in the fitness community with protein intake and people ignoring units. It started as 1.5g/kg body weight, which someone took as 1.5g/lb of body weight, then someone else converted back to kg as 3g/kg, and now I’m seeing people talking about needing 400g+/day

Katie
@katie-did.bsky.social

*also the "helpful suggestions" the Microsoft Word editor thinks will really dress up that paper I'm writing at 3 am when I reference something completely unrelated- the number of e. Coli infections was __, the suggestion: "about the population that lives where that one bug defoliates 2x daily"

Tukler
@inaitana.bsky.social

... it can eat 2 trillion galaxies, the entire universe, in a day! ... it can eat a 2 trillion galaxies wide square, that is 4 septillion galaxies, 2 trillion universes, in a day! In other news today, insect proves Everett interpretation right.

Derek Weir
@derekweir.bsky.social

This reminds me of “The Gimli Glider”. A 767 ran out of fuel over Gimli Manitoba in 1983, because of an error in converting the volume of fuel from imperial to metric. The pilot was able to glide to a decommissioned runway, scaring the bajeesus out of the kids riding bikes there at the time.

Chief Ohnay
@chiefohnay.bsky.social

iirc it was the weight of the fuel. Most airlines measure the amount of fuel by weight because they need to factor in the fuel for total weight of the plane when calculating the ideal amount of fuel between airports. They measured out the recommended weight of the fuel in pounds instead of kg.

Nick
@nick-lynx.bsky.social

The evidence showed that the conversion equation done in the paper work was incorrect (the fuelling engineer hadn’t received conversion training) and he amalgamated two sets of conversion into a single equation in error. The rest as they say, is history.

Mike
@michaelroberts71.bsky.social

So women have long hair and guys wear hats? Or is that a bald woman in a hat with three 70s hippies? Or three male hippies chatting to Kojak? Or four size zero models chatting on a cat-walk during Paris fashion week, one wearing the latest hat by CHANEL? We need answers not ambiguity.

Mike
@michaelroberts71.bsky.social

Are they red? No Writing on them? No So... You have your answer. For reference. CHANEL is a high end (40s ~ today) French fashion brand. Coco Chanel (founder) was not a Nazi collaborator during the German occupation of France during WW2. So we can be certain it's not a MAGA cap.