This is from Ernest's recent Blog.
"Please do not send me any messages right now as the time taken to reply to them takes time away from my writing.
Send Comment"
I understand the Blogs of all authors are set up to allow for comments. Ernest's July 2, 2020 Blog doesn't want any, but ends with the "Send Comment" option. Sometimes you just can't win.
I know you're probably being sarcastic, you often are :)
'Sent comment' is a generic setting for the blog, Ernest doesn't want to switch off this for everything but requests not to comment on that specific blog post. Nothing wrong with that.
'Send comment' is a generic setting for the blog, Ernest doesn't want to switch off this for everything but requests not to comment on that specific blog post.
Exactly right.
Get off of the Forum and go back to writing. :)
The forum doesn't require me to be creative or to concentrate, while writing does. So when I'm having trouble sleeping and not able to concentrate I get on the forum.
You can never win, you can only break even.
You can only break even at zero Kelvin.
I recommend we don't freeze EB down to zero Kelvin :-(
(Apologies if science has moved on since my hobbledehoyhood.)
AJ
I recommend we don't freeze EB down to zero Kelvin :-(
I don't care how you deal with this guy Kelvin, but leave me in an environment of around 20 to 25 degrees Celsius so I'm comfortably warm, and with sufficient oxygen etc to stay alive.
but leave me in an environment of around 20 to 25 degrees Celsius so I'm comfortably warm, and with sufficient oxygen etc to stay alive.
Oops, it got passed of to a US based government contractor. They left you at 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Sorry for that. :)
You can never win,
The 3 Laws of Thermodynamics
You can't win, You can't break even, You can't get out of the game.
For the more technical, here are the laws in a more scientific way:
"The First Law of Thermodynamics
The first law of thermodynamics, also known as Law of Conservation of Energy, states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to another. For example, turning on a light would seem to produce energy; however, it is electrical energy that is converted.
A way of expressing the first law of thermodynamics is that any change in the internal energy (∆E) of a system is given by the sum of the heat (q) that flows across its boundaries and the work (w) done on the system by the surroundings:
[latex]Delta E = q + w[/latex]
This law says that there are two kinds of processes, heat and work, that can lead to a change in the internal energy of a system. Since both heat and work can be measured and quantified, this is the same as saying that any change in the energy of a system must result in a corresponding change in the energy of the surroundings outside the system. In other words, energy cannot be created or destroyed. If heat flows into a system or the surroundings do work on it, the internal energy increases and the sign of q and w are positive. Conversely, heat flow out of the system or work done by the system (on the surroundings) will be at the expense of the internal energy, and q and w will therefore be negative. (You can't win, no extra energy for you)
The Second Law of Thermodynamics
The second law of thermodynamics says that the entropy of any isolated system always increases. Isolated systems spontaneously evolve towards thermal equilibrium—the state of maximum entropy of the system. More simply put: the entropy of the universe (the ultimate isolated system) only increases and never decreases.
A simple way to think of the second law of thermodynamics is that a room, if not cleaned and tidied, will invariably become more messy and disorderly with time – regardless of how careful one is to keep it clean. When the room is cleaned, its entropy decreases, but the effort to clean it has resulted in an increase in entropy outside the room that exceeds the entropy lost. (You can't break even, entropy always increases.)
The Third Law of Thermodynamics
The third law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of a system approaches a constant value as the temperature approaches absolute zero. The entropy of a system at absolute zero is typically zero, and in all cases is determined only by the number of different ground states it has. Specifically, the entropy of a pure crystalline substance (perfect order) at absolute zero temperature is zero. This statement holds true if the perfect crystal has only one state with minimum energy."
(The entropy game is unavoidable)
I thought the three laws were; You can't win. You can't even break even. You lose, in general.
If 14lbs = 1 stone what does 7lbs =? 5 rocks?
The stone is a weight unit from the UK and Ireland and almost exclusively used for body weight. The stone weight unit is also used in horse racing to describe the weight a horse has to carry (jockey+penalties). When a penalty weight is assigned for a horse race the weight is added using lead weights, not rocks :)
If 14lbs = 1 stone what does 7lbs =? 5 rocks?
It would be stated as 7lbs.
IIRC, it's only used as a measure of body weight these days. If someone weighed 178 pounds it would be stated as 12 stone 10 pounds or 12 stone 10.
IIRC, it's only used as a measure of body weight these days. If someone weighed 178 pounds it would be stated as 12 stone 10 pounds or 12 stone 10.
Is this why the British are so dour? They need 3 different weight measures? Metric for everything other then body weight and an obscure weight that they only use plus a US based weight.
I hate doing conversion math.
I'm not the right person to ask that question, but it's likely one will respond to it. There is a long history behind it.
and an obscure weight that they only use plus a US based weight.
Pounds for weight are not US based. We got them from the British before the metric system existed.
I often wondered why we British are stern, harsh, forbidding, ill-humoured, gloomy, obstinate, and unyielding. I can now blame the manky weights and measures systems we use. Thanks for that as I thought it might have been due to a character defect.
Thanks for that as I thought it might have been due to a character defect.
I always just put it down to vitamin deficiency, since while the sun may never have set upon the British Empire, England itself tends to not actually see much sun or get warm enough for truly prolonged exposure.
Today being the day after ungrateful colonists day, and at 8:30 in the morning, after refreshing rain last night, it's already 26.6 C (80). Next weekend that's going to be the overnight low, with actual temperatures of 39.4 (103), with a heat index due to humidity of around 46 - 48. And that's nothing unusual - about every 4 - 5 years, it does this for an entire month.
I still lovea line frpm spme tv show I barely recall, but voived by John Rhees Davies: "The sun never sets on the British Empire because doG doesn't trust the English in the dark.
"The sun never sets on the British Empire because doG doesn't trust the English in the dark.
I'm as honest as the day is long
The longer the daylight the less I do wrong
The history reference work "Quigley Down Under" explained that all the "good" British had left the isle for better shores, while the "bad" British all stayed. There appears to have been some leakage, though. And there may be some disagreement about what is "good" or "bad".
That 'obstinate and unyielding' part, while annoying as all getout to unwanted visitors, seems to be one of the good parts that accidentally got left on the island. Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way, to quote that famous British philosophy circle "Pink Floyd".
And what does it say about Americans, that to use my nation's measuring system I am required to remember that it takes exactly three Barleycorns to make up an Inch?