L. Marcus Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO Actually . . . Napoleon wasn't all that short -- it's a myth, sprung from the fact that french measurements at the time were slightly longer than their Imperial System equivalents. He was just below average height for a man of his time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reality Czech Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO This may be one of the worst derails I've ever seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reality Czech Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO All we have to do now is start arguing politics, religion, or have someone state that D20 is superior in every way to HERO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO Well, it is, isn't it? For playing D'n'D, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Neilson Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO Actually . . . Napoleon wasn't all that short -- it's a myth, sprung from the fact that french measurements at the time were slightly longer than their Imperial System equivalents. He was just below average height for a man of his time. This may be one of the worst derails I've ever seen. Well, technically, we're still discussing measurement Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reality Czech Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO Well' date=' technically, we're still discussing measurement [/quote'] Fantastic. I just snorked a half pint of coffee to avoid laughing it all over my keyboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO We aim to please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silbeg Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO This may be one of the worst derails I've ever seen. Really? the worst? I find that hard to believe. I recall taking a course on The French Revolution and Napoleon, where the prof was claiming that Napoleon was not a genius, because he took everyone else's ideas. What we think of his "innovations" is a synthesis of many other people's ideas. Now, wait, isn't that part of the definition of "genius"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silbeg Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO Well' date=' it is, isn't it? For playing D'n'D, anyway. [/quote'] No, I am sure not even then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO Back more or less on the original topic ... I note that astronomical units are not metric, not originally, though they've been retconned into metric units. 1 AU is the average distance between Earth & Sun. 1 parsec is 206264.8062... AU (the number is the number of arc seconds in a radian; for a long time stellar distances came out of shifts in apparent position, which are measured in fractions of a second of arc). Light-years are, almost without exception, computed from a measured distance expressed originally in parsecs ... or in magnitudes of distance modulus ... by a conversion factor. There are a few distances that are actually measured in light-seconds/minutes/hours ... those come from radar or laser ranging ... and converted to distance using c, in terms of which the meter is now defined. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveZilla Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO All we have to do now is start arguing politics' date=' religion, or have someone state that D20 is superior in every way to HERO.[/quote'] Well, if I was going to run a Politico-Religious campaign, D20 would be the superior choice! And now, back to our regularly scheduled thread.Announcer> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveZilla Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO Back more or less on the original topic ... I note that astronomical units are not metric' date=' not originally, though they've been retconned into metric units. 1 AU is the average distance between Earth & Sun. 1 parsec is 206264.8062... AU (the number is the number of arc seconds in a radian; for a long time stellar distances came out of shifts in apparent position, which are measured in fractions of a second of arc). Light-years are, almost without exception, computed from a measured distance expressed originally in parsecs ... or in magnitudes of distance modulus ... by a conversion factor. There are a few distances that are actually measured in light-seconds/minutes/hours ... those come from radar or laser ranging ... and converted to distance using [i']c[/i], in terms of which the meter is now defined. "1 AU the average distance between the Earth & Sun". Is that center-to-center or surface-to-surface? I would think the former for astronomical consistency, but the wording implies the latter. Also, does anybody else find it interesting that C, expressed in Meters/Second is very, very close to an even 300,000,000? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO "1 AU the average distance between the Earth & Sun". Is that center-to-center or surface-to-surface? I would think the former for astronomical consistency' date=' but the wording implies the latter.[/quote'] Center to center, ideally. In fact, strictly speaking, I think it should be from barycenter of Earth to the barycenter of the Solar System. Also' date=' does anybody else find it interesting that C, expressed in Meters/Second is very, very close to an even 300,000,000?[/quote'] Well, a tropical year is equal to pi times 10^7 seconds, to better than 0.4%. You want to make something of that coincidence, too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveZilla Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO Well' date=' a tropical year is equal to pi times 10^7 seconds, to better than 0.4%. You want to make something of that coincidence, too?[/quote'] No, because of two things. 1. You have to pick a specific, arbitrary multiple (10^7) to make it come out that way. 2. The rotation of the earth is slowing due to tidal friction from Lunar Tides, thus the day is getting longer. At some point in the future, it's likely that the year will be *exactly* 365 days long, and there will be no leap years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO Well, if I was going to run a Politico-Religious campaign, D20 would be the superior choice! And now, back to our regularly scheduled thread.Announcer> I'm going to bring up a bill to alter the state constitution such that the Ten Commandments can be displayed in a courtroom. What DC do I need to hit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted May 9, 2007 Report Share Posted May 9, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO All we have to do now is start arguing politics' date=' religion, or have someone state that D20 is superior in every way to HERO.[/quote'] My D02 Know No Limit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveZilla Posted May 12, 2007 Report Share Posted May 12, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO I'm going to bring up a bill to alter the state constitution such that the Ten Commandments can be displayed in a courtroom. What DC do I need to hit? (10+e^2)i Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveZilla Posted May 12, 2007 Report Share Posted May 12, 2007 Re: Measurement in HERO My D02 Know No Limit All your D02 are belong to us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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