6 ms·

The illustration at the bottom of this[0] xkcd "what if?" illustrates this pretty well. [0]: http://what-if.xkcd.com/11/ http://what-if.xkcd.com/11/

by markild 11y ago

ColinWright 11y ago
Yes, I've been meaning to add that link at the bottom of the page with a short piece of text for context - I'll do that soon. Thanks. Edit: Done that now. Not sure why this comment got a downvote, though. Extra Edit: Hmm, now been re-upvoted. Bizarre, but thanks for the votes! I know that they're not actually worth anything, but they do indicate that what I've done is appreciated, and considered to be of value.
- markild 11y ago
  With or without illustration, really enjoyed the write up. Also fun to think about what would happen if you plot the value that is represented by the "mm^2" over time, and do an integration of the plotted graph. You somehow end up with a volume, or total fuel consumption over the period you integrate over. Unit cancellation is cool stuff.
- ibmthrowaway271 11y ago
  Vote cancellation is weird. I wonder if posts that have no genuine reason to be downvoted (like yours) get more votes if they add a comment to the effect "Not sure why this comment got a downvote" since multiple people will try and correct the erroneous downvote with no idea whether anyone else already has. Edit: Ha! Thanks for the downvote.
  - ColinWright 11y ago
    It is odd. When there's a strange downvote people might then make more upvotes because they can see it was downvoted, but can't see when it's been corrected, because the scores are no longer visible. But voting is weird anyway. I don't take it personally, and I don't want to complain, but I genuinely get confused when there are downvotes I don't understand, and I want explanations purely so I can decide either that I was right and to hell with it, or I was wrong and I need to reconsider things. With just a downvote I don't get the chance to learn. Still, there we are.
    - Svenstaro 11y ago
      Conversely, if people could just upvote outright but to downvote would need to provide a minimum 10 character reason that was made public, would this break of improve the system?
      - guelo 11y ago
        So each bad comment would require a large comment thread? Seems like the opposite of what you'd want.
        Dylan16807 11y ago
        It could be displayed much more compactly, or not displayed at all to third parties.
        ibmthrowaway271 11y ago
        A way to give feedback to the poster on inconsequential details such as language/spelling/typos/grammar/etc that isn't displayed to anyone else would be useful.
      - QuercusMax 11y ago
        You're describing something like Slashdot's moderation system, and we all know how well that worked out.
        plorkyeran 11y ago
        Pretty well?
        sukilot 11y ago
        At +5, It is the best moderation system ever published. Immune to brigades, and reader-tunable to their individual preference level for jokes and flames.
      - brudgers 11y ago
- ZeroGravitas 11y ago
  It's very easy to downvote comments by mistake when trying to upvote them on mobile. Shortly after posting just one mistake can make people feel they've done something wrong but it usually sorts itself out over time.
Khao 11y ago
Thanks for that! Not being a native English speaker I couldn't really grasp what the author was trying to describe when he started talking about a "trough with a cross-sectional area of 0.1 mm2" and the following paragraph. This image made everything clear!
- unwind 11y ago
  This is probably the kind of trough that's meant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watering_trough http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watering_trough, detailed image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watering_trough#/media/File:Cattle_trough.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watering_trough#/media/File:Cat.... If you "think away" the actual trough and keep only the liquid, you get the cuboid that the text is referring to.
  - kalleboo 11y ago
    The kind of trough imagined in the article is actually precedented - although to replenish water and not fuel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_pan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_pan

The illustration at the bottom of this[0] xkcd "what if?" illustrates this pretty well. [0]: http://what-if.xkcd.com/11/ http://what-if.xkcd.com/11/

by markild 11y ago

The illustration at the bottom of this[0] xkcd "what if?" illustrates this pretty well. [0]: http://what-if.xkcd.com/11/ http://what-if.xkcd.com/11/

ColinWright 11y ago

Yes, I've been meaning to add that link at the bottom of the page with a short piece of text for context - I'll do that soon. Thanks. Edit: Done that now. Not sure why this comment got a downvote, though. Extra Edit: Hmm, now been re-upvoted. Bizarre, but thanks for the votes! I know that they're not actually worth anything, but they do indicate that what I've done is appreciated, and considered to be of value.

markild 11y ago
With or without illustration, really enjoyed the write up. Also fun to think about what would happen if you plot the value that is represented by the "mm^2" over time, and do an integration of the plotted graph. You somehow end up with a volume, or total fuel consumption over the period you integrate over. Unit cancellation is cool stuff.
ibmthrowaway271 11y ago
Vote cancellation is weird. I wonder if posts that have no genuine reason to be downvoted (like yours) get more votes if they add a comment to the effect "Not sure why this comment got a downvote" since multiple people will try and correct the erroneous downvote with no idea whether anyone else already has. Edit: Ha! Thanks for the downvote.
- ColinWright 11y ago
  It is odd. When there's a strange downvote people might then make more upvotes because they can see it was downvoted, but can't see when it's been corrected, because the scores are no longer visible. But voting is weird anyway. I don't take it personally, and I don't want to complain, but I genuinely get confused when there are downvotes I don't understand, and I want explanations purely so I can decide either that I was right and to hell with it, or I was wrong and I need to reconsider things. With just a downvote I don't get the chance to learn. Still, there we are.
  - Svenstaro 11y ago
    Conversely, if people could just upvote outright but to downvote would need to provide a minimum 10 character reason that was made public, would this break of improve the system?
    - guelo 11y ago
      So each bad comment would require a large comment thread? Seems like the opposite of what you'd want.
      - Dylan16807 11y ago
        It could be displayed much more compactly, or not displayed at all to third parties.
        ibmthrowaway271 11y ago
        A way to give feedback to the poster on inconsequential details such as language/spelling/typos/grammar/etc that isn't displayed to anyone else would be useful.
    - QuercusMax 11y ago
      You're describing something like Slashdot's moderation system, and we all know how well that worked out.
      - plorkyeran 11y ago
        Pretty well?
      - sukilot 11y ago
        At +5, It is the best moderation system ever published. Immune to brigades, and reader-tunable to their individual preference level for jokes and flames.
    - brudgers 11y ago
ZeroGravitas 11y ago
It's very easy to downvote comments by mistake when trying to upvote them on mobile. Shortly after posting just one mistake can make people feel they've done something wrong but it usually sorts itself out over time.

Khao 11y ago

Thanks for that! Not being a native English speaker I couldn't really grasp what the author was trying to describe when he started talking about a "trough with a cross-sectional area of 0.1 mm2" and the following paragraph. This image made everything clear!

unwind 11y ago
This is probably the kind of trough that's meant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watering_trough http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watering_trough, detailed image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watering_trough#/media/File:Cattle_trough.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watering_trough#/media/File:Cat.... If you "think away" the actual trough and keep only the liquid, you get the cuboid that the text is referring to.
- kalleboo 11y ago
  The kind of trough imagined in the article is actually precedented - although to replenish water and not fuel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_pan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_pan