M8.2 earthquake near Perryville, Alaska • Hacker News Board

Re: M8.2 earthquake near Perryville, Alaska

#11

Post by spywaregorilla » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 1:49 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #6

robin_reala wrote: post #2

First worry is always a tsunami, but in this case it seems like it only generated a max of ~20cm: https://www.tsunami.gov/events/PAAQ/2021/07/29/qwzteb/7/WEAK...

There is old joke that if you use metric when announcing a 50mm tsunami, half of Americans will run for the hills. "~20cm" could mean half a foot or 20 hundred meters depending on how much you remember from highschool. Many agencies have policies on how and where metric should be used in public announcements.

fwiw pretty much all unfamiliar americans will associate 'centi' with small, not "hundred"(eth)

Re: M8.2 earthquake near Perryville, Alaska

#12

Post by swader999 » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 2:02 PM UTC

Time so see what Dutchsinse, the earthquake maverick says about this. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hhfLTDA8I9g

Re: M8.2 earthquake near Perryville, Alaska

#13

Post by gok » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 2:11 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #6

robin_reala wrote: post #2

First worry is always a tsunami, but in this case it seems like it only generated a max of ~20cm: https://www.tsunami.gov/events/PAAQ/2021/07/29/qwzteb/7/WEAK...

There is old joke that if you use metric when announcing a 50mm tsunami, half of Americans will run for the hills. "~20cm" could mean half a foot or 20 hundred meters depending on how much you remember from highschool. Many agencies have policies on how and where metric should be used in public announcements.

Eh we know what a 9mm bullet looks like

Re: M8.2 earthquake near Perryville, Alaska

#14

Post by aaomidi » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 2:21 PM UTC

bamboozled wrote: post #10

temp0826 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could have made the olympic surfing competitions interesting (which they moved sooner because of the storm that passed by)

The Tsunami was in Alaska, not Japan.

You see, they're all connected to the same body of water. And if the tsunami was directional towards the Japanese coast it would've caused issues there.

Re: M8.2 earthquake near Perryville, Alaska

#15

Post by daneel_w » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 2:48 PM UTC

gok wrote: post #13

sandworm101 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is old joke that if you use metric when announcing a 50mm tsunami, half of Americans will run for the hills. "~20cm" could mean half a foot or 20 hundred meters depending on how much you remember from highschool. Many agencies have policies on how and where metric should be used in public announcements.

Eh we know what a 9mm bullet looks like

Yes, but how many of you reflect over the nomenclature? How many of you know the actual diameter of a "twenty-two" (even if spelled out as .22)? People don't often think about the meaning behind colloquialisms.

Re: M8.2 earthquake near Perryville, Alaska

#16

Post by Scoundreller » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 2:53 PM UTC

gok wrote: post #13

sandworm101 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is old joke that if you use metric when announcing a 50mm tsunami, half of Americans will run for the hills. "~20cm" could mean half a foot or 20 hundred meters depending on how much you remember from highschool. Many agencies have policies on how and where metric should be used in public announcements.

Eh we know what a 9mm bullet looks like

Or 10mm if you’ve wrenched a car

Re: M8.2 earthquake near Perryville, Alaska

#17

Post by akg_67 » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 3:02 PM UTC

bamboozled wrote: post #10

temp0826 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could have made the olympic surfing competitions interesting (which they moved sooner because of the storm that passed by)

The Tsunami was in Alaska, not Japan.

In Japan, TV advisory was extra rough seas (no tsunami) on pacific side throughout the day tomorrow (Friday) as a result of this earthquake.

Re: M8.2 earthquake near Perryville, Alaska

#18

Post by heisenbugtastic » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 3:04 PM UTC

Scoundreller wrote: post #16

gok wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh we know what a 9mm bullet looks like

Or 10mm if you’ve wrenched a car

ahh fellow knuckle buster too

Re: M8.2 earthquake near Perryville, Alaska

#19

Post by ceejayoz » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 3:07 PM UTC

bamboozled wrote: post #10

temp0826 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could have made the olympic surfing competitions interesting (which they moved sooner because of the storm that passed by)

The Tsunami was in Alaska, not Japan.

Here's the big Japanese tsunami that devastated Fukushima arriving in California.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdMDCLwblkY

Re: M8.2 earthquake near Perryville, Alaska

#20

Post by dogorman » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 3:11 PM UTC

daneel_w wrote: post #15

gok wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh we know what a 9mm bullet looks like

Yes, but how many of you reflect over the nomenclature? How many of you know the actual diameter of a "twenty-two" (even if spelled out as .22)? People don't often think about the meaning behind colloquialisms.

American public schools have been using metric for decades. Science classes in American public schools use metric exclusively since the 80s at least. When you meet an American who makes a big deal out of not knowing what a meter is, 9 times out of 10 they're putting on a performative patriotic display mean to get a rise out of you. That, or they're quite elderly.

Incidentally, .22 LR is nominally but not actually 0.22 inches in diameter. It's very slightly bigger than that. In the domain of ammunition, there is often a mismatch between actual diameter and nominal diameter.