Quick question. I am in Pennsylvania. I am leaving for Mexico right now; it’ll take a while. Should I get regular or high-test?
This kind of thing is why I hate scientists:
“The phrase “it is too cold to snow today” probably originated as a misapplication of the relationship between temperature and the maximum amount of water vapor that can be in the air.”
Really? Do you* think maybe, just maybe, those people you are so willingly to assume will misapply relationships just happened to pull their heads out their a …armpits long enough to observe that it doesn’t snow when it’s really, really cold? Or maybe even that on those low overcast Winter days, the temperatures are typically warmer?
But, oh, no, we can’t be having the Masses running around observing for themselves. Then they might actually think for themselves! Who knows what would be next? Non-arrogant, self-aggrandizing, people who actually observe rather than just theorize about incredibly complex system becoming scientists. Then who would we cow and intimidate?
You** think I’m being too harsh on Mr. Haby? (You probably do, because everyone loved their weatherman.) Note these two quotes:
“…“it is too cold to snow today”. In actuality, earth’s troposphere is not too cold to snow but rather it is “too dynamically stable to snow”.”
“If the air cools to truly frigid Arctic temperatures such as -40 C … the phrase “it is too cold to snow” fairly valid.”
The first quote strongly implies that the concept of “too cold to snow” is incorrect, while the second strongly indicates that is is correct, although at temperature few of us experience. A good teacher would start with why the concept is correct, and then explain its limitations; rather than deny the concept first. For scientists, however, ego trumps pedagogy.
And one more thing. IANAM, but even I know that an unstable system has more energy and heat is a form energy; I even understand that weather is the result of gradients and variations, rather that the characteristic of single elements. So, just how significant is the distinction between “cold” and “dynamically stable”?
I just hate scientists.
Thank you. I needed to vent tonight.
*Jeff Haby, not featherlou
** Any ‘you’, including featherlou
Hello and welcome to another episode of SDMB Misunderstanding Theatre, tonight featuring eleanorigy and wring:
E: This lady’s stupid cause she said they’d drive to Mexico to get gas. There’s no bridge!
W: You can do it without a bridge.
E: Really? What bridge is there?
W: There isn’t one. But you don’t need one.
E: Show me a picture of it.
W: What?
E: I know you don’t need a bridge, stupid! It’s just a silly thing to drive that far!
W: I know, but you didn’t say that! That’s why I’m making fun of you! You mentioned a bridge, not distance.
E: But the distance is the funny part!
Everyone else: I got it, Eleanor. Wring’s being dumb.
W: That’s it. I quit.
She used to date Jethro Tull but left him for Pink Floyd. 
Hey, idiot - when you go through a metal detector, you have to empty your pockets first! Yes, fool, that means your cellphone too! That’s why it’s called a METAL detector - it detects METAL.
Asshole
22KE
I hate non sequiturs and confusing the part with the whole.
Heh,heh!! But dude, you just reminded me! I actually did also used to think that Jethro Tull was an individual guy, too. That was a really long time ago, though, I swear.
And as far as Pink Floyd, I never didn’t know they were a group and not just one guy, but “Pink” would be a great nickname for a big tough rocker with the surname of Floyd. Kind of like “Mr. Pink” in Reservoir Dogs.
Floyd, and notice what color he is.
See, now I learned something.
I never even knew who Floyd the Muppet was (I’m not a Muppet fan), or what his surname was or what color he was. Or that he was a beatnik before he was a Muppet, apparently.
I used to think that Graham Chapman’s real name was Monty Python.
It’s all good. I can see how you could think that. I bet lots of people on this board thought —and think— goofy stuff like we thought but they just won’t admit it!
It might be genetic. My dad was surprised to learn that U2 had released a new album after their lead singer died in that skiing accident. It took a bit of effort to work out that he thought Bono from U2 and Sonny Bono were the same person.
Now that’s fucking funny. Excuse me while I go wash my auditory-imaginative nerve centers with bleach to remove all traces of imagining my favorite U2 songs as sung by Sonny Bono. :eek: 
Miller, now you’re alarming me, because I think that what your dad thought about the two Bonos was perfectly logical.
As far as the genetic factor you mentioned is concerned, it’s certainly possible.
On the other hand, I was adopted but my mom’s thought processes, especially about stuff like we’re talking about, are pretty much the same as mine. So maybe I got that way just from being around her.
I’ve told this story, but when I was visiting Spain, I used to get looks of amazement when I told them where I was from. “You’re from Canada? You must be burning up!” I cheerfully informed them that it was actually hotter that month in Montreal than in Madrid.
I’d never heard of Sonny Bono until I moved to the States (at around 13, in 1996). I thought he was UBono’s dad or something. I don’t think the penny dropped until he got killed and someone said “well, at least he doesn’t have to listen to Cher anymore”
High-test. Everybody knows you always get much better mileage with premium. More power, too–I mean, duh, 93 octane vs 87 octane?
Again, completely understandable. Dudes, we need to form a club of people who are clueless and not in denial about it and how much more fun we have because of it!
It’s like that James Thurber short story about misunderstanding everything his handyman said and how much more interesting it made Thurber’s life. I think it was called “The Black Magic of Barney Haller”.
Touched a nerve, I see. 
My rebuttal to you is thus:
- The stated aim of this board is fighting ignorance.Oh, look - Cecil has already taken this one on.
- It would be more accurate to say it is too dry to snow than too cold. I know that sounds like picking nits to you, but almost correct is not correct. It’s only almost correct. And let me assure you that the dryness of the air in cold climates is a BIG deal for people living here.
I’ll give you it snows less as it gets colder, though. 
If you ever form that club, I’m in.
I started to write out why I should be admitted to the club, but I’m way too embarrassed. I may need to think about my admissions essay after all.