Slashdot Mirror


Iranian City Soars To Record 129F Degrees: Near Hottest On Earth in Modern Measurements (washingtonpost.com)

A city in southwest Iran posted the country's hottest temperature ever recorded Thursday afternoon, and may have tied the world record for the most extreme high temperature. From a report on The Washington Post: Etienne Kapikian, a forecaster at French meteorological agency MeteoFrance, posted to Twitter that the city of Ahvaz soared to "53.7C" (128.7 degrees Fahrenheit). Kapikian said the temperature is a "new absolute national record of reliable Iranian heat" (alternative, non-paywalled source) and that it was the hottest temperature ever recorded in June over mainland Asia. Iran's previous hottest temperature was 127.4. Weather Underground's website indicates the temperature in Ahvaz climbed even higher, hitting 129.2 degrees at both 4:51 and 5 p.m. local time. If that 129.2 degrees reading is accurate, it would arguably tie the hottest temperature ever measured on Earth in modern times.

214 of 376 comments (clear)

  1. Survivability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How long can a human survive in 53.7C?

    1. Re:Survivability by r1348 · · Score: 2

      How long can a human survive in a mild sauna?

    2. Re:Survivability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Ok, fair enough, I wasn't aware that saunas typically started at around 70C. So allow me to revise the question.

      How long can a human perform actual physical work in 53.7C?

    3. Re:Survivability by Gay+Boner+Sex · · Score: 4, Funny

      Former US Army private here. A LOT longer than you would think. Especially when you will be punished severely if you don't.

    4. Re:Survivability by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Thus proving that Iran truly is Hell...

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    5. Re:Survivability by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 5, Informative

      Depends on the humidity.
      You can survive well if you can sweat, but if humidity approaches 100%, you're dead.

      --
      http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    6. Re:Survivability by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      How long can a human survive in a mild sauna?

      Maybe a few days if they're on intravenous liquids.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    7. Re:Survivability by MouseR · · Score: 2

      We've not been here long enough but the ice shelf and fauna has. Derp. There are many ways to correlate these fossil records to climate.

    8. Re:Survivability by msauve · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      To those mod'ing my comment "troll," you're late to the game. The editors fixed it. Unlike us proles, /. editors have the opportunity to edit their errors.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    9. Re:Survivability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Humans have this thing called adaptability.
      So long as they have water near them and consume it properly, and properly eat to compensate for the loss of energy,
      they can do whole military training programs every day at even 60C until the point their bodies have reconfigured themselves
      to function no worse at those temperatures than normal people at around 20C. Doesn't matter how weak they started out,
      barring a few exceptional cases like asthma for instance, even the weakest twig-like physical equivalent of trash will adapt
      and become tougher.

    10. Re:Survivability by s_p_oneil · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Direct observation/measurement isn't the only method to estimate global temperatures over long periods of time. This chart isn't scientific, and the vast majority of the line is dashed to show the temperature is estimated (not observed directly), but a picture is worth 1000 words:

      https://www.explainxkcd.com/wi...
      (On the plus side, we seem to be preventing the next ice age from coming along.)

      You could argue that direct observation is the only way to be certain, but that's like arguing that there's no way to be certain that trees existed before mankind showed up to observe and document them. You could take it one step farther and argue that even after humans developed written language, they were probably lying (en masse), in much the same way you believe that 98% of the scientists studying climate are lying. Any fossils found were faked or planted there by God to test the faithless (because he's definitely that petty/vindictive).

    11. Re:Survivability by ZorinLynx · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Isn't there a point though, where the body can't get rid of heat fast enough and your body temperature starts to rise, causing hyperthermia and heat stroke?

      The laws of physics say that if it's 129F and your body temperature is 98.6F, the heat transfer will be INTO your body. At what point is evaporative cooling via sweat no longer enough? There is a physical limit; there has to be.

    12. Re:Survivability by rnturn · · Score: 1

      Huh?

      --
      CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
    13. Re:Survivability by grahamsz · · Score: 1

      No, i have genuinely been in a sauna around that temperature. That's certainly on the hot side and it hurt to take deep breaths but it's far from lethal.

      I've routinely been in saunas around 100C and find that quite pleasant as long as i can get out and take a cold shower or jump in a lake.

      Still i wouldn't want the outside to be that hot, that'd be very very unpleasant.

    14. Re:Survivability by rickb928 · · Score: 1

      Suffering from chronic mild asthma, I can share with you that my asthma will kick in when I stop work. Exercise-induced bronchospasm. Even when I've trained to do the work.

      I'll hit the inhaler then. Another reason I am not a Marine.

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    15. Re:Survivability by omnichad · · Score: 1

      Refrigerators work by compressing refrigerant to the point where it's hotter than ambient air, at which point it cools off. The human body has nothing like this, so your point is not very useful.

    16. Re:Survivability by theendlessnow · · Score: 1

      Humans? At 53.7C? Not good for very long.

      This is why we only hire sub-humans to work the hot aisle of our datacenter.

    17. Re:Survivability by Jfetjunky · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That is not only not right, it is not even wrong.

    18. Re:Survivability by grahamsz · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure why i'm even bothering to respond.

      It's right there on Wikpedia that Finnish sauna temperatures sometimes exceed 110C https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    19. Re:Survivability by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 4, Informative

      Your body releases sensible, latent, and radiant heat. When the outside (dry bulb) temperature exceeds your body temperature, you are not able to transfer any heat via sensible means. This leaves perspiration and hopefully cool surrounding surfaces. Since the latter isn't going to happen you are 100% reliant on perspiration. Once the wet bulb exceeds your body temperature too then you are stuck and you are in extreme danger of heat stroke.

      130F in the sun even with 0% humidity isn't really viable without heat stroke.

      In this case, the dewpoint was around 5F; wouldn't want to be there for long.

    20. Re:Survivability by grahamsz · · Score: 1

      Sure, but you can survive that for a short period of time likely. If i can survive a minute or two at 115 and have no ill effects.

      The BBC quotes some Finnish Sauna Society person saying that even up to 160C is "enjoyable" for some individuals, although i'm fairly skeptical of that claim

      http://www.bbc.com/news/magazi...

    21. Re:Survivability by luis_a_espinal · · Score: 5, Informative

      Isn't there a point though, where the body can't get rid of heat fast enough and your body temperature starts to rise, causing hyperthermia and heat stroke?

      The laws of physics say that if it's 129F and your body temperature is 98.6F, the heat transfer will be INTO your body. At what point is evaporative cooling via sweat no longer enough? There is a physical limit; there has to be.

      Assume one were to get to one point, consider that many areas of the world have been very hot for ages... and obviously w/o air conditioning.

      Back then, people would not go out between noon and, say, 4. You would get up very early to work, go to a siesta and resume work in the afternoon. It wasn't that long ago that people back in my country of origin would wake up before 4 to go to the fields with lanterns, be back by 11 with milk and produce, take a nap and wait till 4 to resume work.

      Desert dwellers would travel at night, and so on. Adaptability is not just limited to the physical. It covers the behavioral and social.

    22. Re:Survivability by luis_a_espinal · · Score: 1, Informative

      Isn't there a point though, where the body can't get rid of heat fast enough and your body temperature starts to rise, causing hyperthermia and heat stroke?

      The laws of physics say that if it's 129F and your body temperature is 98.6F, the heat transfer will be INTO your body. At what point is evaporative cooling via sweat no longer enough? There is a physical limit; there has to be.

      Human bodies cool off via evaporation of sweat. The outside temperature might measure at 129F, but as you sweat, it evaporates, dissipating heat off your body. As long as you are hydrated, this will work. Outside temperature would have to be a lot hotter than that to stop your body from cooling, hot enough for you to cook maybe.

    23. Re: Survivability by athmanb · · Score: 1

      It can coat itself in water which then evaporates and carries off heat.

    24. Re:Survivability by burtosis · · Score: 1

      Spot on. Your body sweats to get rid of heat which dosent work well at all in high humidity. Under 25% humidity the dew point is around 90F while at 90% it's 125F for a 139F temp. Basically your survival time is going to be going to be under 30 minutes at high humidity 90%+ and 129F. Luckily the heat was accompanied by low humidity in the case above, or there would be mass casualties.

      Strangely enough the humidity may drastically increase in North Africa and the Middle East

    25. Re: Survivability by Miamicanes · · Score: 4, Informative

      Unless the relative humidity is 99%. Then you just stew in your own broth. 118 degrees of breezy, dry, desert heat feels like a bad 80-degree day in Miami. If it ever got to 120 degrees in Miami, people stuck outdoors would start to literally drop dead from heat.

    26. Re:Survivability by jbengt · · Score: 1

      At what point is evaporative cooling via sweat no longer enough?

      At the point the Wet Bulb temperature approaches 98.6F.

    27. Re:Survivability by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      True, but that's extreme, even for sauna lovers. I think 80-90C is more typical. I was only in one once that was heated properly to Finnish temperatures. I never got up to the highest bench, it was too brutal up there.

    28. Re:Survivability by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Hell is actually derived from hel, an old germanic/norse word. Basically indeed meaning "Hell", but hel is icy cold, not hot :D

      Just nitpicking a bit ...

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    29. Re:Survivability by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      You are an idiot.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    30. Re:Survivability by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      I never was above 120C ... 160C sounds indeed extreme.
      But the main problem in a finish Sauna is not the temperature but the amount of Vodka you are supposed to drink while in it.

      Well, german Saunas, that label themselves Finnish are usually capped at 110C.

      Never managed more than 30 minutes in one, climbing down a row every 10 minutes (usually they have 3 rows/ranks, I sit 5 mins on the low one, then lie on the high one, then move down ... depending on my stamina)

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    31. Re:Survivability by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      as you sweat, it evaporates, dissipating heat off your body. As long as you are hydrated, this will work.

      You're missing one important factor: the humidity of the air. The higher it is, the less effective sweating is at cooling you. When it reaches 100% sweating doesn't do anything at all.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    32. Re:Survivability by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't recommend the drinking before the sauna, it can relax you too much and it's a diuretic so you would dehydrate faster. Similar reasons why you don't drink before getting in the hot tub.

    33. Re:Survivability by Bartles · · Score: 1

      Over time your body will adapt and adjust it's metabolism, requiring less fuel, and generating less heat as a byproduct of metabolic processes.

    34. Re:Survivability by Bartles · · Score: 1

      The body burns enough fuel to keep itself at 98.6F. If ambient temperatures are continuously above that, it will adjust it's metabolism to regulate temperature.

    35. Re:Survivability by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Of course.
      Nevertheless everyone is doing it.

      I actually drink either red wine or cold beer when siting in the hot tub. But I go to public Saunas, so we don't drink there :D Here in Germany not many people have a private Sauna. However when I was young the Sauna parties where ugly drinking parties, too.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    36. Re:Survivability by Megol · · Score: 1

      The mechanism an ordinary refrigerator use is that compression increases heat and decompression decreases heat. So we have a gas at temperature x, compress it using a compressor which means we have a gas under pressure with a temperature y (y being greater than x). We then cool that gas in a heat exchanger (normally cooled using ambient air) resulting in a pressurized gas with a temperature lower than y. Finally the gas is decompressed via a valve which results in a lower pressure gas with considerably lower temperature, this gas then cools whatever is to be cooled before returning to the start of the cycle.

      The poster you responded to is correct in that heat only flows from high to low and if the evaporative cooling of the body (a very efficient process BTW) fails for some reason _or_ if the external temperature is too high, the external humidity is to much for sweat to evaporate* or a lot of other cases then the body will be overheated and one will die. It isn't unusual.

      (* so how do people survive saunas? Time is also a factor and some people do actually die from using them)

    37. Re:Survivability by Megol · · Score: 1

      The body can adjust, sure. But what you claim isn't possible - the body can burn more fuel to increase body temperature if it's cold and after some temperatures one will begin to shake/shiver as the body tries to increase heat by working the muscles and if that doesn't help blood flow to extremities will be decreased in order to preserve the core temperature as long as possible. That is possible.
      But the body have no internal mechanism for cooling. Decreasing metabolism just means that the body produces less heat, it doesn't regulate the external temperature. The only way for a human to cool in an environment hotter than the body want to be is using heat exchange with the surrounding world, radiation and conductive transfer are generally not too useful (radiation is very inefficient at body temperatures, conductive: external objects tend to be hotter than the body) which leaves the evaporative cooling by secreting sweat and allow it to evaporate.

    38. Re:Survivability by behrooz0az · · Score: 1

      The city is dry. it was heaven 20 years ago now looks like old western movies.

      --
      Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion. -- Spazmania (174582)
    39. Re:Survivability by bongey · · Score: 1

      Human body can endure more than you think. Considering I was in full body armor, long sleeves in pulling guard duty for up to 8 hours with nothing but water in Jacobadad,Pakistan (dailies summers >120, record 127, easily 130+ on tarmac, 150+ behind a c-130). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    40. Re:Survivability by bongey · · Score: 1

      I spent full body armor, long sleeves , 8+ hours , pull guard duty in Jacobabad Pakistan, 120+ in the summer,record there is 127. Even hotter when you were right next to tarmac. Heat was least of our concern, a Cobra crawling in your fox hole and biting you was far more of a worrier, which happened to one of us.Good thing we had Atropine auto-injectors on us,it saved his life. No one forgot to have auto-injector on them after that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    41. Re:Survivability by bongey · · Score: 2

      Utter fucking bullshit, please just shut up when you don't know what you are talking about. Spent 6 months in Jacobabad Pakistan, 8+ hours in full combat gear(120+, record 127). Directly next to the tarmac was 130+ almost ever single day,150+ if a c-130 was running and you were unlucky one who's fox hole was right behind it. Not a single person ever passed out from the heat.

    42. Re: Survivability by Bartles · · Score: 1

      If the heat output of the body decreases, then it's easier for evaporative cooling to maintain 98.6F.

    43. Re: Survivability by dougdonovan · · Score: 1

      134.1 degrees, death valley, ca. just sticking with the issue.

    44. Re:Survivability by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      So's a freaking oven!

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    45. Re:Survivability by xfade551 · · Score: 1

      Also former Army here, and I have been to "the sandbox". If you keep drinking water so you keep sweating, you can take it longer than you think. You also need to balance your electrolyte intake, since sweat is pretty salty. By experience around 3 parts plain water to 1 part (pre-mixed) Gatorade/Poweraid seems to work okay. You can keep moving, just not very quickly for very long. Think 5-10 minutes of work, then 10-20 minutes of break.

      In places like the Middle East or Central Asia, you regularly get subjected to working temperatures higher than this record. For weather stations to measure "official" temperatures, they are not permitted to be ground coverings like sand or asphalt underneath the thermometer... but if you're working someplace where it's raw, sandy desert with no vegetation and no shade... yeah, it gets a hell of a lot hotter than this "record temperature".

    46. Re:Survivability by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      You can survive well if you can sweat, but if humidity approaches 100%, you're dead.

      If you'd been on the Gulf coast (Persian, not the one around Cuba) when the tail end of the monsoon swept in and took the humidity from the low 20s to the high 40s over a matter of hours, you'd know this from personal experience.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    47. Re: Survivability by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

      Yes, and look how many long term survivors there are in DEATH valley
      No, 129 is not survivable.
      Troops in Iraq benefit from very, VERY low humidity
      Now watch what happens over the next 10 years.

    48. Re: Survivability by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

      Actually, after RH 60% the human body model overheats and dies at 92 F.

    49. Re: Survivability by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

      Derp to you coward. HOW MANY HUMAN INHABITANTS of the Great Lakes during the Wurm Glaciation?
      That would be Zero.
      And not for lack of trying
      So now we have ignorant liars claiming there is no human action involved with lethal high temperatures.
      They lie.

  2. Past the boiling point of water? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Who writes temperatures as "129 degrees"? This is a science and tech site, at very least, if you're going to use outmoded, outdated, antiquated, anachronistic, non-standard, and mostly unused units of measurement, indicate the unit.

    1. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I hate it when people need everything spelled out

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/129th_meridian_east

    2. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by 91degrees · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That would be 326.9 Kelvin :)

      It does seem bizarre to talk about "modern measurements" and use outdated units for those measurements.

    3. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Covered many times before, but I still think Fahrenheit is the best unit for weather temperature.

      0f to 100f is livable.

      0c to 100c is not livable.

    4. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 3, Insightful
      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    5. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Maybe not livable, but get a glass of water and as long as it's liquid, you're somewhere between 0 and 100 degrees.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    6. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Woah, good thing you spoke up fellow AC. I assumed 129 degrees meant it was 264F in Iran. Silly me.

    7. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by ooloorie · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      If you're intelligent, you don't give a f*ck.

    8. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Covered many times before, but I still think Fahrenheit is the best unit for weather temperature.

      0f to 100f is livable.

      0c to 100c is not livable.

      Who cares if it is "livable"?

      It regularly gets 110F here in summer and people still live. In Canada it often gets below 0F and people live.

      The measurements 0F to 100F were based upon what at the time were perceived as the min and max temperatures the weather reached in Europe. That's not very scientific, even if it is meaningful.

      You can perceive the difference just about in 1C change. You can't perceive the difference in 1F change. A Centigrade is more meaningful to a human being as far as perception goes.

      Overall though... who really cares? If talking about the weather, either system works as long as you are familiar with it.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    9. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Insightful

      my glass of water has some salt in it and it's -2c...

      I wouldn't recommend drinking that.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    10. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by msauve · · Score: 1

      Who writes temperatures as "129 degrees"?

      Anyone who correctly follows the official BIPM guidelines. The unit is "degrees Celsius," not Celsius. If symbols are used, then (/. still doesn't handle Unicode) "[degree symbol]C".

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    11. Re: Past the boiling point of water? by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      I thought it was the coldest thing he could make (alcohol mixed with ice) and his mouth.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    12. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      And all the people in metric countries also read and post on Slashdot, because Internet.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    13. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by avandesande · · Score: 5, Funny

      Celsius is like having a amplifier with a volume nob that goes up to 5.5

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    14. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by omnichad · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The point is that the scale is more granular for indoor/outdoor temperatures while staying in integer units. For Celsius, you really have to go out to one decimal point to be very accurate with outdoor temperatures. In this case, it was Fahrenheit with an added decimal, because of the fact that it's a very specific record.

      You say I can't perceive a 1 degree F change, but my thermostat moves in 1 degree increments and I do notice a difference based on the setting. And Celsius thermostats tend to all go in 0.5 degree increments.

    15. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but the headline gives the unit...and gets it wrong. "129C" it says. It's correct in the body, but still...

    16. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      They actually did (incorrectly) include the measurement in the headline - it says "129C degrees" - according to our esteemed Slashdot editors, any water in that city is boiling off right now.

      Now that's climate change!

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    17. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      Who cares if it is "livable"?

      Uh, people that have to live in it?

      It regularly gets 110F here in summer and people still live. In Canada it often gets below 0F and people live.

      But they generally don't live in those temperature. They have airconditioning or heating and try to avoid going out into those temps. It may be possible to survive in those temperatures, but it's not "liveable" in the sense that you're going to be very unhappy about it.

    18. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by omnichad · · Score: 1

      Didn't see that. Which maybe explains how it's still there, but the original poster in this thread didn't seem to notice that part either - they even quoted it wrong.

    19. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Cajun+Hell · · Score: 1

      And if you're slightly more intelligent, you can guess the units from the context so you know when someone is using metric and when someone isn't.

      I am personally so amazingly intelligent and my units inference algorithm is so reliable, that I even use it on all my Mars probes!

      --
      "Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
    20. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by nnet · · Score: 1

      +11

    21. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

      Until a few minutes ago, the head read "Iranian city soars to record 129C degrees". That doesn't help when the so-called editors are making up stuff as they go.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    22. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by CrashNBrn · · Score: 1

      The Nest thermostat allows fractional (1/4, 1/3, and 1/2) F* temperature settings. You can easily feel the difference between 76.6 and 77.

    23. Re: Past the boiling point of water? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      I've heard several different "origin" stories. Another one I heard is that 100F was used because it was the body temperature of the horse (horses have more stable body temperatures than humans so he used horses rather than people).

      The actual scale though has shifted from when the system was initially set up. 0F and 100F are not what they used to be. To "compete" with Celsius the scale shifted a little to make it so that water froze at 32F and boiled at 212F. Farenheit as a measurement hasn't always been the same.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    24. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by CrashNBrn · · Score: 1

      ...that goes up to -11.

    25. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      It's not "livable" in 0F either without heating, so there goes that argument.

      I would say 110F is more "livable" than 40F. 110F you need proper hydration. 40F you need heating and or warm clothes. 0 - 100 is not the "best temperatures for survival". 50F - 90F would probably be a better range for that.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    26. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 2

      That is not a glass of water. It's a saline solution.

      Calling it a glass of water is the same thing as calling a glass of wine a glass of water.

    27. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Not for the same reasons you hate America, which I am certain you will delve into if given the opportunity.

    28. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      Who writes temperatures as "129 degrees"? This is a science and tech site, at very least, if you're going to use outmoded, outdated, antiquated, anachronistic, non-standard, and mostly unused units of measurement, indicate the unit.

      Ah, the virtue-signaling, it burns, lol

    29. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by theendlessnow · · Score: 1

      Who writes temperatures as "129 degrees"? This is a science and tech site, at very least, if you're going to use outmoded, outdated, antiquated, anachronistic, non-standard, and mostly unused units of measurement, indicate the unit.

      I petitioned these folks for years on the very same matter. No luck.

    30. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by epine · · Score: 1

      With apologies to Blaise PAscal.

      Sometimes I notice a typo and I think about fixing it, and then I just go "nah, it fits well enough".

      If you don't let your accidents pitch in, then you have to make everything up yourself.

      Besides, I was busy. I couldn't off the top of my head recall Rimmer's given name. Pressing matters.

    31. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      I live in an ambient temperature. So do you, unless you've found a way to live in a vacuum.

    32. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by PJ6 · · Score: 1

      Who writes temperatures as "129 degrees"? This is a science and tech site ... [bellyaching]

      Um, let's see here... how about... almost everyone in the US?

      Just because a unit of measure is good for science doesn't necessarily mean it's good for every other use.

    33. Re: Past the boiling point of water? by caseih · · Score: 1

      You're correct that the scale has changed over time. But you could look up the facts on it. Even Wikipedia does a passing job of explaining it. It certainly was not changed to "compete" with celsius. Rather Fahrenheit multiplied his earlier scale by 4. This was likely because he had started working with mercury to make more accurate thermometers and mercury has the property that one degree F increase in temperature expands the density by one part in 1000. So it's more probable that the final scale ended up the way it is because of the properties of mercury, not because of Celsius.

    34. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 2

      If you're intelligent you use metric like the rest of the damn planet.

      Outside of a tiny virtue-signaling group, nobody in the US cares about this.

      Nobody cared in the 1970s, when the same tiny group was virtue-signaling about it in exactly the same way, and nobody cares now.

      Everyone uses and thinks in F for ambient temperature. If you need C for some specialty purpose, you use it. Nobody cares that it is different, or has any trouble switching between them.

      If possible - which I'm not sure it is - we care even less now, because we all have pocket computers that instantly can do any conversions, if we ever need any. Which we don't, statistically speaking.

      So if it's "intelligent" to get all worked up about a total nothing - well, whatever. Enjoy.

    35. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by aicrules · · Score: 5, Funny

      same thing as calling a glass of wine a glass of water.

      To certain Nazarenes those are the same thing.

    36. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by dindi · · Score: 2

      I live in Central America. While most measurements are presented in metric, and interesting anomaly is the construction industry.

      Not sure if it is the U.S. imports that caused this, or some other strangeness, but they want to measure short things in inches (pulgadas), while they would talk in meters on longer ones.

      You can somehow get used to it, but the problem is, that sometimes they don't know what they are talking about. I went to a store and wanted to by a 40x40 cm concrete flooring "thing" (garden steps). The guy kept insisting it was a 15x15 what they had. So I asked him if it was cm he told me yes (not too convinced). I showed him the approximate size of a 15x15cm tile at which point he literally shook his had and left (I stood there wondering WTF just happened).

      I had to ask an other person to actually walk out with me to their storage so I could verify what I was buying as no one knew what units the inventory used.....

      Of course, moral of the story is that I am the asshole foreigner because I don't read their minds and always end up getting invoiced for something that then doesn't match because no one knows the difference between centimeters and inches....

      OH, ... yep .. hectares, square meters, acres and "manzanas" (no, not apples) are an other interesting animal here. Though at least people usually know the units they are speaking in, so you can do your conversion without going nuts.

      And don't even start me on pints, ounces, fluid ounces....

    37. Re: Past the boiling point of water? by oobayly · · Score: 1

      Possibly, if it's an immediate change. However if you walk out of the room at 66.7 and 10 minutes later walk back in when it's 67, do you reckon you'll notice the difference? Did you get hit by a draft in the interim?

      My living room has one radiator. I can guarantee that it varies be more than a fraction of a Fahrenheit, so a thermostat that is that precise is pointless.

    38. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Oh, you're trying to be pedantic? You've failed.

      You can only call it a "glass of water" if it's made of water.

    39. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Not for the same reasons you hate America, which I am certain you will delve into if given the opportunity.

      I love this country enough to have served it. You?

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    40. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Celsius is actually perfect. Water freezes at 0, it boils at 100, body temperature is 37 and comfortable temperature in a shirt is probably 28. Good temperature for a sleeping room is 18. As easy to learn as you Fahrenheit equivalents ....

      You are just not used to it :D

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    41. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Yeah. A geek site should list it as 327 kelvins.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    42. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by jwdb · · Score: 1

      Celsius is like having a amplifier with a volume nob that goes up to 5.5

      True, in some ways. However, I'll raise you that the knob on a Fahrenheit amp only goes down to 3.

    43. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      The measurements 0F to 100F were based upon what at the time were perceived as the min and max temperatures the weather reached in Europe.
      No it was not.
      0F is the coldest you can get a ice / water mixture with salt dissolved in it.
      100F is the human body temperature.

      Both have nothing to do with any weather in Europe (in winter in the north it is colder, in summer in the south it is hotter, in both cases: by far)

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    44. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      0F? I've been told that more people die from the cold when it's in the forties (Fahrenheit) than when it's around zero. 40F seems deceptively safe until the hypothermia kicks in. (Actually, after that it feels even safer, but isn't.)

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    45. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      For Celsius, you really have to go out to one decimal point to be very accurate with outdoor temperatures.
      Who would care about a decimal point in outdoor temperatures? Are you an autist or something?

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    46. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by T.E.D. · · Score: 2

      The text is from a quote in a US newspaper. I suppose the editors could have babied you and put in a translation for your sensitive foreign eyes. However, this website is ALSO hosted in the US, and most of its editors and audience are US-based. So realistically, if you can't abide by seeing US units on things treated as the default, perhaps you should consider visiting non-US websites. I hear there are a lot of them on the interwebs these days.

      One wonders if you demand your friends immediately replace their old ugly furniture when you visit their houses too...

    47. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Fahrenheit is used in some other places, though not oficially. You can find Fahrenheit listed in some UK newspapers (sometimes parenthesized).

      Basically people get stuck in their ways. You can't just put your foot down and insist that everyone start using new measurement and then they will suddenly become experts and forget their past. There's always a transition period. UK still commonly uses "stone" for a person's weight, and "mile" for instances, beer is served in "pints". A british gallon used in MPG is not the same as an American gallon, although for volume of other goods litre will be used. In the US, celsius is the standard for science and engineering for sure, even though you're not going to usually see that in the stores.

    48. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by avandesande · · Score: 1

      Rock On!!! :-)

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    49. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by chuckugly · · Score: 1

      Celsius is actually perfect.

      I've spent a lot of time in 'metric' places; if it were perfect, the thermostats wouldn't all have to have 0.5C graduations, for instance. Units of metric volume and cooking is another domain example where the utility of metric units is not ideal.

    50. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Goaway · · Score: 1

      And what is that temperature?

    51. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by labnet · · Score: 1

      Sure, that might be the case in the USA, but outside nobody under 30 has a clue what F is anymore without having to look it up.
      On an international news site, even if it is based in the USA, you should use celcius.

      --
      46137
    52. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Megol · · Score: 1

      Celsius and Kelvin are used for different purposes. One is for absolute temperatures that can represent from zero entropy to infinity on a scale that starts at the minimum possible temperature (well there are some claims of negative Kelvins but that isn't using the normal definition of temperatures). The other is a general purpose scale where the zero is the freezing point of the most important chemical we know and the 100 degree is defined as the boiling point of the same chemical under some assumptions.

      The uses are different but it is trivial to convert between them: add or subtract 273.15. So in other words they are on the same scale but with different starting points.

    53. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      Not having a thermometer handy, I can't be precise, but I'd say somewhere around 72 degrees F, maybe a few degrees warmer. (it's 90 outside, but I'm in an air-conditioned building).

    54. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by omnichad · · Score: 1

      I really only care about if for indoor temperatures. But the point is, you don't need a decimal point to be more accurate with Fahrenheit.

    55. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 1

      I love America, which is why I hate Trump.

    56. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Well,
      my regulation device for indoor heating obviously uses .0 and .5 steps.
      Did not know that that is inconvenient for some people :D

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    57. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      if it were perfect, the thermostats wouldn't all have to have 0.5C graduations, for instance
      Yes, and the prices in the grocery store would always be whole Euros.

      Sigh ....

      Units of metric volume and cooking is another domain example where the utility of metric units is not ideal.

      Rofl ... how do you come to that idea? Most cooking recipes are actually build around metric units. If you look around cooking then the differences between imperial and metric only result in using one more egg or one less egg and a slightly larger or smaller dish. The differences between your pound and my pound is about 10%, your pint is a bit more than half a litter, so "a half pint" and a quarter liter are close to the same, and so on.

      The nice thing about metrics is that weight and volume is coupled for most liquids, so if you are in a hurry and need a quarter liter of milk you can just weight 250g.

      Bottom lines it comes down to what you are used to use. There is absolutely no difference in efficiency or what ever when I use metrics and you use what ever system suits you.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    58. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by omnichad · · Score: 1

      Integers make me nice and happy, and decimal points tend to be spaced weird on device UIs anyway from a graphic design / typography standpoint.

    59. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Well, my "thermostat" has a nice old school LCD :D

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    60. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by chuckugly · · Score: 1

      if it were perfect, the thermostats wouldn't all have to have 0.5C graduations, for instance Yes, and the prices in the grocery store would always be whole Euros.

      When I walk into a hotel room, the thermostat is going to either be graduated in whole degrees F or 0.5 degrees C, because in the range for human comfort (a very common range to measure) the graduations that most people care about are about that amount. When I go for a tablespoon of oil, I don't think 15ml. Well I do but that's because I know the conversion. The meter itself is based on a goofy arbitrary standard. Something like a light nanosecond would make a lot more sense actually.

      Even base 10 is OK, but again, it's not ideal really, base 12 (or 24) actually has a lot of advantages, as does base 16. Consider the difficulty in implementing decimal time, where a day was 10 hours instead of 24.

    61. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Catering to the most local audience - where many of the ads are most relevant to - makes sense.

      Slashdot has adverts? I've literally never seen one, and I've only been using an ad-blocker for the most-recent three or four years of my usage.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    62. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      And don't even start me on pints, ounces, fluid ounces....

      "Pint" is a measure for beer ; ounces are what you buy your cannabis in ; outside American recipes, I've never seen fluid ounces used. Ever. So, from context, you know what unit the measurement is in.

      I had a American once recite a ditty taught him by his father, that "a pint [is] a pound / the world around". When of course, a pint is a pound and a quarter. Because a gallon weighs ten pounds.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    63. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Rock Off!

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    64. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Sorry, as I said before, it is a matter of how you grew up.
      1/4 of "a thing expressed in 16th steps" is simply 1/4.
      1/4 of "a thing expressed in 10th steps" is simply 1/4.

      No one who is cooking cares about the actual units and if they are "easily dividable" (an american myth, probably an explanation why that nation is going downhill).

      And luckily, except when you only need a single one, no one is using 'spoons' anymore in cooking recipes.

      Consider the difficulty in implementing decimal time, where a day was 10 hours instead of 24.
      That was a political problem, and honestly makes no sense anyway.
      what is next? A ten month year? With what ... 3 ten month weeks and a 'break week'?
      It can't be helped but the planet has a 365 days year and some odd 28 days months. Going completely artificial in a time thing makes no sense at all.

      I for my part like it that the sun is rising roughly 6:00 in the morning and setting 18:00 in the evening. And the times 'expand' in summer and 'shrink' in winter. A very convenient system. Around 12:00 the sun is straight over my head ... more or less, as timezones are quite big now.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    65. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by chuckugly · · Score: 1

      Consider the difficulty in implementing decimal time, where a day was 10 hours instead of 24. That was a political problem, and honestly makes no sense anyway. what is next? A ten month year? With what ... 3 ten month weeks and a 'break week'?

      Could be 10 months of 36 and 37 days I guess. But working out the reason for not having decimal time is a good exercise toward understanding why C being too coarse for conveniently expressing temps that humans care about most is a decided shortcoming. Personally I'm pretty comfortable in base 2, 8, 10, 12, or 16 but I guess I could learn others if there was a good reason. The ones I know all have utility in my life.

    66. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Just FIY, the lunar lander feet were made in Québec, Canada. So technically we landed on the moon first.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    67. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      But working out the reason for not having decimal time is a good exercise toward understanding why C being too coarse for conveniently expressing temps that humans care about most is a decided shortcoming
      Considering that 7.5 billion minus roughly 400.000.000 americans use C, that is a pointless exercise.
      I already explained to you: if you grow up with a unit of measurement, you prefer that over others. Beyond that there is no particular benefit of one over the other, unless you compare complete systems, where SI clearly wins.

      The reason why we have 24 hours is super simple. Most old number systems used a mixed 20 and 60 based system. And during old times the day had 12 double hours ... which later got split up into smaller hours, hence we have 24 now. And why do we have complex number systems instead of ten based systems? Well: by a cool accident the year has more or less exactly 360 days. That is the reason why a circle is measured with 360 degrees. The sun, or a particular star, is rising every night "one degree off" versus the night before. From a 360 "number system" we split down to a 60 based one and have minutes with 60 seconds and hours with 60 minutes. Of course you could define the length of a second arbitrarily and come up with a 10h day. However by a cool accident most adults have a heart beat of about 60 per minute, when healthy.

      You probably were right with the "convenience" of Fahrenheit if it would start at the freezing point of water with zero and had 300F at the boiling point of water. Now I have to memorize the freezing point, I guess it was 17F? And memorizing such arbitrary stuff is completely pointless (for me). I guess it is even a stupid question asked in school and you get looked down uppon if you can not memorize it and get a bad grade in "nature science"?

      With the current definition it feels very cumbersome for anyone who is using C. (But as I said: that is only because we are used to use C)

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    68. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by chuckugly · · Score: 1

      The reason why we have 24 hours is super simple.

      Yes, it's because 24 is evenly divisible by many factors. A 10 hour day would require factories to operate on 3.33 hour shifts and so on, not something natural to deal with in day to day life, much like a thermostat that offers fractional degree adjustments. I'm not claiming F is great either,it's a stupid system for a host of other reasons, but for expressing the temperature in terms of human comfort it's (for me and others) a superior system. In this context (which is what the thread is about) the ridiculous 32F freezing point is irrelevant. Humans are comfortable between maybe 60 and 80, and they don't require fractions of that range to express their precise preference.

      Outside science, what is the advantage of C over F? Also, I grew up using both, in the Carter era, and I used C in my automation and science work since. It's great for that. But not for expressing everything. If it was we wouldn't have C, F, K and so on. Each has a domain.

    69. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Yes, it's because 24 is evenly divisible by many factors.
      No. That is an american fallacy. I explained you how we came to to 24 hour system. But perhaps you like to do your own research. (No one in the rest of the world ever used that "divisible by many factors" argument. It is completely irrelevant for everything. As I pointed out several posts back: 1/4 of a thing is 1/4, 1/6 of a thing is 1/6 ... no one cares if one or both end up as even numbers or fractions. And the "number systems" most certainly never where picked for that purposes)

      A 10 hour day would require factories to operate on 3.33 hour shifts and so on
      And who would care about working 3hours and 1/3rd?

      I'm not claiming F is great either,it's a stupid system for a host of other reasons, but for expressing the temperature in terms of human comfort it's (for me and others) a superior system.
      Yes, and for me and about 7billion others it s not.
      So we are now back on square one ;D

      Humans are comfortable between maybe 60 and 80,
      And in Celsius humans are comfortable in the range of 20 to 30 degrees. Erm ... what exactly was your point? You don't live with Celsius. So you have absolutely no clue how "comfortable" we are with the scale.
      And I don't have any clue how comfortable you are with Fahrenheit.

      Why can't you agree on that?

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    70. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by chuckugly · · Score: 1

      And in Celsius humans are comfortable in the range of 20 to 30 degrees.

      And virtually no one, anywhere, adjusts their comfort with a C thermostat that adjusts in 1 degree C increments. I've lived quite a lot, years on end, in places where C is the norm. My passport required extra visa pages last time around, I've lived with both systems, something you perhaps cannot truthfully claim. In any case I don't see any convergence of opinion on this one.

    71. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by Goaway · · Score: 1

      And how is 72 a clearly superior number to use over 22? They are both arbitrary, and you learn from experience what they mean.

    72. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Yeah, because you don't try to understand my standpoint.
      I understand yours. And only say for my life and plenty of people on the plant your standpoint is irrelevant. I happily use 0.5 scales to adjust my temperature, why would I not?
      Of course I never lived in Fahrenheit country, AFAIK the USA are the only ones using it. And I'm actually a bit to scared to visit the USA with all that violence, unreliable police and strange legal system.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    73. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by chuckugly · · Score: 1

      Oh I understand it's easy for you to get slightly the wrong amount of milk by measuring 250g and assuming the specific gravity is the same as pure water instead of just eyeballing it or going by an actual volume measure. Seriously, have you EVER really had to do that? What would be the use case for that in real life? The easy conversions to caloric units are not useful in daily life, but in general the huge advantage of the metric system is the interrelatedness of the units. Being decimal ... not so sure about but it's OK. The meter? As I said, I'd much rather, if we're going for interrelated units, do it right and use something like a light nanosecond as the base unit of linear measure.

      Saying "I prefer 22 point 5 as my ideal room temperature" is just evidence of a hack. If C is better than F for that, then for all the same reasons K is better than C - use that..

      As for violence, if you stick to interacting with the non-gang part of the culture the rate of violence is actually on par with a typical european country. For instance as a middle class white person, my odds of being murdered per year are around 1:100,000, which is pretty average for europe, but higher than places like Japan. If you want to come here and hang out in the urban jungle and maybe score some meth, well yeah, you might become a victim; if you plan to get into the business, even more likely.

    74. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Saying "I prefer 22 point 5 as my ideal room temperature" is just evidence of a hack. If C is better than F for that, then for all the same reasons K is better than C - use that..
      I simply disagree.
      C: 0 has a well defined meaning. 100 is for daily life irrelevant. My body temperature is 36.8 or something, we round it to 37. That I have to use 22.5 (which is rather warm) bothers no one.
      F: 0 is a completely meaningless temperature. 100 is my body temperature. Freezing point of water, important for dressing right or knowing if the roads might be icy: a complete "random number" which you have to memorize. Comfortable room temperature, now you don't need a 0.5 thingy, wow, that is an improvement. For you, for me it is ridiculous.
      K: 0 is a nice defined value. 100 is meaningless. Freezing point of water is again a hard to memorize number. My body temperature is a hard to memorize number. The comfortable room temperature is a hard to memorize number, and like C it will be adjusted in 0.5 steps.

      As you clearly can see: for me the only valid option for temperature measurement in real life is ... ta tam: C.

      And as we are talking about it now since days: I realize the only sensible temperature measurement for you is F.

      So: why not just agree that each of us has his personal preferences, which come from culture and not because one or the other system is superior?

      For instance as a middle class white person, my odds of being murdered per year are around 1:100,000
      That might be from the numbers true. But:
      a) robbery on a gasoline station or a drug store with guns and potential murder: that never happens in Europe (well never is exaggerated, somewhere at some time that might happen, but it is unlikely one gets killed) Murder basically only happen among friends or family.
      b) if you stop with your car (as a tourist), and a guy shoots your wife: in Europe the first idea is, there is a murderer running around with a gun, we need to get him. In the USA the first idea is: the husband killed his wife, where is the gun?
      c) in Europe police and state attorney work hard to get the right people. In the USA they work hard to get convictions and get as Sheriff, Judge or State Attorney reelected.

      Yes, I exaggerate. But there are enough Germans in death row because of b) and c) in the USA, and I don't really want to visit such a country.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    75. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by chuckugly · · Score: 1

      F: 0 is a completely meaningless temperature.

      A common misconception. Zero F is actually the freezing point of salt water of a specific salinity. The other points were chosen such that the distance from pure water freezing to boiling was 180 degrees.

      That might be from the numbers true. But: a) robbery on a gasoline station or a drug store with guns and potential murder: that never happens in Europe (well never is exaggerated, somewhere at some time that might happen, but it is unlikely one gets killed) Murder basically only happen among friends or family. b) if you stop with your car (as a tourist), and a guy shoots your wife: in Europe the first idea is, there is a murderer running around with a gun, we need to get him. In the USA the first idea is: the husband killed his wife, where is the gun? c) in Europe police and state attorney work hard to get the right people. In the USA they work hard to get convictions and get as Sheriff, Judge or State Attorney reelected.

      Yes, I exaggerate. But there are enough Germans in death row because of b) and c) in the USA, and I don't really want to visit such a country.

      Somebody has been watching too many movies or something.

      (a) No one dies from a robber almost deciding to shoot them, and again, violent crime that's not murder is generally the same or lower in the USA than Europe. In fact our overall crime rate is about half that of Canada, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, and Finland, for instance.

      (b) False.

      (c) False

    76. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      A common misconception. Zero F is actually the freezing point of salt water of a specific salinity. The other points were chosen such that the distance from pure water freezing to boiling was 180 degrees.

      No it is not. First if all the freezing point of a salt water solution is not interesting. No one is confronted with that in real life.
      The 'other point' is 100F, that is your body temperature.
      There is no mystical 180 point (what would be the sense of that?) for boiling water? That is a coincident.

      B) and C) are true, There are probabky a thousand cases.

      The crime rate in the US is roughly five to ten times higher than in Europe, the murder cases more than 100 times.
      No idea where you get your numbers from. You can easy google that.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    77. Re:Past the boiling point of water? by chuckugly · · Score: 1

      After more research it seems you're half right; the initial scale was 0 as the temperature of a brine solution at it's phase change point and 96, not 100, was selected as body temperature. Those seem like perfectly useful reference points really, for daily use.

      As for crime rates: http://www.nationmaster.com/co...

  3. Mass Migration? by seven+of+five · · Score: 1

    Won't it be fun in coming decades when most of the Middle East beats it for less insufferably hot parts of the world?

    1. Re:Mass Migration? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      I hear Antarctica is very nice at this time of year.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:Mass Migration? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      I think they already do. But it's not exactly for the weather.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Mass Migration? by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 1

      Actually, this is one of the major reasons for the problems in Syria. The drought that started in 2006 caused many farmers to migrate into the city, which then helped kick-start their ongoing civil war. It's only going to get worse.

    4. Re:Mass Migration? by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 1

      I'm told it's greening up quite nicely.

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
  4. 129 degrees?? by OzPeter · · Score: 2, Informative

    Wow .. the water must be boiling in the streets!

    Oh .. you mean 54 degrees .. like was mentioned in TFA

    The information comes from Etienne Kapikian, a meteorologist with Meteo France, the French national weather service.

    Officially, he said the temperature was 53.7 degrees Celsius, which is 128.7 degrees Fahrenheit. Iran’s previous hottest temperature was 127.4 degrees.

    --
    I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    1. Re:129 degrees?? by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Oh .. you mean 54 degrees .. like was mentioned in TFA

      That's 327 K, you backwards Luddite. "Degrees" - what is this, the Dark Ages?

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    2. Re:129 degrees?? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 5, Funny

      What do you mean? 327 KB or 327 KiB?

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    3. Re:129 degrees?? by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

      This proves my belief that we Americans are tougher than the rest of the world. You guys have trouble if it gets above 40. We can take it up over 100.

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
  5. Mesopotamia? by skovnymfe · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Isn't Iran in the old Mesopotamia region? The one that almost died out way-back-when because of sudden climate change? I suppose it wouldn't be much of a surprise if that's the first region to go again in the next sudden climate change.

    1. Re:Mesopotamia? by nnet · · Score: 2

      yes, that event was called The Flood, ask Noah about it, allegedly he witnessed it...

    2. Re:Mesopotamia? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Let me explain this. The myth of the flood was caused by a real fact, which was the breaking of the ice dam that contained the Agassiz Lake [see Wikipedia], in North America, in the final days of the last Ice Age. The lake was the size of today's Black Sea, and all the water was released at once. Sea level rose up very quickly. This event was the basis for the Flood myth and, as a matter of fact, created the already mentioned Black sea and the English Channel/La Manche, among other fetures.

      It's easy when you do a little reading once in a while.

    3. Re:Mesopotamia? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Noah did not live there ... if you trust in the bible he lived in the Levant or Turkey.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    4. Re:Mesopotamia? by T.E.D. · · Score: 1

      Isn't Iran in the old Mesopotamia region?

      No, it is not. They are neighbors, but if you want to map ancient to modern terms, Mesopotamia = Iraq. Persia = Iran.

    5. Re:Mesopotamia? by strikethree · · Score: 1

      Isn't Iran in the old Mesopotamia region?

      It is easy to have this misconception since the Golden Crescent region does include parts of Iran.

      Mesopotamia is the land in between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers... which become conjoined around Baghdad. In other words, Iraq.

      I have to wonder about the this being the hottest temperature ever recorded. Summer in Baghdad 2005, early July IIRC, I saw a thermometer claim that it was ~145F. To be honest, it was the harshest heat I had ever felt in my life. I stayed inside an air conditioned room (~17C) and had to step outside from time to time as my body temperature would drop. The hot sun would feel glorious for about 10 minutes (perfect for smoking a cigarette) then going back inside to chill again. Well, on the day that I saw ~145F, I stepped outside with an unlit cigarette in my mouth and before I could light it, I stepped right the the fuck back inside not caring about missing a chance to smoke. It was so hot that even 10 seconds of it did not feel good on my semi-frozen body.

      Florida is the closest I have seen to that kind of hell. Not because the temperature is so hot but that the humidity starts feeling solid after about ~98F.

      --
      "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
  6. Bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The hottest temperature recorded in Death Valley was 134 F on July 10, 1913, nearly 100 years ago, which is still modern times since people who were alive then are STILL alive. Good try, though.

    1. Re:Bullshit by iggymanz · · Score: 2

      Except meteorologists now think that reading by a mining company employee was false and not possible. The record then is 129.2 degrees F

  7. WTF by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

    Etienne Kapikian, a forecaster at French meteorological agency MeteoFrance, posted to Twitter that the city of Ahvaz soared to 53.7C (128.7 "degrees Fahrenheit").

    Fixed that for you.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
    1. Re:WTF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      ERROR: unit mismatch! Coulomb is not a unit for temperature.

    2. Re:WTF by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Nowhere in that sentence did I see it mentioned that the "53.7C" mentioned was a temperature. Perhaps 'the city of Ahvaz' is actually a large capacitor that was charged to 53.7 coulombs. Depending on the voltage involved, that could make it a particularly large capacitor.

  8. I grew up in a hole in the ground in the desert by pecosdave · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have seen very close to that - my home town made it to 128 one summer.

    The thing is it was such a shit-hole of a town there are no official weather stations there. All the official measurements were taken miles away in Odessa or other shit-hole towns they happened to put weather stations in or around. Pecos just was ignored, and was in a unique place geological being in a wide plane surrounded by mountain ranges and higher elevations, it created a type of hot-box effect. I was driving a 1983 GMC Sierra Classic at the time. The little orange needle that showed if you were in PRND1-2 melted in half and the spring pulled it to the left. My sisters walkman melted in it.

    So, due to all of the locals reading their own thermometers and the local channel 6 (which was just a CGA graphics info readout) saying it got up to 128 I know it was there. Since Kermit Texas some miles to the North never made it that high we never officially made it there.

    That was in 1994 I believe. As far as I know it hasn't passed 118 or so since. My dad tells me in 75 or so when he was working the feedlots it got up to about 132. I wasn't born yet so I certainly can't confirm that one.

    At least in my little world both the hot and the cold extremes have tapered based on my own limited observations. The rains have become more erratic, but having moved away from that area my own observations are no longer current.

    --
    The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
    1. Re:I grew up in a hole in the ground in the desert by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      111 fahrenheit is this year's high in Midland/Odessa... probably got up to 118-120 in Pecos.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    2. Re:I grew up in a hole in the ground in the desert by flatulus · · Score: 1

      Pecos huh? Nice gas station there. Nearly got bit by a rattlesnake near Pecos a couple of years ago. Enjoy your fame, friend!

    3. Re:I grew up in a hole in the ground in the desert by pecosdave · · Score: 1

      I didn't even visit for a ten year stretch, not that I didn't want to go see my sister, life just stacked up and kept me from heading West.

      Then for reasons unrelated to hitting on her I talked to a friends little sister. Well, now I'm married to a home-town girl and I visit several times a year - and I just have to live with the party foul of hooking up with a friends sister...

      For people unfamiliar with the area - unless it's rodeo week or something there isn't much of a reason to visit Pecos unless there's something very particular to your interest. On the other hand if you cruise through West Texas the most awesome swimming pool I've ever seen is nearby and totally worth checking out.

      Gas station - that's a funny one. I usually tell people "A town in West Texas is likely to be a gas station and a couple of trailer houses". Pecos is bigger than that, but I get it.

      --
      The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
    4. Re:I grew up in a hole in the ground in the desert by d34thm0nk3y · · Score: 2

      There's more than a million people in Ahvaz. For reference, that's about the size of Seattle and Denver combined.

    5. Re:I grew up in a hole in the ground in the desert by k6mfw · · Score: 1

      did you ever fry an egg on a street? like the opening seen in late 60s movie "Tick, Tick, Tick"

      --
      mfwright@batnet.com
    6. Re:I grew up in a hole in the ground in the desert by pecosdave · · Score: 1

      Yes.

      It fried.

      To top it off we ran around bare-foot all summer as kids. We were standing in the very street the egg was frying on bare-footed, at least for short periods of time. It's amazing what the human body can adapt to with conditioning. I won't even walk out the door bare footed anymore.

      --
      The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
    7. Re:I grew up in a hole in the ground in the desert by painandgreed · · Score: 1

      There's more than a million people in Ahvaz. For reference, that's about the size of Seattle and Denver combined.

      Technically, if you only include people in the specific city limits and not those in the adjacent communities and metro areas. It's more like Tulsa, OK in metro areas as Ahvaz only has one sizable adjacent community.

    8. Re:I grew up in a hole in the ground in the desert by T.E.D. · · Score: 1

      my home town made it to 128 one summer.

      I thought so too. But it turns out we (Tulsa) only had an official high around 113 that year, even though things near roads like bank thermometers and my car thermometer were in the upper 120's. Our record high is still 115, from back during the dust bowl. So if I were you I'd check on that.

      I have a convertible, and happened to be outside driving in mid-day on the hottest day that year when it was 113 (127 according to my car). I enjoy nature, and the heat. If I'm wearing shorts and the car is moving with the top down, that's generally plenty of cooling. On that day, I actually pulled over on the highway to put the top up. I'm a manly tough guy and all, but sitting in direct sunlight in that heat is just foolishness. If it actually got 15 degrees hotter somewhere than it was here that day, I certainly wouldn't want to even think about being outside. I doubt shade would even help much.

      We're in for a fun century. Thankfully I'm in my 50's so I won't have to live through the end of it. Have fun cleaning up my generation's mess, everyone!

    9. Re:I grew up in a hole in the ground in the desert by T.E.D. · · Score: 1

      Pecos just was ignored, and was in a unique place geological being in a wide plane surrounded by mountain ranges and higher elevations, it created a type of hot-box effect. I was driving a 1983 GMC Sierra Classic at the time. The little orange needle that showed if you were in PRND1-2 melted in half and the spring pulled it to the left. My sisters walkman melted in it.

      Ahhh. Didn't notice you'd mentioned your town name. Your official record high for Pecos, TX is 118 (from back in 1968).

      So that really hot day you remember? Picture it being more than 10 degrees hotter than that.

    10. Re:I grew up in a hole in the ground in the desert by pecosdave · · Score: 1

      What I do know - I moved to Phoenix directly after high school and the locals didn't believe me when I said it wasn't as hot as where I was from.

      --
      The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
    11. Re:I grew up in a hole in the ground in the desert by pecosdave · · Score: 1

      I don't want to get too into it because I don't have time to argue, defend and research.

      I've noticed when the earth hits one extreme in the year it often hits the other as well. It makes some sense to me where wobble is concerned. Yeah, I totally believe your version of things.

      --
      The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
    12. Re:I grew up in a hole in the ground in the desert by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      there are no official weather stations there. All the official measurements were taken miles away in Odessa or other shit-hole towns they happened to put weather stations in or around.

      Many "official" weather stations are (or were) on airfields, because the requirements (for temperature and wind speed measurements in particular) require soil not asphalt, plans, not bare soil, and a certain distance from buildings or relief or trees greater than X m tall ... which doesn't dictate an airfield, but if you fulfil those conditions, there's a good chance that your site would make a good airfield.

      Were there any (temporary) airfields established in your area as the Germans invaded, or as the Soviets pushed them back? That would be a good place to try to site an "official" weather station.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    13. Re:I grew up in a hole in the ground in the desert by pecosdave · · Score: 1

      There was a local airport, for crop dusters, etc.... Occasionally something bigger landed there, but it made the news paper when it did.

      For some reason I can't explain the weather equipment wasn't official. I don't know if there were certification requirements it didn't meet or what, but if it costs money you can bet it wasn't met.

      There really weren't any trees.

      The soil was mostly clay based, I actually rode a normal skateboard off road (80's style wide wheels) occasionally as a kid.

      I haven't checked, but I'm sure by now there's something official. The town has had a growth boom in recent years since so much of th oil field has returned. It will be interesting to see if new records get set in the near future.

      --
      The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
    14. Re:I grew up in a hole in the ground in the desert by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      but if it costs money you can bet it wasn't met.

      Proper weather stations require maintenance, which requires money. If nothing else, the calibrations on the instruments must be checked regularly - does the dry thermometer read the same as a suite of check thermometers? Has a rat eaten the mesh off the wet bulb (or, for that matter, shat on it)? Is there a boot-shaped ding in the rain gauge?

      Then the reading techniques need to be checked. For day-shift and night shift observers. So you've already guaranteed that your calibration checker has spent a day on site, excluding travel costs. That'll be the thick end of a kilobuck for wages, transport and accommodation already. Yearly.

      I just did a mental count of the airfields in the county with sufficient "general aviation" to probably need a weather station, and got 22. 3/4 of them on the mainland, and no problem to get to by road. The remaining quarter are in outlying island groups (including 2 airfields with a scheduled mile-and-a-bit route between them) and would take around half of the effort for a calibration cycle. I wouldn't do that job for less than £30,000, which is whatever kilobucks.

      Short version : weather stations cost money to build, equip, and maintain.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    15. Re:I grew up in a hole in the ground in the desert by pecosdave · · Score: 1

      Right, which is why that shit-hole didn't have one.

      --
      The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
  9. Near highest ever? by planckscale · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The official highest recorded temperature is now 56.7C (134F), which was measured on 10 July 1913 at Greenland Ranch, Death Valley, California, USA. So yeah it's pretty high but call me when it gets to 135F.

    --
    Namaste
    1. Re:Near highest ever? by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 1

      Perhaps being more than a century past might make it not so modern.

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
    2. Re:Near highest ever? by aoism · · Score: 1

      That was "not possible from a meteorological perspective" so they dismissed that record, and now they are like "We're #1! We're #1! Climate Change yall!". I expect nothing less from the Washington Post.

  10. Re:Queue the Global Warming Argument... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of statistics knows that under a normal distribution, every day there is a non-zero chance that records will be broken. Given the fact of automated temperature measuring, the ability to measure temperature to tenths of a degree, widespread record keeping that didn't exist in the past, this really cannot be attributed to anything other than the normal course of events. This is slightly interesting but really is not news.

  11. Re:Queue the Global Warming Argument... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Nah. It's an isolated event. We might start to talk about global warming if this becomes somewhat frequent.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  12. That's why they call it Iran by JoeyRox · · Score: 1

    As in "I Ran away from that country to get away from the heat".

  13. a dose of reality by ooloorie · · Score: 5, Informative

    Recorded high temperatures in Ahvaz in July are 129.2F, so this isn't the highest on record even for that city. It's a record for June, but, hey, it's the end of June. Ahvaz also holds the record as the "world's most air-polluted city". Incidentally, they do get snow in the winter. What a place!

    1. Re:a dose of reality by Dunbal · · Score: 1

      If this cooling trend continues we should be seeing absolute zero temperatures within 50 years! Quick, tax all ice cubes!

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    2. Re:a dose of reality by rahvin112 · · Score: 1

      That isn't even the hottest temperature on earth, death valley which is 300' below sea level has always had the highest temperature record for earth.

      The hottest air temperature ever recorded in Death Valley was 134 F (56.7 C) on July 10, 1913, at Furnace Creek, which is the hottest atmospheric temperature ever recorded on earth. During the heat wave that peaked with that record, five consecutive days reached 129 F (54 C) or above.

  14. Re:The obvious solution by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    Bash on NASCAR all you want but a few dozen cars racing a few times every year is nowhere near as polluting as the millions of daily commutes being done by regular people.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  15. Re:Queue the Global Warming Argument... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    I wrote to the president and he said the government will help poor people buy an Anonymous Coward to cool their home.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  16. Re: Queue the Global Warming Argument... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    Fuck yeah! Summer winter! Wait, that's just regular weather for Canada, because all americans know we live in fucking igloos.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  17. Re:It's like hell by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    It's like hell, probably to give the muslims a chance to get used to it

    Phoenix, Arizona serves the same function for Christians.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  18. Re:wrong! by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Mother Nature is bleeding from her whatever."

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  19. Re:point five past lightspeed, AT LEAST by sheramil · · Score: 1

    For a brief moment I thought... "What is 129 times the speed of light, and how did that city in Iran reach it?"

  20. Re:It's like hell by unixisc · · Score: 1

    Despite this, the Iranians want nukes. It won't be noticably hotter if a nuke goes off in Ahvaz

  21. Re: Queue the Global Warming Argument... by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 2

    I've been told that all those igloos are made out of frozen maple syrup too.

  22. Re:129C? by wvmarle · · Score: 1

    I'd say it rather makes it look HOT!

  23. Re:It's "F," not "C" by ir0nHat · · Score: 3, Funny

    My Grandmother used to tell me all the time. "You should not 'F' what you can't 'C', o 'K'. She had such hot sayings.

  24. Death Valley is hotter, why is this an article? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    https://weather.com/news/news/death-valley-new-world-temperature-record-20120913

    "Death Valley, Calif. now holds the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded in the world with a maximum temperature of 134 degrees."

  25. Scare-quotes for Celsius? by GNious · · Score: 1

    Why is the figure in Celsius given with scare-quotes? Both Iran and France, and 95% of the world, uses Celsius - not really anything scary about it.

  26. No celsius is correct by aepervius · · Score: 1

    When publishing in s cie nce journal i wouod expect kelvin, in normal news celsius is perfectly acceptable, and i would say fahrenheit too, as long a s the writer is not an idiot and precise the measurement unit . And yes celsius is the modern acceptable unit used by the crushing majority of human on earth.

    --
    C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
    visit randi.org
  27. Re:It's like hell by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

    No, that's Trenton, NJ. Hell traditionally hasn't been thought of as a hot place.

    Maybe it's just Climate Change again.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  28. Context by sjbe · · Score: 2

    Who writes temperatures as "129 degrees"?

    Pretty much anyone/everyone in the US. Fahrenheit units are assumed here, especially in contexts were Celsius would make little sense.

    This is a science and tech site, at very least, if you're going to use outmoded, outdated, antiquated, anachronistic, non-standard, and mostly unused units of measurement, indicate the unit.

    No this is a discussion/debate site which historically (less lately) has focused on tech. It also is based in the US and has a predominantly US based readership and I assure you nobody in the US was confused at all. I've be very happy to switch to metric but if someone gives an air temperature of 129 degrees I'm fairly comfortable assuming they aren't talking about Celsius units.

    The US isn't going to go metric any time soon. Get over it. Yes it's a good idea and Celsius would be better but so are lots of things that won't happen.

  29. Flaimbate! by blindseer · · Score: 1

    Must be that global cooling!

    Okay, I got that out of my system. Move along, nothing to see here.

    --
    I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
  30. False by sjbe · · Score: 2

    Who cares if it is "livable"?

    People who want to live.

    It regularly gets 110F here in summer and people still live. In Canada it often gets below 0F and people live.

    You seem to have missed the point. 110F is survivable. 110C is not.

    The measurements 0F to 100F were based upon what at the time were perceived as the min and max temperatures the weather reached in Europe. That's not very scientific, even if it is meaningful.

    That's not true at all. "The lower defining point, 0 F, was established as the temperature of a solution of brine made from equal parts of ice and salt. Further limits were established as the melting point of ice (32 F) and his best estimate of the average human body temperature (96 F, about 2.6 F less than the modern value due to a later redefinition of the scale). The scale is now usually defined by two fixed points: the temperature at which water freezes into ice is defined as 32 F, and the boiling point of water is defined to be 212 F, a 180 F separation, as defined at sea level and standard atmospheric pressure."

    You can perceive the difference just about in 1C change. You can't perceive the difference in 1F change. A Centigrade is more meaningful to a human being as far as perception goes.

    Again not true at all. I absolutely can perceive a 1F difference in temperature and so can most people. In fact we can detect temperature difference much smaller than 1F in many circumstances. If anything centigrade is a bit too coarse grained in that regard.

    1. Re:False by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      You should check your sources. The first said there are several accounts as to how he set up the scale and lists that one above as one of them.

      We don't even know for sure HOW or WHY he set up his measurement system- and it hasn't even remained the same over time. What is 40F today is not the same as what is 40F when he first set it up.

      As for perceiving temperatures. Saying it's going to be 77F outside today vs 78F outside is absolutely meaningless. You're not going to be able to tell the difference. It will feel the same. Even 77F to 80F is almost meaningless. Your linked article (again a bad one) says people can't notice if temperature changes less than .5C in 30mins (so certainly couldn't 1F).

      Perhaps yes, in a controlled room when exposed to slightly different temperatures immediately one after the other you might be able to tell one from the other, but 77F is the same as 78F as far as your perceptions would be concerned.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  31. It doesn't matter until upper midwest gets hot by postmortem · · Score: 1

    Because that's who decides who's going to be US president, and consequently person who can do the most about the global warming

    1. Re:It doesn't matter until upper midwest gets hot by djinn6 · · Score: 1

      Both Texas and Florida are heading towards the Democrats and they'll both be feeling the heat. Once they're blue the midwest won't matter anymore.

  32. It's not the heat but by Eyezen · · Score: 1

    the humidity as the saying goes. Looked like the avg humidity in Ahvaz yesterday was 22%. The southeast and midwest routinely see 80-90% this time of year. That's when it gets uncomfortable.

  33. We should support Climate Change then! by zifn4b · · Score: 1

    As an anti-terrorism measure! ;)

    --
    We'll make great pets
  34. Fake news... by slew · · Score: 2

    The record is currently 134 degrees F from July 10, 1913, in Death Valley...
    But that doesn't fit the narrative of "modern AGW times"...

    Even in more modern times, back in 2013, Death Valley reached 53.9C (besting this latest temperature in Ahvaz by 0.2C)... Of course back in 2013, we weren't as modern as we are today...

    Anything for click-bait these days, right?

    1. Re:Fake news... by bongey · · Score: 1

      Officially the record stands,sound,reliable direct measurements, take precedence over any statistical measurements or models. Note they didn't move anything around after the hot week or change anything at all. More likely a climate change scientists cannot possibly believe that the record was set in 1913.

  35. Re:It's "F," not "C" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Haha. What's her number?

  36. Duh! by s.petry · · Score: 1

    Look, I could get confusion if we were below a threshold, say -10 to 35, but if the number is high enough it becomes obvious that the measurement is in Fahrenheit. Even with those numbers, it's pretty obvious that if Arizona is 36 during the day in July.. it's frigging Celsius!

    Here I came to see if anyone had cracked any good jokes about Iran and Hell, yet find idiotic statements like yours modded insightful.. *sigh*

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

  37. It has been hotter here by dubner · · Score: 1

    > Weather Underground's website . . .

    Yeah, well there's the problem. Earlier this month Weather Underground called it 160F here in the northwest USA.

    http://imgur.com/h4wHnAa

    Fortunately, with the breeze and low humidity, it only felt like 150F.

    1. Re:It has been hotter here by deadwill69 · · Score: 1

      Looks like somebodies weather station freaked out: Love that 754.9 F heat index. How did you survive? That's steak grilling temps there!

      10:56 AM 159.8 F 754.9 F 150.8 F 80% 29.96 in 10.0 mi NNE 5.8 mph - N/A Scattered Clouds

    2. Re:It has been hotter here by dubner · · Score: 1

      True enough, but this data is not from a home weather station; it's from the nearest airport. Note the airplane icon and the word "McNary" (McNary Field, Salem, OR).

      W.U. is just plain lousy.

  38. Intelligent? by s.petry · · Score: 1

    A base 12 system is more complex than a base 10 system. Fahrenheit and Kelvin both have historical and scientific reasons for maintenance. So what you are really asking is that we dumb it down for you.

    I believe you meant something other than insulting people, but don't quite get that one either.

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

  39. Good place for it by cmdr_klarg · · Score: 1

    As in not where I am. :)

    --
    THE SOFTWARE, IT NO WORKY!!!
  40. Units by dindi · · Score: 1

    I though modern measurements were in Celsius

  41. Re:So hot... by Higaran · · Score: 1

    That's not true, i sued to work at a McDonalds when I was 16. We would use real eggs for the McMuffins, as for the nice folded eggs that go on the biscuts, we would pour this stuff out of a carton it was supposed to be pasteurized whole eggs or Pewe as it as called.

  42. Tom Friedman said it well by donbudge · · Score: 1

    https://www.nytimes.com/2015/0... (nytimes, may be pay-walled) All the people in this region are playing with fire. While they’re fighting over who is caliph, who is the rightful heir to the Prophet Muhammad from the seventh century — Sunnis or Shiites — and to whom God really gave the holy land, Mother Nature is not sitting idle. She doesn’t do politics — only physics, biology and chemistry. And if they add up the wrong way, she will take them all down. The only “ism” that will save them is not Shiism or Islamism but “environmentalism” — understanding that there is no Shiite air or Sunni water, there is just “the commons,” their shared ecosystems, and unless they cooperate to manage and preserve them (and we all address climate change), vast eco-devastation awaits them all.

  43. Mar-a-Lago is Hotter by coinreturn · · Score: 1

    They've got the best temperatures - the highest. Nobody has higher temperatures.

  44. It's a hoax, I tell you by ElBeano · · Score: 1

    Fricken Chinese

  45. Re:It's like hell by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    Next to Phoenix, Trenton is almost paradise.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  46. It's not celsius, doesn't mean it's not a lot by behrooz0az · · Score: 2

    To people saying water doesn't boil. Actually, water does boil in the streets. the 53 celsius is temperature without presense of sunlight. in sunlight we're talking well above 90 degrees celsius, wish I was joking but I'm not.
    If you just sit in a car without turning the AC on for half an hour the belt buckle can leave a mark on your arm for the rest of your life, talking 3rd degree burn here. The steering wheel can get stuck to your hand if you put your hand on it directly. my father's car has a LOT of his finger prints permanently molded into the plastic. You can cook omlets on the dashboard or on the roof.
    If there is a fly still alive in that weather --this one is actually funny-- if it lands on a car or any other metalic surface, it can't take off again.
    Only glass covered solar panels work, other types just melt. The wiring almost always melts too.
    Car batteries die a lot.
    Plastic bottles, sprays, cans, jars and anything with a lid exploding is just normal. One time, After few hours of leaving the car in sunlight I found it covered with a fine white powder as if it was painted, after hours of thinking, finding small pieces of metal and recalling who has been in the car with what items we figured out it was a deodorant spray left in the car under a tissue box in the sleeve behind the driver seat.
    You just can't have cds in the car. they fuse together like slices of butter melting.
    We don't have cement buildingi or cement park chairs. They just turn to dust REALLY fast.
    and to those saying fix it with water, there isn't even enough water to drink.

    --
    Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion. -- Spazmania (174582)
  47. They might adapt by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    but folks are still going to get heat stroke and die. I've read articles about folks in India working through the heat and getting kidney failure because they didn't drink enough. They couldn't stop working, needed the money...

    Those kind of conditions are going to create widespread social unrest. Demagogues will take advantage of it and rise to power and start wars. Stuff like this is how you get WWIII.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  48. 53 C by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

    Temperatures above 60 C are not unknown in outback Australia. Probably the same in Saudi Arabia.

  49. WaPoo does it again by MooseMiester · · Score: 1

    134 degrees Fahrenheit

    This summer has been a scorcher in many parts of the nation, but this sweat-inducing heat has nothing on the highest temperature ever recorded in the United States, the whopping 134 degrees Fahrenheit that sent the mercury soaring in Death Valley on July 10, 1913.

    Before the climate change moneybaggers had even been born even! When CO2 levels were a FRACTION of what they allegedly are today...

    --
    Murphy was an optimist