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Tuesday, October 26, 2004

A complaint about inappropriate precision

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PZ Myers • 13 Comments

Salon has a review of the latest conservative movie, Celsius 41.11. I really don't care what the dopey movie is about, but I was curious about the strange title…and here's the explanation:

The title of "Celsius 41.11" is, thankfully, explained near the beginning of the film as the temperature at which the brain begins to die, a ghoulish little factoid that I guess is supposed to dance feverishly in our heads as we lie tucked into our beds on election eve.

This is something I'm a bit peevish about. It's an example of inappropriate and unjustified precision. For instance, your body temperature is certainly not precisely 98.6° F; it varies slightly from individual to individual, and also fluctuates with a circadian rhythm. "98.6" just happens to be what pops out when you convert the round integer value of 37° C to Fahrenheit, and don't give a damn about significant digits.

Similarly, 41.11 is what you get when you convert 106° F to Celsius. There is no magic transition that can be sharply defined to hundredths of a degree for neuronal death. And all they got for their unwarranted precision was a markedly klunky title.

That is all. Just had to get that off my chest.


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Comments:
#7664: Matt McIrvin — 10/27  at  07:13 AM
I think they wanted it to end in 11.


#7668: Hank Fox — 10/27  at  08:17 AM
I have this mental category which I refer to as "cutesy crap." This film fits into it. Very contrived, and probably contrived by a bunch of Rush Limbaugh fan-types.

Probably unfair of me, but I have the suspicion that the target audience has no idea the Celsius scale even exists.

The neat thing is, I read that they spent $900,000 to make the movie. Considering that it might just influence about 9 voters who were not already voting for Bush to vote for him, it's kind of nice to think of them spending their money on it.


#7691: Reed A. Cartwright — 10/27  at  01:25 PM
Celsius? Isn't that what dem damn freedom-hating Frenchies use? Real americans use the Freedomheight scale!


#7693: Hank Fox — 10/27  at  02:14 PM
BTW, MoveOn.org has a nifty "Election Protection Card" that you can print out and carry to the polls with you, with advice on what to do if someone tries to interfere with your right to vote.

http://cdn.moveonpac.org/content/pdfs/ep_card.pdf

I've read in numerous places that Republicans plan to have people actually at the polls to challenge/intimidate voters by questioning registrations, etc. Interfering with voters' rights is a felony everywhere in the United States, and MoveOn wants to help ensure that those people get prosecuted.

The people who work at polling places are there to help, not to challenge or intimidate. Anyone who aggressively challenges your right to vote, makes you feel that you don't belong there, or that you're doing something illegal by attempting to vote, is conceivably committing a felony, and really should be reported to authorities for possibly prosecution.


#7695: — 10/27  at  02:47 PM
Hey Hank,

When is McCain or Powell gonna jump ship to Kerry. We only got 6 more days!


#7696: DarkSyde — 10/27  at  02:49 PM
November 3rd, count on it.


#7697: — 10/27  at  02:52 PM
Well, that's not what the prediction was, Dark Syde, you sub-terrainian, gothic goof, the prediction was a big jump by either of these 2 gents before the election.

"Before" is the opposite of "after"smile


#7698: — 10/27  at  02:55 PM
Bob, that's the second (that I've seen, anyway) time you've called DS "gothic". What gives?


#7700: DarkSyde — 10/27  at  03:02 PM
I have no idea Gwangi. BTW Bob, the word is sub-terranean. I'm not one to usually correct anothers spelling, but when you mispell the actual insulting term itself, the insult kinda backfires on the user.


#7701: — 10/27  at  03:03 PM
Oh, I dunno, he musta wrote something about getting stoned to old Pink Floyd albums ("Dark Syde of the Moon, maybe?), and my immediate impression was "gothic."

I also call Myers the "Bearded Logothete," which seems to fit, too.


#7703: — 10/27  at  03:08 PM
Ah, I think I see the problem. It's a generational thing (by which I guess I'm calling you an old man, but whatever...). Bob, if you call somebody a goth today, you mean this: http://www.goth.net/goth.html. Pink Floyd is a little too unhardcore to be goth, I'm afraid.


#7707: — 10/27  at  03:39 PM
Well, I'm not telling you my age, but I think your "goth" site is pretty accurate. When I think of "goth," I think of someone, dressed in black, morose, spiky hair, listening to some god-awful bad music. Of course, I freely admit that DarkSyde could be a totally, clean, athletic dude, and I am grossly in error.

Ok, so maybe Pink Floyd ain't quite Goth -- my bad.


#7738: — 10/27  at  05:44 PM
Pink Floyd is rock, my man.


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