How (and why) to Ramble on your goat sideways
02-08-2016, 01:57 PM
I have recently decided that the word "up" is inaccurate or at least a misconception.
When we say up, we are indicating that we mean "away from the strongest pull of gravity we currently feel" and not some uniform, universal direction. At best, up only addresses your present location until you move. Then it is "that way" and you have a new up.
If I wanted to be more accurate, what would the word be? Out? Away? Starward? Anti-core?
I need lunch.
When we say up, we are indicating that we mean "away from the strongest pull of gravity we currently feel" and not some uniform, universal direction. At best, up only addresses your present location until you move. Then it is "that way" and you have a new up.
If I wanted to be more accurate, what would the word be? Out? Away? Starward? Anti-core?
I need lunch.
Us humans, when we use "up" in the general sense of our physical world, we mean "in the direction of the nearest point of the top of the biosphere, relative to the nearest point of the bottom of the biosphere" - and since the top and bottoms of the biosphere are each represented by the surface of a sphere, up is indeed a relative term for direction. It is no more absolute than, say, "east" or even "north" (when standing at or very near the south pole of earth, the only way to move "north" is by first moving in a direction which "increases" the distance between you and the north pole since the earth is technically an oblate spheroid)
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02-08-2016, 03:17 PM
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Every system of directionality is relative to something. The most absolute you could get would be to declare cardinal poles relative to the center of the observable universe and orient everything relative to those, but it would be terribly inconvenient as the Earth is in constant motion relative to the universe, and so concepts such as "up" and "left" would not be static.
"Up" works well for most tasks because said tasks tend to care only about their orientation relative to the surface of the earth, and assume it to be a fixed plane. Eg: throwing a ball "up" into the air works equally well whether you're standing in Auckland, New Zealand, or sitting in a small cafe in southern Spain which is antipodal to it.
"North" works equally well for navigational purposes at all points other than the poles themselves, and if you find yourself standing at the south pole with an inexplicable headache and no memory of you you got there in the first place, you're pretty well fucked regardless of what the compass is doing.
There are certain Celstial bodies whose positions in space appear fixed relative to earth, so if you wanted to be anɑl about it, you could toss a ball towards the pleiades star cluster (celestial body M45), however if you did this at the wrong time of day, you'd probably hit someone directly in the face, startle a cat, or cause some other undesirable outcome.
"Up" works well for most tasks because said tasks tend to care only about their orientation relative to the surface of the earth, and assume it to be a fixed plane. Eg: throwing a ball "up" into the air works equally well whether you're standing in Auckland, New Zealand, or sitting in a small cafe in southern Spain which is antipodal to it.
"North" works equally well for navigational purposes at all points other than the poles themselves, and if you find yourself standing at the south pole with an inexplicable headache and no memory of you you got there in the first place, you're pretty well fucked regardless of what the compass is doing.
There are certain Celstial bodies whose positions in space appear fixed relative to earth, so if you wanted to be anɑl about it, you could toss a ball towards the pleiades star cluster (celestial body M45), however if you did this at the wrong time of day, you'd probably hit someone directly in the face, startle a cat, or cause some other undesirable outcome.
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02-08-2016, 06:54 PM
Engine doesn't have to be removed (so far, whew)
Crank & Cam seals, + valve cover leaking. Crank seal pretty much was out.
Hoping this is the end of my oily nightmare
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02-08-2016, 07:08 PM
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There will actually be a small difference, though, because "up" is opposite to the vector of the local gravity field, which can diverge from radial by minute amounts for various reasons. (mass concentrations in the Earth, or the fact that it's closer to an oblate ellipsoid rather than a sphere)
It's not just that systems of measurement are relative, it's that context is critical. "up" makes sense in the context of an individual living in a constant gravity field, "prograde" makes sense in the context of orbital mechanics, "forward" and "backward" make sense in the context of something 1-dimensions (say the page location in a book, or when speaking about time in a non-Minkowski sense). None of these directions make sense in any of the other contexts.
--Ian
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02-08-2016, 09:31 PM
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You people are having this discussion about directional reference systems, and yet you have passed amongst yourselves neither a) beer nor b) weed.
Therefore, a failure to achieve a sense of enlightenment is certain.
Therefore, a failure to achieve a sense of enlightenment is certain.
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02-08-2016, 09:41 PM
Did my taxes tonight.
Uh, wow.
I'm getting a...significant...refund. Not my intention.
Over the last year:
1. We had our first kid,
2. My wife quit her job
3. I received a small raise (but not enough to compensate for the loss of my wife's income).
4. I never submitted a revised W-4 after the birth of our kid.
Going to have to adjust this for next year. I like to plan for a small refund, just enough to function as a buffer in case I miscalculate our tax liability. That said, while I would have preferred to have this money directly (and earlier), getting an unexpectedly large refund is a nice surprise.
Uh, wow.
I'm getting a...significant...refund. Not my intention.
Over the last year:
1. We had our first kid,
2. My wife quit her job
3. I received a small raise (but not enough to compensate for the loss of my wife's income).
4. I never submitted a revised W-4 after the birth of our kid.
Going to have to adjust this for next year. I like to plan for a small refund, just enough to function as a buffer in case I miscalculate our tax liability. That said, while I would have preferred to have this money directly (and earlier), getting an unexpectedly large refund is a nice surprise.
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02-08-2016, 09:58 PM
BEGi only assisted on putting the motor back in the car, of which I assisted BEGi for a week.
Hill Country Performance did the motor build itself.
I have a BE oil pump +1 shim (fab9tuning says = 66psi). Would this be any factor for my seals bursting?
Hill Country Performance did the motor build itself.
I have a BE oil pump +1 shim (fab9tuning says = 66psi). Would this be any factor for my seals bursting?
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02-09-2016, 08:35 AM
A further argument that "up" is context related and doesn't alone imply only a direction relative to the position of a celestial body: Get out a piece of paper and draw a small "x" in the middle of the paper, now go up and draw another small "x" about an inch above the first "x".
Following those instructions, and without knowing the context of this discussion, most people would have likely drawn an "x", and then moved the pencil "forward" before drawing the second "x". In this case you are moving in the direction of the "top" of something (the paper) relative to the position of the "bottom" of that something.
Brr, it's cold in here, can you turn the thermostat towards infinity relative to the position of absolute zero?
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02-09-2016, 11:20 AM
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High oil pressure does not mean your engine internals are flooded with oil.
Typically, other than bad workmanship, what pushes out seals is either excessive blow by or inadequate evacuation of vapors - as in, a bad PCV system.
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