someone is being wrong on the tv

[arduinna]

I am idly watching an old documentary show that involves some people who had to ditch into the North Sea, and the narrator has just earnestly and intently explained that "for a person in the water, hypothermia can begin when the temperatures of air and water added together is below 50 degrees Centigrade."

...

This is not an American show, and the narrator is definitely not American. So you would think he would have noticed how nonsensical that is.

(He does go on to say, quite accurately, that in the North Sea in winter, the temperature is far below that. I would be willing to go even further and say that the temperature of the North Sea is far below 122F even in the hottest days of summer.)

(hi!)

Comments

[the_shoshanna]

Hi hi!

A kayaker friend gave us a similar rule last summer; I think it was 120F, as sholio says, but I can't remember for sure.

The C/F conversion mnemonics I use all the time are 16C = 61F and 28C = 82F (memorable because they're mirror images) and 22C= 72F (memorable because they both end in 2). Also -40C = -40F, memorable because it's horrifying, and also it was relevant last week, aiee.

[arduinna]

It's a little horrifying that it makes so much more sense to me in F, but I'm very glad to have the explanations of what I was missing!

Those are great mnemonics, and I am swiping them forthwith.

No kidding on the -40 C/F last week, ugh. Hope you guys stayed warm! We never lost power, thank god, and just kept the heat cranking nonstop. (It's so unfair, too - it was so freaking cold but not for long enough to kill off the ticks, which are going to be insane this year because so much of the winter has been warm. If I can't go out for more than 10 minutes without risking frostbite, ticks should keel over after so many hours!)

[the_shoshanna]

Ticks have absolutely no right to be so damn indestructible! We stayed cozy even though we were out and about looking at houses -- the incredibly skanky motel we were staying in lost power momentarily several times, and our hybrid car put a warning up that Something Ominously Unspecified Was Wrong, but the next day, after sitting a while in the sun, it was fine again. Glad you were able to stay warm!

[sholio]

Also -40C = -40F, memorable because it's horrifying, and also it was relevant last week.

*cries in Alaska*

(Although I don't think we've actually had -40 this year at all, in any temperature measurement; what is climate change even.)

[the_shoshanna]

I would send you all our extreme cold if I could!