Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with measure

Measure twice, buy once? Now you tell me.

Sweetie Darling — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:59:40 -0800

How much vertical clearance is needed to frame a window opening? I'm pretty sure I did something dumb. I bought an awning window for my bathroom, armed with only a rough estimate of the size of the space. I want the window to go above the tile shower surround, on an exterior wall.

The window is 18 inches high, and the space between the tile and the ceiling is 22 1/2 inches. Is there enough clearance to properly frame out the window? (I've got plenty of horizontal space.)

Possible additional complication? The exterior wall is on the side of the house, which has a Dutch hip roof with a gable on the front.

If I need to buy a new window, what size should I be aiming for? What other information would be helpful to know, for both me and the carpenter (besides "don't be impulsive at Lowe's," which I think I've figured out)?

[If I've messed up and can't use the window here, I'll save it for when we renovate another bathroom, in which we'll be retiling the shower and doing more demo.]

Thanks for the help!

How do you measure progress in war?

EatenByAGrue — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 15:19:32 -0800

What are some objective criteria/metrics by which to measure progress towards success or failure in a war or other extended conflict? While my question is a general one, it is obviously applicable to the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, so if your answers are specific to those two conflicts, then they're welcome. But I'm interested in general answers as well, and also answers that may be specific to other conflicts, either in the past or future. I'm also interested in any objective sources for obtaining the metrics used to judge progress. What I'm NOT looking for are "answers" saying "we're winning/losing and here's why." I would imagine historians and/or students of the military have some sort of answer to these questions.

Also, as a subset question, what objective criteria/metrics are used to determine whether a war or other conflict is ended? For example, was the conflict between France and Germany in World War II over once Germany conquered France and Vichy France was created or did it continue due to resistance by French Nationals? Another example of a potentially tricky situation is whether the conflict between the U.S.A. and Japan during World War II ended once the Japanese government surrendered or whether the conflict continued due to the Japanese holdouts on various Pacific islands who continued to fight despite hearing of the surrender. Or for yet another example, did the War of 1812 end when the treaty was signed or when it was ratified (in-between which a major conflict occurred).

Thanks in advance for any insights.

What else can be sensed passively?

viewofdelft — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:13:28 -0800

What else can be sensed passively? Help me construct a list of things that can be sensed passively by machines. I came up with a list of the more obvious subjects of passive sensing, including:

smell
touch
taste
sound
location
motion
pressure (e.g. of the air and blood)
temperature
levels of certain gases (e.g. CO2 levels)
humidity
seismic activity
electromagnetic radiation (e.g. just about everything else I could imagine)

Help me fill in the obvious while also providing the more obscure, such as wireless networks (which, admittedly, may be categorized as electromagnetic radiation). What other things can be sensed passively by machines?

A Problem of Scale: Halfway in size between an atom and the universe

0bvious — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:10:04 -0800

"A human is halfway in size between an atom and the known universe"... This is a paraphrased quote I have come across several times. I like it. Who said it first? How true is it in the most literal sense? And, finally, what errors arrive in postulating a universe, or an atom, which can be measured AT ALL from our singular, relativistic, perspective? I found this quote from Cosmic Evolution which further complicates the whole relative size issue:

"Roughly halfway in size between an atom and a human, the amoeba has poor awareness and coordination. It generally responds only at the point stimulated, communicating the information sluggishly through the rest of its body. Although amoebas have developed a crude nervous system, living things that aspire to be more agile—and smarter—surely need quicker internal reactions." - link

Kind of sets another stage from which to view this question.

I also found this quote from Holmes Rolston which further complicates things:

"The human world stands about midway between the infinitesimal and the immense. The size of our planet is near the geometric mean of the size of the known universe and the size of the atom. The mass of a human being is the geometric mean of the mass of the earth and the mass of a proton. A person contains about 10²⁸ atoms, more atoms than there are stars in the universe. Such considerations yield perhaps only a relative location. Still, questions of place and proportion arise." - link

Who first made this often used statement? My earlier questions still stand :-)

Thanks...

can tiredness be quantified?

ronenosity — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 17:47:32 -0800

is it possible to measure exactly how tired someone is? how would that be done?