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A comment on Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, Two more earth-directed CMEs. Parent comment

Re:Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, Two more earth-dir... by salad-tycoon on Friday May 10, 2024 @10:49PM (#40325663)
I like the response, seems very astute of an observation.

Interpreting this in the worse light possible… in other words, gate keeping.

I think a lot more people could understand and be mature in a lot more things if artificial and archaic barriers weren’t erected. I think not trusting the public is a recipe for an obscure elite ruling class. Sure, not a whole lot of people will get it but at least be open about it.

Then again, maybe there is a benefit to using that particular scale and I’ve been poisoned by my generational ills.

Not trying to be argumentative.

If I hazarded a guess it’s the second reason right?

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Re:Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, Two more earth-dir... by topherclay on Friday May 10, 2024 @11:39PM (#40325792)
There's no artificial barriers being errected here by deciding to say "8" instead of writing out 8 zeros.
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Re:Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, Two more earth-dir... by diffeomorphism on Saturday May 11, 2024 @02:13AM (#40326343)
Obvious answer: compare 10000000 vs 7. Which is easier to understand?
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Re:Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, Two more earth-dir... by Kerb_ on Saturday May 11, 2024 @02:38AM (#40326441)
I was taught logarithmic scales in middle school. If every concept needs to be dumbed down to a pre-middle school level for maximum accessibility (to minimize gatekeeping), you're going to end up with a public who literally can't comprehend the things they're being told because they stopped learning before middle school.
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Re:Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, Two more earth-dir... by kortilla on Saturday May 11, 2024 @06:58PM (#40331152)
The average comprehension is grade school level
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Re:Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, Two more earth-dir... by giantg2 on Sunday May 12, 2024 @07:46AM (#40333636)
I believe it's a 4th grade level, specifically. I think that's part of the basis for the show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader.
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Re:Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, Two more earth-dir... by ben_w on Saturday May 11, 2024 @02:50AM (#40326481)
That's a reason to not use Latin; but when it comes to numbers and scales… I was surprised to discover that other people are themselves often surprised when they learn that a billion is a thousand times larger than a million.
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Re:Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, Two more earth-dir... by closewith on Saturday May 11, 2024 @03:10AM (#40326543)
Which is itself a relatively recent standardisation. Up to the '70's, a billion could beat thousand million or million million depending on where you were.
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Re:Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, Two more earth-dir... by Toutouxc on Saturday May 11, 2024 @09:41AM (#40327990)
Which standardization? The world is still very much split between the long and short scale (and other systems)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales

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