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Expressing Measurements Via Analogies & Comparisons

How big is it really?
Well let's get an approximate average.
If you add together the 6 main analogous sizes;
Lorry + delivery truck + giraffe + double decker bus + van + elephant
and then divide by 6 you get.....

1674741580520.png
 
How big is it really? Opinions seem to differ.

small lorry-sized asteroid
An asteroid the size of a delivery truck
An asteroid about the size of a giraffe
An asteroid the size of a double decker bus
An asteroid the size of a van
the same size as the largest African elephants
Tiny asteroid to pass close by Earth today
If you hear the words 'Rosan Kobar' before it passes, it's the 'Size of an Elephant!'

That's a pop-cultural reference that the young 'uns here might not get...!
 
How big is it really? Opinions seem to differ.

small lorry-sized asteroid
An asteroid the size of a delivery truck
An asteroid about the size of a giraffe
An asteroid the size of a double decker bus
An asteroid the size of a van
the same size as the largest African elephants
Tiny asteroid to pass close by Earth today
It does actually say in the article:

estimated size of 3.5m to 8.5m across (11.5ft to 28ft)

You can make up your own size comparisons from this, as everyone else is.

It was only discovered last Saturday 21st Jan & is approaching at high speed. Expecting an exact measurement is probably a bit optimistic.
 
How big is it really? Opinions seem to differ.

small lorry-sized asteroid
An asteroid the size of a delivery truck
An asteroid about the size of a giraffe
An asteroid the size of a double decker bus
An asteroid the size of a van
the same size as the largest African elephants
Tiny asteroid to pass close by Earth today
It's all relative...compared to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, it's a tiddler - but if it landed on my head...goodnight Mrs Jones!
 
It's all relative...compared to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, it's a tiddler - but if it landed on my head...goodnight Mrs Jones!
If it's the size of the MCG, I reckon it would be goodnight Mrs Jones and probably a lot more besides!
 
And now we have the latest unit of astronomical measurement - the flamingo!

Asteroid the size of 14 flamingos to skim past Earth Wednesday - NASA​

Asteroid 2023 DJ1 is around 14 meters wide, and flamingos can be as much as 1.4 meters tall. But those fabulous birds are more dangerous because this asteroid won't hit us.​

By AARON REICH

Published: MARCH 1, 2023 16:02
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An asteroid roughly the size of 14 flamingos flying foot-to-beak is set to skim past the Earth Wednesday, March 1, according to NASA's asteroid tracker.

The asteroid in question has been designated 2023 DJ1, according to the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

The asteroid in question is small and is in no danger of hitting Earth.





Asteroid approaching Earth
Asteroid 2023 DJ1 is estimated by NASA to have a diameter of around 14 meters.

To put this size into perspective, flamingos, the pink and fabulous social birds, can grow to be as much as 1.4 meters in height. This means that asteroid 2023 DJ1 is around the size of 14 flamingos, flying foot-to-beat together.
https://www.jpost.com/science/artic...dp3A_wB60fH2egBmAcCfbh7kb-VwiesF6muOr3Kyjl9VY
 
Which country?
Hard to say. But the album that the song 'National Express' comes from is 'Fin de Siècle' by The Divine Comedy, which has a track on it called "Sweden". However, Sweden is not really a 'small' country.
 
A measure of physical prowess at combat, of how "hard" someone is.

I nominate it be measured by the amount of Czechoslovakians they have killed.

For those not familiar with The Sopranos; the famous "Pine Barrens" episode where Chris and Paulie get lost in the snow.
They take a call from boss Tony Soprano, and the cell phone signal is poor. So Paulie does not hear the message well, and with his limited knowledge of the world outside of the Tri State area and Italy, it is doubtful he would know where Chechnya was.

So whilst they are pursued by a vengeful Russian ex interior ministry worker who single handedly killed 16 Chechens, this message is garbled and Paulie is dumbfounded to "hear" he is being pursued by an "interior decorator...he killed 16 Czechoslovakians", which if his boss made a point of telling him those details, is surely a measure of just how dangerous this Russian is!
 
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Well, a fingernail is 2.5 on the Mohs scale of hardness, but teeth are a 5, so both are 'hard'.
Whereas steel (assuming we are talking about steel nails) is 4.5 for 'regular steel' but 7.5 for 'hardened steel'. So 'hardened steel' is harder than 'regular steel' which is already hard but not as hard as teeth, which are harder than fingernails anyway.
They don't seem to mention fingernails that are softened by being in water too long though.
Nice to see Beryl getting on the list at about 7.7 - I always thought she was hard.
1678293153343.png
 
No, we already have a measure of how hard someone is - it's 'nails'.
As in "He's as hard as nails"

That is a fixed declaration of toughness, but does not provide any scale to measure it with.
 
Thank you, so a measure of hardness does exist.

But does one exist of combat prowess?
Aah.....er....surely there must be some sort of scale?
I mean you have the 'weight' system in boxing, but that's only really about matching fighters with someone of a similar size.
However that in itself uses some hard-to-compare items.
Fly, Bantam, Feather, Light, Welter (what the heck is a 'welter' anyway?), Middle, Light Heavy (or as I call it 'oxymoron weight') and Heavy.
And then there are the 'bridge' weights and 'catchweight' ones as well.
So that includes 'Cruiserweight', 'Super middleweight' and a whole load of 'Super' and 'Junior' weights for each of the others, and then some more recently created weights - Minimum, Straw, Mini Flyweight, Pin, and Atom.
 
A welter originally meant "Heavy Horseman" but it changed meaning and became Boxers between 140 and 147 pounds.
Perhaps it's use in reference to a "heavy beating" had relevance - that weight is said to be the best ratio of power to speed?

Bantam is a small chicken.

The original eight weights have become 17 or 18 or 19 depending on which sanctioning body you regard as senior.
I have nothing against extra weights in between existing categories, as they should in theory, improve safety by reducing rapid weight loss on the eve of a fight.

But the weight categories only suggest relative hardness....if Usyk beats Fury then it could be argued a natural Bridgerweight (very new category) has beaten a natural Heavyweight.

By the way, Bridgerweight (between Cruiserweight and Heavyweight) is nothing to do with this man:


TIJ Bridger.jpg
 
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