1 or 2

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Spherical iron projectiles fired from cannons in the days of pirates.

1

A lot of 1s in a row now. I think we're due for a 2 soon.
David

By Anonymous, at 1/26/2005 11:33 AM
The arbiter wrote: "Roman numerals are inefficient and cannot display zero." But I think it would be wrong to read this as sentence as a *reason* for their being a 1. Roman numerals are inefficient because they are a 1, not the other way around. The 1s and 2s are rock-bottom. Or am I mixed up?

David

By Anonymous, at 1/27/2005 12:59 PM
Some clarification: the definitions are not reasons. They are intended to be objective explanations of precisely what is being evaluated.

A 1 is roughly between the 1st and 50th percentile of all things. A 2 is roughly between the 51st and 99th percentile of all things. I say "roughly" because if there are an odd number of things in the universe, it's more difficult to establish exact percentile ranges for 1 and 2. I'm not sure what you mean by "rock-bottom," but if you mean that I'm actually basing these ratings on a 1-100 scale but simply choosing to use only 1 and 2, then you are incorrect.

And I try not to explain or comment on the ratings. Speed is one of the myriad benefits of 1 or 2.

By Robin, at 1/27/2005 4:45 PM
There are an odd number of things in the universe. Stephen Hawking counted.

David

By Anonymous, at 1/29/2005 10:48 AM