Fun to think about

Yesterday the weather here on our little slice of heaven was miserable.

Okay Einstein, miserable relative to what?

Ah, there's the question! And the answer is (in the broadest and most general terms):



I'm such an idea thief...

Relative to my personal comfort preference of the moment.

I like the weather to be sunny, about 70 degrees, 60 percent relative humidity, and with just a touch of light and variable winds.

But I can be comfortable with temps ranging from about minus 20 to plus 90, so long as the humidity isn't exceptionally high, and in particular, so long as the winds are calm!

Yesterday the sky was sunny, the temp was in the lower teens, the humidity was about 80 percent, and the winds were howling out of the north at 60 mph.

It was miserable.

This morning the sun was shining, the temperature in the upper single digits (6-9 degrees), the humidity was 70 percent, and the wind was only the lightest kiss of a breeze.

It was magnificent!

Now if you think about it in the context of life, the universe, and everything...



And set it against the scale of all environmental conditions across spacetime, the difference between my estimation of miserable and magnificent is simply not detectable. Nor is it detectable when the scale is limited to our own solar system, where temperatures on the planets range from minus 390 F to plus 875 F and from -459 F in the depths of the Oort Cloud to waaaaay frickin' hot (5 x 10^6 K) in the Solar Corona.

But there's still a difference between miserable and magnificent. I's a very real and important distinction.

Now that we've cleared that up, what do the cows think?