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| Re: Yankee stadium station not at Yankee Stadium (435513) | |||
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Re: Yankee stadium station not at Yankee Stadium |
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Posted by Rail Blue on Fri May 25 05:05:12 2007, in response to Re: Yankee stadium station not at Yankee Stadium, posted by RonInBayside on Thu May 24 10:10:58 2007. "In other words, this is six blocks only in the same sense it's five blocks from 125/12 to 130/12. "Correct. Which is why it's officially six blocks. I don't see how you can think anything like this has an "official" capacity. Unless, of course, you count third-rate reporters as officials. I'm sure they'd be flattered. If we're playing some silly "officially" (or, in my words, "trivially") game: 1) The speed of light is "officially" 670,616,629 mph. 2) There are "officially" 20 Manhattan blocks to a mile. 3) The speed of light is therefore "officially" 13,412,332,580 Manhattan blocks per hour. 4) Therefore it "officially" takes light 0.000 000 006 710 242 2 seconds to travel five Manhattan blocks. 5) 125th Street to 130th Street is "officially" five Manhattan blocks. 6) I can "officially" walk from 125th Street to 130th Street in less than 0.000 000 006 710 242 2 seconds. 7) Therefore, I can "officially" walk faster than the speed of light. When a block approximates to 1/20 of a mile (264ft), it is a useful measure of distance. The further away that it gets from that, the less and less useful it becomes. In a case where the blocks are a total shambles (like around Yankee Stadium), circumlocutions like "about 300yds" or "a five-minute walk" are usually better. While additional details in the story would have been nice, I'm not asking for additional details. it may be that the story had to be edited to fit the available space. Actually, I posit that the opposite has happened. It's been padded with extraneous nonsense. At the very least, they've made an hilarious mistake here; at the worst, they're shockingly incompetent. It's not sloppy writing at all. It's good basic coverage. It's fundamentally innumerate (see below). If you think that's good basic coverage, then you must have very low expectations of the quality of journalism. Your post includes your opinions, not objective facts. While I actually agree with your opinions, So what are you actually trying to prove? Or is this another "Dr Ron defends the indefensible in professionals against the evil foamers" post? they are still opinions (ie you don't provide the block measurements). There are more subtle forms of proof than measuring every single dimension. If you want to wander around the Bronx (or anywhere else, for that matter) with a theodolite and ranging rods, that is your prerogative. But maybe I haven't expressed myself clearly enough: HOW TO CLAIM IT'S TWO BLOCKS 1) E153 St exists at Ruppert Pl. 2) E154 St does not exist at Ruppert Pl. 3) E155 St does not exist at Ruppert Pl. 4) E156 St does not exist at Ruppert Pl. 5) E157 St exists at Ruppert Pl. 6) E158 St does not exist at Ruppert Pl. 7) E159 St does not exist at Ruppert Pl. 8) E160 St does not exist at Ruppert Pl. 9) E161 St exists at Ruppert Pl. 10) There are therefore two blocks here: E153 St - E157 St, and E157 St - E161 St. HOW TO CLAIM IT'S ONE BLOCK 1) E153 St exists at Ruppert Pl. 2) E154 St does not exist at Ruppert Pl. 3) E155 St does not exist at Ruppert Pl. 4) E156 St does not exist at Ruppert Pl. 5) E157 St exists at Ruppert Pl. 6) E158 St does not exist at Ruppert Pl. 7) E159 St does not exist at Ruppert Pl. 8) E160 St does not exist at Ruppert Pl. 9) E161 St exists at Ruppert Pl. 10) There are therefore two possible blocks here: E153 St - E157 St, and E157 St - E161 St. 11) However, the E153 St - E157 St is of zero length. 12) Therefore there is only one block. HOW TO CLAIM IT'S EIGHT BLOCKS 1) 161-153=8 2) QED HOW TO CLAIM IT'S FOUR BLOCKS 1) 161-157=4 2) QED HOW TO CLAIM IT'S THREE BLOCKS 1) A Manhattan block is 1/20 of a mile (264ft). 2) Ruppert Pl is closer to 3/20 of a mile (792ft) long than 2/20 (528ft) or 4/20 (1056ft). HOW TO CLAIM IT'S TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, OR NINE BLOCKS 1) Claim the station exit counts as a block in itself. 2) Add it on to your favorite argument. HOW TO CLAIM IT'S SIX BLOCKS 1) Put your calculator into Octal mode. 2) Ignore the problematic existence of insignificant streets such as E180 St that might suggest that this is not the right choice. 3) 161-153= [you guessed it] 6 4) Hope no-one notices that you are an idiot who can't use a calculator. 5) Hope no-one notices that your mental arithmetic sucks so much that you needed a calculator for that. 6) Never mind - with 60ft wide streets spaced 72ft apart, traffic would flow quite nicely. Pity less than 55% of the land would be available for actually building anything on... So there you have it: how to claim it's one, two, three, four, five, eight, or nine blocks. And if you're an idiot, you can claim it's six too; it might just get you a job at a newspaper. It would be appropriate for you to submit a Letter to the Editor. Why bother? It's not going to stop some poor unfortunate reporter who can't use a calculator padding stories with nonsensical minutiae. |
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