Even if you think height divided by two, why even describe it that way? Giraffes are tall, but not so unfathomably tall that something half its size is incomprehensible. That’s 7-9ish feet. You couldn’t say the size of Andre the Giant?
how do you slice it??
Submitted 2 weeks ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/2ad81df9-9754-4d35-bc70-3389be64a579.png
Comments
Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Lumidaub@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
The Youth Today don’t know who that is. Then again, do they know how large a giraffe is? We may never know.
logicbomb@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Then again, do they know how large a giraffe is?
Just today, I learned a handy way of visualizing the size of a giraffe. If you took that asteroid that struck off the coast of Iceland, and made a copy of it and put the two of them together, that’s about the size of a giraffe.
Okokimup@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Alex Horn wrote it.
Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Sorry, I don’t get the reference and the Wikipedia page didn’t help!
marcos@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
People usually measure asteroids by mass (but then, those people are already abnormal, so who knows?), if so, it’s something around the size of a cow.
Or maybe they could use metric…
cute_noker@feddit.dk 2 weeks ago
A big rock, maybe this is the appropriate time to use stone
Nakoichi@hexbear.net 2 weeks ago
Or just slice it long ways down the middle. Bilateral symmetry makes this pretty easy.
Kirca@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
This is why real scientists use the only reasonable real world measurement - a perfectly spherical cow in a vacuum.
TorJansen@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Hmm. Thought they used bananas.
jaybone@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Maybe in a shop vac.
satanmat@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Dear gods
How far will these Americans go to not use the metric system… ffs
ohulancutash@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
Sadly they’re not American
ayyy@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Your bigotry has blinded you so much you couldn’t even see the two biggest, boldest words in the picture.
satanmat@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Oh no; I saw it was the DM… I just assumed that the writer must have been American.
You are SO correct, as I should have realized by the giraffe unit of measure.
I’m at a loss as to the Venn diagram where giraffe and imperial would overlap…
Semjaza@lemmynsfw.com 2 weeks ago
Daily Mail are the sort who think adopting the metric system let all the foreigners into Britain and led to the downfall of empire. Probably in that order.
nialv7@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
obviously the scientists meant a spherical giraffe in a vacuum
Karjalan@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Personally I thought it was obvious that they were talking about the outer half
seraphine@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
americans be using anything but the metric system
kalpol@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Daily Mail is British
LunarLoony@lemmy.sdf.org 2 weeks ago
But they’re the sort of British that yearns for the good old days, when we still had shillings and inches and diphtheria and jumpers for goalposts and no womens’ rights and all that great British stuff.
perviouslyiner@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
British people old enough to have supported the original nazis be using anything but the metric system
the_crotch@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Its time to retire the metric system in favor of something base 12. Base 10 is for children who need to count on their fingers, base 12 is easier to divide into quarters or thirds. Babylon was right.
buttnugget@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Americans be using metric all our lives.
helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yeah, we measure our soda in liters all the time, but only 2 liters. Other drink sizes are in ounces, and milk is in gallons and pints.
Jumbie@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I was thinking this must be metric because only Europeans with their noses firmly in the air would get it.
meme_historian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
One standard volume giraffe of course, i.e. the volume in m³ an average giraffe would fill (at room temperature and sea level), when passed through a blender. And then half of that
psycho_driver@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The scientists had to go through many more proportionate animals before discovering that half a giraffe was a near perfect match for the size of the asteroid.
meme_historian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
As it turns out, the emergence and popularization of Zoos during the Victorian era was largely driven by the work conducted at the Royal Institute for Volumetric Measurements in London.
Similarly the expansion of the British empire was mostly driven by the need to find ever larger exotic animals in order to establish comparative volumetric weights for the ever larger ships and constructions of that era.
“25.678 standard volume foxes”, was becoming a bit unwieldy when describing a cargo vessels weight.
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Nah, there’s a list somewhere of typical weights, dimensions, volumes, etc. of common items. They just put in their value and it pops up. They’re nerds first, and scientists second. You KNOW this exists somewhere, and they all have it bookmarked.
MourningDove@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I love it when I can understand your memes!
fossilesque@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
Ask questions when you do not. :)
MourningDove@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Oh I wouldn’t begin to know what to even ask. I’m a music major lol. But if I think of something, I’ll pipe up.
passenger@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Reads Daily Mail clickbait, proceeds to blame “scientists”
TheSlad@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Also, most people dont even have a good grasp on how big giraffes are anyways!
I once went to a zoo that had an elevated platform extending into the giraffe’s habitat so that you could stand face to face with them. Their heads are as big as a normal human, like 5 feet from crown to chin!
TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Ah yes the Newfoundland garden giraffe, often times overlooked due to the Canadian House Hippo.
xorollo@leminal.space 2 weeks ago
Wow!
absentbird@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
So like the size of a horse?
The average horse is about half the height and weight of the average giraffe. Giraffes are just a really bad unit of measurement, males weight about 400kg more than females and there is a wide height difference over their global population, they are technically four different species we just all call giraffe 🦒
buttnugget@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I was just going to say, what kind of weird ass size comparison is that. It’s almost as egregious as saying “half the size of two apples”.
Pat_Riot@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
The Smurfs were 3 apples tall.
TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I don’t get why Americans are doing their best to avoid the metric system. It’s always weird discriptions. Like dishwashers, or in this case, half a giraffe. Just use bananas if (cubic) meters are too complex.
morkyporky@suppo.fi 2 weeks ago
Isn’t daily mail in the UK?
TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
You mean wannabe US? (never truly accepted metric system, even discussed to change back to imperial)
prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
People enjoy when things are compared in this way, it’s really not that shocking.
bstix@feddit.dk 2 weeks ago
It’s more of a journalist thing. They take the words out of your mouth to reach their own conclusion fast and deliver an answer that’ll fit inside the allocated screen time.
“When you heard that people use things instead of measurements to explain the size of other things, exactly how shocking was it to you?”
lightnsfw@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
It’s not like we don’t have imperial units to use. It’s just easier to visualize an object you’re familiar with than 20ft/6m or whatever other unit. Giraffes is a strange choice though.
TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Friends of mine are expecting a child. They have an app to compare the current size of the baby. It has the weirdest choices:
- Wedding cake (they are always the same size? Depends on the budget right? So if you’re rich your child is bigger than when you’re poor, when it’s the wedding cake size?)
- flat box of chocolates (always the same size? Flat child?)
- small popcorn bucket
- small pinguin (there are so many differently sized small pinguïns)
- cotton candy (last one I had was huge, I feel sorry for the woman with a child that size in their womb)
- maki
- jackfruit
- rhubarb (so it’s a stick shaped child?)
- kitten (a grows the most as a kitten. They are kitten for the first year. It’s like saying the size of your baby is the size of a baby.)
I have no clue what these sizes are exactly. I do know what 10cm or 20cm is.
BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
And is it half the volume, mass or a dimension? Because I’ve never tried neither blending or carrying a giraffe before (I never got invited tonthose parties in uni) so I have no grasp on volume or mass.
BillBurBaggins@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Surely a giraffe is nearly uniform density making the distinction between volume and mass irrelevant
Canonical_Warlock@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Assume a spherical giraffe.
Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Even if it is not if you are just looking at the toal volume or mass it makes no difference when you halve it.
Natanael@infosec.pub 2 weeks ago
Just the left half
MrSulu@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
The Daily Mail readership will not fathom your question. It is a rag for those who would follow MAGA but want to appear intelligent without have either the natural talent or putting in any work to increase knowledge. Baseline racism is a requirement
territorial@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
In other words, a large boulder the size of a small boulder
oyfrog@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The anatomical answer is sagitally down the midline.
ohulancutash@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
I’m surprised they didn’t use immigrants as the unit.
Quibblekrust@thelemmy.club 2 weeks ago
I once saw a snake half the size of a garden hose.
BlushedPotatoPlayers@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
It’s not the scientists, it’s a single journalist who is popping out these headlines. Some of those caught attention.
Bronstein_Tardigrade@lemmygrad.ml 2 weeks ago
They could have just used inanimate objects not requiring bisection; basketballs, refrigerators, cars, busses, buildings, etc. Why bring sn abattoir into the mix?
EvilEdgelord@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
You divide the giraffe vertically down the center 🤦♂️
SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Coronal or Sagittarius?
Pulptastic@midwest.social 2 weeks ago
Bilaterally as is the way.
sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Probably along the primary axis
kamen@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The thing that’s bothering me is that they ended a question with a period. Why, random person on the Internet, why?
HenriVolney@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
How much is it in bananas?
supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Easy. Just imagine only the spots part.
Jankatarch@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Halved with a vertical cut.
0x0@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
What’s with the spherical comments in a vacuum?
0x0@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Should’ve used bananas for scale.
Agent641@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Bifurcated down between the eyes
resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Laterally.
LillyPip@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Everyone who’s dealt with kids knows you have to bisect the giraffe equally from nose to tail so everyone gets 2 legs, or somebody will cry that it’s unfair.
pfwood178@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Everyone who deals with scientists knows they assume a perfectly spherical, frictionless, giraffe.
mushroommunk@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
In a vacuum
Daft_ish@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I cant remember, what is the friction coefficient foe a giraffe?
bulwark@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I let one cut and the other gets to pick first.
zakobjoa@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
This is the way. And from experience, it will result in sub-nanometer size differences.
Pudutr0n@feddit.cl 2 weeks ago
Kids are total commies.
marcos@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Make sure to get the same number of spots too.
Part4@infosec.pub 2 weeks ago
jaybone@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I think you mean Solomon.
T156@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Even then, you may still get complaints unless you can halve it perfectly down the middle.