250 Words on the Metric System

[NOTE: I scheduled this to run the week after the election some time ago because I figured something lighter than politics would be nice no matter which way it turned out. Today, I think that’s truer than ever.]

I’ve always admired the metric system, but didn’t feel entirely comfortable with it until I became a chemist and used it routinely. It is an objectively superior scheme of weights and measures with, in my opinion, one exception.

The strength of metric isn’t just how everything’s divisible by ten, although that’s convenient. Its real beauty is how it links length, volume and mass at its foundation. 

One cubic centimeter of water—that is, 1 x 1 x 1 cm or 1 cc, a bit smaller than a sugar cube—equals 1 milliliter of volume and 1 gram of mass. 

From that seed, everything blooms. 

One liter of water measures 10 x 10 x 10 cm and weighs, by definition, 1 kilogram. Want to know how much your bucket of water weighs? Measure its volume. Want to know its volume? Measure its weight.

So elegant!

The one metric measurement I dislike is the Celsius temperature scale. Unlike the other metric measurements, it has no connection to length, mass or volume (nor could it). A scale defined by the freezing and boiling points of water is no more logical or useful than any other. 

Also, the difference in temperature measured by one degree Celsius is equal to nearly two degrees Fahrenheit, meaning Fahrenheit has almost twice the precision of Celsius. For example, both 69 and 70 Fahrenheit round off to 21 Celsius, but I can feel the difference between 69 and 70. Fahrenheit is a scalpel while Celsius is a chainsaw. 

Enjoy!

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Amazing Adventures, in Person!

Meanwhile, in the "life goes on" department, I will be part of a panel and book signing marking the release of Marvel Super Stories: Amazing Adventures next Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble in Emeryville, Calif. I wrote and drew one story for this delightful superhero anthology aimed at young readers, and this is the only appearance on my calendar related to it, so you'd better show up!

This link tells when and where but has scant info about "who." In addition to me, the other authors invited to appear are Judd Winick, a star in both young-adult lit and comic book circles, and Amber Padilla, who wrote one of the best stories in the book, in which Ant Man protects a nest of baby hummingbirds. 

I'm inordinately proud and happy to have made my little contribution to this book. If you have kids who like superheroes, or just fun colorful tales in general, I think they'd enjoy it. 

250 Words on the American Experiment

[I try to start my day writing 250 words on anything. I’ll post one every Monday until I run out of good ones.]

Tomorrow is the most fateful U.S. election I’ve witnessed. I’ve already voted. You probably have, too. 

If you have not yet voted and will walk into a polling place Tuesday undecided—in other words, if you are a one-in-a-million unicorn—and my endorsement means anything to you, I’d urge you to vote for Kamala Harris. The alternative is too heartbreaking to imagine.

I’m not an ideologue; I’ve voted for Republicans, back when they weren’t cowards or crazy. Remember when conservatives supported NATO and our “sucker and loser” soldiers, and opposed Communists and tyrants? Now they undermine our allies, insult wounded veterans and POWs, and mail dictators love letters tucked into COVID testing equipment. 

Democracy means trusting that more than half the people get it right more than half the time. That still leaves a lot of room to get it wrong. Trump’s 2016 win is explicable as a fluke, but his triumph in 2024 would be a deliberate choice. This time we know who he is. If most of us (or at least an Electoral College’s worth of us) are fine with that, shame on us. 

The American Experiment will have failed on our watch.

I don’t really expect my little essay to sway any opinions, but thought it was worth laying down a public marker. If Trump wins, I intend to do everything I legally can to resist his cruelty and fascism*. If one of his lickspittles is compiling an “enemies list,” I’d be proud to be on it. 


*I debated using the word "fascism." It’s a serious charge. But if it’s good enough for General Milley and General Kelly, who ought to know, then it’s good enough for me. 

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