Metaphorically speaking, of course...

Thought it was time for a diary-entry again.
I was just now smiling at the strangeness of convention.

The convention of measuring direction, to be more exact.
You see, wind speed is measured as the direction the wind is blowing from, and north is zero (or 360). So a wind from the north has direction zero degrees, wind from the east has direction 90 degrees and so on. And everyone knows this, don't you - the low pressures follow the westerlies over the Atlantic to Scandinavia where the rain falls down. Northern winds are from the north, southerly winds from the south.

With ocean currents, the opposite is true. You measure the direction of the current as the direction the current moves to, so a current goes to the south. A current from the north has the direction 180 degrees.

Now, in mathematical terms, you could fear that you'd get into trouble. After all, angles in a Cartesian coordinate system has zero to the east, ninety to the north, and so on. Not only is zero pointing to the direction perpendicular to the geographical system, the angles rotate different ways. It turns out that this is pretty ingenious and the conversion is straightforward. As long as you know what is what.

Then, I was looking at the wave direction. Common knowledge says that surface waves have the same direction as the wind. But - surprise, the numbers were way off.
Fortunately, I had the wave sensor manual. Wave direction is measured in the proper Cartesian system. So I have three different properties, measured in degrees from zero to 360, but each with its own system.
I think this is done to justify educating PhDs.

For the non-scientist, something more general. Have you noticed how your metaphors for life are affected by your knowledge? I will invariably relate things to math, periodicity, time series analysis, non-linearity, but there are a whole lot of other things that I also fit my life to. Ibsen is a great man for any occasion to so with self-deception or when you do things too halfheartedly. The Bible pops up any number of times during the day, and also poetry. I'm a fan of the Dane, Piet Hein, so I'll quote him to myself. And lyrics from songs, all this is the fabric with which I explain myself to me. And images like floating or sinking, the ups and downs of a roller coaster, or the dreams where you are blind.

Strange. I thought I had loads to say, and the thoughts just petered out. I'll leave you with e.e.cummings - one of my points of reference.

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;

wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world
my blood approves,
and kisses are a better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry
- the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids' flutter which says

we are for each other; then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life's not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis

See also
http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/eecummings/