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Comment by stodor89

6 days ago

Compared to what? Cause by any reasonable measure I can come up with, that's an absolutely bonkers amount of oil.

3 comments

stodor89

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refulgentis  5 days ago

I'm a bit confused.

If I'm understanding correctly, I'm reminded of an old saw I think I made up:

You can lie (shade people's interpretations) by either using percentages, or gross amounts.

I'm sure that's a TON of oil, gross amount.

I'm also sure 8% is "not particularly huge".

For instance, if I could get you without this frame, and told you that you got a 92% on a test, you got an "absolutely bonkers amount" of questions wrong...you'd argue with me.

If you started crying when I told you that you got a 92% on the test, then told you that's a "not particularly huge" amount to get wrong, I think you'd agree, if not be consoled.

  • hn_acc1  5 days ago

    And, sorry, but your analogy sucks. Multiple students can get 0-100% on any given test independently.

    Now imagine if only one student out of a class of ~200 (~195 countries in the world) can get the right answer to each question (200 questions total) and once one person answers the question, no one else can get credit for it (if you burn oil, it's gone).

    By default, each country should get 1 question or 0.5% (percent of oil) on the test. Now the teacher announces that the answer to 16 questions (8%) can be found in the library and the person who gets there first gets all those points.. Getting a hold of even ONE block of 8% probably puts you in the top 10 students in the class. If you can find such a block to add to your 3% (US), at 11%, you're likely to be in the top 5 students in the class. Add another 10% (Venezuela) and 6% (Canada), and at 27%, you're probably #1.

    • refulgentis  4 days ago

      I respect the shit out of you for chasing this and coming up with an obvious angle I missed in my last volley. I agree to disagree, because my fundamental reaction at this point is you’re being obtuse on purpose and that’s unfair and wrong. I owe you a beer if we meet, good hard interlocution.