Representations, Wittgenstein, and all the rest

[sysprog]

The using of 'different than' alienates me $-$ one thing can be more different or less different from another thing than a third thing is, but one thing can't properly be said to be 'different than' another thing $-$ e.g. an elephant is more different from an amoeba than it is from a mouse, and an elephant is much bigger than either an amoeba or a mouse $\dots$

 

[sysprog]

A practical example: if a vending machine accepts US nickels, dimes, and quarters, whether I deposit 2 quarters or 5 dimes does not affect whether I get the candy bar $-$ if it's a 50-cent candy bar (as in the '70s) then I get the candy bar either way.

In the '80s in Chicago I knew a grocer who had formally studied engineering $-$ sometimes people would show up who wanted to spend their 'change jar' coin money $-$ he would tell them to sort it by which kind of coin, and then he would put the coins on the scale and accept them at value according to their weight $-$ he said that he knew that the per-coin weight varied a little but he didn't care if $35 worth of dimes was off by a dime or two one way or the other, he wasn't going to count them one-by-one, and he didn't want turn away a customer $\dots$

A US nickel 'weighs' (under standard conditions) very close to 5 grams (5.000 g according to US Mint specs). I've used $2 worth of them to calibrate a scale.