OT: Simple maths question

[Tim Streater]

Are they the ones that then get fired and go onto be deputy sheriffs?

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yup.

Or more usally 'around 300g'

[The Natural Philosopher]

These things are steeped in history. A foot is the length of a foot. A roman pace was the average stride of a roman soldier - about a yard, but a yard was the length of a mans arm ...or a drawn arrow. an inch was a knuckle. Before measures were standardised these were handy ways to sell cloth etc.

An ell was like a cubit, elbow to fingertip.

A rod pole or perch was designed to be part of a system of surveying units of which the the chain and the mile (originally Mille Pace - 1000 paces, but now more like 2000!) were also part. A cricket pitch is a chain long.

"A chain is a unit of length that measures 66 feet, 22 yards, 100 links,or 4 rods (20.1168 m). There are 10 chains in a furlong, and 80 chains in one statute mile. An acre is the area of 10 square chains (that is, an area of one chain by one furlong). The chain has been used for several centuries in England and in some other countries influenced by English practice. In Scotland a chain was 74 feet."

These are historic measures that grew up out of necessity. They may be obsolete today in the days of laser range finders and cheap vernier callipers, but they had their uses.

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

Those commemorative thins are to stick on your wall. People don't use them as legal tender. I've never encountered them ever, probably because there are so few of them, and people who buy them keep them.

[Sam E]

[snip]

Metric avoids the complexity of using two or more units for one measurement.

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

That's my view too, which is why I say 10 stone and not 140 pounds.

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

Isn't 147 pounds rather light for an American woman?

-- =

FOR SALE BY OWNER. Complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica , 45 volumes.=

Excellent condition, =A3200 or best offer. No longer needed, got married, wife knows everything.

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

Actually most UK folk do use kg for their weight. I don't because we hadn't gone metric when I was a kid. I see no point in changing.

For somethings we're stuck in the middle. Half our supermarkets use litres and half use pints, and since a litre isn't exactly half a pint, some milk bottles are actually smaller, so price comparison is difficult.

We don't use km at all for driving, it's all still miles. But my point is we use the larger size of measurement when appropriate. We wouldn't drive 24000 metres, so why do you weigh yourself in pounds instead of stone?

[Steve Walker]

Indeed it does - and a simple, misplaced decimal points lead to major errors ;)

As I said elsewhere, I use metric for work (engineering), but more often use imperial when doing DIY. Although I was brought up with the metric system and not taught any imperial at school, I find the imperial units to be of sizes that I can more accurately estimate.

SteveW

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

Tall I like. Wide, not so much. This is about perfect:

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

Skinflint.

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

Genetics allows for any combination of fat arse and big t*ts.

Not Uncle Erect monster? Orr can you not do that anymore?

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

Did you get a fine? I got fined 700 Euros in France for using a radar detector. How the f*ck was I supposed to know they were illegal over there? I should have refused to pay and asked to see the British Embassy.

Driving through small villages in France I've seen some very skillful lorry drivers.

No, you ran away, then took some land which belonged to the American Indians.

Why should one drink be a different size to another?

Since when did the UK stop selling pints in pubs? They're all still pints here in Scotland. Although I think we'd prefer to drink a whole litre :-)

I drink from whatever there is, I'm not fussy:

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

You'd lose the 0.02 in spillage when pouring it into the other container to measure it.

You must be bigger than me. My last meal was 100 grams of dried potato mash in a packet. Ok, I added a bit of milk, marg, and grated cheese, but still, not a whole pound.

I use either. If I'm doing some DIY, I use the tape measure and take the nearest number. I might cut a piece of wood 50 inches by 46 cms.

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

There are women with big natural t*ts without a fat floppy ass.

Redwood ROTFPMSL!

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

How stupid does a designer have to be to not follow the worldwide standa= rd of tighten to the right? Whenever I encounter this shit, I just boyc= ott that company for the rest of my life. Their loss.

Car racing should have a wide variety of cars, some faster accelerating,= some higher top speed, some tougher chassis. This makes for lots of ov= ertaking. Then allow all forms of contact, have lots of bends and bumps= and drive round until only one is still drivable.

-- =

Riots in Birmingham last month caused over =A31 million worth of improve= ments.

[Tim Streater]

Anyone paying attention knows that.

Quite right. Have a pint of gin.

404.

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

Why should I learn every one of the 50,000 laws in another country when I visit them on holiday? How woul;d that even be possible? Why would I bother taking a holiday if I had to take an exam first? Why would I assume absurd laws?

Ale and wine are similar strengths. And if you want to dispense something in a different quantity, then use another measurement or have a different number of that measurement. But using the same name to mean two different amounts is crazy.

Wrong. It works here in Opera, Chrome, Explorer, and Edge. Your connection is faulty.

[rbowman]

You've just answered most of the questions. Most Americans see no point in changing. The government attempts to facilitate the change were half-hearted. I have seen road signs in km, mostly close to the Mexican border but even there they are rare.

I'm sitting here with a bottle of sparkling water that says 503 mL (17 FL. OZ). Both measurements are odd. Why not 16 oz or 500 mL?

When booze went to mL I was cynical. A common, although strange in itself, size for liquor was a 'fifth', one fifth of a US gallon or four fifths of a quart, 757 mL. It was replaced by 750 mL, a size change which is virtually unnoticeable. Unless you're bottling booze that is, when all those 7 mL's add up and you squeeze out an extra bottle.

That's not as bad a screwing as the '3 pound' cans of coffee that are down to 27.5 ounces with the bandits having the chutzpah to tell you the new improved grind will make just as much coffee as 3 pounds used to. I suppose if you like your coffee to look like the second pass at a tea bag.

[rbowman]

The theory was the rotation of the wheels on the left side could loosen right hand nuts. Or at least that was the excuse.

Agreed. I'd rather watch submarine races than Formula 1.