OT: Simple maths question

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

Not only that it is the same unit unlike the ounce or the stone, pint, gallons and others where amaerica has it's own versions. Then there's fluid ounces.

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

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:

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.

Anyone paying attention knows that.

Quite right. Have a pint of gin.

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.

I don't know about the arrow part. Anybody with a 36" draw length is one big mother. I've got long arms and draw about 31".

We've got that weirdness in spades. The Public Land Survey System breaks the land up into townships, which are six miles on a side and have 36 sections, 1 mile on the side. This has nothing to do with towns. There are Principal Meridians, which is where ranges come in. Township 3 North, Range 4 West designates how far the township is from the meridians. The meridians don't necessarily line up nicely so there are discontinuities.

Back to the sections, which are 640 acres. They were often parceled out in quarter sections of 160 acres. Further subdivision is where the 'lower forty' or 'back forty' comes in.

Since there are 80 chains in a mile, a quarter section is 40 x 40 chains, or 1600 square chains which is convenient since an acre is 10 square chains and the math come out right. You can convert it to furlongs or rods if that turns you on.

The wildland fire guys still use chains.

Thank you all very much....

Coming from an era when a K&E slide rule with a magnifying cursor was high tech Engineering 101 stressed keeping a rudimentary grasp on reality. Being off by a power or two of ten was a worse sin than simply misreading a division on the slipstick. Those are the sort of errors that make bridges go boom.

A fine and a night's lodging. Damn Canucks have no sense of humor.

Maybe, but this is the US. There are Irish pubs but if there are English pubs I never ran into one. About the only attempt at faux British atmosphere was Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips and there is only a handful left. The British Invasion was fine as far as rock music went, but British food or ale was a hard sell.

I can't understand why the microbreweries are so into IPAs these days. As I understand it they came about when you put enough hops in the ale so it wouldn't rot on its way to India, not to make something worth drinking.

It's like retsina. Supposedly the Greeks put resin in the wine so the Romans wouldn't drink it all and then they developed a taste for it.

Throw in an olive, wave a bottle of Vermouth at it, and you're good to go. I used to prefer grenadine. It killed the taste. Sort of.

Used to quite enjoy them years ago when it actually was a song contest.

Well half of them are French.

That's the better half. I raised all the hell I wanted to in Quebec with no problem. It's the damn Brits in Ontario with no sense of humor. I fondly remember one joint in Trois Rivieres. I ordered a beer and she asked if I wanted a large or a small. That was a no-brainer. Turned out a large was an Imperial quart. Classy joint, she even brought a glass with it.

I don't know why, but the American expressions "no-brainer" and "brain freeze" irritate me. You also say daft things in psychology like "left brain" as though you have two of them.

You do if they cut it in half with cheese wire: your left brain doesn't know what your right brain is doing.

I don't think it would know anything as it would cease to function. The brain is one whole unit. Slicing it in half renders the whole thing inert.

I don't need to know precisely how much I weigh to the nearest pound. It goes up and down as I eat and go to the toilet. I know my weight in stones, or half stones, nothing more precise than that.

Only because you're used to it. Younger folk find it easier to estimate metric units.