your thoughts on metric

[Swingman]

"Lew Hodgett" wrote

... and just how do you figure that, old man? :)

[Andrew Barss]

:>

:> It works in 80% of the world. It CAN work here if we want it to.

: So give us a reason to want it to. If you don't like the US then move : somewhere more to your liking. Part of freedom is the freedom to : leave.

And no country hs ever voluntarily adopted the metric system -- it's always been legislated and forced upon the citizenry.

-- Andy Barss

[J T]

Fri, Oct 12, 2007, 12:05pm (EDT-1) [e-mail] (Swingman) doth sayeth: LOL ... The tab is $1.96 ... you give the clerk two dollar bills and a penny, and they look at you like "What the hell do I do now?"

Yep, I do that once in awhile too. But, more often I just give them bills. Not to keep from confusing them. To save. I don't spend coin change while I'm out, just keep it. Some days I come back with maybe 30 cents in change, some days several dollars worth. When I get home, put in plastic coin counter tubes. Tip, don't buy paper coin rolls, my bank gives them for free. Plastic tubes full, roll coins, turn in periodically. I've turned in as much as $75 a month doing this. Painless way to save.

Got two-three dollars too much change one time. Told the girl she'd made a mistake. Snotty reply "she" doesn't make mistakes. Tried twice more, same. So drove off with the extra, with no regret.

JOAT "I'm an Igor, thur. We don't athk quethtionth." "Really? Why not?" "I don't know, thur. I didn't athk."

[Edwin Pawlowski]

So tell me, exactly, why you need a new planer and saw fences? Mine not only do metric, they do Witworth too.

[else24]

Ever since I bought this:

've had no trouble with all those thirtysecondses and sixtyfourths.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I don't really give a damn if people change or not. It is just that there is no valid reason to say one system is superior if both can get it done, making no valid reason NOT to use it.

Because those closed minded individuals that think it is a bad system will find that is not so bad, it is simple to use, and makes us compatible with the rest of the world. Many people are afraid of change and fear having to learn something new. After a couple of days you will have learned it an be able to estimate how many meters a room dimension is.

[Lee]

Thought I asked a simple question and it ended up with the "love it or leave it" crap(don't ask an American native about that :) ) and mail / credit cards. Seems to be even anger being expressed. Oh well At least I got everyone thinking :)

[dpb]

Edwin Pawlowski wrote: ...

...

I contend comfort and familiarity _is_ a valid reason to retain it for everyday activities...

Meanwhile, still knowing that a gallon of paint covers about 350 sq-ft... :)

--

[J T]

Fri, Oct 12, 2007, 11:02am (EDT-3) [e-mail] (Lew=A0Hodgett) doth sayeth: Debit cards, the biggest screw job foisted on the public by the credit card industry yet. The day in hell has not yet gotten cold enough for me to have a debit card.

Not the way I see it. Granted I pay a small monthly charge for using a debit card. But I can go to an ATM machine and check just how much I've got in my account. If I don't have enough in my account to buy something, I don't get it then. Pretty simple, and keeps me from geting things I don't really need. I like my debit card.

Credit card now, another matter. With one of those, I can go into a store flat broke, and run up a $2-3000 debt in minutes. And pay heavy interest if I don't pay it all off when the bill comes in. I was getting hurt on credit card interest. Got a quick bank loan, paid 'em all off, and the bank took a fraction of the interest to do it for me. I DO still have a credit card. For emergency use only. And I haven't had an emergency big enough yet to even dream about using it. It'd basically have to be a life and death emergency before I'll even consider using a credit card again. I can go to my bank and get a $2500 signature loan, pay very low interest, and even have them make automatic payments - so why even consider a HD or Lowes credit card if I wanted to buy new tools, or whatever? Debit card, yes; credit card, no.

JOAT "I'm an Igor, thur. We don't athk quethtionth." "Really? Why not?" "I don't know, thur. I didn't athk."

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I just like to irritate the hell out of you. I see it is working.

Hey, I never said we must change. I did said there is not a good reason NOT to use it. You are getting all emotional as if you fear change.

[J T]

Fri, Oct 12, 2007, 7:48pm (EDT+4) [e-mail] (Lee) doth sayeth: Thought I asked a simple question and it ended up with the "love it or leave it" crap(don't ask an American native about that :) ) and mail / credit cards. Seems to be even anger being expressed. Oh well At least I got everyone thinking :)

You obviously misunderstood the question as asked.

JOAT "I'm an Igor, thur. We don't athk quethtionth." "Really? Why not?" "I don't know, thur. I didn't athk."

[Lew Hodgett]

Simple.

If you use a credit card and something goes wrong, you dispute it and retain the use of your money while the dispute.

If your credit card gets stolen and unauthorized charges are made, it is the credit card companies responsibility to clean it up.

If you use a debit card is used, payment is instantenous.

If something goes wrong, you are on your own.

If the debit card is stolen and they drain your account, it's your problem.

As I said, just another way for the credit card company to screw you.

Lew

[dpb]

On ours, notification within two days of loss limits liability of loss to $50. Only after 60 days does it become unlimited.

Whether that is part of revised law or simply a particular card-issuer policy, I couldn't say, but it was something I checked carefully before taking it.

I rarely use it, however, preferring the float of the c-c instead.

--

[Lou Newell]

[Swingman]

You're a bit behind times, Lew ... there are Federal laws now in effect protecting the consumer for debit transactions.

Only if you wait 60 days after the fact before reporting a "problem" ... a highly unlikely circumstance for one, like me, who does all his banking online and checks balances daily, or more often.

In my case, it not a credit card company that issued my bank check card, it's my bank.

Repayment takes the same amount of time as if someone had stolen/fraudulently cashed a check ...with the same proviso that they are notified in a timely manner.

[Swingman]

Federal law is your above, plus ... providing notification is made _before_ the debit card is fraudulently used, there is zero liability.

My youngest daughter has a real DEBIT card issued by a bank and tied to Visa's international network, but with no bank account that backs up the card.

It is funded solely by my funds transfers, which can be made with a credit/debit card, online or by phone, and which are real time INSTANTANEOUS (when she was in Europe I was able to keep her funded to _my_ comfort level, instantaneously, and without her having to carry more cash than necessary on her person ... same when attending an urban cesspool high school, or doing any traveling)

She has had it since jr high, and she's now a senior in college.

She momentarily lost it last semester, called me within a few minutes of realizing the loss, and I logged on and "suspended" the card within minutes of her losing it ... I could have done the same by phone.

I also notified the issuing bank on their 24 hour service just to be safe ... their response was that their records indicated it was "suspended" and could not be used, but thanks for the call anyway.

It was found and returned to her the next morning ...it took all of 30 seconds for me to logon and "unsuspend" the card, no further calls were necessary.

It has proven to be one of the handiest, most convenient, safest ways of insuring that she always has funds for whatever arises, from text books to emergency cash, 24/7, no matter what country she's in, and as long as she can get to a Visa merchant/ATM ... they're indeed everywhere.

For the better part of nine years it has been a source of convenience and monetary peace of mind for me on her behalf ... I would NOT want her to "leave home without it".

IIRC, Edwin might have done the same thing for his daughter at one point.

[Lee Michaels]

Damn, that sounds good.

Any chance that you adopt me and give me one of these loving father debit cards?

[Swingman]

:)

[Leon]

The title is correct, An Inconvenient Truth. Inconvenient that the Truth is not covered by the film.

20-25 years ago the political swing was that we were headed into the next Ice Age. Now that all this change has come into effect the earth is starting to warm. LOL. I was reading that one of the reasons that hurricanes are becoming more frequent and stronger is because we are cleaning up the upper atmosphere. With less of what ever the spray cans were releasing the atmosphere is clearer and the sun heats the oceans up more. The cure is killing us. Today I heard that the storms 40-50 years ago were just as strong. I agree, I went through a hurricane when I was 15 and thought I would be killed. The official winds were recorded at less than 140 mph. Local wind meters had sustained winds of over 160 mph. More thorough record keeping makes storms seem stronger now. The storm I went through has recorded wind speed at 12 noon and 6 that evening. The highest winds were between 3 and 4 pm. Another inconvenient truth.

[Leon]

I wonder what factor was used to decide that a film qualified for a Peace Prize. Jimmy Carter and Yassar Arafat won that prize which only points out its absurdity.