Give an inch ... & take a mile (RANT)

[americantrotter]

Being that I am in transportation, I am sick of having to switch between imperial and metric. The country just needs to up and convert. But then again, you'd have those redneck morons in the South fighting tooth and nail to defend the tablespoon, whilst ignoring the fact that their jobs are being shipped overseas. You know, the usual.

LOL Yep, the same bastards who are poor and could benefit from social programs but vote against them. Mainly because they've been brain washed into believing that welfare is evil and that they are self sufficient.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Being that I am in transportation, I am sick of having to switch between imperial and metric. The country just needs to up and convert. But then again, you'd have those redneck morons in the South fighting tooth and nail to defend the tablespoon, whilst ignoring the fact that their jobs are being shipped overseas. You know, the usual.

I think I mentioned some time back in another thread the story of the Gimli Glider, a passenger jet that ran out of fuel shortly after we went metric. The pilot thought he had 20,000 kilograms aboard when he only had 20,000 pounds (aircraft fuel goes by weight, not volume). The automatic system was on the fritz and the manual measure (dripstick gave the volume in litres which they may have thought gallons). In any event it only had enough fuel to get halfway from Montreal to Edmonton and ran out of fuel at 40,000 feet over Ontario. At this point it became a glider.

So converting to the metric system can be tricky.

[bobo the clown]

Being that I am in transportation, I am sick of having to switch between imperial and metric. The country just needs to up and convert. But then again, you'd have those redneck morons in the South fighting tooth and nail to defend the tablespoon, whilst ignoring the fact that their jobs are being shipped overseas. You know, the usual.

I think I mentioned some time back in another thread the story of the Gimli Glider, a passenger jet that ran out of fuel shortly after we went metric. The pilot thought he had 20,000 kilograms aboard when he only had 20,000 pounds (aircraft fuel goes by weight, not volume). The automatic system was on the fritz and the manual measure (dripstick gave the volume in litres which they may have thought gallons). In any event it only had enough fuel to get halfway from Montreal to Edmonton and ran out of fuel at 40,000 feet over Ontario. At this point it became a glider.

So converting to the metric system can be tricky.

Wasn't that what went went wrong with (not easy to say that ... try it out loud) one of the Mars probes. It was set to open it's rockets when so many feet from the ground but it was in cm's ? Never heard of again.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Being that I am in transportation, I am sick of having to switch between imperial and metric. The country just needs to up and convert. But then again, you'd have those redneck morons in the South fighting tooth and nail to defend the tablespoon, whilst ignoring the fact that their jobs are being shipped overseas. You know, the usual.

I think I mentioned some time back in another thread the story of the Gimli Glider, a passenger jet that ran out of fuel shortly after we went metric. The pilot thought he had 20,000 kilograms aboard when he only had 20,000 pounds (aircraft fuel goes by weight, not volume). The automatic system was on the fritz and the manual measure (dripstick gave the volume in litres which they may have thought gallons). In any event it only had enough fuel to get halfway from Montreal to Edmonton and ran out of fuel at 40,000 feet over Ontario. At this point it became a glider.

So converting to the metric system can be tricky.

Wasn't that what went went wrong with (not easy to say that ... try it out loud) one of the Mars probes. It was set to open it's rockets when so many feet from the ground but it was in cm's ? Never heard of again.

I'm not sure - so many Mars probes have failed for so many reasons (one only got as far as Australia I think), but that is as likely an explanation as any other.

[Dujon]

Yes, Bobo, you are spot on - at least that is what we've been advised. A cock up in the coding of the on-board computers. My theory is, of course, that it's the LGMs who are (or were) sabotaging probes of terrestrial origin.

On the subject of metrification, I really couldn't care less what system is used provided that it's standard in its use of units across all of Measuredom. In a sense the sexagesimal system is still used throughout the world by dint of the clock. This, sort of, overflows into navigation as time is important in calculating longitude and also to astronomy where altitude is determined by hours and minutes and azimuth by degrees. Let's have a 10 hour day - 5 for each half - and a hundred minutes (or 10 if you prefer) to each hour. If nothing else it might shut up those who keep harping on about 35 hour weeks for the 'working man'.

[Epitaph]

Go on, seriously ... on a hot day do you honestly say "phew, what a scorcher ... must be at least 21 degrees !!"

I say that!

[Henrik's fan club]

Well we've been taught it throughout school, these owd gits are like Abe Simpson



"The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it."

[Bruce Rioja]

You've no chance of the europeans accepting english. I should know, I work for the bloody EU. Just to work for them you are supposed to speak several languages despite the fact you never use them for work. They then bring in a new law saying you have to speak more of them.

Then I hope you like this, AT.

Allegedly, a Pan Am 727 flight waiting for start clearance in Munich overheard the following:
Lufthansa (in German): "Ground, what is our start clearance time?"
Ground (in English): "If you want an answer you must speak in English."
Lufthansa (in English): "I am a German, flying a German airplane, in Germany. Why must I speak English?"
Unknown voice from another plane (in a beautiful British accent): "Because you lost the bloody war."

[Soldier_Of_The_White_Army]

You've no chance of the europeans accepting english. I should know, I work for the bloody EU. Just to work for them you are supposed to speak several languages despite the fact you never use them for work. They then bring in a new law saying you have to speak more of them.

Then I hope you like this, AT.

Allegedly, a Pan Am 727 flight waiting for start clearance in Munich overheard the following:
Lufthansa (in German): "Ground, what is our start clearance time?"
Ground (in English): "If you want an answer you must speak in English."
Lufthansa (in English): "I am a German, flying a German airplane, in Germany. Why must I speak English?"
Unknown voice from another plane (in a beautiful British accent): "Because you lost the bloody war."

And a really good day is now complete!

[H. Pedersen]

Being that I am in transportation, I am sick of having to switch between imperial and metric. The country just needs to up and convert. But then again, you'd have those redneck morons in the South fighting tooth and nail to defend the tablespoon, whilst ignoring the fact that their jobs are being shipped overseas. You know, the usual.

LOL Yep, the same bastards who are poor and could benefit from social programs but vote against them. Mainly because they've been brain washed into believing that welfare is evil and that they are self sufficient.

You could sell the dirt farm under their feet to China, as long as you let them hang the 10 Commandments in the courthouse they won't notice.

[communistworkethic]

Being that I am in transportation, I am sick of having to switch between imperial and metric. The country just needs to up and convert. But then again, you'd have those redneck morons in the South fighting tooth and nail to defend the tablespoon, whilst ignoring the fact that their jobs are being shipped overseas. You know, the usual.

LOL Yep, the same bastards who are poor and could benefit from social programs but vote against them. Mainly because they've been brain washed into believing that welfare is evil and that they are self sufficient.

You could sell the dirt farm under their feet to China, as long as you let them hang the 10 Commandments in the courthouse they won't notice.

are they a black Motown group?

[americantrotter]

good one commie.

[bobo the clown]

Oh ... & by the way ... when you've been at your senior school for 4 years ... YOU'RE IN THE FCKG 4TH YEAR not "year 27" or something.

The people who change things for no reason are tossers.

... or wankers.

... or self abusers.

... or onanists.

... or .................................

[Nozza]

Calm down dear.

[bobo the clown]

Calm down dear.

Won't.

[superjohnmcginlay]

Oh ... & by the way ... when you've been at your senior school for 4 years ... YOU'RE IN THE FCKG 4TH YEAR not "year 27" or something.

The people who change things for no reason are tossers.

... or wankers.

... or self abusers.

... or onanists.

... or .................................

Spot on bobo. All my teacher mates keep going on about their year 9 or 12 or summat. I havent a clue what theyre on about.

[Gravedigger]

Get over it, Bobo.

Unless you are lacking some cells between your hammers and anvils - and your general postings indicate that you don't - it takes little time to convert your full complement to the new systems. History and tradition is great and things such as £sd were quite obviously designed to exercise the minds of youngsters. Perhaps we can still teach such a mish-mash of systems to our children so that we can laugh at them (a bit like teaching Latin). We use the decimal system in counting; we are even clever enough to recognise zero as a reference point.

4 farthings or two half-pennies to a penny; 12 pennies to a shilling; 2 shillings to a florin; 25 pennies to a half-crown; 50 pennies to a crown; 20 shillings to a pound; 21 shillings to a guinea. No wonder people look strangely at us - and that's only our currency. Inches, feet, yards, rods, perches, roods, acres, furlongs, chains - sheesh! 5280 feet (each of 12 inches) to a mile or, alternatively, 1760 yards. There's no real sense in all those 'historical' measurements. 16 ounces to a pound? Then there's the hundredweight (which is 112 lb). ? . At least the Americans had the sense to have 100 lb to a hundredweight. They then stuffed that up by having 2000 lb to a ton (the short ton). Then we have the displacement ton (35 cubic feet of salt water) and the ton which refers to the internal capacity of ships - I can't recall its name, if it's got one - which refers to 100 cubic feet.

What a shemozzle.

Standard metric for me (if you hadn't already gathered).

Shouldn't that be 30 pennies to a half crown? I'm like Dujon everything in metric then I'm asked to climb out to 4000 feet. No wonder I'm confused

[warthog]

Oh ... & by the way ... when you've been at your senior school for 4 years ... YOU'RE IN THE FCKG 4TH YEAR not "year 27" or something.

The people who change things for no reason are tossers.

... or wankers.

... or self abusers.

... or onanists.

... or .................................

Spot on bobo. All my teacher mates keep going on about their year 9 or 12 or summat. I havent a clue what theyre on about.

Yes, but it makes the kids feel as if they've been at school for longer and consequently makes them more miserable.

Surely this is a good thing.

[americantrotter]

Must be copying America. 12th grade and all that.

[Dujon]

Shouldn't that be 30 pennies to a half crown? I'm like Dujon everything in metric then I'm asked to climb out to 4000 feet. No wonder I'm confused

Indeed. There's 60 pence in a crown too.



I've been brainwashed, G.D.