<THUD....GIGGLE>
-
That's the sound of me falling off my chair in laughter at: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article354780.ece[^] "Now I guess I'll sit back and watch people misinterpret what I just said......" Christian Graus At The Soapbox
Did you catch the BT banner ad to the right? Spot on! :laugh: Alvaro
... since we've descended to name calling, I'm thinking you're about twenty pounds of troll droppings in a ten pound bag. - Vincent Reynolds
-
Jan R Hansen wrote:
why are these ancient scales still in use ? The metric system makes sense, dammit !
I know what you mean. I worked in coninental Europe for 18 months and I'm almost all metric now. The only thin I still measure in imperial units are road distances (because I don't really have a choice). * My scales are set to kg and I'll talk about weights in kg * I irritate the staff at Tesco by demanding a half kilo of this and a kilo of that. (EU law says they have to use kilos - their signs are all in imperial except for a tiny 8pt conversion in metric to satisfy the law) * I confused the salesman at the local carpet warehouse by fronting up with measurements in square metres. ColinMackay.net Scottish Developers are looking for speakers for user group sessions over the next few months. Do you want to know more?
I love it :) Not sure which one I like the most - Tesco or carpet warehouse - but it's brilliant. :laugh: Do you know why it's important to make fast decisions? Because you give yourself more time to correct your mistakes, when you find out that you made the wrong one. Chris Meech on deciding whether to go to his daughters graduation or a Neil Young concert
-
That's the sound of me falling off my chair in laughter at: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article354780.ece[^] "Now I guess I'll sit back and watch people misinterpret what I just said......" Christian Graus At The Soapbox
May I ask what's so funny about an ambulance for obese people? :~ Interesting, maybe. A sad commentary on nutrition and health in the U.S., maybe. But fall-out-of-your-chair funny? Not really. Barry Etter
-
digital man wrote:
which is incredibly simple mental calculation compared to metric
This is perhaps the first time I have heard of base 10 as being difficult. The problem is not that the metric system is more difficult, it is that you learned the imperial system. The teachers will teach the imperial system and the employers will push the imperial system. So the imperial system will simply be used because it was always used. Is the English language more difficult than say... Japanese? if you were born in the country of the example, you learn it, you live it, and it is easy. Adding Japanese as a second language is difficult, just as adding English as a second language is difficult. Simply because your language is English does not mean that Japanese is necessarily confusing and illogical, it is because it does not adapt well to what you already know. So you are still basing the assumption on a narcissistic view, because you know the imperial system, metric is confusing. No, metric is confusing to you. Metric is easy if you were taught metric, adding a second standard is confusing whether you are trying to learn imperial when taught metric or vice versa.
digital man wrote:
Then again, I guess it's all about what you're used to.
exactly. _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
I am taking the piss. Anything that you're not used to is difficult. The real point is all you metric fascists think that you're the one and only. You're not. Actually I'm fairly comfortable in metric other than 2 areas: distance and temperature and I can fudge those when the need arises although in the UK and the US there isn't much need to get used to distance in metric and I just prefer 45F to 14C. Hey, it's the weekend! Yay! Enjoy either in base 10, 12 16 or 60. Whatever floats your boat. home
bookmarks You can ignore relatives but the neighbours live next door -
yes and no. I completely agree that you have to learn the mental perception of 1 meter and 1 kilometer more or less independent of each other - as with yard and mile. Sorry, I know what I wrote is easily interpreted the other way. However - being coupled by a factor of 1000 (and I can see that from the "kilo", right... :) ) , I _could_ find out how log a kilometer is once I know what a meter is. That would be impossible with yard and mile. But yes - its the same otherwise. Do you know why it's important to make fast decisions? Because you give yourself more time to correct your mistakes, when you find out that you made the wrong one. Chris Meech on deciding whether to go to his daughters graduation or a Neil Young concert
Jan R Hansen wrote:
That would be impossible with yard and mile
It is completely the same. I know that a mile is 1760 yards. If I'm used to that why would it be any harder? I just factor a little differently from you, that's all. I reflex it I don't even have to think about it. Stop thinking that metric is the one true god: it isn't. home
bookmarks You can ignore relatives but the neighbours live next door -
I am taking the piss. Anything that you're not used to is difficult. The real point is all you metric fascists think that you're the one and only. You're not. Actually I'm fairly comfortable in metric other than 2 areas: distance and temperature and I can fudge those when the need arises although in the UK and the US there isn't much need to get used to distance in metric and I just prefer 45F to 14C. Hey, it's the weekend! Yay! Enjoy either in base 10, 12 16 or 60. Whatever floats your boat. home
bookmarks You can ignore relatives but the neighbours live next doordigital man wrote:
all you metric fascists think that you're the one and only. You're not.
nor are the imperial fascists. I use both. I was given the choice, imperial or both, I chose both. I can calculate the speed of sound at sea level given average temperature and humidity too in both metric, nautical miles per hour and statutary miles per hour. If you set the limit that you do not want to learn, you will not, doesn't matter if it is binary, or decimal. The only advantage with metric, is that it doesn't change when you moved across the atlantic. For a very long time a foot was not a foot was not a foot, even after standardization because they were standardized independantly. Even after the inch and foot was standardized between England and the USA, england adapted to the standardization, but the USA refused because their existing measurement was within acceptable "error" -- so they forced someone else to meet most of the way and refused to come even the smaller portion to meet. _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
-
digital man wrote:
I have no idea what 12245mm looks like.
About the width of my house. ColinMackay.net Scottish Developers are looking for speakers for user group sessions over the next few months. Do you want to know more?
Colin Angus Mackay wrote:
About the width of my house.
Yikes! That's a small house! ---sig---
Might I suggest that the universe was always the size of the cosmos. It is just that at one point the cosmos was the size of a marble. -- Colin Angus Mackay Silence is the voice of complicity PS. If you don't understand my sarcasm -- go to hell! -
May I ask what's so funny about an ambulance for obese people? :~ Interesting, maybe. A sad commentary on nutrition and health in the U.S., maybe. But fall-out-of-your-chair funny? Not really. Barry Etter
I tend to agree with you, especially from the standpoint of helping and protecting the EMT's and other ambulance personnel. That is difficult work in the first place, and not having the proper tools to care for a patient (especially when they weigh more than 250 pounds) doesn't help.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Colin Angus Mackay wrote:
About the width of my house.
Yikes! That's a small house! ---sig---
Might I suggest that the universe was always the size of the cosmos. It is just that at one point the cosmos was the size of a marble. -- Colin Angus Mackay Silence is the voice of complicity PS. If you don't understand my sarcasm -- go to hell!ahz wrote:
That's a small house!
Actaully, I thought it was a reasonably sized family house. Certainly if I was living in Edinburgh I'd be expecting somewhere in the region of £350,000+ (€511,000 US$612,000). ColinMackay.net Scottish Developers are looking for speakers for user group sessions over the next few months. Do you want to know more?
-
Jan R Hansen wrote:
That would be impossible with yard and mile
It is completely the same. I know that a mile is 1760 yards. If I'm used to that why would it be any harder? I just factor a little differently from you, that's all. I reflex it I don't even have to think about it. Stop thinking that metric is the one true god: it isn't. home
bookmarks You can ignore relatives but the neighbours live next door> I know that a mile is 1760 yards. If I'm used to that why would it be any harder? I just factor a > little differently from you, that's all Express 3" 7/16th in terms of miles. Now perform the same type of unit conversion using the metric system (I dunno, say, what's 5mm expressed as kilometers?) The instant you have to do any conversion or scaling, imperial is just a bitch to work with.
-
May I ask what's so funny about an ambulance for obese people? :~ Interesting, maybe. A sad commentary on nutrition and health in the U.S., maybe. But fall-out-of-your-chair funny? Not really. Barry Etter
-
Jan R Hansen wrote:
That would be impossible with yard and mile
It is completely the same. I know that a mile is 1760 yards. If I'm used to that why would it be any harder? I just factor a little differently from you, that's all. I reflex it I don't even have to think about it. Stop thinking that metric is the one true god: it isn't. home
bookmarks You can ignore relatives but the neighbours live next dooreasy, now :) Yes - you know that a mile is 1760 yards. But how should I ? in the metric system, things are "systematic", whereas in the imperial system you have to "know" how many "x" that go on a "y". Im not saying nor thinking that the metric system is the one true god - I'm saying that it is more logical when it comes to understanding it - if you don't know it beforehand. I.e. it is easier for a british/us guy to get used to the metric system than for a eu-guy to get used to the imperial system, simply because the units are more difficult to convert between in your mind. Im tempted to say "stop thinking imperial is the one true god: it isn't" - but I don't think thats what you think :) Do you know why it's important to make fast decisions? Because you give yourself more time to correct your mistakes, when you find out that you made the wrong one. Chris Meech on deciding whether to go to his daughters graduation or a Neil Young concert