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  3. Do you think in metric?

Do you think in metric?

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  • H Henry Minute

    BBC News story[^]. I'm a bit of a mixed bag on this, like so much of my life (e.g. In cricket I bowl left-handed but bat right-handed). I tend to purchase in imperial but when cooking something such as a cake I work in metric units. I suspect that younger members, at least, would be mostly, if not entirely, metric. Except, of course, for the good old Pint of Pig's.

    Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” I wouldn't let CG touch my Abacus! When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is.

    realJSOPR Offline
    realJSOPR Offline
    realJSOP
    wrote on last edited by
    #33

    No. All of my scopes are sighted in using yards instead of meters. For instance, I know one click up on the elevation knob lets me shoot across my neighbor's yard, to hit a target in the next yard over. How I know this isn't germain to the discussion, so let's just say that I know it to be fact.

    ".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
    -----
    You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
    -----
    "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997

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    • H Henry Minute

      Rods, Poles and Perches?

      Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” I wouldn't let CG touch my Abacus! When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is.

      OriginalGriffO Offline
      OriginalGriffO Offline
      OriginalGriff
      wrote on last edited by
      #34

      Henry Minute wrote:

      Rods

      I have just the one, in perfect working order thank you.

      Henry Minute wrote:

      Poles

      They live just down the road.

      Henry Minute wrote:

      Perches

      No, we don't have a budgie - Dij the Cat would consider them "Flying Chicken McNuggets".

      Ideological Purity is no substitute for being able to stick your thumb down a pipe to stop the water

      "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
      "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

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      • T Tomz_KV

        confusion is one thing. It is too costly to change from one to another.

        TOMZ_KV

        H Offline
        H Offline
        hairy_hats
        wrote on last edited by
        #35

        Even if you factor in the cost of losing a Mars probe?

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        • L Lost User

          Maximilien wrote:

          Pool water temperature in F, air temperature in C.

          It is said the English use Fahrenheit for warm temperatures and Celsius / Centigrade for cold ones. "It's 97 degrees today". "It's -2 out there". That sort of thing. I think I am exclusively on the C scale.

          Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.

          S Offline
          S Offline
          Septimus Hedgehog
          wrote on last edited by
          #36

          Even the BBC weather forecasters quote Celsius and often (as an afterthought) quote it in Fahrenheit as well. Imperial is a horrible system. Why the UK still retains it is a mystery.

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          • H hairy_hats

            Even if you factor in the cost of losing a Mars probe?

            T Offline
            T Offline
            Tomz_KV
            wrote on last edited by
            #37

            That is a good argument. U.S. had an atempt to change to metrics in the past but failed. Canada was successful. However, there were some accidents related to the changes during that period of time. There was a fact-based movie talking about the crash landing of a commercial airline due to insufficient fuel when filled out in liters intead of gallons.

            TOMZ_KV

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            • S Septimus Hedgehog

              Even the BBC weather forecasters quote Celsius and often (as an afterthought) quote it in Fahrenheit as well. Imperial is a horrible system. Why the UK still retains it is a mystery.

              H Offline
              H Offline
              hairy_hats
              wrote on last edited by
              #38

              PHS241 wrote:

              Why the UK still retains it is a mystery.

              We grew up with it; we are familiar with it; most of us are happy with it and don't want to use metric exclusively in our daily lives. Why should we be forced to change?

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              • H Henry Minute

                BBC News story[^]. I'm a bit of a mixed bag on this, like so much of my life (e.g. In cricket I bowl left-handed but bat right-handed). I tend to purchase in imperial but when cooking something such as a cake I work in metric units. I suspect that younger members, at least, would be mostly, if not entirely, metric. Except, of course, for the good old Pint of Pig's.

                Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” I wouldn't let CG touch my Abacus! When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is.

                G Offline
                G Offline
                GenJerDan
                wrote on last edited by
                #39

                No, I don't need things to be in multiples of ten to do my figurin'.

                So I rounded up my camel Just to ask him for a smoke He handed me a Lucky, I said "Hey, you missed the joke." My Mu[sic] My Films My Windows Programs, etc.

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                • H Henry Minute

                  W∴ Balboos wrote:

                  * A beloved Unit to many, particularly after a long day's work.

                  That particular unit is, I'm obliged to advise you is in fact 20oz. Liquids are measured in Fluid Ounces[^] in the Imperial system. And since the Pint is an Imperial unit, that is what you should use. Unfortunately this makes all of your other units incorrect too. :-D

                  Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” I wouldn't let CG touch my Abacus! When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is.

                  W Offline
                  W Offline
                  W Balboos GHB
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #40

                  Henry Minute wrote:

                  That particular unit is, I'm obliged to advise you is in fact 20oz.

                  An (Atlantic) ocean of misunderstanding. US customary fluid ounce are referred to here (USA) as English Units. Bars (a/k/a Pubs) server pints, which are apparently 25% smaller, but we generally drink right from the pitcher - especially in times of austerity. Just think of it as a rather large mug. I didn't, by the way, say Imperial units. Up in Canada they sell (or used to) gasoline (petrol) in Imperial Gallons, and once I satisfied myself that my fuel tank hadn't shrunk, understood the difference.

                  Henry Minute wrote:

                  Unfortunately this makes all of your other units incorrect too.

                  So, although your information was, well, informative, it was really not an incorrect statement, but rather a nuance lost in the translation. Clearly Imperial Units can be relegated to the same archive as the metric system.

                  "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

                  "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert

                  "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

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                  • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                    And how many Pounds are there to a Stone?

                    Ideological Purity is no substitute for being able to stick your thumb down a pipe to stop the water

                    realJSOPR Offline
                    realJSOPR Offline
                    realJSOP
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #41

                    It depends on how many pounds the victim is carrying when you threaten to bash in his head with your stone if he doesn't hand over his cash.

                    ".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
                    -----
                    You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
                    -----
                    "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997

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                    • H hairy_hats

                      PHS241 wrote:

                      Why the UK still retains it is a mystery.

                      We grew up with it; we are familiar with it; most of us are happy with it and don't want to use metric exclusively in our daily lives. Why should we be forced to change?

                      S Offline
                      S Offline
                      Septimus Hedgehog
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #42

                      I hear that the world is apparently round. I shall miss the Flat Earth reunions. Hey-ho, such is the price to be paid for progress, it seems. :)

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                      • D Dalek Dave

                        Proper unit of speed Here[^] Area[^] Volume[^] Mass[^] Time[^] Ionising Radiation Dose[^] Depth of fluid.[^]

                        ------------------------------------ I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] Trolls[^]

                        B Offline
                        B Offline
                        bVagadishnu
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #43

                        In the VMS OS, the unit of measurement for the TimePromptWait parameter is microfortnight. :cool:

                        Schenectady? What am I doing in Schenectady?

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                        • H Henry Minute

                          BBC News story[^]. I'm a bit of a mixed bag on this, like so much of my life (e.g. In cricket I bowl left-handed but bat right-handed). I tend to purchase in imperial but when cooking something such as a cake I work in metric units. I suspect that younger members, at least, would be mostly, if not entirely, metric. Except, of course, for the good old Pint of Pig's.

                          Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” I wouldn't let CG touch my Abacus! When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is.

                          L Offline
                          L Offline
                          Luc Pattyn
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #44

                          Henry Minute wrote:

                          Do you think in metric?

                          My neurons tend to fire at their eigenfrequency, so my ideas are pretty rhythmic, yes. :)

                          Luc Pattyn [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

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                          • H Henry Minute

                            BBC News story[^]. I'm a bit of a mixed bag on this, like so much of my life (e.g. In cricket I bowl left-handed but bat right-handed). I tend to purchase in imperial but when cooking something such as a cake I work in metric units. I suspect that younger members, at least, would be mostly, if not entirely, metric. Except, of course, for the good old Pint of Pig's.

                            Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” I wouldn't let CG touch my Abacus! When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is.

                            B Offline
                            B Offline
                            Bonesnap
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #45

                            I think exclusively in Metric. Fahrenheit has been deprecated.

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                            • S Septimus Hedgehog

                              Even the BBC weather forecasters quote Celsius and often (as an afterthought) quote it in Fahrenheit as well. Imperial is a horrible system. Why the UK still retains it is a mystery.

                              J Offline
                              J Offline
                              jsc42
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #46

                              (UK-centric answer) When they were introducing Decimalisation (for money) back in 1971, many elderly people were complaining and saying that they ought to wait until the old ones have died out. There is a slight flaw in that argument; and it is not that the decimalisation of GB was started in the reign of Queen Victoria (she introduced the florin (2 shillings) which was 1/10th of a pound). There was a ad campaign (again in the 1970s) to prepare us for decimalisation, but 4.0 decades (metric) / 0.4 centuries (metric) / 40 years (imperial) later, we are still waiting. The only slogan from that period that I can recall is " A litre of water's a pint and three quarters". I still think in Imperial for virtually everything except distance, where Astronomical Units, parsecs and light years are better units (except that the AU is changing over the years and the parsec is based on it). Even the speed of light is somehow easier to remember in Imperial (186282 miles per second / ~ 6 million million miles per year / 1 foot per nanosecond) than in metric (~300000 km per sec (if I've got the correct no of zeros)). I noticed that wood now tends to be sold in 1.80m lengths (metric 6 foot) and you can still buy milk in 568ml cartons (metric 1 pint). And don't get us into the 'what is a billion' debate.

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                              • H Henry Minute

                                BBC News story[^]. I'm a bit of a mixed bag on this, like so much of my life (e.g. In cricket I bowl left-handed but bat right-handed). I tend to purchase in imperial but when cooking something such as a cake I work in metric units. I suspect that younger members, at least, would be mostly, if not entirely, metric. Except, of course, for the good old Pint of Pig's.

                                Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” I wouldn't let CG touch my Abacus! When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is.

                                E Offline
                                E Offline
                                elitig
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #47

                                My 21-year-old son uses imperial for cooking; I'm not sure about what he uses for anything else. I'm happy with inches or centimeters but definitely prefer miles to kilometers. I prefer Celsius to Fahrenheit. I prefer ounces to grams, I'm happy with pounds or kilograms until it gets into the range where I can use stones. Mind you, I work in aviation, where we measure height in feet and visibility in meters...

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                                • H Henry Minute

                                  BBC News story[^]. I'm a bit of a mixed bag on this, like so much of my life (e.g. In cricket I bowl left-handed but bat right-handed). I tend to purchase in imperial but when cooking something such as a cake I work in metric units. I suspect that younger members, at least, would be mostly, if not entirely, metric. Except, of course, for the good old Pint of Pig's.

                                  Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” I wouldn't let CG touch my Abacus! When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is.

                                  R Offline
                                  R Offline
                                  Razzlewood
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #48

                                  As a Canadian whom can see the US from my front doorstep (live in Windsor Ontario, can see Detroit Downtown), I am a hybrid on the issue. Temperature is metric, I still at 28 years old I can't grasp Fahrenheit. In regards to golf, it's all yards. When I was in South Africa golfing, the markers were in meters, and between that and not being able to do the yard / meter conversion on the fly, was one of the worst rounds of my life! When cooking, it's mostly imperial (recipes from passed down from grandparents and even my parents are all imperial based), mind you my measuring set has both imperial / metric on them, so I can switch up easily when dealing with something I found online). Distance is all in KM (when I am driving across the border, I use my GPS in KM as my distance guide, and only use road signs to ensure that i am in the right place). Weight and Height wise, all imperial (I don't know my weight in KGs or height in meters!). When I am doing work around the house, it's all imperial too (never measure in metric). Talking about paper and printing sizes, all imperial too (was taken back when had to buy paper overseas, asking for an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet, and having the store clerk look at me like I just landed on the planet!)

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                                  • H Henry Minute

                                    BBC News story[^]. I'm a bit of a mixed bag on this, like so much of my life (e.g. In cricket I bowl left-handed but bat right-handed). I tend to purchase in imperial but when cooking something such as a cake I work in metric units. I suspect that younger members, at least, would be mostly, if not entirely, metric. Except, of course, for the good old Pint of Pig's.

                                    Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” I wouldn't let CG touch my Abacus! When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is.

                                    B Offline
                                    B Offline
                                    BrainiacV
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #49

                                    When a was a wee sprout (50 years ago) we were taught that the U.S. was going to go metric so we'd better learn it. All the businesses screamed it was too costly to convert (and got more expensive by the minute) and so we didn't. The six pack for lunch crowd I unfortunately went to school with, didn't see the need to convert either. It hurt their brains enough just to do simple arithmetic (like how to make change without the cash register telling you how). At best the medical profession has moved to it and the carbonated drink companies split the difference (12 oz cans, but 1 liter bottles). But metric does make my penis size impressive.

                                    Psychosis at 10 Film at 11 Those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it. Those who do not remember the past, cannot build upon it.

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                                    • L Lost User

                                      I know how much I weigh in stone, how tall I am in feet and inches, my allotment is 50 foot by 20 foot, the beds I marked out are 9 foot by 4 or 5 foot. I drive in miles per hour (obviously), I drink pints, I buy milk by the litre (or 2), and sugar by the kilo - but that is because that is how they are packaged. I think I estimate distance mentally in yards, feet and inches. I can switch between the two quite happily though, most things you by these days are metric, although many are both. When cooking I don't measure anything, I use an amount that I need, calculated visually with no thought to its quantity or units.

                                      Henry Minute wrote:

                                      I suspect that younger members,

                                      I'm 37, when the hell did that happen, guess I'm not a younger member.

                                      Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.

                                      A Offline
                                      A Offline
                                      Alexander DiMauro
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #50

                                      ChrisElston wrote:

                                      I'm 37, when the hell did that happen, guess I'm not a younger member.

                                      As Basil Fawlty said: Zoom! What was that? That was your life, Mate! That was quick, do I get another? Sorry, Mate. Back to the world of dreams... I'm 41, and I also don't know what the hell happened. Where did all those years go? To the bottom of a litre glass? Hmmm...doesn't sound right. It does sound better saying a 'pint' glass. :beer: I actually think a lot in metric, which is rare in the US, but it's mostly because I have a very international family...and engineering classes at the University also helped.

                                      The world is going to laugh at you anyway, might as well crack the 1st joke! My code has no bugs, it runs exactly as it was written.

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                                      • D Dario Solera

                                        I obviously think in metric (I'm Italian), but funnily I often find myself thinking in English (it's not my mother language).

                                        If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe, but not a personality. [Charlie Brooker] ScrewTurn Wiki, Software Localization Tools & Services and My Blog

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                                        Alberto Biasiutti
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #51

                                        Same thing here.. I think it's quite a "common" thing in developers maybe, as we tend to use English quite often in our job..

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                                        • H Henry Minute

                                          BBC News story[^]. I'm a bit of a mixed bag on this, like so much of my life (e.g. In cricket I bowl left-handed but bat right-handed). I tend to purchase in imperial but when cooking something such as a cake I work in metric units. I suspect that younger members, at least, would be mostly, if not entirely, metric. Except, of course, for the good old Pint of Pig's.

                                          Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” I wouldn't let CG touch my Abacus! When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is.

                                          A Offline
                                          A Offline
                                          Alberto Biasiutti
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #52

                                          do pepole REALLY still use old-fashioned, uncommon and limited systems such as imperial or metric? the ONLY appropriate set of units is FFF (Furlong/Firkin/Fortnight)

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