cruxlover
Tribune
Not much help when you want to measure up to fit a door or whatever.
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Milestones
- Thread starter admihoek
- Start date
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
In basic school, our teachers have told us tens of times how lucky kids we were, for not to grow up in the UK :
a) because they did not use our simple metric system, but ancient measures that needed complicated calculations,
andb) because across The Channel, they still had corporal punishment at schools!
bellesouth
Magistrate
Perhaps you consider this also -
Give 'em 2.5 cm, and they'll take 1.6 km.
and
If God had wanted us to use the metric system, Jesus would have had 10 apostles.
But then I'm only a poor, simple woman more used to being whipped and having to count the lashes. It doesn't really matter if I count using the base 2, 10 or 12. The actual number is the same and it hurts just as much.
Give 'em 2.5 cm, and they'll take 1.6 km.
and
If God had wanted us to use the metric system, Jesus would have had 10 apostles.
But then I'm only a poor, simple woman more used to being whipped and having to count the lashes. It doesn't really matter if I count using the base 2, 10 or 12. The actual number is the same and it hurts just as much.
cruxlover
Tribune
Do the French say - "Donnez-leur un centimètre et ils prendront un kilomètre"
"Give them a centimetre and they will take a kilometre"?
windar
Teller of Tales
Quite simple really:
3 Poppyseeds = 1 Digit, 3 digits =1 Nail, 20 Nails = 1 Ell (from fingertip of outstretched arm to opposite shoulder)
4 Poppyseeds = 1 Barleycorn
3 Barleycorns = 1 Inch
3 Inches = 1 Palm,
3 palms = 1 Span (width of the outstretched hand, from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger)
4 Inches = 1 Hand
6 Inches = 1 Shaftment (width of the hand and outstretched thumb - 6 1⁄2 Inches before 1066,
but the eurocratic Normans shortened everyone's thumbs to make them metric,15 cm)
2 Shaftments = 1 Foot
1 1⁄2 Feet (18 Inches) = 1 Cubit (from fingertips to elbow)
3 Feet = 1Yard
2 Yards = 1 Fathom (distance fingertip to fingertip with arms outstretched)
16 1⁄2 Feet = 1 Rod, Pole or Perch
4 Rods or 100 Links (for holding captured linkies) =1 Chain
10 Chains = 1 Furlong
8 Furlongs (1760 Yards) = 1 Mile
3 Miles = 1 League
l'bogo
Venetian Mask
....... Libera nos a malo... Amen
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
a) because they did not use our simple metric system, but ancient measures that needed complicated calculations,
b) because across The Channel, they still had corporal punishment at schools!
The corporal punishment was clearly the least of the concerns!
Yes, it made a break!
The corporal punishment was clearly the least of the concerns!
Naraku
Draconarius
Here in the US, there has been an effort in some quarters to go metric since the 1970s. The results have been mixed.
We can buy cola in a 2 liter bottle or a six pack of 12 ounce cans.
We run 10k races on streets with speed limit signs in miles per hour.
You can buy a gun that's 9mm or you can get a .38 caliber.
Your doctor may prescribe 10 mg of medication if you have a temperature over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you're really sick, they'll put you in the hospital and give you medicine by the cc and blood by the pint.
Your car engine may be 1.5 liters or 250 cu in...or both. But you still buy gas by the gallon.
Americans think the metric system is too difficult but they still have to ask Alexa how many tablespoons in a cup and how many cups in a quart.
We can buy cola in a 2 liter bottle or a six pack of 12 ounce cans.
We run 10k races on streets with speed limit signs in miles per hour.
You can buy a gun that's 9mm or you can get a .38 caliber.
Your doctor may prescribe 10 mg of medication if you have a temperature over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you're really sick, they'll put you in the hospital and give you medicine by the cc and blood by the pint.
Your car engine may be 1.5 liters or 250 cu in...or both. But you still buy gas by the gallon.
Americans think the metric system is too difficult but they still have to ask Alexa how many tablespoons in a cup and how many cups in a quart.
Frank Petrexa
Tribune
I think it's 2.54 cm to the inch, and that is certainly also a truncated decimal expansion.
There were actually apparently 13 original apostles (because the names in Luke and Matthew differ), then Judas dropped off and the others picked a replacement, but Paul inserted himself into the mix. 13 is a prime number, so that makes more sense, right? God wants to be as mysterious and user-unfriendly as possible. It helps distinguish "the brand".
Frank Petrexa
Tribune
What about fathoms? You don't want Neptune (Poseidon) coming after you. Look what he tried to do to the Trojans.
Frank Petrexa
Tribune
It sounds like there's a lot of discontent with measurement units overall. If the politicians get wind of it, they'll play it for all that it's worth.
Gibbs505
SERVORUM DOMITOR
And knots as a measure of speed!
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
Or doing the conversion from litres to kilograms (x0.8) using the conversion factor from litres to pounds (x1.77) on refueling an airplane, and then running out of fuel on cruising altitude (Air Canada Flight 143; 23th of July 1983).
(detail : the plane had taken off despite all fuel indicators in the cockpit being out of order).
Marcius
Tribune
The amazing Gimli Glider is a great story which reads as if taken from a 70s disaster film.
Two minutes later, just as preparations were being completed, the EICAS issued a sharp bong--indicating the complete and total loss of both engines. Says Quintal "It's a sound that Bob and I had never heard before. It's not in the simulator." After the "bong," things got quiet.
...
To say that runway 32L was being used for auto racing is perhaps an understatement. Gimli's inactive runway had been "carved up" into a variety of racing courses, including the aforementioned dragstrip. Drag races were perhaps the only auto racing event not taking place on July 23rd, 1983 since this was "Family Day" for the Winnipeg Sports Car Club. Go-cart races were being held on one portion of runway 32L and just past the dragstrip another portion of the runway served as the final straightaway for a road course. Around the edges of the straightaway were cars, campers, kids, and families in abundance. To land an airplane in the midst of all of this activity was certain disaster.
...
Approaching runway 32L he realized he was too high and too fast, and slowed to 180 knots. Lacking divebrakes, he did what any sailplane pilot would do: He crossed the controls and threw the 767 into a vicious sideslip. Slips are normally avoided on commercial flights because of the the tremendous buffeting it creates, unnerving passengers. As he put the plane into a slip some of Flight 143's passengers ended up looking at nothing but blue sky, the others straight down at a golf course. Says Quintal, "It was an odd feeling. The left wing was down, so I was up compared to Bob. I sort of looked down at him, not sideways anymore."
...
An amusing side-note to the Gimli story is that after Flight 143 had landed safely, a group of Air Canada mechanics were dispatched to drive down and begin effecting repair. They piled into a van with all their tools. They reportedly ran out of fuel en-route, finding themselves stranded somewhere in the backwoods of Manitoba.
windar
Teller of Tales
How many tweets does it take to make a twit?
bellesouth
Magistrate
And don't forget a good, old fashioned scruple. Many of today's politicians deal in scruples though I doubt sometimes if their opinions are actually worth 20 grains of common sense.
cruxlover
Tribune
Most politicians don't seem to worry much about scruples.And don't forget a good, old fashioned scruple. Many of today's politicians deal in scruples though I doubt sometimes if their opinions are actually worth 20 grains of common sense.
Certainly the likes of D.T , B.J. and D.O. do not.
Another point 1.77 lb = 1.0 kg
1 litre weighs 1.0 kg is right for water, petroleum fuels generally about 0.8 kg per litre.
So 11000 l weighing Ca20000lb is for water not jet fuel.
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