micha Posted March 21, 2003 Share Posted March 21, 2003 Who can remember 1.27 cm? And why have I to struggle in computer work daily with dots per inch and lines per inch ??? The metric system is more than 100 years old. It's an international standard. We Europeans (besides the British) have since 2002 the problem to get accustomed with our new currency. Ok, thats a really hard task! In Germany that's still a relative easy thing. I simply have to multiply the Euro price by the factor two and *plopp* I've got my old beloved Mark price! For Italians and Frenchs this must be an extreme challenge - like wearing 6 inch stilettos (15.24 cm !!!). I'm sure that the next generation won't have any problems with such odd calculations. And they won't talk about "Pfennige" when searching for "Cents" in the wallet - as I still do BTW I have burned into my head: 1 inch = 2.54 cm - like Tom from Netherlands. @Azraelle: I'm just imagining that the Americans had to give up their beloved everlasting Dollar. Giggling to coma :drinking: micha The best fashion is your own fashion! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurieheels Posted March 21, 2003 Share Posted March 21, 2003 How high's the water, mamma! 1m and 82cm and rising! 2.54cm Worm two metricated songs that somehow lose their integrity when converted. Kudos to those who work out what 1.82m depthwise is. Six feet under See? Not too difficult. Of course, if we change to a new system, within a generation or two, we'll just adapt to the metric meterstones, so two meters will be the magic number, and people will do th exact opposite if they hear about 6.something feet from an archaic form of measurement. Perceptions can be changed, people can adapt, and in time, what we see as difficult now will become the easy standard. Even the Simpsons made fun of that, as Grandpa Simpson was heard to counter an idea for metric by saying "my car gets 40 rods to the hog's head and that's the way I likes it" . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mk4625 Posted March 21, 2003 Share Posted March 21, 2003 How high's the water, mamma! 1m and 82cm and rising! 2.54cm Worm two metricated songs that somehow lose their integrity when converted. Kudos to those who work out what 1.82m depthwise is. Well there's the song "26 Miles" in which it is also pointed out that Santa Catalina is "40 kilometers in a leaky old boat". A nice round number I'd say. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yamyam Posted March 21, 2003 Share Posted March 21, 2003 Ah, but if you want total confusion, just come to the UK. If you buy a short and a beer in a pub, you get 25ml of whiskey, but 1 pint of beer. But if you buy them in a supermarket, you buy them both in milli-litres. Eh?!? If you want to buy honey or jam, they often come in 454gram jars, because that's one old pound. We refuel our cars in litres, but then drive them in miles. We can buy 'quarter pounders', with the uncooked weight in grams (112g?) Best of all, my car has 225(mm) x 65 tyres on 15 inch rims, so that's one object with both units on it! Most of what learned at school I do in metric, but the stuff that my Dad taught me takes place in inches. So I lay out printed pages in inches, but when I have to fix the car I use mm. And when a chap came over to quote for some shelves, he measured them as 2m x 4in x 1in. Eek! But as for why computers generally measure in Imperial units, I think that comes from America. Obsessed is such a strong word. I prefer to think of myself as "differently enthusiastic" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted March 21, 2003 Share Posted March 21, 2003 there is a page about this metrical stuff and other at this address : The (almost) complete US & UK confusions Boots, fascinating footwear http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i103/Boots_1956/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom-NL Posted March 21, 2003 Share Posted March 21, 2003 Ah Micha, the IUPAP can be proud of us (although I am a bit disappointed that you made a mistake with Planck's Constant of many orders of magnitude ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo Posted March 21, 2003 Share Posted March 21, 2003 The US Metric Association is doing good work and has an informative web site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loveheel Posted March 22, 2003 Share Posted March 22, 2003 Ah Micha, the IUPAP can be proud of us (although I am a bit disappointed that you made a mistake with Planck's Constant of many orders of magnitude ) Yes,with Micha's Planck's constant the world would look very different. Actually very fuzzy if you think of that Planck's constant in the uncertainty principle. Nerds we are. Let's talk shoes again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azraelle Posted March 22, 2003 Share Posted March 22, 2003 Micha wrote: @Azraelle: I'm just imagining that the Americans had to give up their beloved everlasting Dollar. Giggling to coma As little as I see of the "everlasting dollar", 'twouldn't bother me in the least!! Perhaps trade it in for the Mexican Peso, or better yet, the former Italian Lira!! "All that you can decide, is what to do with the time that is given you."--Gandalf, "Life is not tried, it is merely survived -If you're standing outside the fire."--Garth Brooks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micha Posted March 22, 2003 Share Posted March 22, 2003 Ah Micha, the IUPAP can be proud of us (although I am a bit disappointed that you made a mistake with Planck's Constant of many orders of magnitude ) Oops, I have forgotten the factor 10^-34! But Loveheels speculations are very interesting: With my value of the Planck constant we could see the consequences of quantum physics during a billiard game. But seeing the billiard balls might be a little problem: Assuming that billiard balls could still exist under such conditions a single photon would smash up the whole billiard saloon Because of E=h*f (f=light frequency)! I believe that a universe with this value for h is impossible without rescaling simultaneously the other fundamental physical constants. For example heel heights ! micha (owning a diploma in theoretical physics ) The best fashion is your own fashion! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micha Posted March 22, 2003 Share Posted March 22, 2003 As little as I see of the "everlasting dollar", 'twouldn't bother me in the least!! Perhaps trade it in for the Mexican Peso, or better yet, the former Italian Lira!! And why do you refuse refuelling in litres and driving 161 kilometers to Houston with your car held together with 1.5 cm screws ? micha The best fashion is your own fashion! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azraelle Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 When I was a kid chewing gum came in packages of 5 sticks for a Nickel (5 cents); eventually the price rose to a Quarter (25 cents). Then marketing became big business and they ditched the 5-pack and came out with the 10-pack for 50 cents. About 2-3 years later they knocked it down to an 8-pack, and left the price at 50 cents. Same thing with cookies, candy, etc.--same package size, 1.5 ounces less. With fuel prices at $2.30/gallon for premium gas in Las Vegas, Nevada (second-highest gasoline taxed state in the US), I have no doubt that some marketing genius working for Big Oil will soon come up with a plan to market it by the Liter (we spell it a little differently here), and then use that little ploy to gouge the American Consumer even more by upping the pump price to $1.15/Liter, instead of the ~$1.05 that it should be, since the American Consumers, being dumber than chickens, can't divide by decimals without a calculator anyway, and therefore won't know the difference (American newspapers are written at the Third Grade level, except the New York Times, which is written somewhere around the Seventh Grade level). Therefore, everything now marketed by the gallon will now be marketed by what will be promoted as the same as a half gallon, e.g. a Liter. That's why I don't want to switch more than anything else--I positively detest giving any more of my hard-earned cash to Corporate America than I absolutely have to!! :x "All that you can decide, is what to do with the time that is given you."--Gandalf, "Life is not tried, it is merely survived -If you're standing outside the fire."--Garth Brooks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurieheels Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 News Papers are written at a third grade level? And yet there are mistakes in there that I would have picked up on when I was in the third grade, certainly. Have the standards of third grade reading declined since my vague memories of childhood were so poorly imprinted on my brain? Honestly, I am not sure what is considered editing in newspapers and magazines, but I generally find a few things that are just wrong when I bother to look at any such thing. Of course, a Simpsons comic, being very simplified in dialogue, has yet to show me a spelling mistake. Go figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azraelle Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 The only comics I read anymore are Dilbert and Garfield. But if they were to syndicate a comicstrip for Daria from Nickelodian, I'd probably read that too. "All that you can decide, is what to do with the time that is given you."--Gandalf, "Life is not tried, it is merely survived -If you're standing outside the fire."--Garth Brooks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffM Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 The type of thing in newspapers that really grates on my nerves is things like " I came to England" instead of "I went to England." It is alright to say it when I am in England but not when I am some where else. And also The decimal system for currency has been in use in the USA for a long time but still they use eigths of a cent at the stock exchange. Can any one explain that? Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micha Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 Hi Azraelle, I have absolutely no problems with your spelling of "Liters" - that's exactly german orthography! May be, I'm a little bit influenced by my education: in school I have learned sheer royal british English! By the way: In my hometown Frankfurt I meet much more Americans in daily life than English people. The Rhein-Main-Air-Base in the direct neighbourhood of Frankfurt-Airport and the Ramstein-Air-Base are the most important points of support of the US forces in Europe. And concerning the discussions about german support in the Iraq war, they play a very important role in military supply of the invasion to Iraq. We tolerate it with tummy-ache. I hate wars. To my opinion wars can only be an ultimate resolution. This war is illegal in the aspect of international right. That's the main reason why Germany does not support America. We have learned our lesson... micha The best fashion is your own fashion! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubba136 Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 I used to fly into Frankfurt quite frequently when I was in the USAF. On one trip, I was asked to purchase Bratwurst, beer, mustard and several other German delicacies for a squadron party back at our home base. I went into the city accompanied by our German driver and my Load Master while my co-pilot completed departure arrangements. It was after 12 noon on a Saturday and all of the butcher shops were closed. So, we went to a park that was close to the railroad station (as well as I can remember), found a wurst stand and I purchased all the sausages the guy had on hand (about 150 sausages). When we got back to the aircraft, I put them into a freezer box with dry ice to keep them fresh until we got home. The sausages, along with the German beer, brown bread and that great spicy German mustard, were a big hit at the party. Being mentally comfortable in your own mind is the key to wearing heels in public. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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