Metric Measures

[DHutch]

OK what is an eight of a Km....

128m, clearly? No idea how many feet to a mile without looking it up, let alone and 8th of that.

 

Most of us know what a six foot person looks like even my grandkids understand what 6 feet is it is a sensible measurement. Ive just looked at a tape measure and I think ? it equates to 1,829mm !!!

Yeah, 6ft, just under 2m. Simples.

 

Rather more oddly, they don't use the interchangeably, but use on system for one purpose and another for another, e.g their own weight in pounds but a kilogramme of sugar, a pint of water but a half litre of coke

Im certainly this way.

- Basically everything i measure i measure using the metric system, and clearly all of work is done in metric.

- If im thinking weight i think in kilos and metric tons only , fluid in liters always, and a 2mm door is a good benchmark.

- However due to being bought up in mixed measures i know my height in ft in inches, and use mpg for fuel economy.

 

That said i do often also estimate mid-sized distances in feet (probably based as much as anything on a firm knowlage of what 70ft looks like, and a metric 12ft post and rail fence) but often mpg is worked out with 'metric gallons' . Its a bit of a mess really. I wish there was less requirment to use the imperial system. Certainly working on the boats engine (a mix of whitworth and metric, with a smattering of a/f) is enough to make anyones brain hurt and a total shame given it was built in 1991 for christsake!

 

 

 

Daniel

[davem399]

I remember when we started to get petrol in litres rather than gallons and some of the folk at work said they didn't understand litres. So I asked one guy what was the size of his car engine, to which he replied 2 litres. So I cheekily replied that he obviously was OK with litres, otherwise he would have given me the answer in cubic inches!

[tony collins]

The biggest mistake we made as a nation, IMHO, was not going fully metric in 1971. Had we done so, everyone would now be completely happy, and even the backward colonials across the Atlantic pond might have changed.

 

I remember the dictat in the mid 1960's that everything henceforth should be expressed in metric. The result was engineering drawings which had been produced before the changeover being re-dimensioned with metric references to four decimal places which no-one understood.

 

In fact as a 1950's apprentice I am happy with either imperial or metric dimensions provided they are logically applied. For those dogmatists who think that one simgle system should be used, I am afraid you have a long time to wait. For example look at tyre sizes, a mixture of imperial and metric. Why is this? It is because some common sense was used, as the world wide sizes for wheel rims was always in imperial units. It would have been impossibly complicated and prohibitively expensive to scrap all moulds to be replaced the "old" moulds to be replaced by new metric ones.

 

To apply detail dimensions of a 200 year old canal system in metric is clearly not sensible. However, if asking directions, I am happy for you to quote distances to me in either unit.

Edited January 14, 2011 by tony collins

[mrsmelly]

128m, clearly? No idea how many feet to a mile without looking it up, let alone and 8th of that.

 

 

Yeah, 6ft, just under 2m. Simples.

 

 

Im certainly this way.

- Basically everything i measure i measure using the metric system, and clearly all of work is done in metric.

- If im thinking weight i think in kilos and metric tons only , fluid in liters always, and a 2mm door is a good benchmark.

- However due to being bought up in mixed measures i know my height in ft in inches, and use mpg for fuel economy.

 

That said i do often also estimate mid-sized distances in feet (probably based as much as anything on a firm knowlage of what 70ft looks like, and a metric 12ft post and rail fence) but often mpg is worked out with 'metric gallons' . Its a bit of a mess really. I wish there was less requirment to use the imperial system. Certainly working on the boats engine (a mix of whitworth and metric, with a smattering of a/f) is enough to make anyones brain hurt and a total shame given it was built in 1991 for christsake!

 

 

 

Daniel

 

Hi Dan

 

Its us grown ups on here that can argue about real measurements re metric, as for you kiddies we would expect you to only know foreign rubbish thats what you have been taught its not your fault..

[Amicus]

I think we have the best of both worlds, the option of using either, like

 

1 fathom is hundredth of a cable which is a tenth(ish) of a nautical mile which is a minute a Latitude which is a 60th of a degree of Latitude which is a 90th of the distance from the Pole to the equator (ish) (on average) (sort of).

 

One meter was 1/10,000,000th of the distance between the pole and the equator (ish) (on average) (sort of).

 

Then we have chains, perches, furlongs, cubits, angstroms, astronomical units...

 

all good fun

[RLWP]

<snip>

ETA: The speed of light is roughly 1.8^12 furlongs per fortnight.

 

IIRC furlongs per fortnight is actually a reasonably useful measure. For instance 60MPH is er, where's my calculator

 

Richard

[Gibbo]

IIRC furlongs per fortnight is actually a reasonably useful measure. For instance 60MPH is er, where's my calculator

 

Richard

 

161,280 furlongs per fortnight

 

Yeah that's handy!

 

PS And a short pound is still 355 grams.

Edited January 14, 2011 by Gibbo

[Amicus]

One foot = 2.1772 Linguine = 0.0331 Double-decker bus.

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/page/reg-standards-converter.html

[Barry]

IIRC furlongs per fortnight is actually a reasonably useful measure. For instance 60MPH is er, where's my calculator

 

Richard

 

It is useful actually

 

I used to measure my Hyundai Accent's acceleration in furlongs/fortnight²

[Derek R.]

See what I mean -- how about 2/3 mile(ish)

 

Tony

 

Try 5/8ths, not spot on but much closer.

 

Someone said a litre weighs a kilo. Depends on the specific gravity of the fluid measured. Example: water is heavier than petrol, so less volume per lb.

 

The U.S. gallon is the Elizabethan gallon which the founding Father's took with them and was the measure using wine. (Bet it didn't last long).

Meanwhile, we changed to using Beer (doesn't last either), which is less dense (is that right?) and so has more volume per gallon, hence the difference between US gal. & GB gal.

 

We should never have changed from measuring fuel in gallons to litres, so much easier to visualise a 45gal drum or a 3,000gal tanker, and we measure fuel consumption in miles per gallon, and people would realise how expensive (OH YES IT IS!) fuel is if it was advertised as £5.77 a gallon instead of £1.27ppl. And therein lay the reason for pricing in litres - few work out the cost per gallon, and a couple of pence increase per litre doesn't sound so much. That couple of pence is just over 9p per gallon, or almost 1/10d in old money! First gallon of petrol I ever bought was 4/10d. (24p ish), and I was careful with it earning less than a £4 a week. (Six day week too!)

 

The French method of saying how many litres used per 100kms just does my head in! Same for them when I say: "55mpg".

Edited January 14, 2011 by Derek R.

[RLWP]

161,280 furlongs per fortnight

 

Yeah that's handy!

 

<snip>

 

Yes, well, my point was it isn't 0.0000356774 or 76.456334 million

 

Perhaps I won't recalibrate my speedo after all

 

Richard

[Alan Saunders]

The decimal system was invented by a thick European who could only count on his fingers. Surprisingly, the Americans did not appreciate that this would be to their advantage. Base eight allows counting on fingers with thumbs for long multiplication carries (us Brits could also use thumbs for exponentials). There are 10 classes of arithmeticians; those who understand binary and those who do not. Much of the Imperial System complied with binary standards. Insistence on the decimal system set back development of the digital calculator and computer due to the massive overhead in converting input from decimal to binary and back to decimal for output.

 

The Americans ignore 'Imperial Standards' and decry ISO as a minority 'Common Use' - "Man did not get to the moon in meters and centimeters". I admit their 16oz = 1 pint is superior to our 20oz. ICAO aviation standards still require heights in feet, altitudes in barometric feet, distances in Nautical Miles and speed in Knots. The Gimli Glider would not have had a problem if they had calculated in tonnes (<2% short of their safe fuel load).

 

adoption of the Octal system and conversion of all units to base eight would inconvenience all nations and disciplines equally and make arithmetic simple for future generations. Conveniently, this would eliminate, at a stroke, the awkward metric units and could preserve many sensible, traditional measures.

 

Lets hear it for the Octal system! Understand, we must also count in Octal. As a bonus the characters '8' and '9' would be freed up for other uses.

 

Alan

[romarni123]

I feel much lighter when I weigh myself in Kilos

[Tam & Di]

I feel much lighter when I weigh myself in Kilos

 

 

I have a predilection for personal measurements. Back in the 70s there was a report in a Coventry paper of a traffic accident involving a bus and private car. The bus driver was quoted as saying in evidence that the car pulled out of a sideroad just half a boatlength in front of his bus - no prize for guessing his background! In fact I still talk in boat lengths myself from time to time (72" ones that is, of course, though I have used the Freycinet péniche 40m too now when in France). I also recall Johnny Dankworth being done for speeding. He claimed he could not have been exceeding the limit as he had perfect pitch and his car engine sounded a perfect A at 70 m.p.h. Unfortunately the judge was not equally musical, and Dankworth was fined.

Edited January 14, 2011 by Tam & Di

[Radiomariner]

I need to know both systems to calculate that the price of a loaf of bread has increased by 2571% since I was a lad!

 

 

[carlt]

I need to know both systems to calculate that the price of a loaf of bread has increased by 2571% since I was a lad!

[fudd]

As a Maths teacher in my former life I can tell you that the change from imperial to metric is what has ruined the ability of young people in this country to do Maths.

 

I did not learn imperial measures at school - I learned them from my parents and they learned them from their parents and so on. When the country tried to go metric, the parents stopped helping the children and we find now that many young people cannot use either system. If I was to ask “How many centimetres are there in a metre” the answer would be either 1000 or 100 or 10, but they did not know which!

 

In my day virtually every number had a different use.

2 was pints in a quart

3 was feet in a yard

4 was half crowns in a ten bob note

Etc etc

 

If decimalisation was so important why didn’t they do the same with hours and minutes and days and weeks.

1000 minutes would be a kilo-minute (or hour) and 1000 days would be a week so a day would be a milli-week.

If you think that this is potty, ask yourself why. Why is it potty to do this with time but it is not potty to do the same for lengths?

I think its all to do with the earths revolutions. You cant divide a day into an metric number that works as you suggest. I think.

Edited January 15, 2011 by fudd

[Doorman]

In another thread, the draft of boats is described as 76cm & 82cm.

 

Have we finally lost out to metric or should we stick with good old feet & inches?

 

Tony

 

It was I, who posted on the other thread that you refer to.

 

There was a debate when I first joined CWDF about the ramifications/benefits of using the metric system and I was astonished that even after 37 years of agreeing with Europe to unify our system of measurement, the English, or some of us, still insist upon sticking with the 'that's how we've always done it' syndrome.

 

Like night always falls after day, it will eventually become our only accepted mode of measurement, resist it now and prolong the agony..!

 

Mike

Edited January 15, 2011 by Doorman

[Midnight Rider]

It was I, who posted on the other thread that you refer to.

 

There was a debate when I first joined CWDF about the ramifications/benefits of using the metric system and I was astonished that even after 37 years of agreeing with Europe to unify our system of measurement, the English, or some of us, still insist upon sticking with the 'that's how we've always done it' syndrome.

 

Like night always falls after day, it will eventually become our only accepted mode of measurement, resist it now and prolong the agony..!

 

Mike

You may very well be right Mike, but it's the first time that I have seen the draft of a boat quoted in cms & I have yet to have anyone tell me their weight & height in metric, so I think that us old duffers may be allright for a bit.

 

Tony

[Québec]

You may very well be right Mike, but it's the first time that I have seen the draft of a boat quoted in cms & I have yet to have anyone tell me their weight & height in metric, so I think that us old duffers may be allright for a bit.

 

Tony

 

Have you asked anyone under a 'certain age'? My kids (18 & 20) would answer both in metric. I'm 60 and, when it comes to weight, so do I now, as whenever I'm weighed (quite frequently, for medical reasons) it's always in metric so I know precisely what I am metrically, and that approximates to a just over a certain number of stone (a few too many!)

Edited January 15, 2011 by Québec

[Derek R.]

It was I, who posted on the other thread that you refer to.

 

There was a debate when I first joined CWDF about the ramifications/benefits of using the metric system and I was astonished that even after 37 years of agreeing with Europe to unify our system of measurement, the English, or some of us, still insist upon sticking with the 'that's how we've always done it' syndrome.

 

Like night always falls after day, it will eventually become our only accepted mode of measurement, resist it now and prolong the agony..!

 

Mike

 

What a politically correct chap you are! "After 37yrs of agreeing . ." Who agreed? The vote to enter the Common Market was rigged, just as almost every other voting pantomime is rigged. But that's delving into politics for which I will likely get my knuckles rapped by the young PC brigade - Pah!

 

Let's not do things how we've always done it - find a new way of eating with a spoon then! Fingers maybe. Why try and fix something that is not broke?

 

14 stone is what I weigh, sounds a lot less than seventy odd kilos.

[Josher]

I use both systems and find conversion is much easier with mobile internet capability and web sites such as Onlineconversion.com

[Doorman]

What a politically correct chap you are! "After 37yrs of agreeing . ." Who agreed? The vote to enter the Common Market was rigged, just as almost every other voting pantomime is rigged. But that's delving into politics for which I will likely get my knuckles rapped by the young PC brigade - Pah!

 

Let's not do things how we've always done it - find a new way of eating with a spoon then! Fingers maybe. Why try and fix something that is not broke?

 

14 stone is what I weigh, sounds a lot less than seventy odd kilos.

 

Anyone who's ever read my posts, will definitely disagree with your view that I'm politically correct.

 

I totally agree with your view about our democratic 'rigged' system of national decision making, but unfortunately, I'm 63/64ths certain that 'that's how we've always done it' and as you say, it is another subject.

 

Without wishing to re-ignite the fire on this 'done to death' topic, whether you like the metric system or not, it is definitely here to stay. Even the United States of Insanity are slowly accepting that metrication, is becoming the industry standard.

 

Next time you fill your boat with diesel, try asking for it in gallons.

 

Mike

 

You may very well be right Mike, but it's the first time that I have seen the draft of a boat quoted in cms & I have yet to have anyone tell me their weight & height in metric, so I think that us old duffers may be allright for a bit.

 

Tony

 

We too, are in that eminent group of the wrinkled sector of society

 

Mike

 

Total bunkum

Most of us know what a six foot person looks like even my grandkids understand what 6 feet is it is a sensible measurement. Ive just looked at a tape measure and I think ? it equates to 1,829mm !!! and when I look online at furniture sizes as one example they are stated in stupid amounts of many mms . Give me proper measurements anyday, you will have us getting the euro next or joining Europe and that would just never do !!

 

Even Steve Hudson is slowly changing to metric measurements. So, if Steve can do it, so can the most ardent fans of spans, yards, furlongs etc., manage the transition..!

 

Mike

[Timleech]

You may very well be right Mike, but it's the first time that I have seen the draft of a boat quoted in cms & I have yet to have anyone tell me their weight & height in metric, so I think that us old duffers may be allright for a bit.

 

Tony

 

 

Centimetres are for schoolkids and dressmakers (and weather forecasters lately, it seems). Real men use mm and metres, though draught marks on 'real' boats are generally in dm, the only use for them that I know (because they're the right sort of size )

 

Tim

[Sunset Rising]

But surely the main question is.

 

Is that a pumpout metric or a cassette metric ?