"ingo" <ing### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote in message
news:Xns### [at] povrayorg...
> in news:3f4b9573@news.povray.org Warp wrote:
>
> >   Can you tell with a straight face "a mile is 63360 inches, 5280 feet
> > and 1760 yards, and this system is not stupid"?
>
> t's a matter of perception. Why would you need to do these conversions? If
> you want to give a certain length or distance it depends on the size what
> kind of unit you choose to express this size in. A baseball field is 120
> yards deep, a distance to travel is expressed in miles, small dimensions
> are in mills or inches, the hight of a plane in feet. Where to put the
> moment that you change from one to another unit is a matter of instict or
> lessons learned, but not completely arbitraily. In this regard the system
> is not different to our metric system. Just that the points of change are
> a bit sharper, it's 90 cm and 1.20 meter. But we also have halve a
> kilometer and 900 meters. A moutain we measure in meters, not kilometers.
>
> Ingo
>  ... who only orders his beer in a non metric way ... per pint.

Hmmmm. When I was a kid I thought clocks ought to only go to ten, not
twelve, and time work in a metric sort of way. I also believed the metric
system must be far superior a system of units due to the inherent
simplicity, being based on tens too, you know.
So in this respect I might differ from Ken's viewpoint. However, maybe by
being American or something, I can't let go of the rather stupid 12 inches
in a foot, 3 feet in a yard, 52830 feet in a mile, etc. I never liked
fractions of inches either... but I just can't ignore the aggravation of
converting to millimeters and centimeters simply because we *must* do the
converting here in the USA. Like we can't break away from the so-called
standard units. Only thing I know of that seems so completely metric is the
larger beverage containers (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, etc.) sold in liters not
quarts or gallons. Now there's got to be something stupid there!
 :-D
P.S. it's things like this web page's answer to why a mile is a mile that
makes me wonder even more about this stuff.
http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/mile.asp

Bob H.

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On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 15:23:42 -0500, "Hughes, B." <omn### [at] charternet> wrote:

>P.S. it's things like this web page's answer to why a mile is a mile that
>makes me wonder even more about this stuff.
>http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/mile.asp
>
>Bob H.

Try this one for size
http://www.baronage.co.uk/bphtm-02/moa-10.html

Regards
        Stephen

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You might also be interested in trying Googles flexible conversion thingy...
try Googling ... "10 km / 3 furlongs" for example.

Alan Smith


"S McAvoy" <mca### [at] aolcom> wrote in message
news:7fknkv4hpqka5t2p16b6qlvff61glcfrm4@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 15:23:42 -0500, "Hughes, B." <omn### [at] charternet>
wrote:
>
> >P.S. it's things like this web page's answer to why a mile is a mile that
> >makes me wonder even more about this stuff.
> >http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/mile.asp
> >
> >Bob H.
>
> Try this one for size
> http://www.baronage.co.uk/bphtm-02/moa-10.html
>
> Regards
>         Stephen

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Warp wrote:
> 
> Ken <tyl### [at] pacbellnet> wrote:
> > I'm all for it as long as it is in inches, feet and yards rather than that
> > stupid metric system.
> 
>   I don't understand why the American system would be better and more
> logical.

:)

(~: I really should add more smileys to my posts. I am absolutely against :~)
(~: assigning specific units in POV-Ray. If you want to argue the merits of :~)
(~: one measurement system over another I would be more than happy to continue :~)
(~: this in the off-topic group and even then don't expect me to take it too :~)
(~: seriously. As an Engineer I use both systems interchangably without even :~)
(~: thinking about. In this regard I am really not all that biased except :~)
(~: when it I need some amusement and think it's time to yank your chain :~)

:)

F'ups set :)

:)

-- 
Ken Tyler :)

:)

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"Alan Smith" <ala### [at] aurora-ukcom> wrote in message
news:3f4bf48c@news.povray.org...
> You might also be interested in trying Googles flexible conversion
thingy...
> try Googling ... "10 km / 3 furlongs" for example.

I don't know. All of it makes me want to create my own personal units of
measure and say the heck with it. Oops, I might have already done so after
seeing what I said just before, I mistakenly typed a 3 into feet in a mile;
52830 instead of the correct 5280. BTW, I noticed one web page says that
number is 5278.87 even though every other place I look says otherwise.
http://www.cocori.com/prime/misc/convert.htm

Bob H.

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In article <3f4c71d4@news.povray.org>,
 "Hughes, B." <omn### [at] charternet> wrote:

[...]

> 52830 instead of the correct 5280. BTW, I noticed one web page says that
> number is 5278.87 even though every other place I look says otherwise.

There are also two definitions of the printer's "point size". 72 pt to 
the inch, and 72.27 pt to the inch.

-- 
Kaveh

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ingo <ing### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
> Why would you need to do these conversions?

  I don't want to sound insulting, but is this some kind of
Microsoft ideology?

-- 
plane{-x+y,-1pigment{bozo color_map{[0rgb x][1rgb x+y]}turbulence 1}}
sphere{0,2pigment{rgbt 1}interior{media{emission 1density{spherical
density_map{[0rgb 0][.5rgb<1,.5>][1rgb 1]}turbulence.9}}}scale
<1,1,3>hollow}text{ttf"timrom""Warp".1,0translate<-1,-.1,2>}//  - Warp -

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in news:3f4ca99c@news.povray.org Warp wrote:

>   I don't want to sound insulting, but is this some kind of
> Microsoft ideology?
> 

What? They have an ideology?

Ingo

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There is only one True Measurement System, the Furlong/Firkin/Fortnight
system.
However, for comfort and ease of calculus, distances are also expressible in
attoparsecs.

--alex

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In article <web.3f4cc5bb71ab137b15e7f0160@news.povray.org>,
 "Alex" <ale### [at] alphacit> wrote:

> However, for comfort and ease of calculus, distances are also expressible in
> attoparsecs.

A little over 3 cm...
A light-nanosecond is also actually a useful sized unit...a hair less 
than 30 cm.

-- 
Christopher James Huff <cja### [at] earthlinknet>
http://home.earthlink.net/~cjameshuff/
POV-Ray TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
http://tag.povray.org/

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