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> The imperial system was not developed to make calculations easier but
> people's lives easier.
It just evolved as a mish-mash of whatever units people found best to be
using individually for certain things. Nobody "designed" the system as a
whole to work together.
> If you have been brought up with it you will know
> how it describes the external world in a way that relates to human
> scales.
You obviously find it easier only because you were brought up with it,
for almost every other country in the world they find metric easier
because that's what they were brought up with.
Also inches aren't suited for things the width of a human or smaller,
which is exactly why you end up using crazy fractions like 3/8, 5/16 and
29/32. I bet most people you stopped in the street wouldn't be able to
add those 3 numbers together (and many probably couldn't even tell you
the smallest). Or tell you how long it would be if you needed 1000 lots
of 5/16. Try the same with 8, 9 and 23 mm it's - trivial.
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Orchid Win7 v1 <voi### [at] dev null> wrote:
> How many cubic millimeters are there in a cubic meter?
> A surprising number of adults appear to not actually know the correct
> answer to this...
Fortunately things are seldom measured in cubic meters. Liters do just
fine.
--
- Warp
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> It doesn't matter which measurement system is used: If you have grown up
> using it, it will feel "most natural" to you. To a person who has grown
> up using the metric system it feels the most natural.
Indeed, and a way to judge which one is "better" is to look at what
happens when people are forced to change and stop using the old system
completely.
In the UK in 1971 we changed from using a pound divided into 20
shillings and a shilling in 12 pence to the new "metric" system of 100
pence in a pound. Everyone was forced to make the change, you couldn't
continue with the old system. Initially people complained and got
confused, but very quickly afterwards everybody realised it was a far
superior and easier to use system. *Nobody* I have ever spoken to (who
was alive at the time) would want to go back to the old system and
everyone generally thinks it was a good decision. At the time however I
bet there were loads of people against it. People just don't like change.
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scott <sco### [at] scottcom> wrote:
> > It doesn't matter which measurement system is used: If you have grown up
> > using it, it will feel "most natural" to you. To a person who has grown
> > up using the metric system it feels the most natural.
>
> Indeed, and a way to judge which one is "better" is to look at what
> happens when people are forced to change and stop using the old system
> completely.
>
> In the UK in 1971 we changed from using a pound divided into 20
> shillings and a shilling in 12 pence to the new "metric" system of 100
> pence in a pound. Everyone was forced to make the change, you couldn't
> continue with the old system. Initially people complained and got
> confused, but very quickly afterwards everybody realised it was a far
> superior and easier to use system. *Nobody* I have ever spoken to (who
> was alive at the time) would want to go back to the old system and
> everyone generally thinks it was a good decision. At the time however I
> bet there were loads of people against it. People just don't like change.
LOL
It is really perversity (and trolling). I was hoping the Zarathustra comment
would give it away. (I was referring to my utterances not Warp.)
I went through a lot of effort and pain (literally) to learn and remember that
there were 240 pee (written d) in a pound and there were fourteen pounds in a
stone etc. The only thing that you can say for the imperial system is that it
keeps your mind active, by necessity. Well It was romantic sounding too. I mean
39 thou makes it sound as if you know what you are talking about and spending a
bawbee or a florin has a ring to it.
complain and it is easier to use.
Stephen the Elder (but not of the kirk)
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> I mean
> 39 thou makes it sound as if you know what you are talking about
Unless you say 39 mil, and then just confuse everyone :-)
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Am 19.07.2013 09:56, schrieb scott:
> Also inches aren't suited for things the width of a human or smaller,
> which is exactly why you end up using crazy fractions like 3/8, 5/16 and
> 29/32. I bet most people you stopped in the street wouldn't be able to
> add those 3 numbers together (and many probably couldn't even tell you
> the smallest). Or tell you how long it would be if you needed 1000 lots
> of 5/16. Try the same with 8, 9 and 23 mm it's - trivial.
The use of fractions, all by itself, is still on the fun side; just wait
until you have to express longer distances to high precision, as in "2
ft 3 1/4 in".
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On 18/07/2013 10:51 PM, Warp wrote:
> Orchid Win7 v1<voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>> three seventy-seconds of one inch
>
> I think that at least *some* Americans realize how ridiculous the
> imperial measurement system is. It's a petty that resistance to change
> is such a huge psychological phenomenon that it's not going to change
> any time soon.
In fairness, the "printer's point" is one of those obscure measurements
which is only used in one specific field - much like the Troy ounce, the
carat, or the furlong...
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Am 19.07.2013 20:09, schrieb Orchid Win7 v1:
> In fairness, the "printer's point" is one of those obscure measurements
> which is only used in one specific field - much like the Troy ounce, the
> carat, or the furlong...
BTW, does anyone outside the world of printed circuit board design ever
use the measurement "mil"?
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On Sat, 13 Jul 2013 09:24:17 +0100, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> Yes, it is true. After THREE MONTHS of waiting, the vendor's solicitors
> have FINALLY released the draft contract.
>
> Finally step #1 of my house purchase can actually begin...
>
> Fun fact: For three months the estate agent has been promising me that
> the contract would appear in the next day or so. Every time a difference
> excuse as to why it hasn't happened yet, but "it's fixed now". On Monday
> my mother phoned them and suggested that I might pull out of the deal.
> By Friday of the same week, the contract had appeared.
Sounds like the tactic your mother used is something to learn from. ;)
Jim
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>> Fun fact: For three months the estate agent has been promising me that
>> the contract would appear in the next day or so. Every time a difference
>> excuse as to why it hasn't happened yet, but "it's fixed now". On Monday
>> my mother phoned them and suggested that I might pull out of the deal.
>> By Friday of the same week, the contract had appeared.
>
> Sounds like the tactic your mother used is something to learn from. ;)
It's astonishingly how quickly people can make stuff happen if they
think there's money involved...
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