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#101
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What is a shilling? British driving and Imperial units of measure
On Sun, 20 Nov 2011 10:42:16 +0100, Martin wrote in post :
: Odd that you didn't show your independence by adopting the metric system :-) grin -- Tim C. |
#102
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British driving and Imperial units of measure
On 11/22/2011 05:04 AM, Dan Stephenson wrote:
On 2011-11-21 04:37:49 -0600, Tom P said: On 11/19/2011 02:19 AM, Dan Stephenson wrote: On 2011-11-14 14:16:48 -0600, Jean said: in Britain they willingly create confusion (pounds, feets, oz, driving at the left), I think driving on the left is really great. I'm right-handed, and I can use right-hand to steer but shift with my left. And as I love scenic-driving in Britain and Ireland, it is incredibly helpful to point my camera out the window with the right hand (my camera of the style that is meant to be held and 80% operated with the right hand). I just wish Norway hadn't gone over to driving on the right for my drive up the fjordlands to the Nordkapp a couple years back. Norway? Wasn't that Sweden over forty years ago? Sorry, that's right, I mis-remembered. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagen_H That is crazy. Love the photo. Interesting, too, however it was defeated in a referendum in 1955 but in 1963 the parliament gave a big Screw You to the public and made it happen anyway. some interesting history he http://users.telenet.be/worldstandar...the%20left.htm Now that is really interesting, thanks! Some more really surprising facts - traffic drives on the left in the U.S. Virgin Islands. And the United States bought St. Thomas, St. John St. Croix off Denmark in 1916. Maybe there's a precedent for the Greeks selling off a few islands? |
#103
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Traffic Control: Fly ways British driving and Imperial units of measure
On Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:46:49 -0600, Dan Stephenson
wrote: On 2011-11-21 04:42:47 -0600, Jesper Lauridsen said: On 20 Nov., 16:17, Dan Stephenson wrote: This is the interchange nearest to my house: http://g.co/maps/3kvfx How does that differ from say: http://g.co/maps/957mj ? That looks really interesting! Actually, most of the interchanges on the motorways in Britain involve huge roundabouts that have traffic lights on them. There was one particularly crazy roundabout, in Swindon, iirc, that had planetary roundabouts on the perimeters of an anti-clockwide central roundabout. But that's not on a motorway. I suspect the roundabouts you mention, are part of the off ramp system, and not interchanges. You link above looks like a roundaboutish variation on the "clover leaf" method of traffic control. The downside on it, however, is that traffic has crossing. I don't think this intersection has any crossings. It's merging only, and no weaving (unless you want to do a 180). I picked this one at random - zoomed in on London and looked for a motorway intersection. I don't know how typical it is. |
#104
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British driving and Imperial units of measure
On Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:18:14 +0100, Martin wrote:
On Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:03:36 +0000 (UTC), David Hatunen wrote: On Sun, 20 Nov 2011 10:59:44 +0100, Wolfgang Schwanke wrote: Dan Stephenson wrote in news:2011111920582317173-stephedanospam@maccom: That continental Europe needed reform 200 years ago, and the United Kingdom and the United States did not? "Need" is the wrong word. We could have kept the old measurements and we'd have survived. They just make life easier. They help you to pass physics tests too. When I was taking high school and college physics in the early 1950s they were taught in pound-second-feet. I must say, I feel an affinity for Britain and the Britons. Same, but not everything they do is right. Besides Britain has been officially metric (or really SI) for decades. Officially, the USA has been metric since the last half of the nineteenth century. and you still use Fahrenheight??? Strictly speaking, a degree of temperature, fahrenheit of centigrade/ celsius, isn't really a metric unit, save by the convention of ding adopted as one. There is no direct link between a degree of temperature, F or C, and other units in a system of weights and measures. At least not in the sense that one litre is the volume of a one kilogram mass of water (which it wasn't quite, in fact, until SI did away with the liter as a primary unit. Decades ago I used to win bar bets betting that the millilitre and the cubic centimeter were not the same. It would have made little difference to the utility of the metric system had they adopted the fahrenheit scale instead of the centigrade scale. -- Dave Hatunen, Tucson, Baja Arizona |
#105
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British driving and Imperial units of measure
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#106
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British driving and Imperial units of measure
In article 2011112122111821660-stephedanospam@maccom,
says... Anyway - for me, I like the right-sided orientation. I was SO SCARED when I first tried it. All the rental place has was Nissan Almera - a rather large car It's nothing of the sort. It's a small family car. |
#107
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British driving and Imperial units of measure
David Hatunen writes:
On Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:18:14 +0100, Martin wrote: On Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:03:36 +0000 (UTC), David Hatunen wrote: On Sun, 20 Nov 2011 10:59:44 +0100, Wolfgang Schwanke wrote: Dan Stephenson wrote in news:2011111920582317173-stephedanospam@maccom: That continental Europe needed reform 200 years ago, and the United Kingdom and the United States did not? "Need" is the wrong word. We could have kept the old measurements and we'd have survived. They just make life easier. They help you to pass physics tests too. When I was taking high school and college physics in the early 1950s they were taught in pound-second-feet. I must say, I feel an affinity for Britain and the Britons. Same, but not everything they do is right. Besides Britain has been officially metric (or really SI) for decades. Officially, the USA has been metric since the last half of the nineteenth century. and you still use Fahrenheight??? Strictly speaking, a degree of temperature, fahrenheit of centigrade/ celsius, isn't really a metric unit, save by the convention of ding adopted as one. There is no direct link between a degree of temperature, F or C, and other units in a system of weights and measures. One gram calorie is the energy needed to raise one gram of water by one degree C. (Thus 100 calories to go from freezing to boiling.) Of course one could have defined a calorie based on degrees F instead I suppose (making it 180 calories to go from freezing to bioling) but the point is that it is linked into the system, even if degrees F could have been linked in instead. in the sense that one litre is the volume of a one kilogram mass of water (which it wasn't quite, in fact, until SI did away with the liter as a primary unit. Decades ago I used to win bar bets betting that the millilitre and the cubic centimeter were not the same. It would have made little difference to the utility of the metric system had they adopted the fahrenheit scale instead of the centigrade scale. Yes, little difference. Some though. That pesky 180 instead of a 100, but I can't imagine that matters very much. Still, I find it psychologically easier to think of a calorie getting you 1/100 of the way from freezing to boiling rather than 1/180. Or one can simply use joules (about 4.1858 required to heat a gram of water by 1 degrees C and about 2.325 to heat a gram of water 1 degree F). |
#108
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British driving and Imperial units of measure
On 2011-11-22 09:52:24 -0600, Tom P said:
On 11/21/2011 03:30 PM, William Black wrote: On 21/11/11 11:06, Tom P wrote: Incidentally, plumbing fittings in Germany are sold in imperial units - half-inch. three-quarter inch etc. I suspect this may be true in many countries in Europe. Of course they are, in much the same way that almost all firearms and artillery use imperial measurements transferred to metric. 7.62mm = .30 (the almost universal rifle calibre) 9mm = .36 (Which actually started with the old 'cap and ball' Colt pistol) 37mm = inch and a half (Maxim's 'light pompom' calibre) 55mm = two inches (Maxim's 'heavy pompom' calibre) 155mm = six inches (British naval gun size) But everyone pretends they're not really imperial measurements... What's really interesting is that British medium naval guns were 4.7 inches, which is 120mm... and .303 is presumably 8mm? Well, .303 * 25.4 mm = 7.696 mm. The "8mm Mauser" is actually 7.92 mm, which is about .31 caliber. It is in the "30 cal" class. -- Dan Stephenson http://web.mac.com/stepheda Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too) |
#109
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British driving and Imperial units of measure
Fascinating and on topic, of course.
"Dan Stephenson" a écrit dans le message de groupe de discussion : 2011112222370557117-stephedanospam@maccom... On 2011-11-22 09:52:24 -0600, Tom P said: On 11/21/2011 03:30 PM, William Black wrote: On 21/11/11 11:06, Tom P wrote: Incidentally, plumbing fittings in Germany are sold in imperial units - half-inch. three-quarter inch etc. I suspect this may be true in many countries in Europe. Of course they are, in much the same way that almost all firearms and artillery use imperial measurements transferred to metric. 7.62mm = .30 (the almost universal rifle calibre) 9mm = .36 (Which actually started with the old 'cap and ball' Colt pistol) 37mm = inch and a half (Maxim's 'light pompom' calibre) 55mm = two inches (Maxim's 'heavy pompom' calibre) 155mm = six inches (British naval gun size) But everyone pretends they're not really imperial measurements... What's really interesting is that British medium naval guns were 4.7 inches, which is 120mm... and .303 is presumably 8mm? Well, .303 * 25.4 mm = 7.696 mm. The "8mm Mauser" is actually 7.92 mm, which is about .31 caliber. It is in the "30 cal" class. -- Dan Stephenson http://web.mac.com/stepheda Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too) |
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