"How the EU works: In Germany, they make the rules, in Britain, theyobey the rules, in France, they bend the rules, in Spain, they break therules, and in Italy they have no rules at all."

On 2011-11-20 07:26:06 -0600, Paul Aubrin said:

On Sun, 20 Nov 2011 10:24:43 +0100, Martin wrote:

100 centimeter are 1 meter, so 3487 centimeters are 34.87 meters.
You needed four lines to explain the conversion, I just one.

But you cannot measure .87 meters with a meter gauge. Anything can be
decimalized, but the beauty of the imperial-type measurements, is that
they have natural subdivisions.

Natural in what way?

In what way are inch, foot, yard pole/perch chain furlong mile ounce,
pound, hundred weight, ton
natural?

I suppose he refers to 12 having 2,3,4,6 as divisors when 10 only has 2
and 5. So it was easier to do some repartition between a small party of
people with units that divide into 12 parts, except for groups of
5,7,9,10,11 persons. But you had to learn how to manipulate fractions
written in the form 3+3/4 or 2+1/6, a skill which is not required with
metrics units where you just have to take care of the position of the
decimal point.


Yes, that too. I acknowledge this is less critical nowadays with
calculating machines available, but in general the simple maths need to
happen all the time in one's head and something that makes that more
simple can be helpful.

That, and 'natural' in that the measures are more human-relatable and
not an abstract concept with artificial though mathematically
convenient decimalization.
--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

On 2011-11-20 04:07:09 -0600, Wolfgang Schwanke said:

Dan Stephenson wrote in
news:2011111920521050418- stephedanospam@maccom:

Back to the topic of Britain, I must say, the best way to get into
conversation with Britons is to ask "so, what is a shilling, anyway".
To date, no Briton has been able to resist talking up a storm about
their pre-decimal currency.

Only the older generations surely? Decimal day was in 1971, younger
people won't remember.

That's right.


Most likely we (Americans) use decimal currency for no other reason
than to be different than the British, from whom we won our
independence.

When other Commonwealth countries decimalised around the same time,
they also renamed their currencies from pounds to dollars, hence
Australian and New Zealand dollars nowadays. Only UK and Ireland kept
the name pound.

Didn't the Irish use the variation, punt?

Question: did a pound once correspond to a pound weight of silver?

Question also: anyone know the origin of dollar and why it is used? I
visited a Dollar Castle once in Scotland. Maybe there was a Scot in
our Founding Fathers. Hmm.
--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

On 2011-11-20 05:22:56 -0600, Martin said:

On Sun, 20 Nov 2011 10:52:36 -0000, "JohnT"
wrote:


"Dan Stephenson" wrote in message
news:2011111920521050418-stephedanospam@maccom...
On 2011-11-19 15:46:05 -0600, Martin said:


I'm amazed that Americans are using decimal currency.

Back to the topic of Britain, I must say, the best way to get into
conversation with Britons is to ask "so, what is a shilling, anyway". To
date, no Briton has been able to resist talking up a storm about their
pre-decimal currency. It's pretty cool, actually, as a historical thing,
plus it is a GREAT way to make introductions.


You really must get out more often!

Not if he is going to drive around wet roundabouts at high speed in UK
in a Porsche.

He hasn't recommended the guinea as a unit of currency yet.

Hey, so what is a guinea, anyway? I read about them in the old Ian
Fleming novels. And wat is a crown and a half-crown? I recall James
Bond spending one of those on a doctor and supposedly it was a large
denomination.
--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

On 2011-11-20 04:18:19 -0600, Wolfgang Schwanke said:

Dan Stephenson wrote in
news:2011111920594538159-stephedanospam@maccom:

On 2011-11-19 10:42:49 -0600, Irwell said:


Always carry a chain, you never know when you might want to
play a game of cricket. Or plough a furlong.

Or plough a hectare. Oh wait, is that a measure in System
Internationale?

Yes it is. An are is 10x10 meters. A hectare is 100 of those.

Actually, no, it is not. It is a division derived from the metric
system but it is an artificial construct so people could have a unit
that was something of a suitable size for farm land sizing, a purpose
previously served by the acre.
--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

On 2011-11-20 03:54:22 -0600, Wolfgang Schwanke said:

Dan Stephenson wrote
in news:201111181919293211-stephedanospam@maccom:

The fly-ways on American interstate
highways are far superior than the mega-roundabouts on the British
four-lane carriageways,

What are fly-ways?

They are ramps and elevated roads that merge and separate traffic, so
that there is no slowing down at all.

This is the interchange nearest to my house:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll...h&z=15&vpsrc=6


Actually, lemme try the 'short URL' option in Google Maps:

http://g.co/maps/3kvfx

For local traffic, is where roundabouts are nice.


[...]

--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

On 2011-11-20 04:24:28 -0600, Martin said:


A pint of beer is nearer to a half litre in UK than a half litre of
beer is to a half litre measure in the Netherlands.

As I recall, the "Brussels banning our pints" was a controversy in the
news of one of my UK visits.
--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

On 2011-11-20 04:14:57 -0600, Wolfgang Schwanke said:

Q: How much force do you need to accelerate the mass of 1 pound within
1 second to the speed 1 foot per second?

A: 1 pound * foot/s^2 = (odd conversion factor) * pounds-force

The "odd conversion factor" is something you have to memorise or look
up in a table.

You mean, 1 slug?
--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

On 2011-11-20 03:42:16 -0600, Martin said:

Odd that you didn't show your independence by adopting the metric
system :-)

chuckle

Tell you what, if we had gain independence fifty years alter, as part
of the Napoleonic Wars, that could have happened.
--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

On 2011-11-20 03:37:06 -0600, Martin said:

On Sat, 19 Nov 2011 20:59:45 -0600, Dan Stephenson
wrote:

On 2011-11-19 10:42:49 -0600, Irwell said:


Always carry a chain, you never know when you might want to
play a game of cricket. Or plough a furlong.

Or plough a hectare. Oh wait, is that a measure in System Internationale?

hectare = unit of area, furlong = unit of length

I see what you mean, I meant, ploughing not just a length, but an area
of land, which I used to make a point that a hectare is no in SI, but
retained because people don't want to think in terms of square meters.


No, it is not. It's an invention because people were used to acres.

You don't plough acres in the USA?


--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

I must say, I feel an affinity for Britain and the Britons. I can trace
my ancestry to Henry Stephenson born in 1772 in Virginia to Presbyterian
parents -- but no farther. Yet, Stephensons are British. Either northern
England or southern Scotland, according to my various internet perusals.
I just need to find my family tree papers and try one of those heritage
websites to try to find when and from-where the Atlantic crossing took
place. How COOL would it be to visit the village where my ancestors lived?

You deal with measures in most sentimental fashion. However, America is
not nearly as British as Americans sometimes believe it is. Most
European family lines living in the USA are 120-130 years old at most.

I totally understand this, and most people only have to go back a could
generations, to get back to the 'old land'. I am looking for that. It
doesn't hurt than Britain is spectacularly pretty with great weather
(to me), with incredibly good beer too.
--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)