NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Units and area. was: gipsy moth iv
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2006 Jul 17, 16:05 -0500
If Americans have such difficulty in counting above four, as Red
implies, they will certainly have problems in using the metric system;
or any other, for that matter.
Just as an example let's consider the units of volume in use in the
USA. After the cubic inch, the next step will be the cubic foot, 1728
of them. Except that the US gallon will intervene, which I make, after
a bit of calculation, to be 231 cubic inches. So how does Red manage
to measure his volumes in such a way that the numbers never elude his
mental grasp, by exceeding four? And does he keep those conversion
factors in his head?
We have been through the metric upheaval in the UK, and it has not
been a pleasant experience; mainly because the implementation was
half-hearted and incomplete. So for many years now, we have been
saddled with the worst possible arrangement, part metric, part
imperial. Our road signs show distances in miles, and our fuel
consumption is in miles per (imperial) gallon, even though fuel is now
supplied by the litre. You buy draught beer, in a pub, by the pint,
but canned beer is marked in millilitres. Schools no longer teach kids
except in metric units, which puts them completely at a loss when they
meet other measurements. The weather forecasts here use Celsius
temperatures, but occasionally a Fahrenheit measure is thrown in, just
to confuse.
Not only have the measurements been altered, but so have the standard
sizes; of screws, for example. That has affected goods such as
domestic plumbing fittings and pipe sizes. So, if I need to replace
anything in my pre-metric heating system, nothing available now will
fit, without an array of special adaptors.
Even our currency used to be non-decimal once, but that switch was
complete and instant, and I don't think anyone regrets it now.
The metric system itself is no more than a botched and incomplete job,
in that important quantities have been left undecimalised; times in
terms of the day and the milliday, angles in terms of the turn and the
milliturn.
There are, indeed, valid reasons for avoiding the switch to metric;
that the change would be too disruptive, and that people have got used
to things as they are. Those arguments should not be taken lightly.
But it's the first time that I have heard it asserted that somehow the
present US system possesses virtues that its metric equivalent lacks.
The World is changing, and with the rise of, first, Japan, next, China
and India, US industrial dominance won't last for ever. The longer the
US keeps to a system that's out of step with the rest of the World,
the harder it will be when the change comes, as in the end, it must.
============================
When Red wrote-
| "Two thirds of a meter square" would seem to be the best way to
phrase it in
| metric, to ensure the information isn't misunderstood.
he has devised his own way of expressing the area of a square hole 60
cm across, which is indeed CERTAIN to be misunderstood. If Gipsy Moth
IV had suffered a similar puncture on the other side of the hull, how
would he have expressed the total area of the two, I wonder?
We haven't yet had an answer from Red to that simple question.
============================
Nothing to do with any of the above, or with navigation, but my wife
has just interrupted this posting by calling me into the garden, to
watch the flowers opening, in the gloaming, on an evening primrose.
Quite astounding! Each yellow flower unwinds to fully-open in about 20
seconds; just like a time-lapse photo, but in real time. In 5 minutes,
a dozen flowers opened like that. She tells me they work by attracting
moths overnight. In the morning, they wither and die, to be replaced
each evening. All new stuff to me, but she knows about these things.
Isn't nature wonderful?
Sorry about that diversion.
George.
contact George Huxtable at george@huxtable.u-net.com
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
To post to this group, send email to NavList@fer3.com
To , send email to NavList-@fer3.com
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2006 Jul 17, 16:05 -0500
If Americans have such difficulty in counting above four, as Red
implies, they will certainly have problems in using the metric system;
or any other, for that matter.
Just as an example let's consider the units of volume in use in the
USA. After the cubic inch, the next step will be the cubic foot, 1728
of them. Except that the US gallon will intervene, which I make, after
a bit of calculation, to be 231 cubic inches. So how does Red manage
to measure his volumes in such a way that the numbers never elude his
mental grasp, by exceeding four? And does he keep those conversion
factors in his head?
We have been through the metric upheaval in the UK, and it has not
been a pleasant experience; mainly because the implementation was
half-hearted and incomplete. So for many years now, we have been
saddled with the worst possible arrangement, part metric, part
imperial. Our road signs show distances in miles, and our fuel
consumption is in miles per (imperial) gallon, even though fuel is now
supplied by the litre. You buy draught beer, in a pub, by the pint,
but canned beer is marked in millilitres. Schools no longer teach kids
except in metric units, which puts them completely at a loss when they
meet other measurements. The weather forecasts here use Celsius
temperatures, but occasionally a Fahrenheit measure is thrown in, just
to confuse.
Not only have the measurements been altered, but so have the standard
sizes; of screws, for example. That has affected goods such as
domestic plumbing fittings and pipe sizes. So, if I need to replace
anything in my pre-metric heating system, nothing available now will
fit, without an array of special adaptors.
Even our currency used to be non-decimal once, but that switch was
complete and instant, and I don't think anyone regrets it now.
The metric system itself is no more than a botched and incomplete job,
in that important quantities have been left undecimalised; times in
terms of the day and the milliday, angles in terms of the turn and the
milliturn.
There are, indeed, valid reasons for avoiding the switch to metric;
that the change would be too disruptive, and that people have got used
to things as they are. Those arguments should not be taken lightly.
But it's the first time that I have heard it asserted that somehow the
present US system possesses virtues that its metric equivalent lacks.
The World is changing, and with the rise of, first, Japan, next, China
and India, US industrial dominance won't last for ever. The longer the
US keeps to a system that's out of step with the rest of the World,
the harder it will be when the change comes, as in the end, it must.
============================
When Red wrote-
| "Two thirds of a meter square" would seem to be the best way to
phrase it in
| metric, to ensure the information isn't misunderstood.
he has devised his own way of expressing the area of a square hole 60
cm across, which is indeed CERTAIN to be misunderstood. If Gipsy Moth
IV had suffered a similar puncture on the other side of the hull, how
would he have expressed the total area of the two, I wonder?
We haven't yet had an answer from Red to that simple question.
============================
Nothing to do with any of the above, or with navigation, but my wife
has just interrupted this posting by calling me into the garden, to
watch the flowers opening, in the gloaming, on an evening primrose.
Quite astounding! Each yellow flower unwinds to fully-open in about 20
seconds; just like a time-lapse photo, but in real time. In 5 minutes,
a dozen flowers opened like that. She tells me they work by attracting
moths overnight. In the morning, they wither and die, to be replaced
each evening. All new stuff to me, but she knows about these things.
Isn't nature wonderful?
Sorry about that diversion.
George.
contact George Huxtable at george@huxtable.u-net.com
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
To post to this group, send email to NavList@fer3.com
To , send email to NavList-@fer3.com
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
