wolfnighthunter
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Re: You are the cool ruler
Feb 28, 2006, 14:32
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Herr Fitz, warum Ihren Mantelgeruch der Linsen tut?....
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fitzcoraldo
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Re: You are the cool ruler
Feb 28, 2006, 14:45
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Its common sense if you are educated in the system. If you travel to some of the less visited corners of the globe you will find people quite happily using their own variation of the body measurement system. I work with people from all over the world and I have yet to hear one of them complain about our system.
For me it's a cultural thing and is one tiny element in the fight against the global homogenisers who are ultimately working not for the benefit of people but to maximise the profits of big business.
Damn...where did that soapbox come from?
{-:
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nigelswift
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Re: You are the cool ruler
Feb 28, 2006, 15:14
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Digitist.
You can measure anything using body parts.
(Although, they do tend to rot after a while I admit).
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Vybik Jon
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Re: You are the cool ruler
Feb 28, 2006, 15:40
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A foot is a foot. Whose foot?
Dear oh dear.
The digits things is about counting systems rather than weights and measures, but even so, a system based around 10 still seems common sense to me.
I mean, look at this nonsense:
Length:
Inch
Link = 7.92 inches
Foot = 12 inches
Yard = 3 feet
Rod, Pole or Perch = 25 links = 5½ yards
Chain = 22 yards = 66 feet = 100 Links
Furlong = 10 chains = 220 yards
Mile = 8 furlongs = 1760 yards = 5280 feet
Area:
Sq foot = 144 sq inches
Sq yard = 9 sq feet = 1296 sq inches
Sq Pole = 30¼ sq yards
Rood = ¼ acre = 1,210 sq yards = 40 sq poles
Acre = 4 roods = 10 sq chains = 4840 sq yards = Statute acre
Virgate = 30 acres
Hide = 4 virgates
Sq mile = 640 acres
Capacity:
1 pint = 4 gills
1 quart = 2 pints
1 gallon = 4 quarts = 8 pints
1 peck = 2 gallons
1 bushel = 4 pecks = 8 gallons
Weight:
1 ounce (oz) = 16 drams
1 pound (lb) = 16 oz
1 stone = 14 lb
1 quarter = 28 lb
1 hundredweight (cwt) = 4 quarters = 112 lb
1 ton = 20 cwt = 2240 lb
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wolfnighthunter
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Re: You are the cool ruler
Feb 28, 2006, 15:50
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I think i might be looking at this just a little too simply, but what is the point in changing?..just so we can be the same as the rest of europe, so that when foreigners come over they can read the road signs, they know how much cheese they are buying?..i mean think of the cost of changing, the road signs for example.......bloody stupid idea me thinks.
why waste money, time and effort...alot of tosh if you ask me.
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Rhiannon
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Re: You are the cool ruler
Feb 28, 2006, 15:58
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Aaactually, if you don't have a fancy digital balance, it makes perfect sense to have a system that deals in easily judged 1/2s, 1/4s, 1/16s etc. You can't work out 0.0625 by looking at it, can you.
Ok in the space age you might need to do things in decimals. But for everyday life a decent fraction is all you need.*
(though I have to admit, how anyone worked out their change before 1971 is a mystery to me).
*Handy when doing drawing too, comparing different things.
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moss
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Re: You are the cool ruler
Feb 28, 2006, 16:05
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Avoirdupois - thats what it was called on those old exercise books, do you still own one?
all the tables and measurements on the back cover, made the mind work - metrication is for the simple minded ;)
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Wild Wooder
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Re: You are the cool ruler
Feb 28, 2006, 16:09
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"though I have to admit, how anyone worked out their change before 1971 is a mystery to me"
I can't remember how but I do remember managing it. I was a bank cashier and somehow got by. And there were more interesting coins – coppers, tanners, bobs, two bobs, florins, half crowns and those wonderful duo-decagon threepenny bits.
(Sorry, Wild Wooder flashback)
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Vybik Jon
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Re: You are the cool ruler
Feb 28, 2006, 16:12
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"simple minded"
That's me!
I tell you what, as well as studying all those antiquaries, you could go and live among them again. You could measure in bushels and hands and bollocks all the live long day.
I bet the internals of that PC you're reading this on isn't working in imperial measures though.
PS You can go back to lsd too when you're in your wattle & daub hut. Pesky new currency!
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Vybik Jon
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Re: You are the cool ruler
Feb 28, 2006, 16:12
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Yeah! Let's go back to shillings and guineas.
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