Comments on: "The suspect is 1,828,800 microns tall, and his irises reflect 465-nanometre light..."

by: Matt

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 22:31:36 +0000

When I moved here to Germany, it took a while to get used to metric measurements being used for things like height. But as other people have mentioned, you don't tend to give your height to the cm, you say "about 190".

> "A half litre of beer please guvnor"

Yep, you often order "eine halbe" - a half (litre).

Interestingly, there are still some units where Germany doesn't use the metric system - bar for pressure, beaufort for windspeed, (kilo)calories for food...

by: girtby.net

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:59:14 +0000

Precisely Wrong

Dan reminds me of a story I heard on an ancient [Media Watch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWatch(TV_program) episode. It’s Stuart Littlemore-era Media Watch, and is sadly not in the otherwise extensive ABC online archives. hence you’ll...

by: derrida derider

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:50:30 +0000

Try looking at the sizes written on the sidewalls of your car tyres for confusion.

The first number is the width of the tyre in millimetres. The next number is the rim diameter - in inches(!). Finally you are expected to work out the size in millimetres between the rim and the ground by multiplying the first number by the third number (the aspect ratio) and dividing by 100.

by: FuzzyPlushroom

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 12:56:49 +0000

"Now there’s something I’ve never understood - using commas as decimal points."

Honestly, the reverse bothers me just as much - 14.000 isn't fourteen large, it's fourteen and no thousandths, dammit!

Also, "stone" should be outlawed. Seriously, what a waste of time. While I'm at it, decimeters need to be more common.

by: NickL

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:50:52 +0000

@matkun & @MrWorf

Thanks for the input. I certainly agree! It's really a matter of the reference points one acquires when growing up.

Honestly, I think a measurement system based on powers of 10 makes far more since then the imperial. (Wait, 4 or 8 pints in a gallon....) That said; all of my machine tools are graduated in inches, as are my measuring instruments.

While this is reflected throughout industry, things are changing. With the advent of CNC equipment, changing from metric to imperial is just one line of G code. Some manufacturing firms are already completely metric. (For instance, a large Honda Motor Company plant that makes engines in Ohio, USA)

We may switch over entirely someday - most food products are now labeled in both imperial and metric.

by: kamikrae-z

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:05:54 +0000

@14 - Now there's something I've never understood - using commas as decimal points. I do like using commas as thousands separators although I believe the correct standard is to use a space instead.

by: MorganGT

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:06:58 +0000

I tend to use whichever measurement system is appropriate to the situation, and just mix and match freely if it suits. Because I'm into old cars, a lot of my garage tinkering involves Imperial fractions, but I am also into old Japanese motorbikes, so Metric raises its head there. And I work in a manufacturing environment where everything is measured in Imperial decimals, usually down to 0.001", or 0.0001" in some specific circumstances. In that situation the unit (inch or centimetre) becomes irrelevant, the fact we work in decimals rather than fractions is the key to a practical and workable metrology environment.

Most of our equipment is fabricated in-house for specific jobs, so it gets built using adapted components designed for something else, which can often mean a mix of units throughout - Imperial fraction, Imperial decimal, Metric, plus the often used exact measurement of 'grind it until it just fits'. Sometimes even a secondhand Whitworth bolt will be pressed into service.

by: j

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:18:45 +0000

Metric superheroes:
http://www.thesuperest.com/archives/2008/01/28/s53_metrics/

Mixing imperial and metric is something that I do naturally too - but I wouldn't ever bother justifying it. We live in a period of time where the US refuses to change and the rest of the world's moved on, so it should be expected that we get stuck with a mix of both for a while.

by: Thuli

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 11:03:34 +0000

At this point I must draw everyone's attention to Frink!

by: matkun

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:25:49 +0000

NickL: To the contrary, I don't know how much an inch is but I know a centimeter is roughly the width of a fingernail (non-thumb) and that 10 centimeters is about the length of my hand.

I know how much a kilogram weighs in my hands but have trouble feeling out how many pounds something weighs.

It all depends on what you grew up with and made correlations with. It's not like those correlations are at all accurate anyways. ie: a petite woman's foot compared to a basketball players.. They are both a foot long, right?