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Do you trust the metric system?

135

Comments

  • #62
    McChubbin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,080 ✭✭✭McChubbin


    I'm an imperialist swine but at least I admit it.


  • #63
    Snowie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22,048 ✭✭✭✭Snowie


    only time i use weigh skales is when making meranges the rest of the time, I'm pretty instinktive when i comes to weight...


  • #64
    El Tarangu
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,649 ✭✭✭El Tarangu


    Does anyone remember that spaceship a few years ago that was meant to study Mars, but crashed the minute it got there because someone got their metrics and imperials mixed up?

    Pretty funny that it even happens to rocket scientists


  • #65
    CrazyRabbit
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,659 ✭✭✭CrazyRabbit


    Here's a good story involving confusion over imperial & metric systems.

    http://www.damninteresting.com/the-gimli-glider


  • #66
    OutlawPete
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,689 ✭✭✭✭OutlawPete


    chopperbyrne wrote: »
    I'd be quite happy to have 500ml glasses in pubs instead of pint glasses.

    When I our a 500ml can into a "pint" glass, it fills it up whereas years ago there would be a good gap.

    I think for years, "pint" glasses have been shrinking :cool:


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  • #67
    vodafoneproblem
    Closed Accounts Posts: 344 ✭✭vodafoneproblem


    I think this calls for a polle


  • #68
    Run_to_da_hills
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,009 ✭✭✭✭Run_to_da_hills


    One good thing about the US, they have held their grounds so far and have not given into the French and their BS measuring system.

    Long live fractions. :)


  • #69
    Lando Griffin
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,952 ✭✭✭Lando Griffin


    Wouldnt trust the metric system as far as i could throw it, i measure distance in time eg how long it takes me to get from A to B , therefore I use my own standard metric system of time zero hundred hours to o three hundred. I weigh my self by drawing a template of me on the wall and then regullary check to see if i have expanded over the previous template. I even measure getting petrol in money terms, never put in X liters.


  • #70
    Tail Wagger
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 670 ✭✭✭Tail Wagger


    Depends on who's measuring?


  • #71
    bnt
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,244 ✭✭✭✭bnt


    This evening I came back from Tesco with a few bottles of English beer - Fuller's London Pride, Shepherd Neame Bishop's Finger etc. Doesn't get more British than that ... but the bottles are all 500ml. :cool:

    The Imperial system can get really funky when dealing with Area. Can anyone tell me, without consulting Wikipedia (like I had to), how many Square Feet there are in an Acre?
    1 acre = 43.560 sq ft., or 66 x 660 ft = 22 x 220 yards = a Chain by a Furlong. 1 furlong = 220 yards, so a square with sides of a furlong = 10 acres. Yikes

    The metric system allows me do things like this quickly: if I have a fish tank of 120 x 100 x 40 cm, how much water does it hold, and how much will that water weigh? In metres, that's 1.2 x 1 x 0.4 = 0.48 m³. 1000 litres = 1 m³, so that's 480 litres. One litre of water has a mass of 1 kg, so that's 480 kg of water. Need the weight in Newtons? Multiply by 10. Not exact, but fine for back-of-the-envelope ideas. With a few specific density figures, you can work out the mass of materials other than water e.g. concrete is about 2.4x as dense, steel about 6.8x as dense. Petrol is about 0.72x (72%) as dense as water, believe it or not.

    Government resting upon the will and universal suffrage of the people has no anchorage except in the people's intelligence.

    — Grover Cleveland



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  • #72
    jester77
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,264 ✭✭✭✭jester77


    bnt wrote: »
    This evening I came back from Tesco with a few bottles of English beer - Fuller's London Pride, Shepherd Neame Bishop's Finger etc. Doesn't get more British than that ... but the bottles are all 500ml. :cool:

    Nice beers, Bishops Finger is one of my faves, hobgoblin being another

    Although I can't ever see going into a bar and shouting "half litre of Guinness please", hasn't the same ring to it


  • #73
    DazMarz
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,493 ✭✭✭DazMarz


    What's not to trust???

    Anyway, once the NWO (New World Order) comes into effect and we all switch to new measuring systems it'll all be a moot point anyway, won't it?!? Lol


  • #74
    citizen_p
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,494 ✭✭✭citizen_p


    welll i buy a pound of rashers etc....
    im 6 ft 3 tall
    i weight 11 stone
    i use pints and litres (glasses dont come in litre size regularly) ,
    foot when measuring

    only consistently used metric in school with maths.....


  • #75
    Typewriter
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 577 ✭✭✭Typewriter


    Mousey- wrote: »
    welll i buy a pound of rashers etc....
    im 6 ft 3 tall
    i weight 11 stone
    i use pints and litres (glasses dont come in litre size regularly) ,
    foot when measuring

    only consistently used metric in school with maths.....

    You should eat more rashers! :eek:


  • #76
    Tar.Aldarion
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,119 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tar.Aldarion


    He has an apt name...well apart from being huge


  • #77
    rainbowtrout
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,535 ✭✭✭✭rainbowtrout


    Babies are weighed in pounds and ounces. Two people I work with recently had babies. One was just under 11lbs and the other in or around 6lbs. I know the first baby is big and the second is small. If they told me what they weighed in kilos, it would have been meaningless. I use imperial for weight, height, travelling in the car - probably from speed limit being 60mph and an hour being 60 mins I find it easier to calculate. Housing measurements have to be imperial as well, I have no idea of space in rooms in square metres, square feet - no bother. I suppose when we go to school with a 12inch/6 inch ruler as a standard length of measurement for 12 or 13 years it's easier to visualise imperial measurements.


  • #78
    Magill
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,732 ✭✭✭Magill


    I for one hope the pubs start using the metric system ! I WANT A LITRE OF BEER PLEASE !


  • #79
    pa990
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,882 ✭✭✭pa990


    i think that the mix of imperial and metric is a great idea..

    if the Germans ever invade they will be massively confused


  • #80
    pa990
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,882 ✭✭✭pa990


    Magill wrote: »
    I for one hope the pubs start using the metric system ! I WANT A LITRE OF BEER PLEASE !

    and whats wrong with asking for A GALLON OF BEER PLEASE


  • #81
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 36,496 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    rainbowtrout wrote: »
    Babies are weighed in pounds and ounces. Two people I work with recently had babies. One was just under 11lbs and the other in or around 6lbs. I know the first baby is big and the second is small. If they told me what they weighed in kilos, it would have been meaningless. I use imperial for weight, height, travelling in the car - probably from speed limit being 60mph and an hour being 60 mins I find it easier to calculate. Housing measurements have to be imperial as well, I have no idea of space in rooms in square metres, square feet - no bother. I suppose when we go to school with a 12inch/6 inch ruler as a standard length of measurement for 12 or 13 years it's easier to visualise imperial measurements.

    I can understand most i;perial measurements, roughly at least, but I have no concept of the weight of humans in pounds, ounces and stones.


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  • #82
    walshb
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 61,078 ✭✭✭✭walshb


    pickarooney wrote: »

    Irish person I know will look puzzled if you tell them your height in metres or your weight in kilos and automatically revert to stones and pounds and feet and inches when asked the same question.

    Of all the issues with the metric and imperial systems I still believe that for weight and height, the Imperial system is the choice we use. C'mon, who really answers, "one metre 75 centimetres," if asked how tall they are? Maybe the French, but who here or in Britain or America or Australia?

    I use both systems, but regarding weight and height I will always use Imperial measure.

    For distance I will mostly use Imperial.


  • #83
    kjl
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,127 ✭✭✭kjl


    Anyone fancy 568.261485 ml of guinness?


  • #84
    enda1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,165 ✭✭✭enda1


    walshb wrote: »
    Of all the issues with the metric and imperial systems I still believe that for weight and height, the Imperial system is the choice we use. C'mon, who really answers, "one metre 75 centimetres," if asked how tall they are? Maybe the French, but who here or in Britain or America or Australia?

    I use both systems, but regarding weight and height I will always use Imperial measure.

    For distance I will mostly use Imperial.

    Isn't boxing though in kg now?
    Like the weight divisions are 5kg bands or something.


  • #85
    massdebater
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,251 ✭✭✭massdebater


    There was a couple of threads on this subject over on R&R some while back

    i started that one (eek!) They won't let me back into R&R tho so i'm glad someone brought it up in AH!

    fair enough old people "stuck in their ways" but it makes me so :( to see young people using the old system

    imperial measurements make the baby jesus cry...


  • #86
    massdebater
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,251 ✭✭✭massdebater


    kjl wrote: »
    Anyone fancy 568.261485 ml of guinness?

    yes


  • #87
    bnt
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,244 ✭✭✭✭bnt


    Magill wrote: »
    I for one hope the pubs start using the metric system ! I WANT A LITRE OF BEER PLEASE !

    I must be psychic... I can see an Oktoberfest in your future ...

    Personally, I wouldn't mind 500ml glasses, but I think there are concerns that that would be a stealth price increase: pubs charging the same price for less beer. So pubs would have to make a point of countering that by lowering prices, at the same time as they are changing out all their glasses. Not the kind of hassle a publican needs these days ...

    Government resting upon the will and universal suffrage of the people has no anchorage except in the people's intelligence.

    — Grover Cleveland



  • #88
    walshb
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 61,078 ✭✭✭✭walshb


    enda1 wrote: »
    Isn't boxing though in kg now?
    Like the weight divisions are 5kg bands or something.

    Yes, officially weights are called in Kilogrammes, as in 48, 51, 54, 57 etc.

    The Americans still use lbs, as in 106, 112, 119, 125, 132 etc

    I suppose from boxing this is where I really learned to translate from Metric to Imperial easily and quickly.

    What gets me is to hear on news reports when speaking to the nation about say a missing person, the station sometimes says, " height one metre seventy five centimetres and weight 70 kilogrammes."

    This is plain daft, as most of the nation will not take this in, as they are not all that
    used to, or familiar with metric measurements for height and weight. So, the station is not really helping the case for the missing person.


  • #89
    sbsquarepants
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,810 ✭✭✭✭sbsquarepants


    Snow-Monkey wrote: »
    only time i use weigh skales is when making meranges the rest of the time, I'm pretty instinktive when i comes to weight...

    If you spend a lot of your time making merangues, i'd say you're pretty enormous when it comes to weight:D

    Ps- Can i have some? Merangues kick ass, nyom nyom nyom nyom


  • #90
    sbsquarepants
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,810 ✭✭✭✭sbsquarepants


    massdebater wrote: »
    imperial measurements make the baby jesus cry...gallons

    You left out a word.


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  • #91
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 36,496 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    walshb wrote: »
    This is plain daft, as most of the nation will not take this in, as they are not all that
    used to, or familiar with metric measurements for height and weight. So, the station is not really helping the case for the missing person.

    It's a self-perpetuating circle of stupidity though - everyone has been taught how to use cm and kg but for some reason resists using it, then other people are froced to abandon logic and use the arcane imperial system just to suit the cranks who refuse to get with the times. By this logic we'd never have had the euro as people would not have been familiar with it. They copped on pretty quick when it was their money that was in question though.


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