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Results 31 to 45 of 51
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26th June 2022, 11:21 AM #31
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At least the US military use metric, unless of course they're doing exercises with Liberia or Myanmar.
mick
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4th July 2022, 07:20 PM #32
As a Boomer, I am adept at both systems. O'course metric makes FAR more sense....mostly.....but Imperial has it's moments.
What would we do without the expression "6 feet under"? "1.8288 metres under" doesn't have quite the same ring to it. Not quite sure how the Grave Diggers (aka backhoe operators) would stop before they hit 1.8289 metres either.
"Give him an inch and he'll take a mile" translates to "Give him 25.4mm and he'll take (...waiddaminit....while I go to the calc) 1.34112 kilometres"
"The whole nine yards"......"The whole 324 inches"...sorry...."The whole 8.229 (rounded) metres".
"The Mile High Club"....nobody wants to be a member of "The 1.34112 kilometres High Club"......although I'd prolly take that.
I could go on.....
Nah, seriously, there are times when 1 inch, or a foot, or a coupla inches is good, and I use that all the time. I guess that's because the closer the number is to one, or at least single digit, the more comfortable it is for humans.
With respect Alan, you must be working with flippetygibbets. A metre has numerous subdivisions: 1 decimetre (ok, uncommonly used), 1 centimetre, 1 millimetre, 0.1 mm (which is a gnat's chough over 4 thou). Note the progression too: Deci, Centi, Milli. Easy peasy.
And apart from that, measure twice, cut once.
Eat more spinach?
Ah yes, another concession I'm very happy to make.
Stop it now! He needs no encouragement, speaking of flippetygibbets.
"Yeah, we're gonna bomb the crap outta you guys! IN METRIC!"
I do have one major gripe with the metric system which irritates the bejaysus outta me, but it's not so much the system as those who use it. I shall elucidate (y'all knew I would).
1000 grams is commonly called what? A kilogram. So that's a KILLO-gram or a KEELO-gram. Nobody, NOBODY, not one idiot, says kil-LOG-ram, do they? No, nobody is that stupid.
OTOH, 1000 metres is far too commonly called what? A kil-LOM-eater. It's bloody well not, it's a KILLO-metre.
It's just as damned aggravating as all those people who think there is only one "u" in "nucular".
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4th July 2022, 07:55 PM #33
I am surprised nobody picked up the combination of imperial and metric on my above statement: I didn't at the time
!
Perhaps it is an indictment of the obscurities and idiosyncracies of the imperial system. Even cricketers don't say their pitch is a "chain" long, pole dancers are not proclaiming the dizzy heights to which they could rise, only the British horse racing industry refers to furlongs and even the athletics bodies always called it 220 yards before we were swept away with 200m. Only "the mile" has endured in athletics (actually, maybe the marathon too).
Regards
PaulBushmiller;
"Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"
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4th July 2022, 08:16 PM #34
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4th July 2022, 08:23 PM #35
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Olympic distances in metric.
The Guy Who Decides Olympic Sports 😝🏇🍸🎾🏅 - YouTubeTom
"It's good enough" is low aim
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5th July 2022, 10:58 PM #36
The Olympic marathon has an interesting history
Not only is the original distance (Ancient Greece) from Marathon to Athens an approximation, the length of the "Marathon race" was permanently extended in 1908 so that members of the British Royal family could watch the start.
So not really either a metric or imperial distanceregards from Alberta, Canada
ian
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6th July 2022, 11:45 AM #37
Ian
I think 26 miles and 385 yards would generally be considered imperial, although not the original distance. I read that it was made standard in 1921. I am still amazed that a human can run that in just over two hours (I imagine the two hour barrier will be broken one day). In fact my first car was only a little quicker.
Regards
Paul
PS: Good to hear you made it back to Oz, albeit for a limited time only.Bushmiller;
"Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"
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6th July 2022, 02:34 PM #38
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6th July 2022, 05:21 PM #39
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6th July 2022, 07:28 PM #40
according to this site 100 Years of the Marathon: 42.195 km = 25 Miles + 1 Mile + 385 Yards – Marathon Course of the 1908 Olympic Games in London – The Anniversary of 42.195 km
The "standard marathon" as set by the IAAF is METRIC at 42.195 km, converted to 26 miles 385 yards
Also, a marathon has been run in just under 2 hours -- but the Kenyan runner was accompanied by a pace car and 40(?) supporting runners.regards from Alberta, Canada
ian
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6th July 2022, 09:15 PM #41
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7th July 2022, 08:02 PM #42
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7th July 2022, 09:31 PM #43
Well I'd have to say that this thread has now amounted to nowt.
BOJO THE BUFFOON IS GOING...GOING..... And thank gawd fer that!
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7th July 2022, 09:51 PM #44
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7th July 2022, 10:28 PM #45
Well if you are only referring to what you quoted, I'd hardly call that soapbox, as I've seen other people gripe about similar things (and it was not particularly long - just a paragraph). Perhaps you missed the humour in it? If you are referring to something else as well (perhaps being glad that BoJo is resigning as I type this), then...whatever.
Either way, it would seem that I have your measure, in whichever system it might be.