metric system: miles and gallons...

[tcm]

I think that I am amongst the oldest who never took a public exam that asked about pounds shilling and pence. But thirty years later, miles are used in real life, whereas kilometres only exist in exam questions. Likewise, gallons.

What's a mile, dad? Ah well son, it's the number of erm something to do with Romans.

Will gallons and miles ever be replaced in the UK? "A pint of pure water weights a pound and a quarter" - but pounds are now non-legal measures, which I'm fine about...except that it's out of kilter with the gallons and the miles?

Oh, and never mind about nauticalmiles - we could just callem nautical kilometres any time we liked, and they wouldn';t be a kilometre, same as they aren't a mile now.

 

[BarryD]

Ahh the confused generation...

Temperature = centigrade
Speed = Miles per hour
Distance = Miles, yards, Feet, Inches
Fuel burn = Miles per gallon

So why does my car only offer temperature in degrees F. if I want to display MPH? If I switch to displaying in degrees C then the all the other displays switch over to kilometres and litres per 100KM for fuel burn.

Got to say: Come on Tony Cronies sort it out. One way or the other - lbs ounces, miles farenheit etc.. or grams, metres and centigrade. In the 70's when I was still being beaten up by prefects it was a mish-mash of scales at school and it still is.

Havoc, fire, confusion, and mis-trust, yes my work here is done...

Barry D

 

[hlb]

And why when passing the timber ship aground near Plymouth. Did the coast guards say there was a 1000 mtr exclusion zone. Whats that in nautical miles. I can pin point it on radar and know exactly whether, two tenths of a mile or !.3 Nautical miles. What the hell dose 1000 metres look like. And I notice on the news some times. They mix up miles kilometers, yards metres and feet and inches in the same sentence. Like plane flying at 10,000 metres, 5 miles from runway. The captain was six feet tall and weighed 320 kg.

Haydn

 

[billskip]

sweden its kilometers..so i asked how far ...i was told four miles..thort thats not far..asked why i was told miles they said swedish miles we allways talk in miles..theres 10kmts=1 swedish mile..didnt dare ask about knots..

Bill
www.aegeansailing.co.uk

 

[Geoffs]

We're being dragged into the metric age...... inch by inch

 

[Guest]

I think a mile is a thousand roman paces, so a nautical mile must be a thousand oar strokes, like when Ben Hur was a galley- slave. Or possibly a thousand breast strokes.

 

[ToMo]

Nah, I saw that film, Charlton Heston didn't have the budget to stroke a thousand breasts (did you know he's only little?)
TôMö

 

[jfm]

Re: mixed up and happy...

We get in our cars with their 285(millimetres) x 18(inch) tyres then we drive our boats along nautical miles making sure we dont run out of metres depth and we quote the boat's length in feet unless it exceeds 20metres in which case the length is in metres and also if we buy a waterside house it comes with a 10m berth and our engines are rated in horsepower and drink gallons of diesel but when we add Solly to the diesel we add a couple of cc's per gallon then finally we go for a pint of beer but as of last Monday our bananas apparently come in kilos.......

I like it. Let's keep it exactly as is please, or as it was before the bananas-in-kilos ruling in the Appeal Court.

Anyway, I'm in court next month. I need to know, is driving at 100mph doing a ton or doing a tonne?

 

[hlb]

Re: mixed up and happy...

Just tell them that since the banana rule, you got confused, thought you were going at 100 mph- metres per hour. Or 100 kilos per hour. 0r even 100 bananas an hour.

What about all the things we learnt in day skipper. Where do they fit in now. How many chains to the metre or fathoms. I was brought up with £SD and pounds and ounces, stones and bushels. Pints quarts and gallons. We've still got most of these plus fluid ounces, CC's, litres to name but a few. Ever tried mixing the two stoke oil, when the petrol is in a gallon can and the oil is measured in fluid ounces or maybe CC's to the litre. Ok so you guess a bit. But seems far more important to me than some poor sod weighing bananas. I know how many bananas I want, it's maybe four, or six. Makes no difference what way you weigh em.

Haydn

 

[tcm]

Re: doing a ton

tonnes were clever ways of french sneaking control of metric system after earlier uttter failure of Paris-based meridian. Likewise "Concorde" with an e.

How've you managed to string court appeaarnace along all this time? Or is this another speed trap, so you're back by special request? Or legal research mebbe?

 

[boatmad2]

Re: doing a ton

Who gives a s**t lets go boating

 

[jfm]

Re: putting off court grief

Answer is on page 56 last week's Autocar, he's a seriously good Mr Fix it.

 

[coliholic]

Re: putting off court grief

Ooh c'mon John, you're not going to make us all buy Autocar are you, to find out what you're on about? Or have you got shares in it so trying to bump up the circulation. Bit like Dom and his S*&%"ron? Details here please John. We want the gory details. No gloating. Honest.

 

[jfm]

Re: putting off court grief

P56 has full interview with lawyer called Nick Freeman, with a slighly posey photo of him standing next to his DB7. He's far and away the country's best defence lawyer specialising in speeding cases. He defended Alex Ferguson (diarrhoea) Beckham (chased by paparazzi) and most recently Dwight Yorke (technical issue with a laser gun). He also does ordinary punters like moi, for quite reasonable fees, he is seriously good and is kindly helping me avoid getting my ass kicked too hard by the magistrate bods for my heinously criminal 71mph (allegedly) in a 60mph zone at 6am. Recommend him most strongly for anyone charged with speeding, can supply contact info (he's in Manchester).

PS if stopped for spdg, do not show your licence, do not sign the ticket at the roadside, do not provide any ID (your wallet probly left at home). You are not required to. This is important. Freeman will sort the rest

 

[Steve_D]

The only issue I have with the metric system is when I first drive on the continent each year. I keep forgetting that the speed signs on bends mean 50kmh and wonder why my wheels are screeching round the bend and the kids are screeching in the back.

And how did the nation that came up with the oh so logical metric system also come up with the number "quatre-vingt-dix-huit"

Steve D

 

[tcm]

ooh Please could you go over that bit again sir?

You do have to give your correct name and address, yes? And that's it, yes?


Supplementary questions whilst having celebration chat with star legal on way home/ at appeal/ at house of lords/in priz...

1 Does it help if when they say "have you anything to say?" you reply "Will you please stop looking at my wife's breasts in that peculiar way?" (or "my
breasts" if female)

2 Can they really "cart you off to the police station, sonny"

3. Supposing, sepretly, talking to policemen bout something else, asking directions, say, and they notice the car approvingly but then they say "mind you, a bit pointless because you can't use the power" and you say "pah nah matey I've had 167 out of it!" they can't really nick you for that can they? Cos I could say it was kilometres per hour! er...

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Re: putting off court grief

Good luck, jfm. Keep us posted. But how come 100mph suddenly becomes 71mph or is that Freeman doing his work already?

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Confusing is'nt it? Personally I could never fathom out what a fathom is

 

[Robin2]

There is a wonderfully logical letter in March's PBO (misunderstanding metric measures). It says "... the USA ... sensibly rejected the metric system". Then it goes on to round off the nautical mile to the nearest 1000 feet in order to explain that a chain is 1/100th and a fathom 1/1000th of the rounded nautical mile.

If this isn't a justification for a metric system than what is?

How on earth was anything ever built properly when things were measured in 13/64ths of an inch, for example.

The plans for my boat were drawn (in the UK) in 1985 (I think) and are in millimetres.

Isn't it time everyone adopted the simple solution that the metric system offers?

I don't see nautical miles going out of fashion simply because they are a minute of lattitude (or is it longitude) at the equator.

 

[Falcon71]

And I b et baby Blair was weighed in pounds when he waas born!