Kilometres and kg

ttaskmaster said:
Why would we want to drive on the right, like those backward Imperial-using Americans? Surely the only reason to adopt such a practice is so you can fire guns from wholly inside the car, or simply to be childish and stick it to the Brits from whom you just declared independence?

Most people are right-side dominant - Driving on the left allows the dominant eye to focus on oncoming traffic & keeps the dominant hand on the steering wheel, even when shifting in a car with a manual gearbox. Also, I believe all motorcycles are set up for right-handers, for this very reason of dominant side handling the fine motor controls.
England, Scotland, Australia, Japan, Ireland, Hong Kong, Jamaica, New Zealand, Nepal, Barbados... most of the cool places drive on the left.
It does seem there's a lot of island nations that follow this, though. Maybe that's another factor?
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The only being an island is does, it is makes it easier to not have to deal with crazy things like a road where everyone has to swap around at the border.

Left/right drive is mostly a matter of choice and 90% of the world chose the other side.

Metric / imperial is a choice of backwards or forward. A few places have chosen backward!
 
Greebo said:
8 x 4 sheets are no longer 8' x 4', they are 2400 x 1200. They should be 2444 by 1222
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Go to another supplier. All the 8 x 4 sheets (which are not actually advertised anywhere as 8x4) I've bought have been 2440 x 1220.

edit: oh, I assumed wood-based sheets (plywood, MDF, hardboard, etc). Looks like plasterboard sheets are 2400 x 1200
 
Freefaller said:
Hopefully one day the UK will shake off it's ridiculous "empire" mentality and join the rest of the world in using sensible and common units that everyone understands. Oh and also drive on the right... but I'd settle for metric as a good compromise! :D
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I already have my car's dashboard and speedo set to km - that'll show 'em :p it's a digital dash too, so it's purely km, none of this dual-scale nonsense.
 
Graetzbridge said:
If you buy the whole pack, which is what most people would do, you don't need to do that division.
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Indeed.
The whole fractions argument for imperial is around 99% nonsense.
As already mentioned, if we want to use fractions then 1/3m/mm/cm/litre/pound/inch/etc. makes no difference.

The correct answer is to the doughnut question is of course that one doughnut cost pack/3.

Oh, yes the 1% is that - at least in theory - those who heavily use imperial (Americans) might have a better grasp or memory for certain fractions than someone who mostly uses a decimal system. Hard to say whether that matters anyway. And once you see American 'engineers' with their 'thou (shouldn't there be an engineering commandment about "thou shalt not use 'thou" or something?) then they are just using a decimal system in a very strange way.
 
KompuKare said:
Indeed.
The whole fractions argument for imperial is around 99% nonsense.
As already mentioned, if we want to use fractions then 1/3m/mm/cm/litre/pound/inch/etc. makes no difference.

The correct answer is to the doughnut question is of course that one doughnut cost pack/3.
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\
But the store doesn't care whether it is a pack/3. It is just an item with a price at the till.
 
Freefaller said:
We have international standards for so many things (I'm an engineer) that makes work / life a lot simpler with global teams and extensive cultural breadth.
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I'm an engineering technician and I work with dozens of engineers. Most of us use imperial as a default, and flip back and forth to metric when needed...
Standardising things does make them easier in some respects but, as evidenced by the persistence of imperial measures, not always the best solution - As an engineer, you'll always choose the best fitting tool for the job, and sometimes that is an imperial measure.

Out of curiosity, are you an advocate for standardising other things as well, such as adopting the Euro?

Freefaller said:
As for motorbikes, it's just a skill you learn to adapt to (besides 90% of the world are right handed - so again, the majority), not really a salient example.
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It was specific to RHD vehicles, and how the controls on both were done the same way for the same reasons. Technically an argument in favour of standardisation, but also an example of why what the majority does won't apply in every situation.

KompuKare said:
Left/right drive is mostly a matter of choice and 90% of the world chose the other side.
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More like 65%, I believe...

KompuKare said:
Metric / imperial is a choice of backwards or forward. A few places have chosen backward!
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Nah, it's just like being bilingual. You use what works best for the situation you're in.
 
Graetzbridge said:
If you buy the whole pack, which is what most people would do, you don't need to do that division.
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KompuKare said:
Indeed.
The whole fractions argument for imperial is around 99% nonsense.
As already mentioned, if we want to use fractions then 1/3m/mm/cm/litre/pound/inch/etc. makes no difference.

The correct answer is to the doughnut question is of course that one doughnut cost pack/3.

Oh, yes the 1% is that - at least in theory - those who heavily use imperial (Americans) might have a better grasp or memory for certain fractions than someone who mostly uses a decimal system. Hard to say whether that matters anyway. And once you see American 'engineers' with their 'thou (shouldn't there be an engineering commandment about "thou shalt not use 'thou" or something?) then they are just using a decimal system in a very strange way.
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Obvs my post was sarcasm, in case that didn't translate to text well. I think that article snip is a load of old rubbish.
 
ttaskmaster said:
I'm an engineering technician and I work with dozens of engineers. Most of us use imperial as a default, and flip back and forth to metric when needed...
Standardising things does make them easier in some respects but, as evidenced by the persistence of imperial measures, not always the best solution - As an engineer, you'll always choose the best fitting tool for the job, and sometimes that is an imperial measure.

Out of curiosity, are you an advocate for standardising other things as well, such as adopting the Euro?
Click to expand...

In the engineering space I work and a lot of the engineering council standards are often metric or SI unit based. Of course there are exceptions to every rule. To be fair to become a chartered engineer you just have to show competence and technical knowledge - if that means using imperial measures because of some old equipment or non-standard stuff then of course there's no issue. However, the hundreds of engineering teams I've worked with across multiple projects (civil / infrastructure / systems) all use metric in all the diagrams, designs, calcs etc... It's just a far more common use these days.

I'd be happy adopting the Euro yes - albeit I'm not an economist or sociopolitical expert, but if that were a non issue and all things being equal yes. Imagine a world where a skilled workforce could work worldwide without having to worry about conforming to a different standard? The airline industry does it well - don't see why it can't work for more things.
 
Absolutely been a design engineer for as long as I can remember (over 30 years) and the only time I have ever used imperial nonsense is pipe fittings. Thankfully even that is being slowly and surely replaced.

Any Tory MP who thinks going back imperial is a good idea is bigger idiot than a normal Tory MP.

Thank heavens the days of BA and Whitworth are left to the folk who fix old motorbikes even then a lot of folk have dropped in helicoils.
 
ttaskmaster said:
I'm an engineering technician and I work with dozens of engineers. Most of us use imperial as a default, and flip back and forth to metric when needed...
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That's certainly not my experience.
I'm an electrical engineer. Have been for fifty years. We didn't use imperial. We had CGS and MKS since my school years in science classes. Then it was SI about the time I qualified. And that's has been ever since. My travels have been far and wide and it was all metric except USA and Myanmar. No, I haven't been to Liberia.
 
ttaskmaster said:
Why would we want to drive on the right, like those backward Imperial-using Americans? Surely the only reason to adopt such a practice is so you can fire guns from wholly inside the car, or simply to be childish and stick it to the Brits from whom you just declared independence?

Most people are right-side dominant - Driving on the left allows the dominant eye to focus on oncoming traffic & keeps the dominant hand on the steering wheel, even when shifting in a car with a manual gearbox. Also, I believe all motorcycles are set up for right-handers, for this very reason of dominant side handling the fine motor controls.
England, Scotland, Australia, Japan, Ireland, Hong Kong, Jamaica, New Zealand, Nepal, Barbados... most of the cool places drive on the left.
It does seem there's a lot of island nations that follow this, though. Maybe that's another factor?
Click to expand...
I think it is is setup like this, so that riders can give hand signals without removing their hands from the primary control, which would suit driving on the right.
 
Graetzbridge said:
That's certainly not my experience.
I'm an electrical engineer. Have been for fifty years. We didn't use imperial. We had CGS and MKS since my school years in science classes. Then it was SI about the time I qualified. And that's has been ever since. My travels have been far and wide and it was all metric except USA and Myanmar. No, I haven't been to Liberia.
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Similar to me (not quite 50 years) but travelled globally as an engineer and have the same experience, imperial was nowhere to be seen other than the USA.
 
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