Do you say "Turn right in 5,604 feet?"

[Xist]

The random German did not seem to care how many stupid feet were in a stupid mile, it was stupid! My German friend acted like a condescending know-it-all when her friend pointed out the guy's mistake.

My dad used to think that after megabyte and gigabyte the next unit would be trilobyte and he thought that would be cool.

I have had people insist that there were twelve ounces in a pound. Technically, yes, but there are not only twelve ounces, there are another four!

[Fat Charlie]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

And the planet accepted the standard almost completely, just 3 countries did not.

And people say we're not exceptional?

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Daschicken

I was always under the impression that there is 5280 feet in a mile, google confirms my suspicion. Am I missing something here?

Sad, but factually true.

[Xist]

Yes, that was part of the point, I do not know that anyone says "Turn right in 5,280 feet," even if someone somehow knew that the turn was 5,604 feet away, why would they be so pedantically precise?

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Xist

Yes, that was part of the point, I do not know that anyone says "Turn right in 5,280 feet," even if someone somehow knew that the turn was 5,604 feet away, why would they be so pedantically precise?

I wonder how Data determines to what level of precision to describe for people? Last night I watched the episode where a senior officer wanted to disassemble him for research purposes. I think I missed that one growing up. Would have been awesome if they worked in "no dis-a-ssem-ble" somewhere in there.

[NeilBlanchard]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

5,600 feet is closer to a mile, and 1000M is exactly 1KM, so they aren't even close to similar distances. I'd say turn in a mile if that's how far the turn was, and I'd say turn in half a mile if that's how far the turn was.

Imperial is a PITA to work with. I'd happily abandon it.

Right 1,000 meters is 3,280 feet 10 1/16th inches, to be more precise.

There are 5,280 feet in a mile, and that is 1,609.344 meters.

5,604 feet is 1 mile and 324 feet.

I work in feet and inches all the time, so I am used to it - but with a little practice, I could easily adapt to metric.

My very first drafting job was to covert a bunch of machine drawings from metric to imperial - and I remember the conversion factor to this day, some 40 years later: 0.03937

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by seifrob

The practicality of metric system lies, I believe, in the fact it is a system. Maybe not as intuitive for everyday life, but ideally suited for science.

Ideally suited for science, yes, where nobody objects if you write numbers in scientific notation, rather than having to remember which stupid prefix to meter means what.

You also have to figure that, outside of science, measuring things in powers of ten is often awkward. Halves, quarters, and eights come more naturally. 12 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6, which makes packaging much neater. Imagine trying to put 5-packs of drinks on a shelf :-)

Originally Posted by RedDevil

You don't need to go to the north pole all the way. Just far enough to measure by how much the position of the stars shifts. The French knew that too, obviously.

Not quite as simple as all that. Quite aside from the fact that few people have precision astronomical gear, you have to figure that the Earth is not a perfect sphere, and Paris is not at sea level. Whereas almost everyone has many people have a pair of legs, and can count :-)

[Xist]

Curious. I am not sure when I last had enough sleep, but I usually use more precision than 2.54 cm per inch, although it took me a while to find anything more precise than that. Then I found 2.5400051 cm.

2.54 cm is adequate for me. 1 / 0.03937 = 25.400051.

Converting different English units is a pain, but from Imperial to Metric can cause your orbiter to crash.

Anyway, I need to figure out how to replace the alternator tensioner bolt on my Accord. Parts stores do not carry it. Either I drive seven hours for $15 or less in parts or I wait a week for shipping.

In theory I could fix my Civic sooner.

I would not bet money on it, though.

[gone-ot]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

Furlongs.

I prefer Roman-British "rate-of-change" Furlongs-per-Fortnite.

[Fat Charlie]

Furlongs per fortnite is actually a measurement of how far I can throw my fourth grader's game controller.

Acceleration is measured in furlongs per fortnight per annum.