Just curious. How many of you work in inches still ? I was forced to go
metric at my technical college when I was being made all clever as an
apprentice. But back at my employers workshop he made me work in inches as "
This metrication is the work of Communists trying to break down our
traditions and enforce their way of thinking ! " The Russians were metric so
it had to be bad. But even though Australia has been fully metric for
roughly 25 years ( it didn't all happen at once ) kids still know that if
someone is 6 feet 8 inches they're tall, and that if someone can run 20
miles that pretty darn fit etc. Brass is still supplied in inch sizes but
quoted in stupid metric conversions - eg, " Sorry mate we dont have any
three eighth diameter brass rod but I can supply 9.525 mm if thats OK ? "

I remember arguing with my grandma about all this as a teenager. She was
reading from an article in the paper which had a conversion chart from
inches to millimetres. " So they reckon this will make things easier. How
can anyone say that 25.4 mm is easier to say than one inch ?!! " she'd ask.
I tried pointing out that she was looking at the whole thing the wrong way
round. I got so fed up I said " I suppose your amazed that just enough news
occurs in the world each day to fill a neswpaper without leaving any gaps
then ." She looked at me over her glasses and said " Well now you're just
being silly ! "

Dean.

Dean wrote:

Just curious. How many of you work in inches still ? I was forced to go
metric at my technical college when I was being made all clever as an
apprentice. But back at my employers workshop he made me work in inches as "
This metrication is the work of Communists trying to break down our
traditions and enforce their way of thinking ! " The Russians were metric so
it had to be bad. But even though Australia has been fully metric for
roughly 25 years ( it didn't all happen at once ) kids still know that if
someone is 6 feet 8 inches they're tall, and that if someone can run 20
miles that pretty darn fit etc. Brass is still supplied in inch sizes but
quoted in stupid metric conversions - eg, " Sorry mate we dont have any
three eighth diameter brass rod but I can supply 9.525 mm if thats OK ? "

I'm mugging up on military standards for a job interview next week and
was intrigued to find that all the US MIL STDs I downloaded now use
metric exclusively, and have 'Metric' written on the front page.

Leon
--
Leon Heller, G1HSM
Email:
My low-cost Philips LPC210x ARM development system:
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller/lpc2104.html

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 15:09:32 +0800, "Dean"
wrote:

Just curious. How many of you work in inches still ? I was forced to go
metric at my technical college when I was being made all clever as an
apprentice. But back at my employers workshop he made me work in inches as "
This metrication is the work of Communists trying to break down our
traditions and enforce their way of thinking ! " The Russians were metric so
it had to be bad. But even though Australia has been fully metric for
roughly 25 years ( it didn't all happen at once ) kids still know that if
someone is 6 feet 8 inches they're tall, and that if someone can run 20
miles that pretty darn fit etc. Brass is still supplied in inch sizes but
quoted in stupid metric conversions - eg, " Sorry mate we dont have any
three eighth diameter brass rod but I can supply 9.525 mm if thats OK ? "

I remember arguing with my grandma about all this as a teenager. She was
reading from an article in the paper which had a conversion chart from
inches to millimetres. " So they reckon this will make things easier. How
can anyone say that 25.4 mm is easier to say than one inch ?!! " she'd ask.
I tried pointing out that she was looking at the whole thing the wrong way
round. I got so fed up I said " I suppose your amazed that just enough news
occurs in the world each day to fill a neswpaper without leaving any gaps
then ." She looked at me over her glasses and said " Well now you're just
being silly ! "

Dean.

Virtually every machine shop I service machines in, still uses inches,
not metric. Even when cutting to metric dimensions. They simply
convert to decimal inches.

Southern California.

Gunner

"To be civilized is to restrain the ability to commit mayhem.
To be incapable of committing mayhem is not the mark of the civilized,
merely the domesticated." - Trefor Thomas

Dean wrote:
Just curious. How many of you work in inches still ? I was forced to go
metric at my technical college when I was being made all clever as an
apprentice. But back at my employers workshop he made me work in inches as "
This metrication is the work of Communists trying to break down our
traditions and enforce their way of thinking ! " The Russians were metric so
it had to be bad. But even though Australia has been fully metric for
roughly 25 years ( it didn't all happen at once ) kids still know that if
someone is 6 feet 8 inches they're tall, and that if someone can run 20
miles that pretty darn fit etc. Brass is still supplied in inch sizes but
quoted in stupid metric conversions - eg, " Sorry mate we dont have any
three eighth diameter brass rod but I can supply 9.525 mm if thats OK ? "

I remember arguing with my grandma about all this as a teenager. She was
reading from an article in the paper which had a conversion chart from
inches to millimetres. " So they reckon this will make things easier. How
can anyone say that 25.4 mm is easier to say than one inch ?!! " she'd ask.
I tried pointing out that she was looking at the whole thing the wrong way
round. I got so fed up I said " I suppose your amazed that just enough news
occurs in the world each day to fill a neswpaper without leaving any gaps
then ." She looked at me over her glasses and said " Well now you're just
being silly ! "

Sheet metal and printed circuit board work
are both done in inches with a decimal
fraction. The printed circuit board software
often needs to handle components on metric
centers. It can be a pain getting things back
and forth from the inch grid to the metric
grid.

Wire and cable, inches and fractions on the
assembly drawing, inches and decimal fractions
in the inventory software.

Machine work, test fixtures etc, inches with
decimal fraction.

Circuit noise calculations, sensor calibration,
color temperature, degress kelvin. Environmental
testing, degrees centigrade. The one non-metric
scale I'd be pleased to do away with is temperature.

Some screw terminals and laptop style hard drives
and cd-rom players are metric.

"Dean" wrote in message


Just curious. How many of you work in inches still ?
Dean.

Well here in Canada we are suppose to be using the Metric system. I'm 39
years old and halfway through school started learning metric. Now it
seems like I'm a mixture of the two systems. Linear measurement I use
imperial but when I think driving speed and distance I mentally think in
metric. Like if I'm going to Windsor from my house Its slightly more
than 100 kms and since I'll be driving 110-120 kms/hour Its easy to
figure the trip will take an hour. But when I think about temperature I
use farenheit. Celcius seems like to small a scale. A 1 or 2 degree
change in farenheit is no big deal but in celcius the difference is
quite large.

Of course industrial here doesn't seem to quick to change. Our company
is running a specail right now on metric/imperial tape measures and
sales is slow cause one side of the tpae is useless to use cause it got
all though weird metric markings on it. Seems like it'll take years and
years and years to change over.


--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

In article ,
says...
Just curious. How many of you work in inches still ?

Metric at work, inches at home on my hobby machines.
We changed over at work in 1978. Lots of fun for a few months, sitting
around with a calculator converting measurements. I still have .03937
embedded in what little brain I have left. After a lot of calculation
errors, management sprung for new dro's. That pretty much took care of
the manual machines. Sitting at a bench converting measurements on a
complicated print isn't how to get anything done.

Lets face it, whats the difference?
Inches are bigger than mm. Decimal inches and decimal mm are handled in
exactly the same way. The biggest arguement is fractions. Metric rarely uses
them.
Other than that it's all down to what we are familiar with. People can
imagine a man who is 6 ft tall because they are used to that.
We (UK) used to be imperial. we even had strange money called shillings and
pence. That was really cruel but some folks missed it when we went metric.
Could you Americans manage with 20 bigthings to the dollar and 12
littlethings per bigthing? Your money is metric, so are the number of your
fingers and the design of your numbers. All we have to do is get used to the
units. The base 10 system works far better.

John

Canada was mandated to be completely metric by 1980. It didn't happen.
I use both systems when fabricating steel work. Metric is by far less
error prone. So far in Canada fasteners for structural are still inch
threads.
A proper metric tape is hard to come by. The most confusing thing
about metric is people wanting to use centimetres and metres. I quickly
learned from the European tradesmen that you stuck with millimetres even if
the thing was 20,000 long.
The final argument I have for metric is that the majority of the world
uses metric. There are only a few countries holding out.
I have lost count of the number of jobs that have been screwed up by
someone deciding that they will convert the drawings or material lists to
inches and feet. Use one system or the other. Don't start mixing things
up.

Randy


"Doug Arthurs" wrote in message
news:10ae21da742cf6501148bb3e5dc9bdb0.122965@mygat e.mailgate.org...
"Dean" wrote in message


Just curious. How many of you work in inches still ?
Dean.

Well here in Canada we are suppose to be using the Metric system. I'm 39
years old and halfway through school started learning metric. Now it
seems like I'm a mixture of the two systems. Linear measurement I use
imperial but when I think driving speed and distance I mentally think in
metric. Like if I'm going to Windsor from my house Its slightly more
than 100 kms and since I'll be driving 110-120 kms/hour Its easy to
figure the trip will take an hour. But when I think about temperature I
use farenheit. Celcius seems like to small a scale. A 1 or 2 degree
change in farenheit is no big deal but in celcius the difference is
quite large.

Of course industrial here doesn't seem to quick to change. Our company
is running a specail right now on metric/imperial tape measures and
sales is slow cause one side of the tpae is useless to use cause it got
all though weird metric markings on it. Seems like it'll take years and
years and years to change over.


--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

"John Manders" wrote in message
...
Lets face it, whats the difference?
Inches are bigger than mm. Decimal inches and decimal mm are handled in
exactly the same way. The biggest arguement is fractions. Metric rarely
uses
them.
Other than that it's all down to what we are familiar with. People can
imagine a man who is 6 ft tall because they are used to that.
We (UK) used to be imperial. we even had strange money called shillings
and
pence. That was really cruel but some folks missed it when we went metric.
Could you Americans manage with 20 bigthings to the dollar and 12
littlethings per bigthing? Your money is metric, so are the number of your
fingers and the design of your numbers. All we have to do is get used to
the
units. The base 10 system works far better.

John


The fact that Metric is a base 10 system doesn't make a great deal of sense
in the computer world. Fractions are a lot easier to use in inches than in
metric simply because we tend to use a de facto binary methods with them. In
other words, it's easier to think in absolute terms with fractions than
discrete units. You'd think that the metric system could have anticipated
this, but the introduction was too early in relation to the timing of
widespread personal use of the device. A shame. Eighth of a millimeter
anyone?

One of the early problems, way back when US tried to switch, was with
the machines. Before DRO, when you only used the hand wheels on a lathe
or mill, they were in inches. So you had to convert all dims on the
paper drawing, or buy a new machine with metric dials. So most of us had
to use both metric and inches at the same time. But I guess the one you
learned first or grew up with will be dominant.
--
Billy Hiebert
HIEBERT SCULPTURE WORKS
Small Part Injection Molding
http://www.hieberts.com

Dean wrote:

Just curious. How many of you work in inches still ? I was forced to go
metric at my technical college when I was being made all clever as an
apprentice. But back at my employers workshop he made me work in inches as "
This metrication is the work of Communists trying to break down our
traditions and enforce their way of thinking ! " The Russians were metric so
it had to be bad. But even though Australia has been fully metric for
roughly 25 years ( it didn't all happen at once ) kids still know that if
someone is 6 feet 8 inches they're tall, and that if someone can run 20
miles that pretty darn fit etc. Brass is still supplied in inch sizes but
quoted in stupid metric conversions - eg, " Sorry mate we dont have any
three eighth diameter brass rod but I can supply 9.525 mm if thats OK ? "

I remember arguing with my grandma about all this as a teenager. She was
reading from an article in the paper which had a conversion chart from
inches to millimetres. " So they reckon this will make things easier. How
can anyone say that 25.4 mm is easier to say than one inch ?!! " she'd ask.
I tried pointing out that she was looking at the whole thing the wrong way
round. I got so fed up I said " I suppose your amazed that just enough news
occurs in the world each day to fill a neswpaper without leaving any gaps
then ." She looked at me over her glasses and said " Well now you're just
being silly ! "

Dean.

The Russians were metric so it had to be bad.
The meter was defined in 1889 ... so long before the russian revolution!

Gunner wrote

Virtually every machine shop I service machines in, still uses inches,
not metric. Even when cutting to metric dimensions. They simply
convert to decimal inches.

That's the way it is, and its an expensive exercise to convert
machines or buy replacements. Easy options - move manufacturing to
Asia where they have already got metric machines. Happened in
Australia and its happening in the USA as we speak.

Globalisation - metrification - free trade, all terms meaning screw
the worker, profits are all that matter to these guys and they'll tell
you all sorts of stories to hide the real agenda. The agenda -
employ the guy for the least cost. Thatcher and Reagan are not heros!

Glenn
www.metalbashatorium.com

I'm American and proud of it! Going metric is the same as bending down and
kissing Europe's feet. I felt the very same way when the idiots in our military
adopted the 9mm as an official service round. I'll take a .45ACP anyday!

I'd rather it be Soviet/Russian, unfortunately metric is a French
contrivance.

F the Frenchies, Triumph the Insult Dog my hero!


"Reto" wrote in message
om...
The Russians were metric so it had to be bad.
The meter was defined in 1889 ... so long before the russian revolution!

In article ,
Gunner wrote:
On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 15:09:32 +0800, "Dean"
wrote:

Just curious. How many of you work in inches still ? I was forced to go
metric at my technical college when I was being made all clever as an
apprentice. But back at my employers workshop he made me work in inches as "

[ ... ]

Virtually every machine shop I service machines in, still uses inches,
not metric. Even when cutting to metric dimensions. They simply
convert to decimal inches.

Hmm ... I work in both -- whatever fits the need. (And I keep a
calculator handy. :-)

But when I want to do relatively precise work on my little
Compact-5/CNC, I will convert everything to metric, because the smallest
step size in inches is 0.001", while metric has the smallest step size
at 0.01mm (which is 0.000394").

In particular, diameters are specified in those units, but
because it is really the radial motion which is controlled, not the
direct diameter, you have to specify diameters in steps of 0.002", or
0.02mm -- so working in metric lets me specify to slightly smaller than
0.001", while I am stuck with 0.002" in inch mode. (I can't switch back
and forth within a single program.) There is a switch on the front
panel, which defines all units and programs to be inch or metric, with
no switching in the middle. (And higher resolution is not available, as
the leadscrews are driven by stepper motors and full-step controllers.)
(Well ... I could replace with higher resolution steppers, or with
servo motors and encoders -- but then I would also have to replace the
controller, as there are not enough digits to handle finer units.

On the Clausing, however, I normally work to inch dimensions, as
the dials are all calibrated in inch units. (Though I can (and do, from
time to time) turn to a metric diameter on the inch machine. Threads
are another kettle of fish, however. I do have the metric gear set,
including the alternate spider that it requires, but I normally take
anything which requires metric threads to the Compact-5/CNC, where the y
are trivial.

Enjoy,
DoN.
--
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

Quite so too. But he wasn't concerned with details like that. For instance,
because of the war he steadfastly refused to buy anything Japanese if he
could possibly avoid it. Looking back now, I admire him for those things
even though at the time I thought he was just a stubborn old mule. He had a
good argument for the superiority of Imperial measurements over Metric. He
said " Look, you go one inch then half an inch then a quarter then an eighth
then a sixteenth etc etc. Each time you double your resolution until it is
sufficent for the precision required. " I still think this argument has
merits.

Dean.

"Reto" wrote in message
om...
The Russians were metric so it had to be bad.
The meter was defined in 1889 ... so long before the russian revolution!

It's a pity the GM cars I work on now require me to have metric tools.

Oh well.

I got new sockets and wrenches and got of it.

Nuf said.

"GMasterman" wrote in message
...
I'm American and proud of it! Going metric is the same as bending down and
kissing Europe's feet. I felt the very same way when the idiots in our
military
adopted the 9mm as an official service round. I'll take a .45ACP anyday!

I too am an American, more explicitly a U.S. citizen. And I am proud
of it too.
But don't think that using English units and kissing Englands feet is
better than using metric and kissing Europes feet. Besides I was an
Electrical Engineer and all the electric stuff is metric. Kilovolts,
gigahertz.

IIRC the U.S. has officially been on the metric standard since before
I was born.

Dan

(GMasterman) wrote in message ...
I'm American and proud of it! Going metric is the same as bending down and
kissing Europe's feet. I felt the very same way when the idiots in our military
adopted the 9mm as an official service round. I'll take a .45ACP anyday!

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 15:09:32 +0800, "Dean"
vaguely proposed a theory
.......and in reply I say!:

I don't reckon your grandma is being any less sensible than the tube
and pipe makers are now with their "metric" sizing. I have had people
on metal and irrigation shops quite blandly tell me that 40mm is 1.5",
or 30mm is 1", and even further off than that.

Also, in the cases where they decided to keep the dies, you _do_ have
to ask for 25.4mm.

I remember arguing with my grandma about all this as a teenager. She was
reading from an article in the paper which had a conversion chart from
inches to millimetres. " So they reckon this will make things easier. How
can anyone say that 25.4 mm is easier to say than one inch ?!! " she'd ask.
I tried pointing out that she was looking at the whole thing the wrong way
round. I got so fed up I said " I suppose your amazed that just enough news
occurs in the world each day to fill a neswpaper without leaving any gaps
then ." She looked at me over her glasses and said " Well now you're just
being silly ! "

Dean.


************************************************** ** sorry

..........no I'm not!
remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Spike....Spike? Hello?

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 07:17:08 -0800, "Boomer" wrote:
The fact that Metric is a base 10 system doesn't make a great deal of sense
in the computer world. Fractions are a lot easier to use in inches than in
metric simply because we tend to use a de facto binary methods with them. In
other words, it's easier to think in absolute terms with fractions than
discrete units.

Right. Having a base where integer division is simple and intuitive does
help. Base 2 is simplest, but having a base with several integer factors,
such as base 12, base 16, base 36, or base 60 also has great advantages.
Base 10 is actually sort of lame.

There's good reason why decimal hours never caught on. There's also
excellent reason why grads never replaced degrees for angular measurement.
Base 10 units just don't fit well with ordinary notions of time or angular
displacement.

Gary

In article , Gary Coffman says...

There's good reason why decimal hours never caught on.

Ha ha. When I was working as a tech at a university
electronics shop, the pencil pushers decreed that all
time cards were to be filled out in tenths of hours
from now on. To make the acounting for time more
accurate and save money.

We all commented that this was indeed kind of lame.
The shop manager concurred, and said, "just round
them *up* to the nearest 0.5 hour." I think
he might have also said '****-em' but then might
have been my trick ear.

Jim

==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

What many people forget is that metric isn't based on anything more
accurate than English measurements are. They laugh when they say a
yard is from nose to fingers or a foot is a, well, foot.

A 1 ten millionth (or whatever) fraction of the earth's circumference
surely isn't any more accurate?

And, by the way, have you been keeping your clocks updated with all
the leap seconds that have been added?

On Sun, 22 Feb 2004 19:48:34 GMT, Jim K wrote:
What many people forget is that metric isn't based on anything more
accurate than English measurements are. They laugh when they say a
yard is from nose to fingers or a foot is a, well, foot.

A 1 ten millionth (or whatever) fraction of the earth's circumference
surely isn't any more accurate?

No we havent forgotten it. In fact I tell my students all the time about the original basis for the meter. Thats not the piont. The point is how all the different units
fit together in a simple and logical system. If you just want to use a single unit by itself, it makes no difference if you callet it inch meter och gooddlely. But is
there any sence in having a multitude of different units for length inch, foot, yard, mile, and so on. Lets stick to one (meter). (Dont tell me millimeters and meters
are different units, they are not)
What annoys me is that bicycles have a few inch units in them still, meaning I have to get an extra set of taps and dies (metal content)
Henning

henning wrote:


No we havent forgotten it. In fact I tell my students all the time about the original basis for the meter. Thats not the piont. The point is how all the different units
fit together in a simple and logical system. If you just want to use a single unit by itself, it makes no difference if you callet it inch meter och gooddlely. But is
there any sence in having a multitude of different units for length inch, foot, yard, mile, and so on. Lets stick to one (meter). (Dont tell me millimeters and meters
are different units, they are not)
What annoys me is that bicycles have a few inch units in them still, meaning I have to get an extra set of taps and dies (metal content)
Henning

The thing that realy BUGGS me is the use of the MKS or CGS
systems Why in the name of didn' they
at least be consistent and use the REAL UNITS ie. Meter Gram Those
are the UNITS not some multiple.
...lew...

"Lewis Hartswick" wrote in message
...
The thing that realy BUGGS me is the use of the MKS or CGS
systems Why in the name of didn' they
at least be consistent and use the REAL UNITS ie. Meter Gram Those
are the UNITS not some multiple.

But Lew, the standard mass unit (kilogram) is an actual platinum-rhodium
cylinder... come on, if you're starting a standard, and you're French, why
would you be stuck with a teensy gram of the stuff? Gotta be the bigger
one! ;-)

Tim

--
"I have misplaced my pants." - Homer Simpson | Electronics,
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --+ Metalcasting
and Games: http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms

We in New Zealand chanced to metric in 1966. As a shop teacher I had
to learn fast. All inch rules were withdrawn and we were supplied
with metric graduated dials for all machine tools. No youngsters of
today have heard of inches and if they have, dont understand what they
are.

I tried an experiment the other day, I tried to tell present day
students about the imperial system. They just could not comprehend
that anyone would be stupid enough to have yards divided by 3 to give
feet divided by 12 to give inches and inches divided into eights etc.
It just appeared completly
illogical. I did not tell them that after nearly 40 years I still use
imperial
micrometers as that is what I got used to as a youngster and I can
visulise
thousandths of an inch better than the 2 hundrenths of a mm it equals.
I guess I am just too lazy to practice and get used to it.

I remember in the '70s when they tried to convert us and failed
miserably. I learned to machine in inches and I also learned how to
convert. I would have no problem changing but almost all my customers
deal in inches. I have had a few loons come in and try to tell me that
metric is more accurate or better. These false statements taught to
the kids annoy me. People are amazed when I tell them that the meter
is based on the circumference of the earth and that they got it wrong.
I believe for the good of AMERICA's future we probably should change.
But the rebel in me remembers what my mother use to say, "Just
because so and so jumps off a bridge doesn't mean you have to". Neal





"Dean" wrote in message ...
Just curious. How many of you work in inches still ? I was forced to go
metric at my technical college when I was being made all clever as an
apprentice. But back at my employers workshop he made me work in inches as "
This metrication is the work of Communists trying to break down our
traditions and enforce their way of thinking ! " The Russians were metric so
it had to be bad. But even though Australia has been fully metric for
roughly 25 years ( it didn't all happen at once ) kids still know that if
someone is 6 feet 8 inches they're tall, and that if someone can run 20
miles that pretty darn fit etc. Brass is still supplied in inch sizes but
quoted in stupid metric conversions - eg, " Sorry mate we dont have any
three eighth diameter brass rod but I can supply 9.525 mm if thats OK ? "

I remember arguing with my grandma about all this as a teenager. She was
reading from an article in the paper which had a conversion chart from
inches to millimetres. " So they reckon this will make things easier. How
can anyone say that 25.4 mm is easier to say than one inch ?!! " she'd ask.
I tried pointing out that she was looking at the whole thing the wrong way
round. I got so fed up I said " I suppose your amazed that just enough news
occurs in the world each day to fill a neswpaper without leaving any gaps
then ." She looked at me over her glasses and said " Well now you're just
being silly ! "

Dean.

A 1 ten millionth (or whatever) fraction of the earth's circumference
surely isn't any more accurate?

Since 1983 a meter is a 1/299'792'458 of the distance light travels in
one second.
And by the way, one second is is the duration of 9'192'631'770 periods
of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two
hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.
So it is more accurate... well, I admit you can't check it out by
yourself, you have to belive some scientist's work...

"Reto" wrote in message
om...
So it is more accurate... well, I admit you can't check it out by
yourself, you have to belive some scientist's work...

Accuracy, shmackuracy. Take a few million barley corns and average their
length. Viola, instant 1/3 inch (per corn) reference that's as accurate.
Need more decimal points? Take a larger sample.
:-)

Tim

--
"I have misplaced my pants." - Homer Simpson | Electronics,
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --+ Metalcasting
and Games: http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms

On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 14:59:09 -0600, "Tim Williams" wrote:
"Reto" wrote in message
om...
So it is more accurate... well, I admit you can't check it out by
yourself, you have to belive some scientist's work...

Accuracy, shmackuracy. Take a few million barley corns and average their
length. Viola, instant 1/3 inch (per corn) reference that's as accurate.
Need more decimal points? Take a larger sample.
:-)

Tim
Now that the discussion has turned into nonsense, what is an inch anyway? We know what a meter is, (as excactly as todays technology allows) but what is the
definition of an inch? Please dont tell me to google, I just came up with : an inch is one twelvth of a foo. As for foot it revealed that it is 12 inches. Very
enlightening..
Henning

On Sun, 22 Feb 2004 21:55:00 -0600, "Tim Williams"
wrote:



But Lew, the standard mass unit (kilogram) is an actual platinum-rhodium
cylinder... come on, if you're starting a standard, and you're French, why
would you be stuck with a teensy gram of the stuff? Gotta be the bigger
one! ;-)

Tim
How about using the giga gram as a standard and see how many people
borrow your standard mass, and forget where it came from.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

"henning" wrote in message
...
instant 1/3 inch (per corn) reference

... but what is the definition of an inch?

^^^ Originally it was three barley corns end-to-end. They are a reasonably
regular natural um, seed?

Tim

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Doug wrote:

We in New Zealand chanced to metric in 1966. As a shop teacher I had
to learn fast. All inch rules were withdrawn and we were supplied
with metric graduated dials for all machine tools. No youngsters of
today have heard of inches and if they have, dont understand what they
are.

I tried an experiment the other day, I tried to tell present day
students about the imperial system. They just could not comprehend
that anyone would be stupid enough to have yards divided by 3 to give
feet divided by 12 to give inches and inches divided into eights etc.
It just appeared completly
illogical. I did not tell them that after nearly 40 years I still use
imperial
micrometers as that is what I got used to as a youngster and I can
visulise
thousandths of an inch better than the 2 hundrenths of a mm it equals.
I guess I am just too lazy to practice and get used to it.

Funny thing I heard, is they are having to teach kids the imperial
measurement system in school again. Too many troubles dealing with
legacy issues, like the fact that about 1/3 of Canada (or so) is laid
out on a 1 mile by 2 mile grid, and then there's the blueprints for that
heritage house rebuild, that nobody can understand....:-)
The imperial measures will never completely go away, so everybody might
just as well learn both. It always astonishes me to hear people that
spend so much time learning new, usefull skills, start frothing at the
mouth when asked to deal with something as simple as the metric system.
It's simple enough to convert, if you must.

Cheers
Trevor Jones

Tim Williams wrote:

"Lewis Hartswick" wrote in message
...
The thing that realy BUGGS me is the use of the MKS or CGS
systems Why in the name of didn' they
at least be consistent and use the REAL UNITS ie. Meter Gram Those
are the UNITS not some multiple.

But Lew, the standard mass unit (kilogram) is an actual platinum-rhodium
cylinder... come on, if you're starting a standard, and you're French, why
would you be stuck with a teensy gram of the stuff? Gotta be the bigger
one! ;-)

Tim

--
"I have misplaced my pants." - Homer Simpson | Electronics,
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and Games: http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms

There may well be a "standard" kilogram but it isn't THE UNIT. By
definition a
kilo of something is 1000 of the units.
The French, Go figure. :-)
...lew...

Now that the discussion has turned into nonsense, what is an inch anyway?
Surprise: the inch seem to be defined as a multiple of the meter...
(from http://www.npl.co.uk/length/faqs/general.html)
The (international) inch has been exactly 25.4 mm since July 1959. At
this point in time the (international) yard was redefined as 0.9144
metre - until this time the ratio between the US yard and the metre
was different to the ratio between the UK yard and the metre. For more
information see Engineering Metrology by K J Hume (2 ed) Macdonald
London 1967. The American inch changed by 2 millionths of an inch and
the UK inch by 1.7 millionths of an inch. The international inch falls
mid way between the old UK and US inch.
Which inch are you using today?...

There may well be a "standard" kilogram but it isn't THE UNIT. By
definition a
kilo of something is 1000 of the units.
The French, Go figure. :-)
...lew...
Wrong
The UNIT for mass is the kilogram. Yes I know it litterally means 1000 gram but that is still the case. Silly yes, but never the less...
As for the inch either being 3 seeds or a number of millimeters, thats totally whacky
Henning

"henning" wrote in message
...
As for the inch either being 3 seeds or a number of millimeters, thats
totally whacky

- The current official definition is 25.4 milimeters (2.54cm, etc...).
That's because USA, like the lot of 'em, is officially metric. We just kept
imperial because we'z teh lazy.

Tim

--
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"Reto" wrote in message
m...
Which inch are you using today?...

OH NO! My 1958 guage blocks are off by 1 millionth!

Oh well, I'll heat 'em in the palm of my hand for a second... there we go.

;-)

Tim (now if only I had any blocks)

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henning wrote:

Now that the discussion has turned into nonsense, what is an inch anyway?

It was re-defined some years ago to be _exactly_ 0.0254meters.

Ted

On Tue, 24 Feb 2004 19:04:45 GMT, the renowned Ted Edwards
wrote:

henning wrote:

Now that the discussion has turned into nonsense, what is an inch anyway?

It was re-defined some years ago to be _exactly_ 0.0254meters.

Ted

And the meter/metre has been redefined a number of times:
http://www1.bipm.org/en/si/history-s...ion_metre.html


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
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