How Low Can You Go? Yet another 'I'm Back' topic...
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Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
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written Saturday, September 11 2004 21:43
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That many carbon atoms is 12 grams. You are now enlightened. -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00 |
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...b10010b...
Member # 869
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written Saturday, September 11 2004 21:47
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quote:Not much we can do about this; the length of a day isn't constant, so it can't be used as a standard for scientific measurements. There's really no convenient non-arbitrary standard for time. quote:A litre of water is one kilogram. Your point? quote:The number of atoms in 12 grams of carbon-12, as you probably know already. Making the molar mass of a proton or neutron approximately equal to 1 g/mol has its advantages. Why not use 1 gram of hydrogen-1, you ask? Not sure. I suppose carbon was easier to purify and/or work with. -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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By Committee
Member # 4233
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written Saturday, September 11 2004 22:00
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quote:Realized that after I wrote it - my bad. As for the mole, I'm about 10 years out of high school chemistry, so it's a little fuzzy. :) Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00 |
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Apprentice
Member # 2099
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written Saturday, September 11 2004 22:32
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quote:See, that's just historical revisionism. They're covering up the unseemly parts of Imperial History. The reason why Fahrenheit made the 'mistake' on human body temperature is he didn't measure a human's temperature. He measured a cow's anus temperature. Everyone knows a cow's anus temperature is 2 deg Fahrenheit warmer than the human body temperature. quote:You could either blame that on the switch, or on the fact that people are still using imperial at all. Either way, just deciding one way or the other, rather than staying in a state of limbo would save America a lot of trouble. I read in my 1989 textbook that some states were gradually switching over. Madness. EDIT: stupid spelling mistakes :( [ Saturday, September 11, 2004 22:36: Message edited by: scab ] Posts: 43 | Registered: Wednesday, October 16 2002 07:00 |
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...b10010b...
Member # 869
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written Saturday, September 11 2004 22:33
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Er, that post of mine should have read switch TO the metric system. My bad. :P -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 4778
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written Saturday, September 11 2004 23:21
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The problem is, whenever someone with a Harley Davidson (very popular in Germany) enters the motorcicle workshop, you have to have tools based on inches. Try to get these tools in Germany. Not every workshop owns them. And nearly nobody owns them privately! Every Harley fan has problems here! Btw: I prefer Suzuki or Honda. -------------------- www.bigblue.de.gg BoA graphics and more Posts: 188 | Registered: Monday, July 26 2004 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 2984
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written Saturday, September 11 2004 23:49
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bigblue: This just proves once again that when I read too quickly, I mess things up. When you posted you were waiting for someone to ask for a conversion, I understood you were waiting for someone to *post* a conversion. :P So, yeah. quote:1948 > 2435? :confused: Or what do you refer to? Edit: *wince* okay, rate, not count. Again with the inattentive reading. [ Saturday, September 11, 2004 23:49: Message edited by: Also rather a nutcase. ] -------------------- The Encyclopaedia Ermariana <-- Now a Wiki! "Polaris leers down from the black vault, winking hideously like an insane watching eye which strives to convey some strange message, yet recalls nothing save that it once had a message to convey." --- HP Lovecraft. "I single Aran out due to his nasty temperment, and his superior intellect." --- SupaNik Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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Apprentice
Member # 3004
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written Sunday, September 12 2004 15:20
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American kids are supposed to learn the metric system. However, I can tell you from recent experience with fourth graders that it doesn't work. They spend so much time trying to figure out miles, feet, yards, gallons, quarts, pints, everything that they don't spend long on metric. It doesn't really improve in later grades. -------------------- Sandwichs and Apples. Posts: 19 | Registered: Tuesday, May 20 2003 07:00 |
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Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
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written Sunday, September 12 2004 16:35
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That is because any measurements are basically arbitrary w.r.t. real life. Generally it's difficult to get a good, intuitive sense for what '200 pounds' or '200 kilograms' means without either being born into a society which uses one exclusively or spending years and years working almost exclusively with one or the other. I am fully aware that 15,000,000cm = 150,000 m = 150km, but I couldn't tell you if 150km could get me all the way to Los Angeles, or if 150km towards Seattle wouldn't put me in the Pacific Ocean, at least not off the top of my head. Oppose feet and miles, for which I can get a good, concrete sense at a glance -- not only of distance, but of range, travel time, even mileage -- and you can see why I'd be reluctant to use metrics in everyday life. [ Sunday, September 12, 2004 16:36: Message edited by: Fear Uncertainty and Custer ] -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00 |
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BANNED
Member # 4
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written Sunday, September 12 2004 17:04
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The only country other than the US to use the inch/pound/ounce as a standard for measurement is Libya. Just FYI. -------------------- 私のバラドですそしてころしたいいらればころす Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
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Master
Member # 4614
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written Sunday, September 12 2004 17:27
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 Go Libya! (This, people is actually what the Libyan flag looks like. Complicated.) I know the metric system pretty well. All those prefixes. However, I the trouble is when you have to convert a metric unit into it's Imperial equivalent. Arrrghhhh! -------------------- -ben4808 For those who love to spam: CSM Forums RIFQ Posts: 3360 | Registered: Friday, June 25 2004 07:00 |
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Guardian
Member # 2238
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written Sunday, September 12 2004 17:31
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Go figure... and Libya hates us! Anyway, I don't like measuring things. But when I have to, I prefer the metric system. -------------------- The critics agree! Demonslayer is "a five star hit!" raves TIMES Weekly! "I've never heard such thoughtful comments. This man is a genious!" says two-time Nobel Prize winning physicist Erwin Rasputin! Posts: 1582 | Registered: Wednesday, November 13 2002 08:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 2984
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written Tuesday, September 14 2004 21:03
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Curiously enough, in a fantasy story or roleplay I'll often use other things than the metric system. Imperial sometimes, but occasionally totally made-up measures. It seems to give a more authentic tone to a fantasy setting for some reason. -------------------- The Encyclopaedia Ermariana <-- Now a Wiki! "Polaris leers down from the black vault, winking hideously like an insane watching eye which strives to convey some strange message, yet recalls nothing save that it once had a message to convey." --- HP Lovecraft. "I single Aran out due to his nasty temperment, and his superior intellect." --- SupaNik Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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Babelicious
Member # 3149
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written Tuesday, September 14 2004 21:11
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Measurements are for queens. I couldn't tell you what a foot was if it walked up and bit me in the ass. -------------------- I've got a pyg in a poke. Posts: 999 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00 |
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Agent
Member # 4506
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written Tuesday, September 14 2004 23:00
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quote::mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: Well, If you can't be BOTHERED to convert our EASY monitary system - :mad: use this! Maybe it'll help you convert it with your PRECIOUS US crap. ( I'm not complaing to the US :mad: stuff. 1 dollar is 57 pence, so thats nearly 2 dollars to a pound. It means stuff's cheaper for me!) :D - Archmagi Micael :mad: -------------------- "You dare Trifle with Exile?" - Erika the Archmage -------------------- My Scenarios: Undead Valley : A small Undead problem, what could possibly go wrong? -------------------- Proof of Richard Black's existance: Richard Black - PROOF of his existance (the Infernal one's website). Posts: 1370 | Registered: Thursday, June 10 2004 07:00 |
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By Committee
Member # 4233
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written Wednesday, September 15 2004 04:25
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quote:Only if you're importing from the US, or purchasing US goods from vendors who decide to pass the savings due to the relatively recent weakening of the dollar. Or touring in the US. I'm pretty certain though that you're not. It's also assuming that those US prices haven't increased to compensate for the devaluation, which happens eventually. No one is stupid when it comes to pricing, and currency value fluctuations, especially among currencies as influential as the US dollar, are more than predictable enough to adjust easily. Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00 |
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This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
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written Wednesday, September 15 2004 11:20
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Granted, but for those who like lots of fancy electronic toys and designer clothes and the like, shopping in America has now started to make economic sense since the weak dollar more than makes up for the flight's cost. Imperial measurements still lurk to a surprisingly large extent in British society. They have to, since trying to make my grandparents' generation adapt to metric would drive a psychopathic killer to floods of tears. Keeping road signs in miles per hour means that pensioners don't get confused and go 110mph rather than kph. Things like furlongs only survive in horse racing and the chain (10 in a furlong, 80 in a mile) is regrettably almost entirely gone. The nautical mile or knot is still going strong, since there are few groups so reactionary as sailors. Nevertheless, everybody measures their height in feet and inches and their weight in stones. Although it now displays it on the pump in litres, people still talk of gallons of petrol and as long as milk is delivered in bottles, people will talk of the pint. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Wednesday, September 15 2004 12:03
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quote:Go easy on the smilies! In fact, I believe the trouble is not the new system but the old, completely incomprehensible system. 4 farthings = 1 penny 2 half pennies = 1 penny 2 farthings = 1 half penny 12 pennies = 1 shilling 2 sixpences = 1 shilling 4 threepenses = 1 shilling 20 shillings = 1 pound sterling 21 shillings = 1 guineas 3 third guineas = 1 guineas 5 shillings = 1 crown 2 shillings + 1 sixpence = half crown 100 small unit = 1 larger unit is eminently more reasonable. —Alorael, who is sure he has seen a hilarious comedy skit about that system of currency. There is something truly astounding about any system in which one cannot always use increments of one denomination to reach the next denomination without excess. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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Agent
Member # 618
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written Wednesday, September 15 2004 13:04
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I think the creation of those increments had something more to do with the actual value of things, for example a farthing may be what a loaf of bread cost, while a pound of cheese may cost a thrupence. -------------------- Aut Tace Aut Loquere Meliora Silencio Posts: 1487 | Registered: Sunday, February 10 2002 08:00 |
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Master
Member # 4614
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written Wednesday, September 15 2004 14:23
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Um-Hm. Now people buy more things than just bread and cheese, hence our dollar and cents system. And yes, this is one of the very easiest ways ever to calculate money---of all time. -------------------- -ben4808 For those who love to spam: CSM Forums RIFQ Posts: 3360 | Registered: Friday, June 25 2004 07:00 |
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Guardian
Member # 2238
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written Wednesday, September 15 2004 14:29
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I personally enjoy the barter system. It might have a few problems, but hey, it encourages people to work harder to get what they need. Builds character. -------------------- The critics agree! Demonslayer is "a five star hit!" raves TIMES Weekly! "I've never heard such thoughtful comments. This man is a genious!" says two-time Nobel Prize winning physicist Erwin Rasputin! Posts: 1582 | Registered: Wednesday, November 13 2002 08:00 |
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Agent
Member # 618
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written Wednesday, September 15 2004 14:37
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Yeah. I miss the days when it was actually acceptable to haggle. It built character. It was still in the spirit of "survival of the fittest". You could actually get a decent price for something. Dang it. Bring back haggling! -------------------- Aut Tace Aut Loquere Meliora Silencio Posts: 1487 | Registered: Sunday, February 10 2002 08:00 |
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...b10010b...
Member # 869
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written Wednesday, September 15 2004 15:19
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quote:Maybe, but what's with nickels and dimes? Over here we call a 5-cent coin a 5-cent coin. -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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Babelicious
Member # 3149
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written Wednesday, September 15 2004 17:16
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It's not our fault Australia is the second-most boring nation on earth, second to Canada. Many countries have slang terms for their currency. The US has a wide swath, but the UK has 'quid' at the very least. -------------------- I've got a pyg in a poke. Posts: 999 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 4256
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written Wednesday, September 15 2004 17:45
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quote:Yes the trouble I had was with the old currency system not the new one. As I said in a post previous to the angry response :) . And as for the table of conversion factors- whats a spade guinea? Weren't pounds in there too? As for Australia- don't you guys have a slew of other slangy terms for other stuff though? It always "sounds" more interesting than the Americas but I suppose that reputation can decieve. Posts: 564 | Registered: Wednesday, April 14 2004 07:00 |