I watched a fascinating science program last, night on BBC 2 Television called "Orbit".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xztbr
It is part of a series of programs describing the wonders of the Planet Earth.
Last night's episode explained the Earth's journey around the Sun, and how the "spin" of the Earth affects the weather around us.
A wonderful, easy to understand, (unusual!) well presented program by two young female enthusiasts, (without a dearth of fancy computer graphics and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra playing in the background!).
It was a thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening program, involving the weather, which as Flight Enthusiasts, (and Motorcyclists!) we are all involved, and interested in!

The never-ending problem for me, as in all such programs, is the fact that all the measurements are given in Metric details, whereas I was brought up in the World of Imperial Measurements.
Distances and temperatures, etc, in Metres, Kilometres, Centigrade, etc, are a foreign language to me as someone who is more familiar with Feet, Inches, Miles, Fahrenheit, etc!
I am constantly trying to convert the quoted measurements from Metric into Imperial, to try and get a grasp on the distances, etc, involved.
...and by the time I have worked it out out on my fingers, they have moved onto something else!... ...!
The speed of the Earth spinning, or travelling, in Kilometres per Hour, means nothing to me, when I want so know the speed in Miles per Hour (which appears on the speedometer on my Motorbike)!
And distances, or height, in Metres or Kilometres, leaves me with a blank expression!
It will always spoil my enjoyment, and understanding of such interesting programs and general information.

To that end, I wonder how many of my elderly Flight Sim Chums are still bound by our familiar Imperial Measurement system, whereas the Metric System appears to us in the form of Egyptian Hieroglyphics!... ...!

Paul....Measuring the Marigolds...(in feet and inches)... ...!

I'm *% yrs old born in 19$* so my fomative years were imperial. Background in engineering and Art Metal Work forced me to adopt metric.....what a blessing, so much easier. Glad I am fluent with both though.

I once had to teach a dyslexic Turkish Gentleman (language issues) how to add/subtract/multiply imperial fractions, covering vulgar fractions and the need to reduce to the lowest common denominator......a nightmare but we fortunately remained friends. He was right though "you English are bloody mad"

Hagar wrote on Mar 5^th, 2012 at 9:17am:


Now browsing through this made me feel very much; "at home"...>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_customary_units

Paul...with a  Rod, Pole, Perch, and Chain.......!

The Units may be archaic...but they all sound so comforting and nice!... ... ...!

Don't you just love it!...>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_units

I'm blessed in that after nearly a decade in Eastern Europe I trip backwards and forwards without trouble.
My wife does sometimes get confused by me referring to measurements in "Church of England"

In my Design Draughtsman days, anyone who used the measurement "Centimetre" would immediately get thrown out of the premises.
Only 2 measurements are allowed in design circles (or anything else!); Millimetres and Metres...NEVER Centimetres!

Paul....Electrical/Electronic Design Draughtsman, Retired... ...!

Interesting note: The holes in the walls for doors and windows, etc, in old buildings are in Imperial Inches, but modern doors and window frames to fit them are manufactured in Metric Millimetres...so there's always a bit of a problem!.. ...!

machineman9 wrote on Mar 5^th, 2012 at 7:06pm:


Nope...
...but I do suffer from the Coriolis Effect after a really hot Madras Curry!... ...!

Paul... ....!

I remember in grade school, they were really pushing metric conversion as the new way to go over here in America, really trying to get us used to it.  Now 20 years later, you can see how well that worked for them...

(still driving 70 MPH)

Fozzer wrote on Mar 5^th, 2012 at 7:52pm:



It was my spell Chequer, Paul.

Mictheslik wrote on Mar 6^th, 2012 at 7:59pm:


You wont win, until all we; "Oldies" are dead, Mic... ... ...!

(..and all our Road Signs are in Kilometres)... ...!

Paul....3 and 5/16th's of an Inch..... ...!

32/64th's is also 1/2... ...!

Being proud upstanding men I guess there's always one measurement that will forever be imperial.

Fozzer wrote on Mar 7^th, 2012 at 5:39am:




Tip of the day:  always round up.

Hagar wrote on Mar 7^th, 2012 at 4:20am:

Wasn't there a fine example with NASA where the engineers were talking imperial, and the scientists were talking metric, and the two didn't quite translate properly, and one of their missions went a bit sour?


Thankfully, everything I do is in metric - physics is metric, maths is usually metric, electronics was based on physics (so metric) and technology used metric in their tools/CAD CAM machines/rulers.

I love the metric system 

Dear Fozzer: being a fellow motorcyclist, I recommend my method to deal with speedometers in kph/mph or vice versa: just remove the darn thing, like I did in my bike

While you are at it, go ahead and remove the mirrors too: after all "what comes behind really does not matter" (first rule of the Italian driver)