|
At one time atmospheric pressure was quoted in inches of mercury, then it was in millimetres of mercury, then it was in millibars, and soon it will be in hectopascals. That will confuse the hoi polloi. tinyurl.com/c25y8kq
|
Well, it's already confused me.
Pat
|
|
They'll be suggesting filling our cars/lorries with litres of fuel then measuring consumption in miles per gallon next.
Last edited by: Focus on Tue 3 Apr 12 at 13:55
|
>> That will confuse the hoi polloi. >> ...
.... especially those used to or still using Imperial units. They won't know whether the hP in hPa refers to horse power, hectopascals, hoi polloi, or hp sauce.
Miliband's press officer will have fewer clippings about millibars to give to Ed.
|
|
I met Hecto Pascals once: seemed a nice guy.
Last edited by: madf on Tue 3 Apr 12 at 14:07
|
>> .... especially those used to or still using Imperial units.
In modern parlance, I can (and do) mix and match.
:-)
|
It's inches for me.
28 is very low, 31 is very high, 29-30 are in the middle.
That means "Changeable", which is all you need to know about British weather forecasting.
|
I do wish the BBC would make its mind up. They very often have commentaries that talk about kilometres (which they pronounce in one of two ways, sometimes in the same programme) and then a few minutes later tell you some other measurement in feet or whatever.
I'm afraid I have to "do the maths" for the metric ones, and by the time I've flipped it into something imperial I can visualise they've long since moved on and I've missed something.
Conversely, I'm still cursed with automatically and without thinking converting prices into pounds, shillings, and pence, so am forever astonished that a Mars bar is now 15 bob or whatever.
|
|
SFAIK it is actually illegal to use metric measurement of distance on road signs However the Met Office muddle things up by giving us rainfall and snow depth in cms and then wind speeds in mph - no wonder my brain hurts!
|
"They very often have commentaries that talk about kilometres (which they pronounce in one of two ways, sometimes in the same programme"
BBC guest today pronounced data in two different ways in the same sentence!! (like pater, and father, loosely)
|
|
Good luck with getting them to accept the word data is plural.
|
"Good luck with getting them to accept the word data is plural."
That's because it isn't any more.
|
We can put that on the agendum for our next pedant's's's' meeting if you like.
|
Hecto and deca are unit multipliers for bored teachers.
Sensible folk use the unit and the appropriate order of ten.
Plus, Pascal was a French bod they decided to honour. When I started learning metric, the unit was N/m2 (squared). Much more sensible.
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Tue 3 Apr 12 at 14:50
|
|
The aviation world is another good example of mixing and matching. Vertical distances in feet, vertical speeds in feet per minute, horizontal distances in kilometres, and horizontal speed in knots......
|
|
As speed is measured in Nautical miles per hour (Knots) I think it more likely that distances are measured in Nautical miles too. Certainly air traffic refer to being "At 6 Miles Finals" "One aircraft 2 miles ahead" etc not Kms
Last edited by: Meldrew on Tue 3 Apr 12 at 16:27
|
|
true airspeed, indicated airspeed, groundspeed and atc wind vectors are all in knots in the aviation game.... 29.92 " hg = 1013 millibars at transition altitude
|
>> The aviation world is another good example of mixing and matching. Vertical distances in feet,
>> vertical speeds in feet per minute, horizontal distances in kilometres, and horizontal speed in knots......
>>
Don't get me started. I once counted all the units on display and came up with a confusing (and no doubt incomplete) list:
* feet
* metres
* mach
* nautical miles
* knots (indicated and true)
* Celsius
* millibars (or hectopascal as we must now call it)
* quarts (not fibbing here)
* litres
* pounds
* kilograms
* kilograms per hour
* kilograms per minute
* percentage
* psi
* volts
* amps
* hertz
* megahertz
* kilohertz
Last edited by: Fursty Ferret on Tue 3 Apr 12 at 20:14
|
>I once counted all the units on display..
Sat in a bar one night in Austin, I told a friend* that I was shipping my car back to the UK with me. He asked what I'd need to do to make it legal.
"Well", says I. "I need to change the front sidelight lenses from amber to white, fit rear fog lamps and change the speedo from MPH to Furlongs per Fortnight for use in London".
There was a pause of at least five seconds before he twigged :-)
* Rick Hassan was one of the most entertaining and genuine friends we've ever had. A friend of Ginsberg, flatmate of Kerouac and pretty talented musician. RIP Rick.
|
Also seen
Bars - Hydraulic pressure
Inches - boost and vacuum suction
|
|
I was reading a railway accident report online yesterday and was surprised to see that the railways still use chains as a unit of distance
|
|
The pascal which is equivalent to one newton per square meter was introduced in 1971. weather forecasters are just slow to change.
|
After 10 years+ in Spain, I am regretfully, used to metric and find it easier to think and recognise weights, volumes and distances that way.
As an example, when using my satnav it gives, for example, the distance to the next direction change as .4 of a mile. I would be much more aware of the distance if this information was given in kilometres, as I can visualise that much more easily.
A terrible admission from me, the forum's reactionary, I know.
|
|
Can't you change your satnav display units from statute to KM? Most of them have this facility. I use it when going Continental from UK. Useful way to spend the 35 minutes in the Tunnel!
|
>> Can't you change your satnav display units from statute to KM? Most of them have
>> this facility. I use it when going Continental from UK. Useful way to spend the
>> 35 minutes in the Tunnel!
Yes, but the blooming road signs are in miles, as is my odometer!
|
|
Since the battery was changed on my Focus recently I've gone continental - the trip computer displays distance in km and fuel consumption in l/100km. Must find the manual...
|
Focus:
In my Mondeo I press the tip of the indicator stalk to tabulate between fuel tank range, average mpg, average mph and air temperature. The "reset" knob on the instrument binnacle resets either average readout when held down for 2 seconds with that readout selected, whilst a short press and release of the "reset" knob toggles the economy readout between mpg and l/100km.
Try it with yours :)
|
>> Try it with yours :)
Thanks Dave - I'll have a fiddle with my knob later.
|
I use it when going Continental...
Is that anything like going commando?
|
|
Both Tomtom and Garmin can be adjusted to show the display in miles or kilometres.
|
|
I don't mind both miles or kilometers.My wife doesn't understand the Metric system . For lots of people in the UK it is still a bit of a muddle the Metric system.>:)
|
A terrible admission indeed!
Well, you can use your Satnav to find your way to Coventry.
|
Perhaps I should be brave in the morning and press the button that makes the car display everything in metric. See how many kilometres it is to work, how many of them I'm doing an hour, how many litres per 100 km I'm using and get the nice lady to tell me to turn left in some metres or other.
Or shall I be zen like and leave it unpressed. Hmmm...
|
>weather forecasters are just slow to change.
Forecasters have been working in hPa for years, it's the Media presentation that refuses to change.
And the most accurate forecasts in the world are produced here in the UK - tinyurl.com/d2mhdx7
|
I can get my head round most of the everyday units; but whilst I've got a pretty good idea of how big a 10 acre field looks I'm damned if I know what its equivalent is in Hectors or whatever the hell they use.
Use of such terms is guaranteed to reward one with withering stares of contempt amongst the older generation of farmers.
|
>> I can get my head round most of the everyday units; but whilst I've got
>> a pretty good idea of how big a 10 acre field looks I'm damned if
>> I know what its equivalent is in Hectors or whatever the hell they use.
Hope this helps........ www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_tVxvnEJko
|
if you know what a 10 acre field look like you know what a 4 hectare field look like.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Tue 3 Apr 12 at 23:22
|
|
Will we have to address Ed miliband as Ed Hectoband from now on?
|
>> if you know what a 10 acre field look like you know what a 4
>> hectare field look like.
>>
>>
>>
I appreciate it probably is as easy as that, but I'll stick to the time-honoured method thanks.
|
|
One of the advantages/privileges of having been brought up on Imperial units and then having had to change to metric units at work is that I can think in both. No probs.
|
|
I know what you mean snail, i went through junior school learning pounds, shillings & inches and then in 1971 i started secondary modern where it was all metrification ( except milibars)
|
>> I know what you mean snail, i went through junior school learning pounds, shillings &
>> inches and then in 1971 i started secondary modern where it was all metrification (
>> except milibars)
>>
Likewise, we must have the same birth year!
I can still reckon up in "old money", and find it a useful indicator of how prices have inflated. My sister, two years younger than me, remembers nothing of the old system, although she must have come into contact with it. I put this down to it being myself who used to get sent to the village shop for 20 Number 6 for me Dad.... still legal in those days!
|
>> I know what you mean snail, i went through junior school learning pounds, shillings &
>> inches ...........
We did pounds, shillings & pence!
;-)
Incidentally, I still call them pence, not pees (peas?) as used by a lot of people.
The government at the time was horrified when they found out that the hoi polloi had started referring to New Pence as pees. After all, we didn't call Old Pence dees.
tinyurl.com/c5nhpv9
tinyurl.com/cyxa6ch
Last edited by: L'escargot on Sat 7 Apr 12 at 10:03
|
I use pee and pence randomly. I'll happily refer to a coin as a 20 pence but will equally quote a price as 50 pee. Perhaps I should make my mind up but you know, sometimes it's thrilling to live on the edge of society.
:-)
|
"The government at the time was horrified when they found out that the hoi polloi had started referring to New Pence "
I somehow thing That Ted Heath's government had more on its mind than what the population were calling their change.
I do love how people differentiate themselves by what words they use.
|
>> I do love how people differentiate themselves by what words they use.
>>
I sometimes differentiate, myself, whilst doing mathematics.
:-D
|
"I sometimes differentiate, myself, whilst doing mathematics."
Somehow I'm not surprised ;-)
|
>> "I sometimes differentiate, myself, whilst doing mathematics."
>>
>> Somehow I'm not surprised ;-)
>>
:-D
|
Hectopascals will be the new millibar - Pat
