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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Make me feel young again, or the I Feel Old thread...
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Zach82
Shipmate
# 3208
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Posted
I was reminded of my youth today when the 80's children show My Secret Identity suddenly and inexplicably came to mind. For some reason the memory of this show causes me a lot of pleasure. It was about a 14-year-old boy that gets hit by a scientist's "photon beam" and gains super speed, invulnerability, and the ability to float. Since he can only float, and not fly, he uses aerosol cans to propel himself forward. Oh, the 80's! ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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Don't give up yet, no, don't ever quit/ There's always a chance of a critical hit. Ghost Mice
Posts: 9148 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Aug 2002
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
So that's why we have global warming.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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The Machine Elf
Irregular polytope
# 1622
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by North East Quine:
We had a retired minister doing pulpit supply, and his children's address was illustrated with a nappy pin. None of the children knew what it was, but one speculated that it was "some sort of carabiner." But the retired minister didn't know what a carabiner was. By the time nappy pins and carabiners had been explained satisfactorily to both sides, the point of the children's address had been totally lost.
The Lass and I were visiting an Anglican church where the treasurer started his slot with something like 'Some of you must see me as some kind of beast with the letters L.S.D. written across my forehead'. Despite being older than me, the Lass didn't make the connection with pre-decimalisation currency until I explained it.
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Elves of any kind are strange folk.
Posts: 1298 | From: the edge of the deep green sea | Registered: Oct 2001
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Jack the Lass
Ship's airhead
# 3415
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Posted
Ahem. Less of the old, please. ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog
Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
Hey! I remember the old money. My family travelled to the UK in 1970. It was easy to convert $ to £: £1 was worth $2.40 so British pence were the same as US cents! It was transparent to do the maths and I could have 50p (fifty New Pence) in one trouser pocket and 10 shillings in the other. Guineas were weird - I think that they were a £1 and a shilling. Is that correct?
I am old enough to remember when gum machines sold you a gum ball for a penny...
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
In the late Sixties Britain's' primary schools went OTT teaching kids about the new decimal currency. I think they missed the point that most kids got the idea faster than the teachers! I recall doing everything three times with our (frankly quite stupid and nasty) top year primary teacher, who thought the removal of £sd was another indication that sin had taken a hold of the country.
Many years later I saw a COBOL computer program that had been used in banking systems with £sd: no wonder we changed! I think the routine was to turn everything into pennies, do the sums, then everything back to £sd.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Albertus
Shipmate
# 13356
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Posted
I am just too young to remember LSD, though some of my contemporaries say they do, and I have no reason to doubt them (they'd have been about 4 at the time, so it's just possible). But I do remember some brand of breakfast cereal in the early 70s (possibly Co-op own brand, it's the kind of thing they'd do) which had little metrication rhymes on the packets:
quote:
A metre measures three foot three
It's longer than a yard, you see
and
quote:
A litre of water's a pint and three quarters
I do still use these from time to time!
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My beard is a testament to my masculinity and virility, and demonstrates that I am a real man. Trouble is, bits of quiche sometimes get caught in it.
Posts: 6498 | From: Y Sowth | Registered: Jan 2008
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
In the late Sixties Britain's' primary schools went OTT teaching kids about the new decimal currency. I think they missed the point that most kids got the idea faster than the teachers! I recall doing everything three times with our (frankly quite stupid and nasty) top year primary teacher, who thought the removal of £sd was another indication that sin had taken a hold of the country.
Many years later I saw a COBOL computer program that had been used in banking systems with £sd: no wonder we changed! I think the routine was to turn everything into pennies, do the sums, then everything back to £sd.
That would be the obvious way. Or write your own arithmetic routines to replace the libraries with base 12 in the left most column, base 20 in the second and base 10 thereafter...
Ever hear about that dead COBOL programmer? They found him in the shower clutching an empty shampoo bottle that had on it "lather, rinse, repeat."
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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The Great Gumby
Ship's Brain Surgeon
# 10989
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Posted
The funny thing is how I was born after decimalisation, and was always taught metric instead of imperial measurements at school, but a lifetime of talking to people who didn't understand that modern-fangled stuff has caused me to think in imperial for many purposes*. Now my children are having the same problem understanding me as I did with my parents.
The only good thing about this is that I can remember most of the basic metric-imperial conversions and do the mental arithmetic well enough to act as a sort of intergenerational interpreter.
* - I measure myself in feet and inches, I weigh myself in stones and pounds, my car does miles to the gallon, rough distances are always in yards, and so on.
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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. - Richard Feynman
A letter to my son about death
Posts: 5382 | From: Home for shot clergy spouses | Registered: Feb 2006
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Kitten
Shipmate
# 1179
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Albertus:
I am just too young to remember LSD, though some of my contemporaries say they do, and I have no reason to doubt them (they'd have been about 4 at the time, so it's just possible). But I do remember some brand of breakfast cereal in the early 70s (possibly Co-op own brand, it's the kind of thing they'd do) which had little metrication rhymes on the packets:
quote:
A metre measures three foot three
It's longer than a yard, you see
and
quote:
A litre of water's a pint and three quarters
I do still use these from time to time!
You Forgot
quote:
ATwo and a quarter pounds of jam, weigh about a kilogram
I tend to jump between mertic and imperial depending what fits the situation best, sometimes mixing the two. I find no problem mixing the two, for example, I can happily visualise 1 yard of fabric, 150cm wide
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Maius intra qua extra
Never accept a ride from a stranger, unless they are in a big blue box
Posts: 2330 | From: Carmarthenshire | Registered: Aug 2001
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TomOfTarsus
Shipmate
# 3053
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Posted
As we roll merrily toward a metric/imperial tangent, around our office we tend to use heat transfer units in mixed modes, such as watts/(inch-°C).
And then careening toward a crossover with the smartphone thread, I have a working slide rule on my Droid.
Heck, when I first went to college, I used a slide rule! (linked because even when I returned to engineering school in 1985, many of the "kids" had no idea what a slide rule was...)
Hand me that mustard pack, my back just went out...
[ 19. March 2013, 18:52: Message edited by: TomOfTarsus ]
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By grace are ye saved through faith... not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath ... ordained that we should walk in them.
Posts: 1570 | From: Pittsburgh, PA USA | Registered: Jul 2002
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
I measure cold temperature in Celsius and hot in Fahrenheit.
The hot sounds hotter and the cold colder that way.
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Last ever sig ...
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by TomOfTarsus:
Heck, when I first went to college, I used a slide rule! (linked because even when I returned to engineering school in 1985, many of the "kids" had no idea what a slide rule was...)
Thank your for the link!
thought it was a playground regulation....learn something new.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
I'm unrepentantly still using imperial measurements for everything.
(It's probably also a sign of middle age that you start (grumpily) correcting the grammar and pronunciation of TV and radio newsreaders and making remarks like "He might have shaved/brushed his hair/worn something a bit less disreputable for that interview.")
[ 19. March 2013, 19:08: Message edited by: Ariel ]
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by The Great Gumby:
I measure myself in feet and inches, I weigh myself in stones and pounds, my car does miles to the gallon, rough distances are always in yards, and so on.
People are measured in stones and feet, beer and milk come in pints, distances travelled by bicycle or car can be in either miles or kilometres, hills and mountains can be in either feet or metres though feet is still slightly more familiar-feeling, but everything else is metric for me.
Old money was fun but decimal is just a lot easier. The conversion came a few weeks after my fourteenth birthday, so I think I must be about one of the youngest people who ever bought a pint of beer in a pub in old money - not that it was exactly legal.
All weights except human are in metric/SI. I remember being mildly amused and ever so slightly worried about ten years ago when I realised I could no longer remember how many ounces there are in a pound. I got it back again after about ten minutes, but it was an odd glitch.
Temperatures are C for normal life and K for science, again, since I was at school. If I ever had a feel for Farenheit I lost it in the 1970s.
Short distances, other than human measurements, have been metric since the late 60s, long ones have been moving to metric in my mind slowly over my entire adult life. The last straw of non-SI units for me might be when I stop thinking of astronomical distances in lightyears and AU and stick to mega-, giga-, tera-, peta-, and so on. But as I'm not an astronomer I don't think of such distances much. I have been a biologist so I got used to thinking about small distances so everything less than a metre is SI (I would have said except for my waist measurement but it probably isn't less than a metre now) SI units are actually quite convenient for astronomical distances. A light year is about ten petametres. Our whole galaxy is about a zottametre across and ten exametres thick ![[Cool]](cool.gif)
[ 19. March 2013, 20:09: Message edited by: ken ]
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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Albertus
Shipmate
# 13356
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
quote:
Originally posted by The Great Gumby:
I measure myself in feet and inches, I weigh myself in stones and pounds, my car does miles to the gallon, rough distances are always in yards, and so on.
People are measured in stones and feet, beer and milk come in pints, distances travelled by bicycle or car can be in either miles or kilometres, hills and mountains can be in either feet or metres though feet is still slightly more familiar-feeling, but everything else is metric for me.
Old money was fun but decimal is just a lot easier. The conversion came a few weeks after my fourteenth birthday, so I think I must be about one of the youngest people who ever bought a pint of beer in a pub in old money - not that it was exactly legal.
All weights except human are in metric/SI. I remember being mildly amused and ever so slightly worried about ten years ago when I realised I could no longer remember how many ounces there are in a pound. I got it back again after about ten minutes, but it was an odd glitch.
Temperatures are C for normal life and K for science, again, since I was at school. If I ever had a feel for Farenheit I lost it in the 1970s.
Short distances, other than human measurements, have been metric since the late 60s, long ones have been moving to metric in my mind slowly over my entire adult life. The last straw of non-SI units for me might be when I stop thinking of astronomical distances in lightyears and AU and stick to mega-, giga-, tera-, peta-, and so on. But as I'm not an astronomer I don't think of such distances much. I have been a biologist so I got used to thinking about small distances so everything less than a metre is SI (I would have said except for my waist measurement but it probably isn't less than a metre now) SI units are actually quite convenient for astronomical distances. A light year is about ten petametres. Our whole galaxy is about a zottametre across and ten exametres thick
A late friend of mine who was a science master when units were being switched in the 60s and 70s told me he got fed up with the whole business and ied to promote the hundredweight-furlong-firkin-fortnight system. (The speed of light is I think about 1784787 furlongs per micro-fortnight).
Posts: 6498 | From: Y Sowth | Registered: Jan 2008
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Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
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Posted
All four of my mother's children are over 60. She thinks it's funny.
Anyone remember those X-ray machines in shoe shops for shoe fitting? Must have been 1950s. Our daughters refused to believe it.
Then there was one of the first tele-facsimile machines in our lab at Ferranti in Edinburgh in the early 1970s. You had to call to the other end, and the when you were ready, yell "Go!"; press the keys simultaneously, and if you were lucky you got a smeary copy of something five minutes later. Now the fax machine will soon be a memory.
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Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by leo:
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
I'm unrepentantly still using imperial measurements for everything.
Me too.
I find shopping difficult when all the labels are metric.
Yes.
Also I've noticed nobody diets in metric.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stercus Tauri:
Anyone remember those X-ray machines in shoe shops for shoe fitting? Must have been 1950s. Our daughters refused to believe it.
I remember those. Here is a picture of one.
Moo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
Hills are in feet because 1000 feet sounds higher than 305 metres.
Diets should be in pounds because losing 11 pounds sounds more than losing 5kg
Small amounts are in millimetres. Seven thirtyseconds of an inch is difficult to visualise.
Being educated in both metric and imperial has its advantages, as you can choose the most convenient.
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Last ever sig ...
blog
Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
Here's a better picture and a description of a shoe fluoroscope.
Moo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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Polly Plummer
Shipmate
# 13354
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Posted
I loved those X-ray machines: made a visit to the shoe shop exciting even if you didn't end up with new shoes.
Posts: 577 | Registered: Jan 2008
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stercus Tauri:
... Now the fax machine will soon be a memory.
Not necessarily
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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HenryT
Canadian Anglican
# 3722
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ArachnidinElmet:
quote:
Originally posted by Stercus Tauri:
... Now the fax machine will soon be a memory.
Not necessarily
The major business of my employer and my previous employer is "electronic fax"- fax to email and email to fax machines.
I have been known to use a fax app on my smartphone as a printer, too.
...
I remember manned bomber with live Blue Steel "stand off bombs" on display at an RAF base open day in the 1960's. Regrettably, I only took pictures of the fighters, while now I find having been with meters of an H-bomb much more exotic.
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"Perhaps an invincible attachment to the dearest rights of man may, in these refined, enlightened days, be deemed old-fashioned" P. Henry, 1788
Posts: 7231 | From: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Dec 2002
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Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ArachnidinElmet:
quote:
Originally posted by Stercus Tauri:
... Now the fax machine will soon be a memory.
Not necessarily
Wishful thinking - I submit to the correction. Maybe I subconsciously want to be even older.
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Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
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Zach82
Shipmate
# 3208
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Posted
They were just giving up the pretense of a US conversion to metrics when I was learning to measure in the early 80's. I can still distantly remember the highways signs listing both miles and kilometers, and weather forecasts listing both Fahrenheit and Celsius. Any more the only time I use metrics is when foreign recipes use grams.
What can I say, I just plain like imperial measurements more. If you can't do fractions then stay in France!
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Don't give up yet, no, don't ever quit/ There's always a chance of a critical hit. Ghost Mice
Posts: 9148 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Aug 2002
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
Any more the only time I use metrics is when foreign recipes use grams.
I never use those. I always convert them. And I give up when a recipe calls for cups, it's going to take too long to figure out and then work out proportional quantities so that it's a recipe suitable for one.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Latchkey Kid
Shipmate
# 12444
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
Any more the only time I use metrics is when foreign recipes use grams.
I never use those. I always convert them. And I give up when a recipe calls for cups, it's going to take too long to figure out and then work out proportional quantities so that it's a recipe suitable for one.
When my physics teacher told us of the move from c.g.s (Centimetre, gram, second) to M.K.s (Metre, kilogram, second) he jokingly threatened to introduce the M.T.F. (Mile, Ton, Fortnight) system.
My son did vac work as a chainy for a surveyor. The name persists even though they don't carry 22 yard chains anymore.
At least cricket pitches are still 1 Chain long.
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'You must never give way for an answer. An answer is always the stretch of road that's behind you. Only a question can point the way forward.'
Mika; in Hello? Is Anybody There?, Jostein Gaardner
Posts: 2592 | From: The wizardest little town in Oz | Registered: Mar 2007
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Albertus
Shipmate
# 13356
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Moo:
quote:
Originally posted by Stercus Tauri:
Anyone remember those X-ray machines in shoe shops for shoe fitting? Must have been 1950s. Our daughters refused to believe it.
I remember those. Here is a picture of one.
Moo
We had one just like that in the shoe-shop in town in the 70s, perhaps very early 80s.
Posts: 6498 | From: Y Sowth | Registered: Jan 2008
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Zach82
Shipmate
# 3208
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
Any more the only time I use metrics is when foreign recipes use grams.
I never use those. I always convert them. And I give up when a recipe calls for cups, it's going to take too long to figure out and then work out proportional quantities so that it's a recipe suitable for one.
Y'could, y'know, just buy a measuring cup. It's not what they call a significant outlay. ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
I usually use a scale for flour (1 cup=130 grams), but most other stuff it's way easier to level a measuring cup than haul out the scale and a separate container for weighing each ingredient.
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Don't give up yet, no, don't ever quit/ There's always a chance of a critical hit. Ghost Mice
Posts: 9148 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Aug 2002
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
They were just giving up the pretense of a US conversion to metrics when I was learning to measure in the early 80's. I can still distantly remember the highways signs listing both miles and kilometers, and weather forecasts listing both Fahrenheit and Celsius. Any more the only time I use metrics is when foreign recipes use grams.
What can I say, I just plain like imperial measurements more. If you can't do fractions then stay in France!
Yeah, but yours are wrong. Your pint is too small, which also shafts your gallon.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
Any more the only time I use metrics is when foreign recipes use grams.
I never use those. I always convert them. And I give up when a recipe calls for cups, it's going to take too long to figure out and then work out proportional quantities so that it's a recipe suitable for one.
Y'could, y'know, just buy a measuring cup. It's not what they call a significant outlay.
I usually use a scale for flour (1 cup=130 grams), but most other stuff it's way easier to level a measuring cup than haul out the scale and a separate container for weighing each ingredient.
IME, measuring cups have only recently become available in the UK, probably as a result of demand from people trying to follow recipes from colonials.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Zach82
Shipmate
# 3208
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
Yeah, but yours are wrong. Your pint is too small, which also shafts your gallon.
It doesn't matter for cooking, so long as you keep everything in proportion by using the same measurements.
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Don't give up yet, no, don't ever quit/ There's always a chance of a critical hit. Ghost Mice
Posts: 9148 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Aug 2002
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
Yeah, but yours are wrong. Your pint is too small, which also shafts your gallon.
It doesn't matter for cooking, so long as you keep everything in proportion by using the same measurements.
It does if you are using half a pint of milk, say, against a pound of say flour. One of the measures differs, the other doesn't.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Zach82
Shipmate
# 3208
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Posted
quote:
It does if you are using half a pint of milk, say, against a pound of say flour. One of the measures differs, the other doesn't.
Good Lord, what are you making?
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Don't give up yet, no, don't ever quit/ There's always a chance of a critical hit. Ghost Mice
Posts: 9148 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Aug 2002
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Tree Bee
Ship's tiller girl
# 4033
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Posted
The midwife who delivered my second baby told me her weight in metric.
I asked for conversion into English.
Also makes me feel old that she will be 30 this year. ![[Ultra confused]](graemlins/confused2.gif)
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"Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple."
— Woody Guthrie
http://saysaysay54.wordpress.com
Posts: 5257 | From: me to you. | Registered: Feb 2003
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
quote:
It does if you are using half a pint of milk, say, against a pound of say flour. One of the measures differs, the other doesn't.
Good Lord, what are you making?
Random example to make the point that your liquid measures are different but your dry weight measures are the same. Except you measure dry ingredients by volume, of course.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Zach82
Shipmate
# 3208
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
Random example to make the point that your liquid measures are different but your dry weight measures are the same. Except you measure dry ingredients by volume, of course.
I know. I was just being difficult.
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Don't give up yet, no, don't ever quit/ There's always a chance of a critical hit. Ghost Mice
Posts: 9148 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Aug 2002
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John Holding
Coffee and Cognac
# 158
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
Any more the only time I use metrics is when foreign recipes use grams.
I never use those. I always convert them. And I give up when a recipe calls for cups, it's going to take too long to figure out and then work out proportional quantities so that it's a recipe suitable for one.
Y'could, y'know, just buy a measuring cup. It's not what they call a significant outlay.
I usually use a scale for flour (1 cup=130 grams), but most other stuff it's way easier to level a measuring cup than haul out the scale and a separate container for weighing each ingredient.
IME, measuring cups have only recently become available in the UK, probably as a result of demand from people trying to follow recipes from colonials.
I was able to buy (imperial) measuring cups in Woolworths in Oxford nearly 40 years ago. I guess that's "only recently" for some people.
John
Posts: 5929 | From: Ottawa, Canada | Registered: May 2001
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Pearl B4 Swine
Ship's Oyster-Shucker
# 11451
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Moo:
Here's a better picture and a description of a shoe fluoroscope.
Moo
O Yes! There was a shoe store- mainly children's shoes - in Baltimore, which had a shoe X-ray machine. I adored it. It was like going to an amusement park, or Chucky Cheese, these days.
I used to beg my parents, when we were out for a ride, to go to the shoe store to play. Sometimes there was a line of kids waiting for their turn. I was shocked when the store removed the Shoe machine- and we stopped buying shoes there.
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Oinkster
"I do a good job and I know how to do this stuff" D. Trump (speaking of the POTUS job)
Posts: 3622 | From: The Keystone State | Registered: May 2006
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by HenryT:
The major business of my employer and my previous employer is "electronic fax"- fax to email and email to fax machines.
Yes, but that's just somethgn the computer-literate amongst us dreamed up in the 1980sw and 1990s as a way of getting the crusty old technophobes off the bloody fax machines so we could trash them.
As for telex....
Some of my most nightmarish days, and nights, at work were when I was supprting the software that translated between fax and telex, which where still needed to talk to some less technologically up-to-date the outside world (and because some managers had a superstitious reverence for telexes)
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Latchkey Kid:
When my physics teacher told us of the move from c.g.s (Centimetre, gram, second) to M.K.s (Metre, kilogram, second) he jokingly threatened to introduce the M.T.F. (Mile, Ton, Fortnight) system.
There must be something about physics teachers! We used m.k.s (this was the early 'seventies) but he had us work out the acceleration due to gravity in furlongs/fortnight^2.
He had to explain "furlong" to some of the class
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Carex
Shipmate
# 9643
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Latchkey Kid:
At least cricket pitches are still 1 Chain long.
Such a chain contained 100 links, making each link 7.92 inches long. In land surveys we often ran across shorter distances marked in links.
And an acre is 1 chain x 10 chains, which is handy for converting area measurements.
However, one quirk of the modern American survey chain is that it is marked in decimal feet rather than feet and inches. While this makes math much easier, it can be confusing to the uninitiated to find only 10 inches to the foot.
Posts: 1425 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Albertus
Shipmate
# 13356
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Posted
Fascinating! And presumably, unless the unitiate is a Caribbean or South Asian immigrant, or maybe from Bart King's old stamping-ground in Philadelphia, the handy explanation that the whole thing is the length of a cricket pitch may not help much either.
Posts: 6498 | From: Y Sowth | Registered: Jan 2008
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Tree Bee:
The midwife who delivered my second baby told me her weight in metric.
I asked for conversion into English.
Also makes me feel old that she will be 30 this year.
The midwife or the baby?
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Gracious rebel
Rainbow warrior
# 3523
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
I usually use a scale for flour (1 cup=130 grams), but most other stuff it's way easier to level a measuring cup than haul out the scale and a separate container for weighing each ingredient.
But you don't need any separate containers or measuring cups if you have electronic scales. You can weigh all the ingredients directly into the mixing bowl/saucepan or whatever, and zero it off after each addition.
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Fancy a break beside the sea in Suffolk? Visit my website
Posts: 4413 | From: Suffolk UK | Registered: Nov 2002
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Kittyville
Shipmate
# 16106
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Posted
I think the "cups" thing annoys me here in Australia, because everything else is straight metric. Kilometres, kilogrammes, and then - oops, there you go, you need a "cup of firmly packed brown sugar" in a recipe. Would it kill you to tell me I need 250g of sugar, or whatever?
Posts: 291 | From: Sydney | Registered: Dec 2010
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Zach82
Shipmate
# 3208
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gracious rebel:
quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
I usually use a scale for flour (1 cup=130 grams), but most other stuff it's way easier to level a measuring cup than haul out the scale and a separate container for weighing each ingredient.
But you don't need any separate containers or measuring cups if you have electronic scales. You can weigh all the ingredients directly into the mixing bowl/saucepan or whatever, and zero it off after each addition.
I have one. I just can't trust myself to get it right on one go.
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Don't give up yet, no, don't ever quit/ There's always a chance of a critical hit. Ghost Mice
Posts: 9148 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Aug 2002
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