EU and imperial measures

[MdB]

Is US considering converting to euros? Is EU converting to $? Neither is or has any interest in doing so.

Try buying oil, gold, copper, coffee etc in large quantities in anything apart from US $.

Big business works in US$ and this has a knock on pressure onto smaller companies. When I buy a few thousand pounds of electronics from Taiwan, the price is in US$.

I personally don't think there will ever be a global currency before there is a global political union which I can't see happening for a while yet . If you study economics you will find that you can't have two equally sized countries both issuing the same currency without major problems. It only works in the EU because the central bank has control of the issuing of money.

Also, the US is finally converting over to metric in engineering. NASA announced recently that they were changing over and I recon I get around 50% of Americans sending me emails in metric now when it used to be around 100% imperial.

Also, my dad's old ruler is only in inches, most now come with both units but many (including the freebie I was given) are only in metric. This percentage will only increase and once it is no longer possible to buy measuring equipment in imperial, its use will die out too.

 

[Nemesis]

All those SPAM e-mails I get seem to suggest most men measure certain personal appendages in inches still. I'm not talking of Biff's feet here.

(Anyone dare to reply??? Yes I realise in that case an inch is a different sort of measurement to the normal anyhow...)

 

[wobs]

To quote Terry Pratchett's and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens (fabulous book):

"Two farthings = one ha’penny
Two ha’pennies = one penny
Three pennies = a thrupenny bit
Two thrupences = A Sixpence
Two Sixpences = One Shilling, or Bob
Two Bob = A Florin
One Florin and One Sixpence = Half a Crown
Four Half Crowns = Ten Bob Note
Two Ten Bob Notes = One Pound (240 pennies)
One Pound and One Shilling = One Guinea

The British resisted decimalized currency for a long time because they thought it was too complicated.”

 

[wobs]

All those SPAM e-mails I get seem to suggest most men measure certain personal appendages in inches still. I'm not talking of Biff's feet here.

(Anyone dare to reply??? Yes I realise in that case an inch is a different sort of measurement to the normal anyhow...)

There is a Chubby Brown line that springs to mind, but surffice to say it involves inches. Enough said.

 

[NT]

All those SPAM e-mails I get seem to suggest most men measure certain personal appendages in inches still. I'm not talking of Biff's feet here.

(Anyone dare to reply??? Yes I realise in that case an inch is a different sort of measurement to the normal anyhow...)

AFAIK there is no British Standard for the means of measurement in that case, so inches cant usefully be compared with inches. But again, this is not the fault of inches per se.


NT

 

[Nemesis]

Well, an inch in this case is surely not the normal imperial inch?

 

[NT]

>> Is US considering converting to euros? Is EU converting to $? Neither is or has any interest in doing so.

> Try buying oil, gold, copper, coffee etc in large quantities in anything apart from US $.

That there are some matters that work in usd and some in other currencies does not support the case for only one world currency.


>> Taking it ad adbsurdam is the classic way to show the fallacy of false arguments.

> Not really. Your example extrapolates to an impossiblility thus showing the fallacy of the example.

You may want to refresh your knowledge on ad absurdam.


>> Is US considering converting to euros? Is EU converting to $? Neither is or has any interest in doing so.

> I agree . . . at present. But imagine having a discussion about the Euro, or even the EU, 100 years ago; it would have been inconceivable, but it happened and the drivers that made it happen still exist and continue to exert their effects.

Right. The drivers that act against unification are also still occurring.


>>> Consider how regional accents and dialects died out as people became more mobile; they didn't choose it, but it happened.

>> but again only so far. There is no sign of the UK vs US dialect difference vanishing, nor UK vs Fr, etc.

> . . . only so far because the process has only had so long and it needs more time.

One needs to appreciate the forces that drive difference as well as those that drive uniformity. The 2 forces result in a certain size of geographical division. The changes in transport and communications have moved that balance point to a much bigger size, but not to world size. AFAIK no force exists that is taking or will take it there.

A simple illustration of this is differences that continue to generate in the modern world of transport & communications. One such example is the stiffie, which is the South African word for what we call a floppy. (And yes, theyre measured in inches.)


> If you study economics you will find that you can't have two equally sized countries both issuing the same currency without major problems.

Yes, one of the difference drivers.


NT

 

[Nemesis]

More willie waving then... is there some correlation between length of post and dick size?

Feet apparently are not a good indicator.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2292143.stm


Sad that.

 

[Gervase]

No :wink:

 

[Nemesis]

I'm on my way, Big Boy...

 

[Penners]

All those SPAM e-mails I get seem to suggest most men measure certain personal appendages in inches still.

I think you'll find that's an American preoccupation. Here in Europe, we chaps have a more pragmatic attitude....

...if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[Penners]

Any measurement system will work perfectly well in relative isolation. I could invent a new measurement system, build my own measuring tools and use them perfectly well in my own workshop without any problems - until I needed to communicate with anyone not using my measurement system.

That's a clear and succinct summary of the core of this matter. Spot on.

 

[alice]

Measurements come and measurements go. Even a kilogram isn't what it used to be.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h7zc9eAtkfeQZl_nWVvesqlZKd_g

alice

 

[Lime]

A couple of quotes from the article alice posted.

"It's not clear whether the original has become lighter, or the national prototypes have become heavier," said Michael Borys, a senior researcher with Germany's national measures institute in Braunschweig

Mass surely, not weight?

The cylinder was high-tech for its day in 1889 when cast from a platinum and iridium alloy, measuring 1.54 inches in diameter and height.

 

[Penners]

Measurements come and measurements go. Even a kilogram isn't what it used to be.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h7zc9eAtkfeQZl_nWVvesqlZKd_g

I reckon the cleaners have been taking it out and giving it a polish.

 

[MdB]

The cylinder was high-tech for its day in 1889 when cast from a platinum and iridium alloy, measuring 1.54 inches in diameter and height.

Its an American article. Of course they are going to get the units wrong...

A challenge of the newly formed International Bureau of Weights and Measures ( Bureau international des poids et mesures , BIPM ) in Paris was to construct international prototypes for the metre and kilogram and to distribute national copies for members of the Metre Convention. For the kilogram it was agreed that the new prototype should be made from an iridium-platinum alloy. The 10% iridium/90% platinum alloy was chosen because of its high density, corrosion resistance and stability.

Initial attempts to manufacture the alloy had failed so in 1882 the London firm Johnson, Matthey & Co , which had previously manufactured standard measures for Russia , was brought in. The contract included 30 standard metres and 40 standard kilograms in iridium-platinum alloy. The standard kilograms, delivered in 1884, were 39 mm in diameter and 39 mm in height. The kilograms cast in London by George Matthey were then hammered, polished and adjusted to match the previous standard by M Collot in France . The international kilogram was cast in the UK and finished in France ; a truly international effort typical of further development of the international system of units.

Today's definition of the kilogram is still based on Matthey & Collot's prototype. It is stored in three nested bell jars at BIPM.

The prototype kilogram was made so the height and diameter where roughly the same so as to keep the surface area small. Also, as the kilogram is not related to the mm when using iridium-platinum the exact dimensions are going to have multiple digits after the decimal point in what ever units you use.

Measurements come and measurements go. Even a kilogram isn't what it used to be.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h7zc9eAtkfeQZl_nWVvesqlZKd_g

Which means of course that the pound isn't what it used to be either as its definition is based on the prototype kilogram.

I reckon the cleaners have been taking it out and giving it a polish.

Actually, it is steam cleaned and then polished.
http://www.bipm.org/en/scientific/mass/pictures_mass/cleaning.html

 

[Penners]

Actually, it is steam cleaned and then polished.

Good grief! I was joking (I thought)! Inside triple evacuated bell jars why on earth does it need to be cleaned? And surely the polishing could explain the loss of weight?

 

[MdB]

Polishing may be too strong a word.

Since the IPK and its replicas are stored in air (albeit under two or more nested bell jars), they adsorb atmospheric contamination onto their surfaces and gain mass. Accordingly, they are cleaned in preparation for periodic verifications—a process the BIPM developed between 1939 and 1946 known as “the BIPM cleaning method” that includes steam cleaning, lightly rubbing with chemical-soaked chamois, and allowing the prototypes to settle for 7–10 days. Cleaning the prototypes removes between 5 and 60 µg of contamination depending largely on the time elapsed since the last cleaning. Further, a second cleaning can remove up to 10 µg more. After cleaning—even when they are stored in their bell jars—the IPK and its replicas immediately begin gaining mass again. The BIPM even developed a model of this gain and concluded that it averaged 1.11 µg per month for the first 3 months after cleaning and then decreased to an average of about 1 µg per year thereafter. Since check standards like K4 are not cleaned before every routine calibration—a precaution to minimize the potential for wear and handling damage—the BIPM’s model has been used as an “after cleaning” correction factor.

Basically, using a lump of metal as a reference standard isn't a good idea so alternatives are being looked into.

 

[Penners]

I'm surprised that it's stored in air. I inferred from the triple bell jars that the weight would be stored in as close to 100% vacuum as could be achieved, in order to avoid dirt and contamination.

 

[NT]

More willie waving then... is there some correlation between length of post and dick size?

huh?


NT