That Thread In Which We Discuss The Merits of Different Systems of Measurement.

[Charzy]

For me, 5 degrees Celcius is a cold day, 12 is a bit chilly, 18 is warm, and the low twenties are Hell-On-Earth

[Corax]

* Kilometres are a great measurement for long distances. My pace is around a metre, so a good approximation is to count a thousand paces, and I\'m usually at a kilometre (give or take 10% or so).

Fun history fact: The mile is actually called a mile because of the Romans, who used 'milia passus' ('a thousand steps'), but in Ancient Rome, a 'passus' was what we\'d call a double-step.

* Metres per second are used almost exclusively by physicists. That\'s okay, though - kids rarely have trouble understanding how to calculate them. Interconverting between m/s and km/h can be a problem; however, you seldom actually need to do it.

That\'s because the second is an SI unit, but the 'hour' is not (it\'s an 'accepted' unit), so using km/h is not so much different from using miles/h. There\'s a factor of 3.6 (60 minutes of 60 seconds to the hour divided by one thousand); for a very rough estimate simply multiply m/s by 4.

I don\'t see why the 'metrification' should stop there, but all attempts at a decimal time base have failed so far, the last serious attempt during the French Revolution.

[Johno]

. . .Though telling my school kids that we\'re going to be adopting decimal time is a GREAT April fool\'s prank!

As for converting between the two: Yes, I\'m aware of that (I do have to teach very basic physics, after all! ), but I\'m talking mainly as a teacher here. School kids often find that concept hard.

Actually I\'ve never thought of approximating it to a whole number before . . . I do that with gravity (approximated to 10 ms-2), so why not?

[ping111]

Just adding to the relative-heat thing, for me -15 and below is cold, -5 to 0 is cool, 0-15 is tepid, 20-25 is warm, and 30-40 (yes it does get that high in Canada) is HOT.

[Charzy]

For me, 40 is weather that I don\'t have the tolerance to go outside in. My immune system acts up around 20-25 and I get blocked sinuses and the like. 30 and I get pretty badly sunburned. 40 and I literally can\'t stand the heat and will stay inside with the windows all open, a fan beside me and a litre or more of iced lemon juice.

[Endeavour]

Below 0 is cold, 0-50 is cool, 50-70 is warm, 70-95 is hot, and 100+ is far too hot. Its easy to do temperature in Fahrenheit because it rarely goes above 100 or below 0.

[iamwearingpants]

Below 0 is cold, 0-50 is cool, 50-70 is warm, 70-95 is hot, and 100+ is far too hot. Its easy to do temperature in Fahrenheit because it rarely goes above 100 or below 0.

Depends on the location. 0 is like the median temperature in Antarctica. :b

[ping111]

Depends on the location. 0 is like the median temperature in Antarctica. :b

Pssshht. Colder than that. -17C isn\'t actually that bad. You\'re probably looking for -40 Farenheit.

[RC1062]

I use an unholy mixture of the systems...

Centimetres -> Inches -> Feet -> Metres -> Miles

Then I use centigrade, pounds, stones, kilograms.

Whatever is easier for me to visualise I suppose.

[karolus10]

I think, that I could compare Metric and Imperial systems problem to decimal VS roman numerical system - roman system couldn\'t resist too long in common use, because it was inferior/obsolete comparing to decimal system : .

Right bellow, nice picture showing clear differences between both systems .

.

[Endeavour]

The order in which the day, month, and year are arranged in not metric or imperial. And you can order them however you want in the US. For most academic things we go day month then year.

[semininja]

...except when writing ##/##, in which case it\'s usually mo/day. I\'m convinced that the coders have it right with yr/mo/day, though.

[Ted]

...except when writing ##/##, in which case it\'s usually mo/day. I\'m convinced that the coders have it right with yr/mo/day, though.

Gregorian big-endian is definitely the best when incorporating years, however I use Gregorian little-endian when it comes to just day and month.

[semininja]

Gregorian big-endian is definitely the best when incorporating years, however I use Gregorian little-endian when it comes to just day and month.

I read that and -- before dates -- thought of Lilliputian big- and little-endians...