CIE slide rule

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by nosborne48, Mar 28, 2023.

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  1. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Yes, alcohol is cheap and available. Cheapest and very available here in New Mexico where it kills more people per capita than most other states.
     
  2. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Come on, what could be easier that this?

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  3. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    We're a bilingual country... or so we say. We're SUPPOSED to use both. When I got here, I could out-English most Canadian kids on the English system. I learned it there - complete with rods, poles, perches, chains and furlongs - stuff the kids here were not really tested on - ever.

    There are some holdovers, for sure. Clothes for instance. Men's sizes are all still in inches. Alterations are done in inches. But on the road, miles and gallons are long gone, except in the memories of elderly motorists - watch out for them! I think construction and home renovation may be holdovers. For instance, lumber dimensions. There are 8-foot 2x4s as always, but I've seen a metric variant that's 92 and 5/8 inches. Most wood at the lumberyard appears to be dimensioned and sold the same way as always. And when those who build, whip out their tape measures on the job -- they ain't always using metric.

    And - funny thing. We still refer to "quarts" of milk etc. But most of those containers are 946 ml. 32 fluid ounces. A despised American quart. Not our blessed Imperial size of old - 40 fluid ounces. The only thing we had that wasn't bigger in the US -- and they've taken it away!

    Yes. We Canadians proudly call our society a mosaic. But (sigh) metric has kicked us back to the patchwork stage.
     
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  4. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    [​IMG]
     
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  5. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    We're all about equal rights in Canada - so women's bra sizes here are not metric either. I believe they are, in Europe. I saw a conversion table somewhere, in my fashion studies.
     
  6. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Or, you could use your CIE (or other) slide rule and divide the metric measurement in cm by 2.54 to get the same measurement in inches.
     
  7. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Thank you, SF, for pointing out another important societal benefit to English units. Using the English system causes the population to engage routinely in mental math which not only contributes to overall arithmetic literacy but may delay the onset of dementia!

    Yet another reason the English (and Americans and Canadians) defeated Hitler (a confirmed metric system user.)

    The only reason people use the metric system exclusively is that they just don't know any better.:(
     
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  8. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Johann, I remember Imperial gallons. Gas seemed cheaper north of the border in those days.
     
  9. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Canadian taxes have definitely fixed that!
     
  10. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    They sure have --- but look what we GET for them. :) Plus - as an old guy, I don't pay income tax any more. Haven't had to in years. None. I do, of course, file a return. And thanks to rebates, I pay hardly any sales taxes and get the same rebate whether I buy anything or not. And I quit buying gas in 1998 and booze around 2005. Plenty of tax savings there. I USED to pay them - wow, did I ever. No more.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2023
  11. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    It's not just factoring. There is also consistency across measures. A gram of water weights a millitre.
    I just wing it.
     
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  12. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Depends on where you go. We have completely dry counties. We have counties that sell beer but no wine or booze. We have states that allow stores to sell wine and beer, but not booze. (That has to be purchased at a state package store.) And so it goes.

    When I lived in Las Vegas, stores could sell booze, but not after 9pm. They could sell beer and wine 24/7. Also, bars were open around the clock as well. Your chances of getting smashed by a smashed driver were as good at 10am as 10pm.

    When I was traveling through Utah, it was hard to find a restaurant that would sell alcohol of any kind. And the supermarket only carried beer. You had to go to the state package store if you wanted a bottle of wine. (It was behind the shopping mall, across the railroad tracks. I'm not kidding. Knock twice and ask for Little Seymour. Okay, I'm kidding about that last part.)
     
  13. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    Consistency is nice, but the only "useful" base metric measurement, IMO, is the liter. Everything else is too big or too small for daily use. Almost nothing is measured in "sane" grams, except large containers of things like salt, flour, laundry detergent, etc. Trying to figure out how to deal with 185g, or similar, of something when I want 200 or 250 can be worse than ounces.

    I'd argue that metric is actually way, way more difficult to deal with and to use outside of a scientific context and that people are lulled into a false sense of ease with everything being base ten.
     
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  14. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Interesting little history. Before completing the expensive, confusing and needless decimalization of its coinage, the British introduced what they called a 'florin". Now the Pound was (sensibly) divided into 20 shillings. A very common coin was the half crown worth 2-1/2 shillings (or "two and six") which was (of course) worth half of a five shilling crown. The "florin" was a sort of mid 19th century experiment in decimalization in that it was worth two shillings or one tenth of a pound. Two coins with slightly different worth occupied the same "spot" in the coinage system. The florin and half crown circulated perfectly well alongside each other until the aforementioned decimalization.

    When I visited as a wide eyed teenage tourist, the decimalization process was newly complete. The florin survived because it still represented a tenth of a pound. The new 10p piece was the same size and weight as the existing florin and I spent several of each. Similarly the 5p piece was the same size and shape as the old shilling and was worth the same so shillings also remained in circulation.

    So what did Her Majesty's Government gain? Nothing! (Of course, they also lost nothing but still. So un-English, damn it!)
     
  15. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    :) .... I get it, Rich. But if you're studying how they're made, or that's actually your job, it's risky. Kinda like "winging it" on a 4th-year physics final. As you well know, I'm not all that smart, so I went by the book. I did OK. Tisja Damen --- now SHE can "wing it," whenever she feels like it - I'm positive. :) https://www.tisjadamen.com/
     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2023
  16. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    I pay less attention to how they're built and more on how they're used.
     
  17. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Nowadays, I have to do both. :)
     
  18. Rachel83az

    Rachel83az Well-Known Member

    They're metric in at least some countries. I can't speak of everywhere.

    Germany has some of the best sizing for clothes in general, IMO. But I've only ever seen one style of general-purpose underpants (for each gender). If you don't like the cut of German Standard Everyday Underpants, too bad.

    But Italy is more... "gender neutral" when you go to buy trousers. Men or women, you apparently buy a "12" or a "26" or whatever. Unlike in the states, there is no length specified for either men or women. If you need shorter pants, you take them to a seamstress/tailor. If you have long legs and need longer pants, I don't know what you do. Tall Italians do exist...
     
  19. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I see England
    I see France
    Where Germans go
    For underpants?
     
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  20. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Sounds like designers and manufacturers from other nearby countries could make - or are making - a killing in Deutschland. Unless "Real Germans" are so patriotic they refuse to wear anything but "Real German" underwear - and I just can't see that happening on a grand scale, in these days. ...or am I wrong?

    I just quickly checked a couple of German Lingerie fashion shows on the Net. Plenty of variety. Pretty much the same as elsewhere. No evidence of one-style-fits-all. ???? I'm just not getting this...
     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2023

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