As a baby boomer, like many I grew up with imperial measurement, when metric came I embraced it alongside imperial measurement, seamlessly converting from one to the other on practically a daily basis ever since. We may have become metricated, but the world around us was built using imperial and still has to be dealt with on that basis.
What never fails to amaze is the lack of understanding of even basic metric measurement amongst the young. When helping several younger members of my family with free expertise to make their new homes liveable over the last few years, the simple process of measuring something seems to be a challenge for them. In learning the metric system, they all seem to have been taught with the centimetre as the base measurement, the concept of the millimetre seems to be completely lost on them. Ask them to take the end of a tape and measure something that is 2508mm long, and they will come with something like 258cm. I thought it was a one off aberration, but this week the 14 year old daughter of my niece went through the same torturous mental gymnastics to come up with the wrong answer, but this incorrect use of the centimetre as the base unit of measurement stretches across generations ranging from 14 to 36.
Of course they all know their weight and height in imperial measurements, but haven't a clue how heavy or tall they are in metric.
Since the whole point of the metric system is that the metre is the base of it, that's an epic fail.
According to ITV, there's also a list of banned words and phrases, including "very", "equal", "yourself", "speculate", "ascertain" and "disappointment".
The man must be certifiably insane.
Are you speculating, disappointed or have you ascertained this?
Carried out a completely unscientific survey in my workplace, no one 18 - 55 measured their vehicle efficiency in anything other than miles per gallon.
Carried out a completely unscientific survey in my workplace, no one 18 - 55 measured their vehicle efficiency in anything other than miles per gallon.
I am pretty comfortable with Imperial measurements and generally use them over metric ones - it just comes more naturally. But I am 55. My kids genuinely would not know how to use them. This is Rees Mogg brand building, nothing more.
I was taught in SI units at school 1968-71 and 50 years later only the USA and some twits in the UK insist on Imperial. Canada, Ireland, Australia, NZ and India are metric. Lord Kelvin in the 19th.C called the Imperial system complete with rods, chains, poles and perches 'brain-destroying'. Quite.
Even the NYSE went decimal a few years ago.
And yet I work in probably one of the most hi-tec industries in the world and everything is done in non metric units. Personally I think it is great to be fluent in both and it really isn't that hard.
Except that is not the case. I work in engineering, in biopharma specifically, and even in American companies the inch is being phased out for the millimetre.
As I said, the oil industry all works in non metric. At least on the drilling and production side. Even European countries tend to work in non metric units - feet, inches, barrels, psi etc.
In a few weeks I will be geosteering a well drilling 6" hole horizontally in a formation less than 10ft thick at 10,000 feet below sea level and 25,000 feet away from the tophole location. I will be using the most advanced technology on earth to do this and everything will be measured in non-metric units.
I am not in anyway opposed to metric and happily use it where necessary. But the idea that imperial measurements are disappearing any time soon or that our kids shouldn't know them is simply wrong.
Describing the Oil & Gas industry as the most "advanced technology on earth" really destroys your credibility there.
What units do they use in space travel again?
Your advanced technology will do everything in metric and then spit it out in imperial for your pleasure.
Funny, a fair amount of the technology they use in the space industry derived from oil and gas. Advanced gyro systems and specialist heat resistant materials, magnetic resonance detectors and gamma ray imaging systems for a start.
Anyway it beats mixing the pretty colours together and poisoning animals.
Because they are widely used. It's a question of inertia. I think also it varies according to where you live. Ask for 500g of steak in Cannock or Dursley and you will get a blank look, even though by law that's what they have to sell it in.
Personally I don't find metric easier to use than imperial. Easier to multiply, yes, but a bugger for division at more than a basic level. Nor does it bother me overmuch.
My generation knows how big a 6 oz or 12 oz steak is based on what it looks like on a plate but good luck getting us to identify how heavy anything else is in ounces.
Gyms have used kgs for years, for example.
Kilograms and grams are now so ingrained for almost everything save human weight and even that is changing slowly.
Calling non-titled males "esquire" has never been correct. Traditionally only those with a coat of arms were entitled to be called "esquire." It's just an ignorant affectation.
Strictly speaking, it's used for those of noble descent without other post-nominals.
"Noble descent"? Originally it was simply the squire who waited on a knight - well below "noble." But in any case it's never been correctly applied to the entire male population.
As someone who spend too much time transcribing 16th and 17th C court documents I can throw a little light on this. The order was generally Lord, in various degrees, Marquis etc; then Knight with Knight of the Bath being above the others. Esquires were the next step down and a step above Gentleman. A gentleman was meant to be able to provide for his family without recourse to manual work. For an Esquire the family wealth was meant to provide for the well-being.
The aversion to Mr was that that was a form of address that was used to social superiors. As with A levels there was a form of grade inflation so eventually even common servants were addressed as Mr - hence the need to use Esq. Even that was then degraded, so really JRM is trying to impose the style of the 1920s.
There's a story about the court of James I, who was very lavish with honours. One courtier said to another, "Is that a gentleman?", and the other replied, "Nay, 'tis but a knight."
Carried out a completely unscientific survey in my workplace, no one 18 - 55 measured their vehicle efficiency in anything other than miles per gallon.
Why would they when their cars read out in miles per gallon? Bet you a lot of them couldn't tell you how much fluid is in a gallon. I certainly couldn't.
I am pretty comfortable with Imperial measurements and generally use them over metric ones - it just comes more naturally. But I am 55. My kids genuinely would not know how to use them. This is Rees Mogg brand building, nothing more.
I was taught in SI units at school 1968-71 and 50 years later only the USA and some twits in the UK insist on Imperial. Canada, Ireland, Australia, NZ and India are metric. Lord Kelvin in the 19th.C called the Imperial system complete with rods, chains, poles and perches 'brain-destroying'. Quite.
Even the NYSE went decimal a few years ago.
And yet I work in probably one of the most hi-tec industries in the world and everything is done in non metric units. Personally I think it is great to be fluent in both and it really isn't that hard.
Except that is not the case. I work in engineering, in biopharma specifically, and even in American companies the inch is being phased out for the millimetre.
As I said, the oil industry all works in non metric. At least on the drilling and production side. Even European countries tend to work in non metric units - feet, inches, barrels, psi etc.
In a few weeks I will be geosteering a well drilling 6" hole horizontally in a formation less than 10ft thick at 10,000 feet below sea level and 25,000 feet away from the tophole location. I will be using the most advanced technology on earth to do this and everything will be measured in non-metric units.
I am not in anyway opposed to metric and happily use it where necessary. But the idea that imperial measurements are disappearing any time soon or that our kids shouldn't know them is simply wrong.
Describing the Oil & Gas industry as the most "advanced technology on earth" really destroys your credibility there.
What units do they use in space travel again?
Your advanced technology will do everything in metric and then spit it out in imperial for your pleasure.
Nope
As per Joinery standards I have tried to explain - they used a mixture of both imperial and metric for space travel.
What has that got to do with anything? I'm not doubting your joinery knowledge.
NASA has used metric exclusively since the early 90s.
Well they still use imperial and metric in airplane building.
Because they are widely used. It's a question of inertia. I think also it varies according to where you live. Ask for 500g of steak in Cannock or Dursley and you will get a blank look, even though by law that's what they have to sell it in.
Personally I don't find metric easier to use than imperial. Easier to multiply, yes, but a bugger for division at more than a basic level. Nor does it bother me overmuch.
My generation knows how big a 6 oz or 12 oz steak is based on what it looks like on a plate but good luck getting us to identify how heavy anything else is in ounces.
Gyms have used kgs for years, for example.
Kilograms and grams are now so ingrained for almost everything save human weight and even that is changing slowly.
I am genuinely split on this. I am delighted that someone has tried to instil some rigour into written submissions but agree entirely that doing so as a new minister who already has the sort of reputation that JRM has is just asking to be mocked.
I am, however, shocked that he has taken so vociferously against the poor old Oxford comma. Particularly as he studied there. Very poor form.
Rees Mogg will be loved for this by all those he wants to be loved by and mocked by all those who he wants to mock him. Overall, it will do exactly what is intended - reinforce his brand.
But I want to do both. I love him for doing it, partly because I value that sort of rigour in writing (even though I am rubbish at it myself) but also in part because it allows me to mock him.
Richard, I think we can agree your views are not necessarily typical!
I thought a love of intellectual rigour and the ability to mock politicians was a basic prerequisite to posting on here.
I am pretty comfortable with Imperial measurements and generally use them over metric ones - it just comes more naturally. But I am 55. My kids genuinely would not know how to use them. This is Rees Mogg brand building, nothing more.
I was taught in SI units at school 1968-71 and 50 years later only the USA and some twits in the UK insist on Imperial. Canada, Ireland, Australia, NZ and India are metric. Lord Kelvin in the 19th.C called the Imperial system complete with rods, chains, poles and perches 'brain-destroying'. Quite.
Even the NYSE went decimal a few years ago.
And yet I work in probably one of the most hi-tec industries in the world and everything is done in non metric units. Personally I think it is great to be fluent in both and it really isn't that hard.
Except that is not the case. I work in engineering, in biopharma specifically, and even in American companies the inch is being phased out for the millimetre.
As I said, the oil industry all works in non metric. At least on the drilling and production side. Even European countries tend to work in non metric units - feet, inches, barrels, psi etc.
In a few weeks I will be geosteering a well drilling 6" hole horizontally in a formation less than 10ft thick at 10,000 feet below sea level and 25,000 feet away from the tophole location. I will be using the most advanced technology on earth to do this and everything will be measured in non-metric units.
I am not in anyway opposed to metric and happily use it where necessary. But the idea that imperial measurements are disappearing any time soon or that our kids shouldn't know them is simply wrong.
I was at a Schlumberger demo, and they had all the distances in imperial, and the temperatures in metric.
Carried out a completely unscientific survey in my workplace, no one 18 - 55 measured their vehicle efficiency in anything other than miles per gallon.
Why would they when their cars read out in miles per gallon? Bet you a lot of them couldn't tell you how much fluid is in a gallon. I certainly couldn't.
So are Rees-Mogg's acolytes really going to be measuring energy in foot-poundals?
As a baby boomer, like many I grew up with imperial measurement, when metric came I embraced it alongside imperial measurement, seamlessly converting from one to the other on practically a daily basis ever since. We may have become metricated, but the world around us was built using imperial and still has to be dealt with on that basis.
What never fails to amaze is the lack of understanding of even basic metric measurement amongst the young. When helping several younger members of my family with free expertise to make their new homes liveable over the last few years, the simple process of measuring something seems to be a challenge for them. In learning the metric system, they all seem to have been taught with the centimetre as the base measurement, the concept of the millimetre seems to be completely lost on them. Ask them to take the end of a tape and measure something that is 2508mm long, and they will come with something like 258cm. I thought it was a one off aberration, but this week the 14 year old daughter of my niece went through the same torturous mental gymnastics to come up with the wrong answer, but this incorrect use of the centimetre as the base unit of measurement stretches across generations ranging from 14 to 36.
Of course they all know their weight and height in imperial measurements, but haven't a clue how heavy or tall they are in metric.
Because they are widely used. It's a question of inertia. I think also it varies according to where you live. Ask for 500g of steak in Cannock or Dursley and you will get a blank look, even though by law that's what they have to sell it in.
Personally I don't find metric easier to use than imperial. Easier to multiply, yes, but a bugger for division at more than a basic level. Nor does it bother me overmuch.
My generation knows how big a 6 oz or 12 oz steak is based on what it looks like on a plate but good luck getting us to identify how heavy anything else is in ounces.
Gyms have used kgs for years, for example.
Kilograms and grams are now so ingrained for almost everything save human weight and even that is changing slowly.
I use kg for my weight.
Me too but that's certainly not typical.
I don't use either for my weight. Weighing myself was depressing, so I stopped doing it.
My girlfriend is on a night out in Hexham and I'm on taxi duty so I have nothing to do apart from argue with you guys about measurement systems. I can think of worse things.
I am genuinely split on this. I am delighted that someone has tried to instil some rigour into written submissions but agree entirely that doing so as a new minister who already has the sort of reputation that JRM has is just asking to be mocked.
I am, however, shocked that he has taken so vociferously against the poor old Oxford comma. Particularly as he studied there. Very poor form.
Rees Mogg will be loved for this by all those he wants to be loved by and mocked by all those who he wants to mock him. Overall, it will do exactly what is intended - reinforce his brand.
I think most peoples' reactions would be to wonder whether there aren't more pressing issues to be concerned with right now.
I am pretty comfortable with Imperial measurements and generally use them over metric ones - it just comes more naturally. But I am 55. My kids genuinely would not know how to use them. This is Rees Mogg brand building, nothing more.
I was taught in SI units at school 1968-71 and 50 years later only the USA and some twits in the UK insist on Imperial. Canada, Ireland, Australia, NZ and India are metric. Lord Kelvin in the 19th.C called the Imperial system complete with rods, chains, poles and perches 'brain-destroying'. Quite.
Even the NYSE went decimal a few years ago.
And yet I work in probably one of the most hi-tec industries in the world and everything is done in non metric units. Personally I think it is great to be fluent in both and it really isn't that hard.
Yours is not 'one of the most hi-tec industries in the world' - unless you take 'one of' to be a suitably large set.
My first reaction is that it is because the oil industry is a fairly old one, and one that is technologically dominated by America. I mean, 'barrel of oil' isn't even an imperial measure.
However, when I look at what is one of the most hi-tech industries in the world - chip design and fabrication - then that is nearly all metric, and yet it is dominated by US companies (and was founded and developed by them). When I think why that might be, it's probably because metric is so much more obvious with chip design. The only exception I can think of is wafer sizes, which are mostly quoted in inches (even if they are referred to internally in mm).
As an aside, the only place in that particular arena that imperial is commonly used was in PCB manufacture, where a few people still use imperial. Leading to issues when they refer to Mils (thousandths of an inch) when normal people think they mean millimetres Perhaps that's because PCB design predates VLSI.
Which is a perfect example of why it's sensible to concentrate on one or the other.
I am pretty comfortable with Imperial measurements and generally use them over metric ones - it just comes more naturally. But I am 55. My kids genuinely would not know how to use them. This is Rees Mogg brand building, nothing more.
I was taught in SI units at school 1968-71 and 50 years later only the USA and some twits in the UK insist on Imperial. Canada, Ireland, Australia, NZ and India are metric. Lord Kelvin in the 19th.C called the Imperial system complete with rods, chains, poles and perches 'brain-destroying'. Quite.
Even the NYSE went decimal a few years ago.
And yet I work in probably one of the most hi-tec industries in the world and everything is done in non metric units. Personally I think it is great to be fluent in both and it really isn't that hard.
Except that is not the case. I work in engineering, in biopharma specifically, and even in American companies the inch is being phased out for the millimetre.
As I said, the oil industry all works in non metric. At least on the drilling and production side. Even European countries tend to work in non metric units - feet, inches, barrels, psi etc.
In a few weeks I will be geosteering a well drilling 6" hole horizontally in a formation less than 10ft thick at 10,000 feet below sea level and 25,000 feet away from the tophole location. I will be using the most advanced technology on earth to do this and everything will be measured in non-metric units.
I am not in anyway opposed to metric and happily use it where necessary. But the idea that imperial measurements are disappearing any time soon or that our kids shouldn't know them is simply wrong.
I was at a Schlumberger demo, and they had all the distances in imperial, and the temperatures in metric.
Yep. Though even there where you would think it was blindingly obvious to use Centigrade, you still have to ask as they seem to switch back and forth at random.
Funnily enough the international definition of an HPHT (High Pressure/High Temperature well) - which is a well where a whole load of additional safety rules and precautions have to be introduced - is 140 deg C and 10,000 psi.
Why are Caroline Flint and co. allowed to get away with what they say without being challenged ? There is virtually no Labour seat that will be lost if Labour went full-throttle Remain.
Why would they when their cars read out in miles per gallon? Bet you a lot of them couldn't tell you how much fluid is in a gallon. I certainly couldn't.
4.55 litres.
No, seriously. The punchline of Imperial is that it is standardised using metric. So a yard is 0.91 metres.
I am pretty comfortable with Imperial measurements and generally use them over metric ones - it just comes more naturally. But I am 55. My kids genuinely would not know how to use them. This is Rees Mogg brand building, nothing more.
I was taught in SI units at school 1968-71 and 50 years later only the USA and some twits in the UK insist on Imperial. Canada, Ireland, Australia, NZ and India are metric. Lord Kelvin in the 19th.C called the Imperial system complete with rods, chains, poles and perches 'brain-destroying'. Quite.
Even the NYSE went decimal a few years ago.
And yet I work in probably one of the most hi-tec industries in the world and everything is done in non metric units. Personally I think it is great to be fluent in both and it really isn't that hard.
Except that is not the case. I work in engineering, in biopharma specifically, and even in American companies the inch is being phased out for the millimetre.
As I said, the oil industry all works in non metric. At least on the drilling and production side. Even European countries tend to work in non metric units - feet, inches, barrels, psi etc.
In a few weeks I will be geosteering a well drilling 6" hole horizontally in a formation less than 10ft thick at 10,000 feet below sea level and 25,000 feet away from the tophole location. I will be using the most advanced technology on earth to do this and everything will be measured in non-metric units.
I am not in anyway opposed to metric and happily use it where necessary. But the idea that imperial measurements are disappearing any time soon or that our kids shouldn't know them is simply wrong.
I was at a Schlumberger demo, and they had all the distances in imperial, and the temperatures in metric.
Yep. Though even there where you would think it was blindingly obvious to use Centigrade, you still have to ask as they seem to switch back and forth at random.
Funnily enough the international definition of an HPHT (High Pressure/High Temperature well) - which is a well where a whole load of additional safety rules and precautions have to be introduced - is 140 deg C and 10,000 psi.
Interesting: I was wondering if the temperature being in centigrade was because Schlumberger is a (sort of) French company.
So, can Jacob Rees-Mogg,Esq. tell me whether "data is" or "data are" is the correct form?
"Data are" is correct. A single datapoint is a "datum".
We shall now have a two-hour discussion in which the words "stadiums/stadia", "mediums/media", "referendums/Referenda" will crop up, the good Dr Prasannan will post a link to that (incorrect) style guide from the Spectator, and I will heroically resist the urge to mention "labia".
I am pretty comfortable with Imperial measurements and generally use them over metric ones - it just comes more naturally. But I am 55. My kids genuinely would not know how to use them. This is Rees Mogg brand building, nothing more.
I was taught in SI units at school 1968-71 and 50 years later only the USA and some twits in the UK insist on Imperial. Canada, Ireland, Australia, NZ and India are metric. Lord Kelvin in the 19th.C called the Imperial system complete with rods, chains, poles and perches 'brain-destroying'. Quite.
Even the NYSE went decimal a few years ago.
And yet I work in probably one of the most hi-tec industries in the world and everything is done in non metric units. Personally I think it is great to be fluent in both and it really isn't that hard.
Except that is not the case. I work in engineering, in biopharma specifically, and even in American companies the inch is being phased out for the millimetre.
As I said, the oil industry all works in non metric. At least on the drilling and production side. Even European countries tend to work in non metric units - feet, inches, barrels, psi etc.
In a few weeks I will be geosteering a well drilling 6" hole horizontally in a formation less than 10ft thick at 10,000 feet below sea level and 25,000 feet away from the tophole location. I will be using the most advanced technology on earth to do this and everything will be measured in non-metric units.
I am not in anyway opposed to metric and happily use it where necessary. But the idea that imperial measurements are disappearing any time soon or that our kids shouldn't know them is simply wrong.
I was at a Schlumberger demo, and they had all the distances in imperial, and the temperatures in metric.
Yep. Though even there where you would think it was blindingly obvious to use Centigrade, you still have to ask as they seem to switch back and forth at random.
Funnily enough the international definition of an HPHT (High Pressure/High Temperature well) - which is a well where a whole load of additional safety rules and precautions have to be introduced - is 140 deg C and 10,000 psi.
Interesting: I was wondering if the temperature being in centigrade was because Schlumberger is a (sort of) French company.
The funny combination is in Ireland where distances are in miles and speed limits are km/h.
Rules are great. I'm all for rules. However the rules have to have a purpose: to make things clear, or to stop misunderstandings, or general politeness. Rules that have no practical purpose are stupid and deserve to be disobeyed as often as possible.
Some of Jacob Rees-Worm's rules have a point, whilst others are utterly pointless and just there to get in the way of business. As an example the 'Esquire' rules is utterly pointless. It's basically his ego running amok against things he dislikes.
It'd be good to see a HoC/HoL style guide.
However, mandating imperial units is cr@p. Whilst I agree with Mr Tyndall on the importance of knowing both (and using the relevant one - I'm teaching my son both metric and imperial for distances - if there needs to be a standard, then imperial is not the way to go.
It's a backwards move designed not to ease the business of the house, but to get in the way and obstruct.
I am pretty comfortable with Imperial measurements and generally use them over metric ones - it just comes more naturally. But I am 55. My kids genuinely would not know how to use them. This is Rees Mogg brand building, nothing more.
I was taught in SI units at school 1968-71 and 50 years later only the USA and some twits in the UK insist on Imperial. Canada, Ireland, Australia, NZ and India are metric. Lord Kelvin in the 19th.C called the Imperial system complete with rods, chains, poles and perches 'brain-destroying'. Quite.
Even the NYSE went decimal a few years ago.
And yet I work in probably one of the most hi-tec industries in the world and everything is done in non metric units. Personally I think it is great to be fluent in both and it really isn't that hard.
Except that is not the case. I work in engineering, in biopharma specifically, and even in American companies the inch is being phased out for the millimetre.
As I said, the oil industry all works in non metric. At least on the drilling and production side. Even European countries tend to work in non metric units - feet, inches, barrels, psi etc.
In a few weeks I will be geosteering a well drilling 6" hole horizontally in a formation less than 10ft thick at 10,000 feet below sea level and 25,000 feet away from the tophole location. I will be using the most advanced technology on earth to do this and everything will be measured in non-metric units.
I am not in anyway opposed to metric and happily use it where necessary. But the idea that imperial measurements are disappearing any time soon or that our kids shouldn't know them is simply wrong.
I was at a Schlumberger demo, and they had all the distances in imperial, and the temperatures in metric.
Yep. Though even there where you would think it was blindingly obvious to use Centigrade, you still have to ask as they seem to switch back and forth at random.
Funnily enough the international definition of an HPHT (High Pressure/High Temperature well) - which is a well where a whole load of additional safety rules and precautions have to be introduced - is 140 deg C and 10,000 psi.
Interesting: I was wondering if the temperature being in centigrade was because Schlumberger is a (sort of) French company.
I am pretty comfortable with Imperial measurements and generally use them over metric ones - it just comes more naturally. But I am 55. My kids genuinely would not know how to use them. This is Rees Mogg brand building, nothing more.
I was taught in SI units at school 1968-71 and 50 years later only the USA and some twits in the UK insist on Imperial. Canada, Ireland, Australia, NZ and India are metric. Lord Kelvin in the 19th.C called the Imperial system complete with rods, chains, poles and perches 'brain-destroying'. Quite.
Even the NYSE went decimal a few years ago.
And yet I work in probably one of the most hi-tec industries in the world and everything is done in non metric units. Personally I think it is great to be fluent in both and it really isn't that hard.
Except that is not the case. I work in engineering, in biopharma specifically, and even in American companies the inch is being phased out for the millimetre.
As I said, the oil industry all works in non metric. At least on the drilling and production side. Even European countries tend to work in non metric units - feet, inches, barrels, psi etc.
In a few weeks I will be geosteering a well drilling 6" hole horizontally in a formation less than 10ft thick at 10,000 feet below sea level and 25,000 feet away from the tophole location. I will be using the most advanced technology on earth to do this and everything will be measured in non-metric units.
I am not in anyway opposed to metric and happily use it where necessary. But the idea that imperial measurements are disappearing any time soon or that our kids shouldn't know them is simply wrong.
I was at a Schlumberger demo, and they had all the distances in imperial, and the temperatures in metric.
Apparently carpenters in some metric countries like Norway and Sweden use a metric 'inch' of 25 mm. I could live with that.
The SI units of length are the millimetre and metre as I was (correctly) taught 50 years ago. The cm isn't an SI unit, but all people in metric countries understand it and many use it in preference to m.
Carried out a completely unscientific survey in my workplace, no one 18 - 55 measured their vehicle efficiency in anything other than miles per gallon.
Why would they when their cars read out in miles per gallon? Bet you a lot of them couldn't tell you how much fluid is in a gallon. I certainly couldn't.
So are Rees-Mogg's acolytes really going to be measuring energy in foot-poundals?
Is it a problem anymore ?
If you have to carry out calculations by hand, then, true, Imperial units are ludicrous.
But there are online converters everywhere, so to get from foot poundals to Joules to MeV is now just trivial.
I am genuinely split on this. I am delighted that someone has tried to instil some rigour into written submissions but agree entirely that doing so as a new minister who already has the sort of reputation that JRM has is just asking to be mocked...
Carried out a completely unscientific survey in my workplace, no one 18 - 55 measured their vehicle efficiency in anything other than miles per gallon.
Why would they when their cars read out in miles per gallon? Bet you a lot of them couldn't tell you how much fluid is in a gallon. I certainly couldn't.
So are Rees-Mogg's acolytes really going to be measuring energy in foot-poundals?
Is it a problem anymore ?
If you have to carry out calculations by hand, then, true, Imperial units are ludicrous.
But there are online converters everywhere, so to get from foot poundals to Joules to MeV is now just trivial.
It's not trivial if you're manufacturing cars, aircraft or equipment for space travel and you're shipping parts between countries, as with say Airbus. All partners must be rigidly Imperial or SI. Otherwise problems or even disasters can occur, like people being told to make a hole an inch wide and this getting translated as 25.0 mm.
I am genuinely split on this. I am delighted that someone has tried to instil some rigour into written submissions but agree entirely that doing so as a new minister who already has the sort of reputation that JRM has is just asking to be mocked...
Because they are widely used. It's a question of inertia. I think also it varies according to where you live. Ask for 500g of steak in Cannock or Dursley and you will get a blank look, even though by law that's what they have to sell it in.
Personally I don't find metric easier to use than imperial. Easier to multiply, yes, but a bugger for division at more than a basic level. Nor does it bother me overmuch.
My generation knows how big a 6 oz or 12 oz steak is based on what it looks like on a plate but good luck getting us to identify how heavy anything else is in ounces.
Gyms have used kgs for years, for example.
Kilograms and grams are now so ingrained for almost everything save human weight and even that is changing slowly.
I use kg for my weight.
Me too but that's certainly not typical.
I don't use either for my weight. Weighing myself was depressing, so I stopped doing it.
I have used kgs to monitor my weight loss as that is the measurement my GP uses for my diabetes control
I have lost 15 kgs since April (planned) but as my wife and I think imperial first I convert it and it converts to 2 stone and five pounds
And I feel fitter and do not need medication to control my diabetes
Why are Caroline Flint and co. allowed to get away with what they say without being challenged ? There is virtually no Labour seat that will be lost if Labour went full-throttle Remain.
The 40 or so labour mps opposed to remain do not agree
Disappointed that "less than" for discreet units has not been banned by JRM. Also, people who write "compared to" when they should use "compared with" should be shot.
Carried out a completely unscientific survey in my workplace, no one 18 - 55 measured their vehicle efficiency in anything other than miles per gallon.
Why would they when their cars read out in miles per gallon? Bet you a lot of them couldn't tell you how much fluid is in a gallon. I certainly couldn't.
So are Rees-Mogg's acolytes really going to be measuring energy in foot-poundals?
Is it a problem anymore ?
If you have to carry out calculations by hand, then, true, Imperial units are ludicrous.
But there are online converters everywhere, so to get from foot poundals to Joules to MeV is now just trivial.
It's a massive issue in engineering, as it's sometimes not clear what units people are using. When things go well, you notice and query it so you can do the conversion. When things go badly, you don't notice and you get a Mars Climate Orbiter-style foobar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter
Disappointed that "less than" for discreet units has not been banned by JRM. Also, people who write "compared to" when they should use "compared with" should be shot.
Discreet units? Is that where you buy in imperial but pretend it's metric (pounds of jam sold as 454g spring to mind)?
Bonkers. Imperial measures are moronic and belong in the past, SI measures should be the future for anyone educated.
Double space after full stops I learnt at school as a style guide pre-internet, but the internet has killed that as a style guide for almost everyone everywhere.
I am genuinely split on this. I am delighted that someone has tried to instil some rigour into written submissions but agree entirely that doing so as a new minister who already has the sort of reputation that JRM has is just asking to be mocked.
I am, however, shocked that he has taken so vociferously against the poor old Oxford comma. Particularly as he studied there. Very poor form.
Rees Mogg will be loved for this by all those he wants to be loved by and mocked by all those who he wants to mock him. Overall, it will do exactly what is intended - reinforce his brand.
I think most peoples' reactions would be to wonder whether there aren't more pressing issues to be concerned with right now.
Well, it's not as if parliament is going to be doing much for the next few months.
Carried out a completely unscientific survey in my workplace, no one 18 - 55 measured their vehicle efficiency in anything other than miles per gallon.
Why would they when their cars read out in miles per gallon? Bet you a lot of them couldn't tell you how much fluid is in a gallon. I certainly couldn't.
So are Rees-Mogg's acolytes really going to be measuring energy in foot-poundals?
Is it a problem anymore ?
If you have to carry out calculations by hand, then, true, Imperial units are ludicrous.
But there are online converters everywhere, so to get from foot poundals to Joules to MeV is now just trivial.
It's not trivial if you're manufacturing cars, aircraft or equipment for space travel and you're shipping parts between countries, as with say Airbus. All partners must be rigidly Imperial or SI. Otherwise problems or even disasters can occur, like people being told to make a hole an inch wide and this getting translated as 25.0 mm.
Your viewpoint seems ethnocentric.
If you want to give the distance in light years or parsecs or cek (Hong Kong distant units) or German geographical miles or dos (Japanese distance units), then it is no problem to convert them to km or shackles or cubits or American surveying units or microns.
There is this thing called the world wide web. There are online converters available everywhere.
If you're not up to converting from one unit to another with an online converter, frankly you should not be "manufacturing cars, aircraft or equipment for space travel".
Rules are great. I'm all for rules. However the rules have to have a purpose: to make things clear, or to stop misunderstandings, or general politeness. Rules that have no practical purpose are stupid and deserve to be disobeyed as often as possible.
Some of Jacob Rees-Worm's rules have a point, whilst others are utterly pointless and just there to get in the way of business. As an example the 'Esquire' rules is utterly pointless. It's basically his ego running amok against things he dislikes.
It'd be good to see a HoC/HoL style guide.
However, mandating imperial units is cr@p. Whilst I agree with Mr Tyndall on the importance of knowing both (and using the relevant one - I'm teaching my son both metric and imperial for distances - if there needs to be a standard, then imperial is not the way to go.
It's a backwards move designed not to ease the business of the house, but to get in the way and obstruct.
And he’s telling everyone to CHECK their work, which presumably includes wasting loads of time making sure one of these banned words hasn’t inadvertently made it into some text that he might read. Hardly going to mark his department out as a model of productivity.
The UK uses a charming mix of metric and imperial.
Wine comes in 750ml bottles.
Beer comes in pints.
When the temperature is cold, we measure relative to the freezing point of water. But when it's hot, many of us switch into Farenheit.
If we're going on a long journey, then the distance is in miles. If we're measuring the length of a beetle, then w're going to be using centimeters and milimeters.
That is the British way. Charmingly inconsistent.
Temperature is an interesting example. I don't know anyone who can tell the difference between 24C and 25C, so the metric scale has too much detail for casual day-to-day use.
Newton's temperature scale was based explicitly on increments of temperature that he could perceive the difference between - roughly 3K increments. An increment of 3K is roughly 5F - which fits with the common practice of referring to "the high 70s" or "the low 50s" when talking about air temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit.
I think my issue with JRM's imperial edict, is that he is seems to think that his word alone is enough to overturn the Weights and Measures Act 1985 and its predecessors.
By the way, I'm a bit surprised that @HYUFD hasn't told everyone what a great vote winner this is...
Bonkers. Imperial measures are moronic and belong in the past, SI measures should be the future for anyone educated.
Double space after full stops I learnt at school as a style guide pre-internet, but the internet has killed that as a style guide for almost everyone everywhere.
I am still surprised that JRM has been appointed by Boris Johnson as Rees-Mogg and his Hedge fund are betting against Britain by investing in currencies that will rise against Sterling in the event of a No Deal Brexit. Johnson said he will make those who "bet against Britain lose their shirts" yet appoints someone he has been involved precisely in that!
Disappointed that "less than" for discreet units has not been banned by JRM. Also, people who write "compared to" when they should use "compared with" should be shot.
The list of banned words/phrases is fairly odd, what's the problem with most of them?
Superfluous, pretentious, meaning too vague to be useful? When I am made Demiurge (hat tip @geoffw !) I will ban the use of the word "iconic" unless they are actually describing a piece of religious art.
I am still surprised that JRM has been appointed by Boris Johnson as Rees-Mogg and his Hedge fund are betting against Britain by investing in currencies that will rise against Sterling in the event of a No Deal Brexit. Johnson said he will make those who "bet against Britain lose their shirts" yet appoints someone he has been involved precisely in that!
I think my issue with JRM's imperial edict, is that he is seems to think that his word alone is enough to overturn the Weights and Measures Act 1985 and its predecessors.
By the way, I'm a bit surprised that @HYUFD hasn't told everyone what a great vote winner this is...
With Leavers and Brexit Party voters it certainly will be
Disappointed that "less than" for discreet units has not been banned by JRM. Also, people who write "compared to" when they should use "compared with" should be shot.
Gilligan was the commissioner who got Johnson’s segregated cycle superhighways built, the one unalloyed triumph of his mayorship. He has since produced a report calling for them to be rolled out to Cambridge, MK, and (particularly) Oxford. This is massively good news for cycling.
Why are Caroline Flint and co. allowed to get away with what they say without being challenged ? There is virtually no Labour seat that will be lost if Labour went full-throttle Remain.
That is Rubbish.
If a Labour Leave seat is 45% Labour 38% Tory, even if 80% of those Labour voters are Remainers if 20% are Leavers and vote for the Boris led Tory Party, the Tories win the seat 47%, to 36%
I think my issue with JRM's imperial edict, is that he is seems to think that his word alone is enough to overturn the Weights and Measures Act 1985 and its predecessors.
By the way, I'm a bit surprised that @HYUFD hasn't told everyone what a great vote winner this is...
Well Johnson seems to believe that “his word” is sufficient to guarantee the rights of EU nationals in the U.K, in the absence of any passing of legislation...
Why are Caroline Flint and co. allowed to get away with what they say without being challenged ? There is virtually no Labour seat that will be lost if Labour went full-throttle Remain.
That is Rubbish.
If a Labour Leave seat is 45% Labour 38% Tory, even if 80% of those Labour voters are Remainers if 20% are Leavers and vote for the Boris led Tory Party, the Tories win the seat 47%, to 36%
Why are Caroline Flint and co. allowed to get away with what they say without being challenged ? There is virtually no Labour seat that will be lost if Labour went full-throttle Remain.
That is Rubbish.
If a Labour Leave seat is 45% Labour 38% Tory, even if 80% of those Labour voters are Remainers if 20% are Leavers and vote for the Boris led Tory Party, the Tories win the seat 47%, to 36%
You left out the Tory Remainers who would vote Labour in such a scenario
My girlfriend is on a night out in Hexham and I'm on taxi duty so I have nothing to do apart from argue with you guys about measurement systems. I can think of worse things.
One worse thing is a night out in Hexham. Surely not Donnie's?
I think my issue with JRM's imperial edict, is that he is seems to think that his word alone is enough to overturn the Weights and Measures Act 1985 and its predecessors.
By the way, I'm a bit surprised that @HYUFD hasn't told everyone what a great vote winner this is...
Why are Caroline Flint and co. allowed to get away with what they say without being challenged ? There is virtually no Labour seat that will be lost if Labour went full-throttle Remain.
The question is whether Labour would regain more Leave voters or lose fewer of the same if it went Brexity compared with Remain voters if it went Remainery. It's not a straightforward calculation. There is evidence that Northern Labour seats were lost in the Euro election on that basis. Some people also think exchanging heartlands for metropolitan seats is a strategically poor decision, as the Brexit effect will eventually die away, leaving Labour with much shallower roots.
Gilligan was the commissioner who got Johnson’s segregated cycle superhighways built, the one unalloyed triumph of his mayorship. He has since produced a report calling for them to be rolled out to Cambridge, MK, and (particularly) Oxford. This is massively good news for cycling.
Second, he loathes HS2.
Yes. Forgetting, for a moment, about Brexit and the implications of the composition of the Johnson Ministry for policy more generally, eight years of PM Johnson with Gilligan in charge of building cycling infrastructure across the country would be an incredibly good thing.
The list of banned words/phrases is fairly odd, what's the problem with most of them?
A lot of them do make sense. For example 'meet with' should really just be 'meet', and I remember back 30 odd years ago an English teacher saying 'never use the word 'got''.
I generally think it's wise to try not to give colleagues, even junior ones, the impression you're a pompous a***hole on the first day in a new job. Best to leave it a week or so.
As a student pharmacist I had the pleasure of learning doses and interpreting formulae in both metric and Imperial. And one of the skills I was taught was how to convert accurately from one to another; it's generally held to be a Good Thing for a pharmacist to know when a prescribed dose of a particular drug is incorrect.
However about five years after I qualified the 'powers that be' decided that all supplies and formulations of medicines should be in metric. We held meetings for GP's and pharmacists to explain everything including the conversion formulae; best attended meetings I was ever involved with organising!
I have to admit that subsequently, and until I retired, I still saw people getting doses etc wrong by factors of ten or a hundred; impossible with the old Apothecaries system.
I generally think it's wise to try not to give colleagues, even junior ones, the impression you're a pompous a***hole on the first day in a new job. Best to leave it a week or so.
The list of banned words/phrases is fairly odd, what's the problem with most of them?
A lot of them do make sense. For example 'meet with' should really just be 'meet', and I remember back 30 odd years ago an English teacher saying 'never use the word 'got''.
You meet people and meet with abstractions.
“If you can meet with triumph and disaster” is good English as well as resonant poetry.
Many on the list are too regularly misused rather than intrinsically bad. “Got” is in that category.
My girlfriend is on a night out in Hexham and I'm on taxi duty so I have nothing to do apart from argue with you guys about measurement systems. I can think of worse things.
One worse thing is a night out in Hexham. Surely not Donnie's?
I am pretty comfortable with Imperial measurements and generally use them over metric ones - it just comes more naturally. But I am 55. My kids genuinely would not know how to use them. This is Rees Mogg brand building, nothing more.
I was taught in SI units at school 1968-71 and 50 years later only the USA and some twits in the UK insist on Imperial. Canada, Ireland, Australia, NZ and India are metric. Lord Kelvin in the 19th.C called the Imperial system complete with rods, chains, poles and perches 'brain-destroying'. Quite.
I was taught metric in school. I teach in metric, if it comes to that. But I tend to use imperial for personal preference as I find it easier for division (and moreover, it's more widely used). It's harder to multiply, but I only really do that for distances and they're in miles anyway.
The UK uses a charming mix of metric and imperial.
Wine comes in 750ml bottles.
Beer comes in pints.
When the temperature is cold, we measure relative to the freezing point of water. But when it's hot, many of us switch into Farenheit.
If we're going on a long journey, then the distance is in miles. If we're measuring the length of a beetle, then w're going to be using centimeters and milimeters.
That is the British way. Charmingly inconsistent.
And most British people like it that way. We don't like to be pinned down to one system or another. I always use imperial for height and distances but use metric for temperatures.
My girlfriend is on a night out in Hexham and I'm on taxi duty so I have nothing to do apart from argue with you guys about measurement systems. I can think of worse things.
One worse thing is a night out in Hexham. Surely not Donnie's?
The cathedral of Brexit itself: Wetherspoons.
The Spoons at Hexham? Lord above. Last time I was there a bloke smoking outside was vomited on from out of the ex-serviceman's club window next door. She'll be in Donnie's later, I should cocoa.
Because they are widely used. It's a question of inertia. I think also it varies according to where you live. Ask for 500g of steak in Cannock or Dursley and you will get a blank look, even though by law that's what they have to sell it in.
Personally I don't find metric easier to use than imperial. Easier to multiply, yes, but a bugger for division at more than a basic level. Nor does it bother me overmuch.
My generation knows how big a 6 oz or 12 oz steak is based on what it looks like on a plate but good luck getting us to identify how heavy anything else is in ounces.
Gyms have used kgs for years, for example.
Kilograms and grams are now so ingrained for almost everything save human weight and even that is changing slowly.
I use kg for my weight.
Me too, but feet 'n inches for height. So BMI is a pain to work out.
Why are Caroline Flint and co. allowed to get away with what they say without being challenged ? There is virtually no Labour seat that will be lost if Labour went full-throttle Remain.
That is Rubbish.
If a Labour Leave seat is 45% Labour 38% Tory, even if 80% of those Labour voters are Remainers if 20% are Leavers and vote for the Boris led Tory Party, the Tories win the seat 47%, to 36%
You left out the Tory Remainers who would vote Labour in such a scenario
Most Labour Leave seats voted Brexit Party in the European Parliament elections as did most Tory seats
As a student pharmacist I had the pleasure of learning doses and interpreting formulae in both metric and Imperial. And one of the skills I was taught was how to convert accurately from one to another; it's generally held to be a Good Thing for a pharmacist to know when a prescribed dose of a particular drug is incorrect.
However about five years after I qualified the 'powers that be' decided that all supplies and formulations of medicines should be in metric. We held meetings for GP's and pharmacists to explain everything including the conversion formulae; best attended meetings I was ever involved with organising!
I have to admit that subsequently, and until I retired, I still saw people getting doses etc wrong by factors of ten or a hundred; impossible with the old Apothecaries system.
'Powers that be' affected wrong doses .. by orders of magnitude!
I am pretty comfortable with Imperial measurements and generally use them over metric ones - it just comes more naturally. But I am 55. My kids genuinely would not know how to use them. This is Rees Mogg brand building, nothing more.
I was taught in SI units at school 1968-71 and 50 years later only the USA and some twits in the UK insist on Imperial. Canada, Ireland, Australia, NZ and India are metric. Lord Kelvin in the 19th.C called the Imperial system complete with rods, chains, poles and perches 'brain-destroying'. Quite.
I was taught metric in school. I teach in metric, if it comes to that. But I tend to use imperial for personal preference as I find it easier for division (and moreover, it's more widely used). It's harder to multiply, but I only really do that for distances and they're in miles anyway.
The UK uses a charming mix of metric and imperial.
Wine comes in 750ml bottles.
Beer comes in pints.
When the temperature is cold, we measure relative to the freezing point of water. But when it's hot, many of us switch into Farenheit.
If we're going on a long journey, then the distance is in miles. If we're measuring the length of a beetle, then w're going to be using centimeters and milimeters.
That is the British way. Charmingly inconsistent.
And most British people like it that way. We don't like to be pinned down to one system or another. I always use imperial for height and distances but use metric for temperatures.
The easiest thing is to use natural units and measure everything in electronVolts.
Temperature, mass, momentum and energy in eV; distance and time in 1/eV.
NASA lost a $125 million Mars orbiter because a Lockheed Martin engineering team used English units of measurement while the agency's team used the more conventional metric system for a key spacecraft operation, according to a review finding released Thursday.
I am pretty comfortable with Imperial measurements and generally use them over metric ones - it just comes more naturally. But I am 55. My kids genuinely would not know how to use them. This is Rees Mogg brand building, nothing more.
I was taught in SI units at school 1968-71 and 50 years later only the USA and some twits in the UK insist on Imperial. Canada, Ireland, Australia, NZ and India are metric. Lord Kelvin in the 19th.C called the Imperial system complete with rods, chains, poles and perches 'brain-destroying'. Quite.
I was taught metric in school. I teach in metric, if it comes to that. But I tend to use imperial for personal preference as I find it easier for division (and moreover, it's more widely used). It's harder to multiply, but I only really do that for distances and they're in miles anyway.
The UK uses a charming mix of metric and imperial.
Wine comes in 750ml bottles.
Beer comes in pints.
When the temperature is cold, we measure relative to the freezing point of water. But when it's hot, many of us switch into Farenheit.
If we're going on a long journey, then the distance is in miles. If we're measuring the length of a beetle, then w're going to be using centimeters and milimeters.
That is the British way. Charmingly inconsistent.
And most British people like it that way. We don't like to be pinned down to one system or another. I always use imperial for height and distances but use metric for temperatures.
The easiest thing is to use natural units and measure everything in electronVolts.
Temperature, mass, momentum and energy in eV; distance and time in 1/eV.
I've been around a few tech companies over the years, and it's funny how often a new boss comes in and then wants to rip up the old rules and implement his own vision in their place. Often those rules have been in place for a fair while, and have good reasons behind them, and as new guy he has no idea why they're there. It's always frustrating and often amusing.
JRM strikes me as the sort of poor engineer who sits in a document review and complains about spaces and the formatting, rather than on the actual contents of the document. As though a document that is perfectly formatted - in the way he thinks it should be formatted - is implicitly correct, regardless of the content.
(When I ran reviews, I would stop anyone commenting on unsubstantial formatting errors in review meetings, and ask them to hand in annotated copies to the engineer after the meeting.)
Ten minutes spent checking that the document is perfectly formatted according to arcane rules is ten minutes not spent checking that the document is not saying the tail of the plane should be able to be drive the nose down to its full extent.
My girlfriend is on a night out in Hexham and I'm on taxi duty so I have nothing to do apart from argue with you guys about measurement systems. I can think of worse things.
One worse thing is a night out in Hexham. Surely not Donnie's?
The cathedral of Brexit itself: Wetherspoons.
The Spoons at Hexham? Lord above. Last time I was there a bloke smoking outside was vomited on from out of the ex-serviceman's club window next door. She'll be in Donnie's later, I should cocoa.
Surprised it is open. The cinema above, of which the Spoons used to be a second screen, is shut due to asbestos. Without wishing to unduly alarm.
Comments
Anyway it beats mixing the pretty colours together and poisoning animals.
I'm all for metric btw
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/07/26/boris-johnson-girlfriend-plan-adopt-rescue-dog-downing-street/
Do not underestimate the power of the retired female dog lover vote.
Do you know if Airbus standardise in metric or imperial?
My first reaction is that it is because the oil industry is a fairly old one, and one that is technologically dominated by America. I mean, 'barrel of oil' isn't even an imperial measure.
However, when I look at what is one of the most hi-tech industries in the world - chip design and fabrication - then that is nearly all metric, and yet it is dominated by US companies (and was founded and developed by them). When I think why that might be, it's probably because metric is so much more obvious with chip design. The only exception I can think of is wafer sizes, which are mostly quoted in inches (even if they are referred to internally in mm).
As an aside, the only place in that particular arena that imperial is commonly used was in PCB manufacture, where a few people still use imperial. Leading to issues when they refer to Mils (thousandths of an inch) when normal people think they mean millimetres
Which is a perfect example of why it's sensible to concentrate on one or the other.
Funnily enough the international definition of an HPHT (High Pressure/High Temperature well) - which is a well where a whole load of additional safety rules and precautions have to be introduced - is 140 deg C and 10,000 psi.
Why are Caroline Flint and co. allowed to get away with what they say without being challenged ? There is virtually no Labour seat that will be lost if Labour went full-throttle Remain.
No, seriously. The punchline of Imperial is that it is standardised using metric. So a yard is 0.91 metres.
Another good article in the Guardian today by Freedland.
We shall now have a two-hour discussion in which the words "stadiums/stadia", "mediums/media", "referendums/Referenda" will crop up, the good Dr Prasannan will post a link to that (incorrect) style guide from the Spectator, and I will heroically resist the urge to mention "labia".
Some of Jacob Rees-Worm's rules have a point, whilst others are utterly pointless and just there to get in the way of business. As an example the 'Esquire' rules is utterly pointless. It's basically his ego running amok against things he dislikes.
It'd be good to see a HoC/HoL style guide.
However, mandating imperial units is cr@p. Whilst I agree with Mr Tyndall on the importance of knowing both (and using the relevant one - I'm teaching my son both metric and imperial for distances - if there needs to be a standard, then imperial is not the way to go.
It's a backwards move designed not to ease the business of the house, but to get in the way and obstruct.
The SI units of length are the millimetre and metre as I was (correctly) taught 50 years ago. The cm isn't an SI unit, but all people in metric countries understand it and many use it in preference to m.
If you have to carry out calculations by hand, then, true, Imperial units are ludicrous.
But there are online converters everywhere, so to get from foot poundals to Joules to MeV is now just trivial.
JRM is second favourite to be next tory leader-
https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/politics/market/1.160663234
I have lost 15 kgs since April (planned) but as my wife and I think imperial first I convert it and it converts to 2 stone and five pounds
And I feel fitter and do not need medication to control my diabetes
Hopefully it's just the weather.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter
Double space after full stops I learnt at school as a style guide pre-internet, but the internet has killed that as a style guide for almost everyone everywhere.
I see no reason for Esq.
If you want to give the distance in light years or parsecs or cek (Hong Kong distant units) or German geographical miles or dos (Japanese distance units), then it is no problem to convert them to km or shackles or cubits or American surveying units or microns.
There is this thing called the world wide web. There are online converters available everywhere.
If you're not up to converting from one unit to another with an online converter, frankly you should not be "manufacturing cars, aircraft or equipment for space travel".
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12717301-000-the-testing-error-that-led-to-hubble-mirror-fiasco/
https://curious-droid.com/291/hubble-trouble-space-telescope-mirror-end-flawed/
Newton's temperature scale was based explicitly on increments of temperature that he could perceive the difference between - roughly 3K increments. An increment of 3K is roughly 5F - which fits with the common practice of referring to "the high 70s" or "the low 50s" when talking about air temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit.
By the way, I'm a bit surprised that @HYUFD hasn't told everyone what a great vote winner this is...
For example, does 5 inches sound bigger or smaller than 13 cm?
To me it sounds bigger but I can't quite explain why.
I think it's something to do with the 'centi' sound.
http://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1154773420770566146
Gilligan was the commissioner who got Johnson’s segregated cycle superhighways built, the one unalloyed triumph of his mayorship. He has since produced a report calling for them to be rolled out to Cambridge, MK, and (particularly) Oxford. This is massively good news for cycling.
Second, he loathes HS2.
If a Labour Leave seat is 45% Labour 38% Tory, even if 80% of those Labour voters are Remainers if 20% are Leavers and vote for the Boris led Tory Party, the Tories win the seat 47%, to 36%
Clearly jumping up and down at the television coverage of the Conservative leadership election has had unintended positive consequences.
You could always just exaggerate a bit of course. Nobody has a ruler on them to check and call you out on it in my experience.
However about five years after I qualified the 'powers that be' decided that all supplies and formulations of medicines should be in metric. We held meetings for GP's and pharmacists to explain everything including the conversion formulae; best attended meetings I was ever involved with organising!
I have to admit that subsequently, and until I retired, I still saw people getting doses etc wrong by factors of ten or a hundred; impossible with the old Apothecaries system.
“If you can meet with triumph and disaster” is good English as well as resonant poetry.
Many on the list are too regularly misused rather than intrinsically bad. “Got” is in that category.
She'll be in Donnie's later, I should cocoa.
Temperature, mass, momentum and energy in eV; distance and time in 1/eV.
http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric.02/
NASA lost a $125 million Mars orbiter because a Lockheed Martin engineering team used English units of measurement while the agency's team used the more conventional metric system for a key spacecraft operation, according to a review finding released Thursday.
JRM strikes me as the sort of poor engineer who sits in a document review and complains about spaces and the formatting, rather than on the actual contents of the document. As though a document that is perfectly formatted - in the way he thinks it should be formatted - is implicitly correct, regardless of the content.
(When I ran reviews, I would stop anyone commenting on unsubstantial formatting errors in review meetings, and ask them to hand in annotated copies to the engineer after the meeting.)
Ten minutes spent checking that the document is perfectly formatted according to arcane rules is ten minutes not spent checking that the document is not saying the tail of the plane should be able to be drive the nose down to its full extent.
I don't want my money stored up there anyway
Without wishing to unduly alarm.