Non diving market research.

[Spindrift]

If all else fails - a helpful, clear and simple flow chart of when to use which...

[Ian@1904]

The flow chart is remarkably accurate. For me travel distance is usually miles, my weight in stones, most other stuff is metric.

Years ago when I was an engineer in a factory the Technical Director could only work in imperial. So we took the metric weight/ /length of steel bar converted to imperial, he did his calculations and we then converted back to metric. Fortunately it seemed to work every time. Tolerance levels were always to within a gnat's cock.

[taz]

.

I come from a mining village.
You might not of heard of a mine but it's where they dug a hole deep into the ground and removed black rock.
The black rock burnt really well and was used for heating, transport, power generation and such like.

Any way I digress....

This one mine set up a partnership with French mine. French mines being in France and France being
in Mainland Europe used to measure in Metric millimetres. The mine in my village being in Yorkshire, Gods
County and in England used to measure in Imperial inches.

They did a combined project where they designed and built a state of the ark coal cutting machine that moved itself forward
and remove the coal, fully automated.

They spent millions and arranged the huge unveiling at the pit top with dignitaries and representatives of both Countries.

The idea was to marry the two halves together, the cutter head being made in the UK and the gearbox drive gear in France.

The idea was to put the two halves together and the main dignitary was going to insert the first bolt.

I'm not sure if you get where this is going but the best designers in the UK and French mining industry invested millions
in this project.

It was only when they came to bolt the two halves together that they found measurements in Imperial and Metric have
a slight discrepancy and although it was a perfect match the holes were out by a fraction.

The sight of a grubby arsed fitter with an Occy-Acetylene cutting torch making the multi million pound thing meet in the
middle was memorable

taz

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[rth]

I converted to full S.I. at age 16 as part of my Physics A level. At university in 1971 Chemistry department was also fully metric but the Biochemistry department only partly changed and every time calories were mentioned the best they could do was don't forget to multiply by 4.184 to convert to joules and concentration in Mol/L. I still use miles for distance in UK and nautical miles at sea but everything else is metric.

[F.P.]

>>Snip<< I still use miles for distance in UK and nautical miles at sea but everything else is metric.

Ahh, Nautical Miles... So much easier off of a paper chart. As divers we should all be able to understand Nm's.

And of course they correspond to the mathematical Radians; now ask NASA how easy they found using Nautical Miles (directly related to Radians) instead of kilometres - seem to remember there was NASA space vehicle that went astray cause of the confusion between nautical miles and KM's.

[Allan Carr]

The history of Imperial measures is based upon body measurements and is easier to estimate than metric. I find it easier to estimate an inch than a centimetre.

[WFO]

And of course they correspond to the mathematical Radians;

Wut? How? Unless you're starting to express your lats and longs in radians?

[jamesp]

As someone earlier "Froggie" measurements, the cm is a true French metric system standard.

The UK signed up to the SI system, which is based on the mm and metre.
The cm is just another example of UK stupidity, they just managed to teach the wrong system for the last fifty years.

For the guys who only think imperial, 1cm is 10mm, which is 40 thou more than 3/8" or 7/64" less than 1/2".

[steelemonkey]

[steelemonkey]

As someone earlier "Froggie" measurements, the cm is a true French metric system standard.

The UK signed up to the SI system, which is based on the mm and metre.
The cm is just another example of UK stupidity, they just managed to teach the wrong system for the last fifty years.

For the guys who only think imperial, 1cm is 10mm, which is 40 thou more than 3/8" or 7/64" less than 1/2".

It also helps to understand the antique finances of the UK if you know the original British monetary system: 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 (or 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.
Neil Gaiman. Terry Pratchett.

[Neilwood]

Ahh, Nautical Miles... So much easier off of a paper chart. As divers we should all be able to understand Nm's.

And of course they correspond to the mathematical Radians; now ask NASA how easy they found using Nautical Miles (directly related to Radians) instead of kilometres - seem to remember there was NASA space vehicle that went astray cause of the confusion between nautical miles and KM's.

AFAIK there have been a number of international space projects that have had failings due to imperial/metric screwups. I have even heard mention of the Hubble space telescope in that vein - the grinding discrepancy was alleged to have been caused by that (according to an astrophysicist that I was doing a construction job for).

[Neilwood]

It also helps to understand the antique finances of the UK if you know the original British monetary system: 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 (or 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.
Neil Gaiman. Terry Pratchett.

The reason for the 240 pennies to the pound is that (on average) that was how many pennies there were in relation to one pound in weight.

[Jay_Benson]

The flow chart is not entirely correct, but pretty damn close. The measurement of train track in the UK is indeed in miles and chains. Except between Marylebone and a junction near Banbury where it is miles and metres.

The reason we have standard gauge in Great Britain is because that was the standard distance between wheels on a Roman chariot which was based on the size of a horses backside. Rumours that Brunel’s broad gauge was based on the size of Queen Victoria’s backside are probably not true (but that gauge is still in use in Ireland, north and south).

Considering the number of replies on this thread I would hope that some people revisit the survey and aid young Finless.

[Finless]

Thank you to all you pollsters. I shall follow the majority (and my also my preference) and put the full detail up on the website.

[Finless]

Hmm. "All you pollsters"? I wonder if that should be "all you pollsterees"?