Sometimes I have to laugh when I see financial reports on American tv
shows. Why do they speak in tenths instead of just moving into the
21st century, like they say the market moved 2 tenths...

Why have a quarter of a dollar, or why don't we have a fifth of a
dollar coin instead of a 20c piece.

And what are these Lbs, I don't seem to have a symbol to represent
that on my key pad.

And how come there are dollars per pound, isn't it meant to be dollars
per kilo or pounds per pound or pence per pound...

I was born in 69 so things had already changed by then here, 65 I
think it was when they said goodbye to the pounds and pence and hello
to the dollars and cents.

Still waiting for the 10 month year, the 10 hour day/night and the 10
day week, 10 week month etc...

Anyhow I should go and put a couple of gallons of water on my
tomatoes...

Have a nice day, happy gardening...

In humor...Warren

Warren wrote:
Sometimes I have to laugh when I see financial reports on American tv
shows. Why do they speak in tenths instead of just moving into the
21st century, like they say the market moved 2 tenths...

Why have a quarter of a dollar, or why don't we have a fifth of a
dollar coin instead of a 20c piece.

And what are these Lbs, I don't seem to have a symbol to represent
that on my key pad.

And how come there are dollars per pound, isn't it meant to be dollars
per kilo or pounds per pound or pence per pound...

I was born in 69 so things had already changed by then here, 65 I
think it was when they said goodbye to the pounds and pence and hello
to the dollars and cents.

Still waiting for the 10 month year, the 10 hour day/night and the 10
day week, 10 week month etc...

Anyhow I should go and put a couple of gallons of water on my
tomatoes...

Have a nice day, happy gardening...

In humor...Warren

Hm. I was born in 1955 and, believe it or not, still think in the
imperial measures I learned at school. In fact, I still use 'two bob'
instead of '20c'!

You can have no conception of what it was like, trying to do sums in
imperial weights and measures *and worse*, doing sums in £, s and d! Not
only that, but we also had guineas and sovereigns to deal with!
Urrrggghhh! Betty and Jim (the proprietors of my primary school maths
book) taught me how many rods, poles or perches there were in a mile.
How many yards in a furlong. How many chains in a cricket pitch (ie
one). How many pennyweight in an ounce. I could go on.

So please don't tell us elder persons to forget or change that which was
learned at *great cost* in our childhoods! Mumblemumble... one thousand
seven hundred and sixty yards, one mile... grumble... sixteen fluid
ounces, one pint... crumble... twenty one shillings in a guinea... and
that bloody-well baker and his dozen!!! Aaaarrrggghhh!!!!

Oh, and FYI, the change to dismal guernsey (decimal currency) occurred
on the 14th of February, 1966.

I was eleven and all I cared about was that a whole new way of doing
sums was about to be inflicted upon me. There was a cutesy little jingle
and a character called 'Dollar Bill' who sang to the tune of 'Click Go
the Shears'. Serious discussions were held all over the country about
whether one should put one stroke or two through an 'S' to make the
dollar symbol. Another huge discussion went on about whether to call
'the new money' 'dollars' or something else. The word 'Austral' was
touted, but dismissed after a cartoon appeared in the paper showing Mark
Antony in the Forum with a wheelbarrow full of noses and a sandwich
board saying 'Donate to Caesar's funeral fund'. Out of his mouth came a
speech balloon saying 'Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me an austral!'

Finally, I happen to do quilting as my other hobby. I have to inform you
that the whole, entire quilting world thinks in yards and inches. The
effort required to convert between metric and imperial measures when
cutting out tiny strips of fabric is enough to send you *mad*!

Go figger.

--
Trish {|:-} Newcastle, NSW, Australia

So please don't tell us elder persons to forget or change that which was
learned at *great cost* in our childhoods! Mumblemumble... one thousand
seven hundred and sixty yards, one mile... grumble... sixteen fluid
ounces, one pint... crumble... twenty one shillings in a guinea... and
that bloody-well baker and his dozen!!! Aaaarrrggghhh!!!!

There are 16 fluid ounces in an American pint. Ours had 20 hence their short
gall 3.6 litres as our gallon is 4.5 litres.

SG1 wrote:
So please don't tell us elder persons to forget or change that which was
learned at *great cost* in our childhoods! Mumblemumble... one thousand
seven hundred and sixty yards, one mile... grumble... sixteen fluid
ounces, one pint... crumble... twenty one shillings in a guinea... and
that bloody-well baker and his dozen!!! Aaaarrrggghhh!!!!

There are 16 fluid ounces in an American pint. Ours had 20 hence their short
gall 3.6 litres as our gallon is 4.5 litres.



See what I mean? All that angst over conversions and calculations and
you *still* couldn't get 'em all right! Hnnnnh! ;-

--
Trish {|:-} Newcastle, NSW, Australia

On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:22:48 +1000, Trish Brown
wrote in aus.gardens:


Hm. I was born in 1955 and, believe it or not, still think in the
imperial measures I learned at school. In fact, I still use 'two bob'
instead of '20c'!

You can have no conception of what it was like, trying to do sums in
imperial weights and measures *and worse*, doing sums in £, s and d! Not
only that, but we also had guineas and sovereigns to deal with!
Urrrggghhh! Betty and Jim (the proprietors of my primary school maths
book) taught me how many rods, poles or perches there were in a mile.
How many yards in a furlong. How many chains in a cricket pitch (ie
one). How many pennyweight in an ounce. I could go on.

So please don't tell us elder persons to forget or change that which was
learned at *great cost* in our childhoods! Mumblemumble... one thousand
seven hundred and sixty yards, one mile... grumble... sixteen fluid
ounces, one pint... crumble... twenty one shillings in a guinea... and
that bloody-well baker and his dozen!!! Aaaarrrggghhh!!!!


Ha I had to laugh, as one born in the first half of the last century I
hated the idea of going metric. I mean 12 is such a handy number
divides by 2, 3, 4, 6 etc etc and if you know the cost of a dozen eggs
then the cost of one is easy in LSD money (?). There is a measurement
for everything, all different units and all incompatable!

BUT Australia went metric and did it brilliantly, I am so glad that
they did. and while I still totally confuse my kids by saying things
like, "Push it toward me a couple of inches" Metric is such a grand
system.

On the other hand the British have spent nearly 50 years totally
stuffing up their conversion to metric (as an example look at their
Met site it is still in an absurd mixture of imperial and metric). My
last year at school in the UK was spent trying to cope with CGS then
MKS units as they dithered and changed their mind, Finally, I presume,
settling on SI units. And who in their right mind would not have
wanted to be part of a common European currency?

But it does **** me off that when I ask for a dozen rolls at the local
baker I only get 12! But the Vietnamese couple behind the counter are
always so nice to me I forgive them instantly

All of which has nothing to do with gardening other than my block of
dirt is 186 feet long by 40 feet wide.


Regards
Dinsy

Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum - Lucretius

"Dinsdale Pirana" wrote in message
On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:22:48 +1000, Trish Brown
wrote in aus.gardens:


Hm. I was born in 1955 and, believe it or not, still think in the
imperial measures I learned at school. In fact, I still use 'two bob'
instead of '20c'!

You can have no conception of what it was like, trying to do sums in
imperial weights and measures *and worse*, doing sums in £, s and d! Not
only that, but we also had guineas and sovereigns to deal with!
Urrrggghhh! Betty and Jim (the proprietors of my primary school maths
book) taught me how many rods, poles or perches there were in a mile.
How many yards in a furlong. How many chains in a cricket pitch (ie
one). How many pennyweight in an ounce. I could go on.

So please don't tell us elder persons to forget or change that which was
learned at *great cost* in our childhoods! Mumblemumble... one thousand
seven hundred and sixty yards, one mile... grumble... sixteen fluid
ounces, one pint... crumble... twenty one shillings in a guinea... and
that bloody-well baker and his dozen!!! Aaaarrrggghhh!!!!


Ha I had to laugh, as one born in the first half of the last century I
hated the idea of going metric. I mean 12 is such a handy number
divides by 2, 3, 4, 6 etc etc and if you know the cost of a dozen eggs
then the cost of one is easy in LSD money (?). There is a measurement
for everything, all different units and all incompatable!

BUT Australia went metric and did it brilliantly, I am so glad that
they did. and while I still totally confuse my kids by saying things
like, "Push it toward me a couple of inches" Metric is such a grand
system.

I agree.

In fact I was rather amused at Trish's comments as I'm older than her and
her comments about how hard it was getting a handle on metric didn't cause a
quaver of recognition at all for me.

I love metric, and being a keen cook, I can automatically convert between
metric, Imperial and American measures. Iused to have problems though if a
recipe called for a "stick of butter". I used to guess based on the recipe
but finally had to ask on a US dominated ng to find out that it is 4 oz of
butter.

For woodwork, metric has got to be the best system out. Dunno how anyone
can do fine woodworking using inches etc. but I can cut a dovetail to a half
mm without any probs :-))

On the other hand the British have spent nearly 50 years totally
stuffing up their conversion to metric (as an example look at their
Met site it is still in an absurd mixture of imperial and metric).

I worked for the BOM and just when the changeover to metric measurement
occured, when chasing balloons we would
1 enter the range in yards ( on old equipment, newer stuff was metres)
2 work out the wind speed in metres per sec
3 Send out the result in KNOTS

My new block (well in 10 days or so) will be 1164 sm or just over a 1/4 of
an acre.

"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...
"Dinsdale Pirana" wrote in message
On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:22:48 +1000, Trish Brown
wrote in aus.gardens:


Hm. I was born in 1955 and, believe it or not, still think in the
imperial measures I learned at school. In fact, I still use 'two bob'
instead of '20c'!

You can have no conception of what it was like, trying to do sums in
imperial weights and measures *and worse*, doing sums in £, s and d! Not
only that, but we also had guineas and sovereigns to deal with!
Urrrggghhh! Betty and Jim (the proprietors of my primary school maths
book) taught me how many rods, poles or perches there were in a mile.
How many yards in a furlong. How many chains in a cricket pitch (ie
one). How many pennyweight in an ounce. I could go on.

So please don't tell us elder persons to forget or change that which was
learned at *great cost* in our childhoods! Mumblemumble... one thousand
seven hundred and sixty yards, one mile... grumble... sixteen fluid
ounces, one pint... crumble... twenty one shillings in a guinea... and
that bloody-well baker and his dozen!!! Aaaarrrggghhh!!!!


Ha I had to laugh, as one born in the first half of the last century I
hated the idea of going metric. I mean 12 is such a handy number
divides by 2, 3, 4, 6 etc etc and if you know the cost of a dozen eggs
then the cost of one is easy in LSD money (?). There is a measurement
for everything, all different units and all incompatable!

BUT Australia went metric and did it brilliantly, I am so glad that
they did. and while I still totally confuse my kids by saying things
like, "Push it toward me a couple of inches" Metric is such a grand
system.

I agree.

In fact I was rather amused at Trish's comments as I'm older than her and
her comments about how hard it was getting a handle on metric didn't cause
a quaver of recognition at all for me.

I love metric, and being a keen cook, I can automatically convert between
metric, Imperial and American measures. Iused to have problems though if
a recipe called for a "stick of butter". I used to guess based on the
recipe but finally had to ask on a US dominated ng to find out that it is
4 oz of butter.

For woodwork, metric has got to be the best system out. Dunno how anyone
can do fine woodworking using inches etc. but I can cut a dovetail to a
half mm without any probs :-))

Don't you mean .5 of a mm ?

"Zod" wrote in message
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message

For woodwork, metric has got to be the best system out. Dunno how anyone
can do fine woodworking using inches etc. but I can cut a dovetail to a
half mm without any probs :-))

Don't you mean .5 of a mm ?

I don't have any trouble understanding that half of a mm is .5 of a mm. I
guess that could be a problem for some though.

"Trish Brown" wrote in message
news:AeednbYR7-YLA2janZ2dnUVZ_uqvnZ2d@internode...

So please don't tell us elder persons to forget or change that which was
learned at *great cost* in our childhoods! Mumblemumble... one thousand
seven hundred and sixty yards, one mile... grumble... sixteen fluid
ounces, one pint... crumble... twenty one shillings in a guinea... and
that bloody-well baker and his dozen!!! Aaaarrrggghhh!!!!

but that is precisely why the metric system is so beautiful. to be frank, it
drives me nuts when old people (and americans) don't use proper
measurements - because metric is so easy, that to not use it makes no sense;
so if they use it & i don't know what they're talking about, it's well
beyond annoying (people don't get round speaking shakespearean english any
more, now do they??). metric is so beautifully easy that i didn't even
realise until i had kids doing maths homework. then, it's ease becomes
screamingly obvious, and to use anything else cannot really be justified!!

having said that, it would be cool if metric had some sort of equivalent of
something like an inch. a small measurement to indicate, well, smallness,
that is just one thing (iyswim). it's the only thing it lacks, really.

Finally, I happen to do quilting as my other hobby. I have to inform you
that the whole, entire quilting world thinks in yards and inches. The
effort required to convert between metric and imperial measures when
cutting out tiny strips of fabric is enough to send you *mad*!

there are only three nations on earth that don't officially use metric. two
of them are so obscure i can't think what they are. the other would declare
war on you for saying metric's obviously better ;-) i'll take the risk,
though - metric's better.
kylie

Charlie wrote in message
...
On Sun, 06 Apr 2008 23:01:20 GMT, "0tterbot" wrote:


there are only three nations on earth that don't officially use metric.
two
of them are so obscure i can't think what they are. the other would
declare
war on you for saying metric's obviously better ;-) i'll take the risk,
though - metric's better.
kylie


Yeah, and if our 'merican peso keeps on with it's devaluation, we're
going to wind up being as obscure as the other two. Sure is making it
cheaper for the rest of the world to fly or wire in and clean up at
this big garage sale that we are becoming. Before long our warmaking
ability will amount to our being like a bunch of digital monkeys in
trees chunking digital turds at those who disagree with us. Lotta that
going on already, eh? ;-)

BTW, I agree about metric.

GOOD. g

my feeling on what you are saying is simply that all empires end, but the
emperor never likes it when it does, but that everyone else does because it
benefits them to be free of it. onwards & upwards, what.

there's a lot to be said for obscurity, anyway. if the u.s. ever gets over
itself, you won't catch ME crying!
kylie

In article , Charlie wrote:

There are many here in the belly of the beast who shan't be cryin'
either when said empire can no longer inflict itself upon the world at
large. The fear is though, that the beast will turn upon itself and
those of us here will suffer the same privation and predation that so
many in "third world" countries and indigenous peoples have suffered at
the hands of this insanely rapacious empire. This is beginning to
happen already.

Yep -- DH was reading an economics article which said that about 10% of
Americans with mortgages were in negative equity *now*. The pain is only just
starting, I fear.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

http://chookiesbackyard.blogspot.com/

"Chookie" wrote in message
In article , Charlie wrote:

There are many here in the belly of the beast who shan't be cryin'
either when said empire can no longer inflict itself upon the world at
large. The fear is though, that the beast will turn upon itself and
those of us here will suffer the same privation and predation that so
many in "third world" countries and indigenous peoples have suffered at
the hands of this insanely rapacious empire. This is beginning to
happen already.

Yep -- DH was reading an economics article which said that about 10% of
Americans with mortgages were in negative equity *now*. The pain is only
just
starting, I fear.

Ouch! Spreading beyond the sub prime market obviously.