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I like the American standard measurements, so they aren't inherently based off of a common scale, they don't need to be, I can quickly visualize the difference between 6 inches and six feet, or 6 cups and 6 gallons. so you know it works.

no this gallon vs that gallon, this mile vs that mile...

uhm, there's only one kind of mile or gallon, I think you might have subconsciously been referring to the metric system here.


and switch to the Euro, but we aren't europeein, and I don't think want to be.


My cheapest gas at my earliest memory of buying it was .89 cents a gallon (~.20 cents a litre.) And now that it is $2.10 a gallon (~ .47 cents a litre,)

Personally I believe the Metric system is preferable to the Imperial system, mostly because the metric system uses the same basis as our counting system which makes mathematics with Metric quicker and more logical than mathematics in Base 12.
Secondly, the Imperial system is based off this King's foot, this Prince's Hand and that duke's armspan... I mean really why do you Americans want to hold onto British royalty anyway - isn't that what the independance was all about

one kind of mile or gallon

Actually there are Gallons and there are US Gallons
See my post above: 5 Gallon = 6 US Gallons

My cheapest gas at my earliest memory of buying it was .89 cents a gallon (~.20 cents a litre.) And now that it is $2.10 a gallon (~ .47 cents a litre,)

E-gad man, anychance I could buy some off you - even if I pay for the shipping as well, it'll probably come out cheaper than the $1.20(aus) that I just paid per litre this afternoon (~$0.96 US)
I'm assuming you meant 0.47 dollars, or 47 cents... not 0.47 cents?

A thousand litres fill up a cubic meter (just for the feeling of size).

Now this is curious - Are you an American or not?
Litre, Metre, Centre et.al. are in the English Language.
Liter, Meter, Center et.al are in the American Language.

As for replacing the dollar for the Euro... only if they directly convert my Australian Dollars 1:1 for Euro's, then I will gladly because it'll make a lot richer than I currently am, otherwise... no, I'm rather fond of my Dollar, thanks anyway.

cloudee1 wrote: I like the American standard measurements, so they aren't inherently based off of a common scale, they don't need to be, I can quickly visualize the difference between 6 inches and six feet, or 6 cups and 6 gallons. so you know it works.

In the same way I'm used to this system. Yet this system can also be used for any sort of calculation without recalculating the divided up measurements into one type, then converting that to metric and then figuring out what length it really is. You can get used to it quite easily, but it'll take some time

no this gallon vs that gallon, this mile vs that mile...

uhm, there's only one kind of mile or gallon, I think you might have subconsciously been referring to the metric system here.

No actually. The metric system doesn't even have miles or gallons. They're imperial units.

The normal gallon vs the US gallon. The anglosaxion mile versus the nautical mile versus at least two other types of mile, each is a different length and nobody cares to say which they intend it to be.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile -> reference. It lists the international mile (1609.344 metre) (which is the land mile), the US mile (1609.347 metre, which differs ever so slightly but is different), the sea mile (1852 metres exactly), the swedish/norse "mile" (10000 metres exactly), the roman mile of 1479 meters, the geographical mile of 1855 metres, the statute mile being 8 furlongs long (don't even ask me what a furlong is), the german/danish "mile" of 7.5km, the irish mile of 2048.3 metres... What mile do you intend?

Compare that page to the metre page : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre

It lists how the metre length was defined ever more precise. Not how there were up to 10-15 conflicting definitions differing up to 400% but how they didn't differ by more than 1% and they became ever more precise, the latest two only being of scientific origin because they needed an even more precise determination.

and switch to the Euro, but we aren't europeein, and I don't think want to be.

You don't have to be european to use euros. They're normal currency, you can use them pretty much in most places. Still, don't not use these things because nobody around you does. If everybody used a C64 all of a sudden, would you switch?

one kind of mile or gallon

Actually there are Gallons and there are US Gallons
See my post above: 5 Gallon = 6 US Gallons

If you're still not convinced, cloudee1: Google knows all.
(And when I say all, I do mean all.)

Oh and while you're at it, replace the idiotic dollar with the euro... it's worth a lot more and more stable

Please ignore this. It would just make our precious Euro less stable, and probably worth less in the long run.

A thousand litres fill up a cubic meter (just for the feeling of size).

Now this is curious - Are you an American or not?
Litre, Metre, Centre et.al. are in the English Language.
Liter, Meter, Center et.al are in the American Language.

Candy is Dutch. I'm going to assume the situation over there is similar to the Flemish situation.
First of all, in the Dutch language metre and litre are written as meter and liter. So switching to the British spelling isn't the most obvious thing to do.
Secondly, spelling is mostly based on memory (which is why dt-mistakes in Dutch are so common, eventhough the rules are quite simple and there are no exceptions), and most of the English text we get to read (on the internet, text books at uni, scientific publications, business correspondence, menus and help files in computer programs and games,...) is written in US English. As a result, we are more likely to use US spelling.
The same goes for pronounciation. Most Flemish and Dutch have an accent that is much closer to American English than it is to British. Simply because our television stations buy a lot more American shows (dare I say: unfortunately). (With the exception of kids' shows, we don't dub them, [sub]subtitling[/sub] works for us.)
Now in school, our text books did try teach us "Oxford English", but most (except for one) my English teachers said we could choose wether we used American or British spelling and pronounciation, as long as we were consistent and stuck to one.
Most my compatriots seem to go for the American way, I prefer British English. But either way, you're bound to mix up every once in a while, often because you're not even aware of the alternative.

don't even ask me what a furlong is

8 Furlongs is 1 Mile (1760 yards)
Hey, just because I don't like that ancient American system, doesn't mean I don't know how it works
Oh and anybody that really wants to get confused with conversions, get into aviation... I've done two years theory through school and am about to begin Air Force training as a pilot.... Suffice it to say that in Aviaition you use both metric and imperial, fortunatly you rarely have to convert because they are used for specific purposes - example Feet are only used for altitude, metres for distances in some circumstances and Nautical Miles in different circumstances.

[hr]

Strangequark, in relation to my comment on Candy's spelling... I was merely confused because Candy used both American and International English in the same sentance... and no I wasn't aware Candy was dutch either.

Don't worry, in Year 10 (gee ancient history now) I was in top level English and we had to write our own short novel. Needless to say, still being at school, I was doing a lot of proofreading late at night - and annoingly MS Word's idea of "Australian" is far from accurate.
The teacher left a little note saying that she didn't really mind if I used either the correct "defence" or the American "defense" - but that I should stick with one or the other.... ;D

I Lostalim wrote: Oh and anybody that really wants to get confused with conversions, get into aviation... I've done two years theory through school and am about to begin Air Force training as a pilot.... Suffice it to say that in Aviaition you use both metric and imperial, fortunatly you rarely have to convert because they are used for specific purposes - example Feet are only used for altitude, metres for distances in some circumstances and Nautical Miles in different circumstances.

Or into space flight. They had a historical crash once, where somebody programmed against an interface expecting miles, and the person putting the info in used feet. So, when the software said it was 5 feet above the mars surface, it thought it had 5 miles to go (don't even know which miles). It crashed horribly. Try to consider metric

Strangequark, in relation to my comment on Candy's spelling... I was merely confused because Candy used both American and International English in the same sentance... and no I wasn't aware Candy was dutch either.

Thanks, that kind of reinstates my own belief into knowing enough english for it not to be too blindingly obvious that I'm not. We also had to learn english at school, everybody kind of stuck to the US spelling and the teacher wasn't bothered enough to tell anybody about how to pronounce potato or tomato or even how to write metre. I'll stick to the UK spelling from now on, if only because I don't like the US.

... I was doing a lot of proofreading late at night - and annoingly MS Word's idea of "Australian" is far from accurate.
The teacher left a little note saying that she didn't really mind if I used either the correct "defence" or the American "defense" - but that I should stick with one or the other.... ;D

And I thought I was going mad last semester? We had to do a number of reports on a computer version of Risk, algorithms used for it and we obviously used attack and defence quite a lot. I kept insisting the real spelling was defence and everybody kept placing notes beside all the defences with the comment that their spelling checker told them otherwise. Now I know why it did that. I kind of dislike those deviations in US english.

Lemme sum the last 20 or so replies up: US people should use metric but are too stubborn to change. Is that correct?

Try to consider metric

I second that!

I'll stick to the UK spelling from now on, if only because I don't like the US.

Heh - I use the uK spelling because it's my natural language, however I do like your answer... ;D

I kept insisting the real spelling was defence

Now you know you were right!

US people should use metric but are too stubborn to change. Is that correct?

I don't know, but it works for me ;D

Well, Canada has switched to the metric system (though I hear it's still a bit confusing right now, but this is bound to get better when younger generations, who were thaught metric in school and have never known differently, grow up), so maybe the US will follow their example one day.
On the other hand, their are also counterproductive changes, like all English speaking countries following the US' example and switching to short scale, despite most other languages using long scale (which actually makes sense, semantically).

the swedish/norse "mile" (10000 metres exactly)

well, it's the best way to have it..
1000 meter = 1km
10km = 1 mile

Therefore, 1 "Norse Mile" = 1 Myriametre

not that anybody uses that prefix "Myria" anymore, but still... ;D

Well I'm in the opporsite dilemma to Candy, I have a car, but havn't started driving lessons yet.

Oh prices of fuel in the UK vary from area to area, they can be a little as 80p (~$1.50 or ~E1.16, sorry can't find euro key) to as much as ?1.10 (~$2.10 or ~E1.60) a litre in one particular rural garage.

On average their about 87p a litre (~$1.60 or ~E1.20). Petrol is taxed to the hilt here to try and get more people onto the unreliable and also expensive public transport.

As for measurements, go metric! All I leant at school was metric but in the real world, all these backwards adults still insist on imperial. My dad is slowly turning though.

srg

srg wrote: Petrol is taxed to the hilt here to try and get more people onto the unreliable and also expensive public transport.

If you claim public transport to be unreliable, check out the numbers. How many technical breakdowns per person and mile traveled? How many accidents per person and mile traveled? How precise the prediction of when you will arrive where, and how often missed that deadline because of traffic jams or breakdowns, per person and mile traveled?

How much stress endured while driving yourself?

Virtually all my private software work is being done on my laptop while on the commuter train. Close to two hours per day.

I could make the round trip in 1.5 to 2 hours in the car - most of the time crawling at pedestrian pace through rush hour, not getting any work done, my wife not having the car at home for shopping or getting our daughter to the doc in case of emergency, and using up inordinate amounts of fuel.

And not getting any private software work done - I would have to deduct that time from my family life.

I love public transport.

I generally use a bicycle to get where I want to go. Although I am getting myself a Ford Transit and converting it into a wagon.

<_<...>_>...<_<

So what? I'm a hippie.

I replaced the too-small-for-a-family Renault Clio with an Espace - and believe me, when you toss all the stuff onto the front seats and leave the unnecessary seats at home, it makes for very comfortable sleeping in the back. Without conversions. (Proved at Breakpoint '05.)

Well the journey that I regualy take to uni would normally be about 15-20 mins by car, maybe half an hour in the rush hour (there are ways arround the traffic). By bus it takes 50 mins to an hour, often when the bus is late (not as often as it used to be but still bad) it takes an hour and a half.

Plus the busses are expensive, often dirty, often have to contend with noisy little **** school kids and don't tell be about some of the arse hole bus drivers. Last week, I got the the bus stop with the bus waiting at the stop, I literally to to the front of the bus and the driver just pulled off.

Not to meantion that one of the narrowest streets in my town that the busses go down their building a shopping center next to this road and it gets clogged up with large lorries etc. Now I know that's not the busses fault, but once a lorry and a bus got physically jammed in that road (it is very narrow) and 4 busses came down from the other direction, 3 of them missed us out when going back the other way completely and only the last one stopped, I got to Uni an hour late. There were 20 very angry people at that stop.

I'm also fed up of having to wait in the freezing cold and/or rain for late busses.

I hate public transport. I could go on an on but I think I'll stop now.

Still, next year my optional third year to get a degree is at another campus and travel to there is cheaper by car than train.

srg