Quote from: zenrat on May 02, 2023, 05:25:20 AMAnd a chain is as long as your wicket.
 

Yup 

Quote from: zenrat on May 02, 2023, 05:25:20 AM

Quote from: Rheged on May 01, 2023, 05:47:34 AMAt school, I was taught Imperial units  and trained, as a teacher, to teach both Imperial and Metric.  I can work in either or  a hybrid mixture of both.  The aspect of metrication that really exercised me was the change from  £ s d to £ p.  Cashing up the college bar at the end of every evening was a laugh a minute.  The convention was that one paid for drinks in either units, but change was always given in £ p.    Apart from a few argumentative  twerps  and the "tired and emotional"**  types found in every bar  the system worked well and we ended up more or less in balance

**  BBC  euphemism for sozzled politicians

History teacher mode engaged

Imperial units have their own idiosyncratic logic. An inch is a finger joint, a foot is exactly that and a yard (a clothyard) is nose to fingertip. A furlong...furrow long... is as far as your ox team can plough without a rest , a rod, pole or perch is the length of rod or pole  used as an ox goad  and a mile is mille passuum------one thousand double paces by a Roman legionary.  A pint is about as much as you can drink in one draught.  A stone is as much as you can carry any distance and a hundredweight as much as you can lift. 

History teacher mode disengaged

And a chain is as long as your wicket.
 

A chain is the length of a surveyor's chain.  Possibly because it's the maximum weight that the surveyor's apprentice could carry for any length of time.................unless anyone has a better suggestion.....

Quote from: Rheged on May 02, 2023, 09:25:13 AM

Quote from: zenrat on May 02, 2023, 05:25:20 AM

Quote from: Rheged on May 01, 2023, 05:47:34 AMAt school, I was taught Imperial units  and trained, as a teacher, to teach both Imperial and Metric.  I can work in either or  a hybrid mixture of both.  The aspect of metrication that really exercised me was the change from  £ s d to £ p.  Cashing up the college bar at the end of every evening was a laugh a minute.  The convention was that one paid for drinks in either units, but change was always given in £ p.    Apart from a few argumentative  twerps  and the "tired and emotional"**  types found in every bar  the system worked well and we ended up more or less in balance

**  BBC  euphemism for sozzled politicians

History teacher mode engaged

Imperial units have their own idiosyncratic logic. An inch is a finger joint, a foot is exactly that and a yard (a clothyard) is nose to fingertip. A furlong...furrow long... is as far as your ox team can plough without a rest , a rod, pole or perch is the length of rod or pole  used as an ox goad  and a mile is mille passuum------one thousand double paces by a Roman legionary.  A pint is about as much as you can drink in one draught.  A stone is as much as you can carry any distance and a hundredweight as much as you can lift. 

History teacher mode disengaged

And a chain is as long as your wicket.
 

A chain is the length of a surveyor's chain.  Possibly because it's the maximum weight that the surveyor's apprentice could carry for any length of time.................unless anyone has a better suggestion.....

Well it's 1/80 of a mile.  Or is a mile 80 chain?  Which is derived from which?

4 Rods in a Chain.  10 Chain in a Furlong.

Which means that the heavier the soil, the more feeble the surveyor's apprentice, and the shorter the stick used to prod the Ox.

Alternatively in regions with a light sandy loam it would be hard to score a century.

 

I use a mix of both - coming from a science background, metric is the language of the land. I use metric in model work, 3D printing, programing, electronics and building things that don't have to interface with Imperial parts. For everything else, it's inches, feet, miles and furlongs per fortnight.

Quote from: zenrat on May 03, 2023, 05:28:18 AMWell it's 1/80 of a mile.  Or is a mile 80 chain?  Which is derived from which?

4 Rods in a Chain.  10 Chain in a Furlong.

So:
1 furlong: ca 201 m
1 chain, ca 20 m
1 rod: ca 5 m

That's educative.. 

I'm so glad I have the metric world to play with..pretty much everything I do which requires measuring something it's metric...yet when I'm thinking timber it's 2 x4s ..6 x 2s and so on but if it's plywood or MDF it's metres .
I don't understand the strange arse measurements..what the hell is 3/34 th of a inch ..ok it's 2.241mm but still .

Quote from: Wardukw-NZ on May 03, 2023, 11:28:42 PMI don't understand the strange arse measurements..what the hell is 3/34 th of a inch ..ok it's 2.241mm but still .

Bu if you'd grown up with it you would 

I grew up with them and frankly have always thought they were mostly nonsense.

Praise be to most SI units!

Except kilometres and hectares, no mental map file at all regarding their size!!

A kilometer is easy ..it's a thousand metres ..strangely in drag racing we still use 1/4 mile .
What does annoy me is when some (very naughty word) decided that horsepower was out and kilowatts was in ...my car has 330 HP not freaking kilowatts..kilowatts is a electrical measurement for output ..not a petrol engine.
I do want to meet the person responsible..then violence would ensue..this self righteous git only wanted himself to feel important when it was perfectly fine ..should never have been touched.
It I'd does is confuse everybody who's been working with engines longer than that (very naughty word) has been alive.

yeah know how many metres to the click    it's just in my head I can gauge having driven a mile but can't gauge a kilometer.

^^^^^        

Quote from: Wardukw-NZ on May 04, 2023, 11:48:53 AMA kilometer is easy ..it's a thousand metres ..strangely in drag racing we still use 1/4 mile .
What does annoy me is when some (very naughty word) decided that horsepower was out and kilowatts was in ...my car has 330 HP not freaking kilowatts..kilowatts is a electrical measurement for output ..not a petrol engine.
I do want to meet the person responsible..then violence would ensue..this self righteous git only wanted himself to feel important when it was perfectly fine ..should never have been touched.
It I'd does is confuse everybody who's been working with engines longer than that (very naughty word) has been alive.

Concur on all points!

Just making sure they're remembered for something. Or is it 'Cursed at for all time?" 

When having to calculate things, the SI system is absolutely wonderful, and  to be honest, that goes for engines as well. And even more so in this EV world we're entering into. A 400hp car will use how much battery? However, a 300kW car (roughly equivalent to your 400hp) will ideally use a 900kWh battery for ca 3 hrs operation. Easypeasy. As with everything else, its a matter of getting used to..

Re electric vehicles, while on the subject - you can say anything you want, but not before you've driven a small, light (and thus shortranged) EV - the electric drive is so superior to the IC engine in every aspect imaginable - but two: The noise and the weight/energy ratio. I already mis the lovely carb snarl from the 70's, and these new Kias and what have you that sound like the bloody Star Wars when gliding on city streets.. It's not right..
And the batteries are too heavy to permit proper inspired driving.
But bar that, electric is the way.

I probably should go back to modelling now... 

Rick mate 👌 it's Cursed at for all time 😂

Pellson matey they can take those electric piles of crap and shove em someplace deep and very dark .
I hate how these things are being used to fool the wallys who believe in all the hype about them .
These things will not save this planet and in fact speed up its demise .
Also one thing they don't have going for them is range ..ive clocked up over 650kms in a day with my car ..did I stop and spend 45mins or more charging it ? ..nope ..fact I didn't stop at all for fuel for my car..I did stop foe me tho ..it was a KFC day 
At some point there's no doubt these things will have the range but right now they don't and they don't have infrastructure to give them that range.
There's so few place to charge em here it's makes them useless
Couldn't agree more about the sound and trust me if you had the chance to own or even start a blown 429 big block Ford V8 you'd never look at one of these new fangled electric wagons twice again .
Oh I did see something funny last Wednesday..I was buying some new paint brushes at my fav paint brush shop ..Gordon Harris art supplies..and across the street is these charging ports and none worked   
These way 3 cars trying to charge and couldn't..freaking loved that 😁😃

Every 24th month, the energy density in car batteries are doubled. And just last month, there was a patent being granted on a control system for batteries, individually controlling every cell, and there's thousands of them in each car battery. That technology will allow for 85% charging of a Tesla sized battery (ca 650 km range) in less than 10 minutes. Still thrice the time compared to a ICE, but it's getting there! Fast! Also, there are major leaps being taken in battery material technology, mening less and less Rare Earth Materials (REMs) being needed, again minimizing the environmental impact.

I'm still far from letting go of my old Defenders, but I would guess that in ten years time, not only will thee be difficulties in finding diesel to fule them with, but also there'll be a refit package available that's actually cost effective, making an EV out of my old Defender. Just watch me..