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Imperial system lives on

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Imperial system lives on

Postby 9fingers » 12 Jul 2019, 09:31

I like to feed our garden birds and buy large sacks of mixed seeds from Aldi, the well known German discounter. When they are not instore they will send them mail order.
https://www.aldi.co.uk/wild-bird-seed-m ... 9277266800

Their seed comes in sacks marked 12.75kg and I often wondered why that quantity.
10kg, 20kg maybe even 12.5kg would give an integral number of sacks to the tonne.
But 12.75kg?? A few key presses on my phone shows this is almost exactly 28 lbs or 2 stone which is 1/80 of an imperial ton.
Antiquated or what? Strange to see this from a German company.
I have no problem working in imperial units and several of the conversion factors are burnt into memory from my childhood when dual weights were starting to be printed on food containers and I used to like stretching my mental arithmetic skills checking the factors.

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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby Woodster » 12 Jul 2019, 12:13

I work in whatever unit is convenient at the time, I do prefer metric for engineering jobs though.

There are still very many imperial sized goods available although they normally have to state the metric measurement first. I can’t ever see things like socket sets (drive) ever going metric.
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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby Andyp » 12 Jul 2019, 15:25

I wonder if/when tyre and wheel sizes will ever go fully metric.
I do not think therefore I do not am.

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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby 9fingers » 12 Jul 2019, 15:44

I can understand the inertia for changing tyre sizes and socket sets etc but don't really understand why bags of birdseed can't just be flipped over night or between print runs of the sacks?
I don't think I've bought anytimg in my lifetime measured in stones.

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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby Woodster » 12 Jul 2019, 16:30

Out of curiosity I’ve just looked and there are lots of places selling the 12.75kg bird seed.
Maybe we should go back to getting paid in Groats! :lol:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groat_(coin)
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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby Rod » 12 Jul 2019, 21:10

Cwt and lbs

Strange also that the maximum lifting weight from the HSE is 25kg

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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby Mike Jordan » 13 Jul 2019, 08:27

The imperial system will never die, the Americans are not about to stop using it!
Like most people of' my age I frequently use terms such as " an eight by four of 6mm ply please"
One job the metric system is wonderful for is working out the risers on a staircase, measure in mm and use a calculator.
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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby Woodbloke » 13 Jul 2019, 09:43

I've gradually weaned myself away from the Imperial system; one of the glaring inconsistencies is that we still drive from A to B in miles instead of Km. Daft 'tis - Rob
I no longer work for Axminster Tools & Machinery.
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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby Woodster » 13 Jul 2019, 10:45

Woodbloke wrote:I've gradually weaned myself away from the Imperial system; one of the glaring inconsistencies is that we still drive from A to B in miles instead of Km. Daft 'tis - Rob


And my car tells me how many miles to the gallon that I’m getting. :lol:
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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby kirkpoore1 » 26 Jul 2019, 06:34

Mike Jordan wrote:The imperial system will never die, the Americans are not about to stop using it!


True. But then, if we ever had stones as a measurement we abandoned it centuries ago. So things change. :)

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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby Mike Jordan » 26 Jul 2019, 07:55

Hi Kirk

Well I weigh 14 stone, does that mean that I am obsolete?

You make the point nicely, we use stones and kilos Amercans weigh in pounds, a measure that we formerly used for groceries and fruit.
I hop from imperial to metric constantly for my convenience.
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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby Woodbloke » 26 Jul 2019, 09:05

This is what we need :lol: - Rob

67629172_619642035191349_7080084254075387904_n.jpg
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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby TrimTheKing » 26 Jul 2019, 09:57

Woodbloke wrote:This is what we need :lol: - Rob

67629172_619642035191349_7080084254075387904_n.jpg


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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby SamQ aka Ah! Q! » 29 Jul 2019, 13:58

As a scientist, trained and work hardened, every calculation I executed was in S.I. units. I just wonder how Moggster will cope when he has an X-ray, C.T. scan or M.R.I.? Is there really a Victoriana Bupa?
As already said, metricisation removed many sources of error and miscalculation (Hubble comes to mind). Processing is undoubtedly faster, especially when prototyping or establishing parameters, and there is greater cross-parity between units.
I taught over 5000 children up to A level in 37 years at the chalk face and when one day I conducted my Year14 set through perches, rods and chains to verify the Test Match parsmeters, the howls of derision and scoffing was something to hear...THEN I translated their weekend beer/club kitties into 'poundshillingsnpence' and reduced them to catatonic disbelief.
The political throwbacks presently defying Darwinian Selection (by virtue of their accumulated wealth and patronage) need to get a grip of reality. Moggster? Try teaching Diffusion Pressure Deficit in Imperial. Go on, have an aneurism.

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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby SamQ aka Ah! Q! » 29 Jul 2019, 14:01

SamQ aka Ah! Q! wrote:As a scientist, trained and work hardened, every calculation I executed was in S.I. units. I just wonder how Moggster will cope when he has an X-ray, C.T. scan or M.R.I.? Is there really a Victoriana Bupa?
As already said, metricisation removed many sources of error and miscalculation (Hubble comes to mind). Processing is undoubtedly faster, especially when prototyping or establishing parameters, and there is greater cross-parity between units.
I taught over 5000 children up to A level in 37 years at the chalk face and when one day I conducted my Year14 set through perches, rods and chains to verify the Test Match parsmeters, the howls of derision and scoffing was something to hear...THEN I translated their weekend beer/club kitties into 'poundshillingsnpence' and reduced them to catatonic disbelief.
The political throwbacks presently defying Darwinian Selection (by virtue of their accumulated wealth and patronage) need to get a grip of reality. Moggster? Try teaching Diffusion Pressure Deficit in Imperial. Go on, have an aneurism.

Sam.


PS. Yes, I know DPD has been superceded by psi ( Ψ,).
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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby Malc2098 » 29 Jul 2019, 17:05

:text-goodpost:
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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby SamQ aka Ah! Q! » 31 Jul 2019, 07:09

Thanks Malcolm. I do get frustrated with posturing tw4ts who have an overdeveloped sense of gratuitous entitlement.

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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby marineboy » 31 Jul 2019, 08:17

I remember working student holiday jobs as a milkman. Decimalisation was a great thing, it meant that overnight the price of a pint went from eleven pence and a half penny to 5p. Meant I could finish my round 2 hours earlier.
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Re: Imperial system lives on

Postby Rod » 31 Jul 2019, 10:27

Our milk deliveries have just switched from pints to litres. That was a long time coming though they were taken over by a German Co.

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