Outside South African school

[axion_sa]

First the aliens, now zombies. Shameless prejudice!

[kleinma]

At least it doesn't say dead children.

[abhijit]

Is 40 the speed limit? I hope that is kilometers and not miles.

[JuggaloBrotha]

It's not the US or a US territory, of course it's kilometers and not miles.

[si_the_geek]

Does that mean that the UK is a US territory?

[dclamp]

Reminds me of being in Turks and Caicos... which is a British Territory. When we left the air port i immediately noticed (1) the driver is a terrible one, and (2) we were driving on the wrong side of the road...

[JuggaloBrotha]

Does that mean that the UK is a US territory?

Wasn't one of the reasons the US came up with the anti-metric system of measurement was to disassociate ourselves from England? I'm pretty sure the UK uses the same units of measurement as England seeing as England is part of the UK.

Or do I have my data all wrong? It's these darn pigeons bringing me bad flash drives

[abhijit]

Reminds me of being in Turks and Caicos... which is a British Territory. When we left the air port i immediately noticed (1) the driver is a terrible one, and (2) we were driving on the wrong side of the road...

There's no such thing as a wrong side of the road, dclamp!

[NeedSomeAnswers]

Wasn't one of the reasons the US came up with the anti-metric system of measurement was to disassociate ourselves from England? I'm pretty sure the UK uses the same units of measurement as England seeing as England is part of the UK.

This made me chuckle !!

Now Who do you think invented the measurement of the Mile along with the Yard, Foot & Inch e.t.c and i will give you a clue it wasn't the US.

The only reason the US refused to use the metric system anyway was because it was invented by the French !!

[si_the_geek]

I suspect that was our reason too... and now the reason is that it would cost too much to change the road signs etc.

It's these darn pigeons bringing me bad flash drives

You can never trust those flying rats!

[Shaggy Hiker]

The metric system showed up around the French revolution, by which time, America was firmly entrenched with the English system. The English kind of hung onto it for a few more years, too, just to be contrarian and all.

These days, I hear (mostly older) Americans whining about the metric system, saying it is too hard for them to understand. Kind of funny, since the English system is such a mess relative to metric. However, being in science, I know some things in metric and some things in English, which can make for some difficulty in communication.

[JuggaloBrotha]

Ah so I had it all wrong in my head, I guess that's what I get for being an American and understanding the Metric and Celsius measurement scales better than the 12 inches = 1 ft (w-t-f?) and Fahrenheit (98.6 degrees instead of 100 degree, again w-t-f)

[Shaggy Hiker]

I had an interesting debate with a colleague who simply refused to believe that -40C = -40F. The fact that the two lines are not parallel didn't suggest to him that they have to intersect.

[JuggaloBrotha]

Well, considering that Celsius is based on water boiling at 100 Degrees and Fahrenheit is based on the human body being 100 Degrees (of course later on was found that the scale was incorrectly made and the human body is actually 98.6 Degree F) it's not only plausible that they would intersect but that they would have to intersect.

The one I like is 0° K

[dclamp]

I only know Astronomical Units

[mendhak]

The American system is the greatest system in the world.

[Torc]

Well, considering that Celsius is based on water boiling at 100 Degrees and Fahrenheit is based on the human body being 100 Degrees (of course later on was found that the scale was incorrectly made and the human body is actually 98.6 Degree F) it's not only plausible that they would intersect but that they would have to intersect.

The one I like is 0° K

According to the Farenheit Article on Wikipedia the top endpoint was originally calculated as 96 degrees, not 100, the relevant quote is as follows.

According to a journal article Fahrenheit wrote in 1724, he based his scale on three reference points of temperature. The zero point is determined by placing the thermometer in brine: he used a mixture of ice, water, and ammonium chloride, a salt. This is a type of frigorific mixture. The mixture automatically stabilizes its temperature at 0 °F. He then put a thermometer into the mixture and let the liquid in the thermometer descend to its lowest point. The second point is the 32 degree found by putting the thermometer in still water as ice is just forming on the surface. The third point, the 96 degree, was the level of the liquid in the thermometer when held in the mouth or under the armpit. Fahrenheit noted that, using this scale, mercury boils at around 600 degrees.

Later, work by other scientists observed that water boils about 180 degrees higher than the freezing point and decided to redefine the degree slightly to make it exactly 180 degrees higher. It is for this reason that normal body temperature is 98.6 on the revised scale (whereas it was 96 on Fahrenheit's original scale).

Nowadays with computers it should not matter what system measurements are stored in, you should be able to use a simple conversion routine to display them into any system the user wants.

[JuggaloBrotha]

According to the Farenheit Article on Wikipedia the top endpoint was originally calculated as 96 degrees, not 100, the relevant quote is as follows.

Nowadays with computers it should not matter what system measurements are stored in, you should be able to use a simple conversion routine to display them into any system the user wants.

Hmmm... if that's true my high school, local college and michigan state university are teaching students the wrong stuff.

Anyways, it's easy to convert between temperature units, as per the attachment here for .Net