The truth about winter in Canada.
Mar 19th 2014, 4:22 pm
#166
Magnificently Withering
Joined: Jan 2007
Location: Oakville, ON
Posts: 6,891
Re: The truth about winter in Canada.
Deci-year? We already have a word for that i.e. decade.
Neatly splitting thread themes again, there is much to be said about the concept of "decimal time". We need to get rid of this 60 secs per min, 60 mins per hour, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 52 weeks or 12 months a year nonsense. Can we ever be truly decimal until we do?
We need 100 decimal seconds per decimal minute, 100 decimal minutes per decimal hour and 10 decimal hours per day. So 100,000 decimal seconds per day. 10 decimal months a year. Think of how easy that would make adding and subtracting time! Of course we're still stuck with 365.25 days per year but you can't have everything.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_time
Neatly splitting thread themes again, there is much to be said about the concept of "decimal time". We need to get rid of this 60 secs per min, 60 mins per hour, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 52 weeks or 12 months a year nonsense. Can we ever be truly decimal until we do?
We need 100 decimal seconds per decimal minute, 100 decimal minutes per decimal hour and 10 decimal hours per day. So 100,000 decimal seconds per day. 10 decimal months a year. Think of how easy that would make adding and subtracting time! Of course we're still stuck with 365.25 days per year but you can't have everything.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_time
We can blame the Babylonians for all the base-60 stuff. It was they who invented time divisions the way they're used now. The revolutionary French tried to change to a decimal system but it was a huge and expensive flop. About the only remaining vestige of that is Lobster Thermidor, named for the eleventh month of the Republican Calendar. Three ten-week days in each of twelve months; even then it was considered impractical to make ten months of 36 or 37 days each, as it would make the decimal weeks not work so well.
Mar 19th 2014, 4:48 pm
#167
Grumpy Know-it-all
Joined: Jul 2010
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Posts: 8,928
Mar 19th 2014, 5:04 pm
#168
Grumpy Know-it-all
Joined: Jul 2010
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Posts: 8,928
Re: The truth about winter in Canada.
Legally speaking the US is supposedly metric.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_Canada
The one thing that annoys me is that most things sold in Canada are US-spec then put into metric, so a can of pop for example is 355ml or you can buy milk in a 3.78 litre jug. And then also I've been in the hardware store and things are sold in some weird US measurement like so many sixteenths of an inch of whatever and there's simply a table hung on the wall saying what it is in metric.
So this is how it's going to be until the US changes.
Mar 19th 2014, 5:06 pm
#169
Assimilated Pauper
Joined: Mar 2005
Location: Ontario
Posts: 40,018
Re: The truth about winter in Canada.
I thought it was because the Commonwealth was going metric. But looking it up apparently both the US and the Commonwealth wanted to go metric.
Legally speaking the US is supposedly metric.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_Canada
The one thing that annoys me is that most things sold in Canada are US-spec then put into metric, so a can of pop for example is 355ml or you can buy milk in a 3.78 litre jug. And then also I've been in the hardware store and things are sold in some weird US measurement like so many sixteenths of an inch of whatever and there's simply a table hung on the wall saying what it is in metric.
So this is how it's going to be until the US changes.
Legally speaking the US is supposedly metric.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_Canada
The one thing that annoys me is that most things sold in Canada are US-spec then put into metric, so a can of pop for example is 355ml or you can buy milk in a 3.78 litre jug. And then also I've been in the hardware store and things are sold in some weird US measurement like so many sixteenths of an inch of whatever and there's simply a table hung on the wall saying what it is in metric.
So this is how it's going to be until the US changes.
Mar 19th 2014, 5:21 pm
#170
Grumpy Know-it-all
Joined: Jul 2010
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Posts: 8,928
Re: The truth about winter in Canada.
Well 3.78 litres is a US gallon so I'm assuming Canada isn't going to become part of the US.
Mar 19th 2014, 6:10 pm
#171
Lowering the tone
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: Here and there
Posts: 7,349
Re: The truth about winter in Canada.
Picture of winter in Canada and a strangely converted speed limit sign.
Mar 19th 2014, 6:23 pm
#172
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Mar 19th 2014, 7:05 pm
#173
Oscar nominated
Joined: Jan 2008
Location: Moncton, NB, CANADA
Posts: 50,832
Re: The truth about winter in Canada.
Conversely a drop from 15 to -2 says more about how cold it's become than 59 to 28. Below zero means more than just another 2-digit number.
When it hits -40 it's all the same.
Mar 19th 2014, 7:12 pm
#174
The ride never ends
Joined: Sep 2011
Location: SW Ontario
Posts: 2,481
Re: The truth about winter in Canada.
I can honestly say that I've never heard a person mention metric snow. There's a lot of confused babbling in the office "15 centilitres are coming, how much is that?" that sort of thing, because the forecast is metric but, IME, no one, not even immigrants from metric countries, not even teenagers educated in Canada, says there was n centimes of snow on the driveway. Like penises, snow is measured in inches.
Mar 19th 2014, 7:16 pm
#175
Assimilated Pauper
Joined: Mar 2005
Location: Ontario
Posts: 40,018
Re: The truth about winter in Canada.
For me a temperature jump from 78 to 85 says more than from 25 to 29. And 90 means a lot more than 32.
Conversely a drop from 15 to -2 says more about how cold it's become than 59 to 28. Below zero means more than just another 2-digit number.
When it hits -40 it's all the same.
Conversely a drop from 15 to -2 says more about how cold it's become than 59 to 28. Below zero means more than just another 2-digit number.
When it hits -40 it's all the same.
Mar 19th 2014, 7:52 pm
#176
Lost in BE Cyberspace
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Mar 19th 2014, 8:40 pm
#177
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Mar 19th 2014, 8:42 pm
#178
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Mar 19th 2014, 8:44 pm
#179
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Mar 19th 2014, 8:50 pm
#180
BE Forum Addict
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 1,348
Re: The truth about winter in Canada.
I just had a conversation with an engineer about a 3 metre length of 8" pipe. this is normal, the length is in metric, the diameter in imperial.
For me,
For me,
- Temperature is Celsius - I don't understand Fahrenheit, at all.
- Speed is mph, but I'm OK with kph
- Fuel consumption is mpg, the L/100km unit is just plain daft.
- Lengths are metric, although I am OK with inches between 1-12". Below 1", use mm...none of this 7/16ths of an inch nonsense please.
- Volume is metric - I understand litres amd m3, not cubic yards or gallons.
- Weight is metric, apart from personal weight which is lbs or stones/lbs.
- Beer is pints, and a pint is 568ml, not a short pint which is I don't know exactly what.
- Land is acres, I can't picture a hectare. I know that a football pitch is about 2 acres, and that's my rule of thumb for measurement. I'd prefer it if the unit of 'acre' was actually replaced with the unit of 'footbal pitch'.
Hubby works in engineering, he had to get all new micrometers and other measuring bits when we moved here. He's the one that hunts out the tape measure that has both measurements on it to avoid confusion. We both work in metric for some things and imperial for others I think. I was born after metriculation so for the most part I have no idea why I even do.