Metric versus Imperial, DONT study it.

[Suzsmokeyallan]

Uncle Rick you might be bi-measure if theres such a word, but I know you are not ambidextrous.
Lefties think they are gifted or special, but the ambidextrous are in a whole other league, only 3% to 5% in the whole world according to a Google search.

[Alan H]

Isn't it bi-sexual if you can use either hand?

[Suzsmokeyallan]

,,,,,going downhill fast now with that last reply Alan

[Alan H]

If you must Allan!!!

[pjmcburney]

I'm a product of the post-Imperial change here in Australia (around 1974 I think), but I can think and estimate in both metric and Imperial (to a certain degree), but I very seldom need to worry about inches, feet, yards and miles; nor ounces and pounds and quarts.


Metric fasteners and tools abound, and it makes restoring old Suzukis a bit of a breeze...
11mm bolts for the rear sprockets on KTMs are a bit hard to find though - don't get me started on that.

There's virtually nothing here that's Imperial except rim/tyre diameter and pressure.
And that's a bloody good thing.

Moving a decimal place isn't all that hard and you only have to remember that fractions of a mm are ten at a time.
Even converting to and from distance/weight/volume is easy - 1000 litres of water weighs 1000kg (1 tonne) and is 1 cubic metre in size.

You weirdos over there still persevere with ridiculous temperature gradation, here it's simple - water boils at 100 and freezes at 0 (Celsius).
A nice day is 22, a hot day is 35 and if it's in single figures it's sleeping-in weather...

[Suzsmokeyallan]

You would not be saying that if the USA was about a 1000 miles away from you and almost everything bought in your country came from them by way of China.

Heres a bit of irony, Mr Trudeau went full tilt at Canada for metricating the country way back when, yet Rick and I found the sign in Yoho National Park on the continental divide between Alberta and British Columbia, still has its altitude shown in feet and feet only, no metres.
He and I had a good laugh at it when we passed there a few years ago, as far as I know its still the same. This old sign is an icon for defiance and longevity only measured in feet.

[J54156]

I think it was the late 60s when the British embraced decimal currency.......

The old stuff was 12 pennies to the shilling, and 20 shillings to the pound.
The coins were:
Farthing = four to the penny
Ha'penny = two to the penny
Penny.
Threepenny (pronounced throop-knee) bit
Sixpenny bit (a 'tanner')
Shilling (a 'bob')
Two Shillings (two bob)
Half a Crown (two shillings & sixpence)
Crown (five 'bob')
Notes were 10 shillings, a pound, a fiver & a tenner. I don't think I saw a twenty pound note until the eary 70s.

The changeover was mayhem, and all you ever heard was "what's that in old money?"

[Alan H]

all you ever heard was "what's that in old money?"

Still do 'round here - as well as the Yorkshire motto.

Haaar much?!?!?!?!? (usually with a 'f'kin' in the middle.)

Economical folk us Yorkies, don't let anyone tell you different, they'll be having you on.

Trust me, I'm a doctor.

Don't forget the Guinea - 21 shillings, groat - four pence and sovereign - £1. And no, I wasn't around when the groat was last used, before some cheeky whippersnapper asks.

[Fritz500]

In Australia we had similar money to the "motherland" and I grew up with these ones (I'm ignoring the paper stuff).

Half penny ("hapeny")= 1/2 penny
Threepence ("tray or thripence") = 3 pennies
Sixpence ("zac") = 6 pennies
Shilling ("bob") = 12 pence
Florin ("two bob") = 24 pence

I grew up in the imperial days and assisted with the conversion of imperial to metric in the drawing office I worked at.

I now detest the old imperial measures and things such as wire gauges & spoke gauges should be binned and let's all talk metric!

Cheers

[Alan H]

let's all talk metric!

Sod that!
It's a good way that we 'more experienced people' can upset the young 'uns.
It's like talking code as far as most are concerned and the blank looks we get (maybe of pity?!) are to be enjoyed.

All this technolology crap will never catch on I keep telling you all!!

[Suzsmokeyallan]

As a very young lad at school we also had the colonial money as we were still a British colony. At that age I could never get it all figured out and a good thing too as they changed it before I was ten.
Theres just some items of the 'old ways' that will never change over in a rounded metric figure due to the way its described or measured.
Most countries are eliminating cent coins from their currency these days and you may soon see a $500.00 dollar bill being added due to the inflation rates.

[ConnerVT]

What is this "currency" you folks are talking about? Paper money is going the way of the Dodo bird. (but then, we do keep trying to keep 2-stroke street bikes alive). Soon everything will be going EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer).

Read an article recently about a far northern European country, who has a magazine they sell on the street, to help support the homeless. They use homeless people to sell the mag, but the problem is folks on the street didn't have cash. So they gave them cell phones, with card readers, that also can take electronic payments by PayPal and other electronic wallets. Increased their sales significantly.

Most countries are eliminating cent coins from their currency these days and you may soon see a $500.00 dollar bill being added due to the inflation rates.

Another thing that will never happen. The US largest bill (used in circulation) is the $100. Of the total US money in circulation, the $100 is well over 50%. And a majority of that is held outside the USA.

The problem with money is that it is so hard to track. And if you can't track it, you can't tax it. So governments *LOVE* electronic fund transfers, be it bank wire, credit card, whatever. makes it so much easier for them to get their share, and prevent us from hiding it from them.

[Suzsmokeyallan]

Ahh,,, who said I was only talking of the USA, a lot of developing countries will never get the electronic transfer system working as it should or Paypal for that matter due to their internal banking rules/controls, or lack there of.
This is especially true when it comes to foreign currency controls by their central banks and a disparity between their local currencies value versus the US dollar, and how the general public is able or mostly not able to freely purchase the US dollar for example.

Cents were eliminated in Canada last year and many other countries are also getting ready to do so this year due to the cost of making them. Canada has also had their new plastic bills in circulation for about a year with increased security measures now, so they are not ready to dump their cash bills just yet.
The US also now has another new generation of bills out,, again, which all carry increased security measures on them against counterfeiters. In fact,there have been more changes to the US bills in the last 30 years than ever before, so if its worth keeping its worth protecting isn't it?

Even the old reliable CC and DC don't always work 100%, and more so when traveling abroad, so some hard currency will always be around for the 'just in case' scenarios.
Remember when everyone was saying books will become outdated with the advancement of electronic media, it does not seem to be gaining any ground these last few years.
These are just some things to consider if you don't happen to live in the USA.

[H2RICK]

Remember when everyone was saying books will become outdated with the advancement of electronic media, it does not seem to be gaining any ground these last few years.

Well, I'm not sure about e-media killing books. It seems to me that illiteracy is killing the printed word, be it on paper or on a monitor. I'm betting that in the next 50 years or so, a person who can read/write
intelligibly and do math on paper will be held up as a genius and someone to be respected/venerated. In fact such person might even be considered as supernatural.

[Alan H]

It's getting that way now. When you go into a shop and offer (say) a £10 note and 20 pence in coins for something that costs £8.20 so the assistant can just give you 2 x £1 coins back instead of a load of shrapnel, they look at you gone out - unless they are 'our age' and can still add up in their heads.