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| Subject: Metric is easier to work out | |
Author: Davey | [ Next Thread |
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] Date Posted: 16:24:18 01/07/05 Fri In reply to: Jim (Canada) 's message, "UK should ditch miles" on 14:44:53 01/07/05 Fri "We only use these ghastly French measurements when we are forced to" What about the ghastly imperial measurements? How many yards in a mile? 1471? 1606? Some completely illogical number. At least metric makes sense and you can calculate it. Unless that is, you're a member of the Dozenal society. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| [> [> Subject: Eh? | |
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Author: Ed Harris (London) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 16:31:54 01/07/05 Fri 1760 yards in a mile. Four inches in a hand, three hands in a foot, three feet in a yard, 220 yards in a furlong, and eight furlongs in a mile. Easy as pie. I defy you to divide a kilolitre or something by three or six or eight. A yard, on the other hand, is easy. A third of a yard is a foot, a sixth is six inches, an eighth is four and half inches. All finite numbers. And all based on something physical and tangible rather than a certain number of multiples of wavelengths of light bouncing off sodium at a certain temperature in a vault in Paris. When you can show me one of those on a plate with watercress round it, I'll convert to metric that minute. Until then, I'm 5'11", 11 stone 13 lbs, and it's a mild and not-too-chilly 45 degrees outside with high winds of about 60 mph. Dammit. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> Subject: I prefer Metric | |
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Author: Jim (Canada) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 16:39:31 01/07/05 Fri I was brought up as a child in the Imperial Units (Canada had the Imperial Gallon while the US has its own American Gallon), however, we went Metric in the later 1970's when I was still in High School. I learned it easily and now I think entirely in Metric. You can get used to it. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> Subject: I'm sure we could... | |
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Author: Ed Harris (London) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 16:46:10 01/07/05 Fri ... But I doubt that we will ever get the opportunity to put it to the test. The imperial system has become a talisman of our independence and distinctiveness which it never was before. Read up on the Metric Martyrs from a few years ago: their case suddenly transformed the debate from one about how we buy our carrots into a debate about national identity. You're about five years too late to win Britain over to metricity with the old things-are-going-that-way-get-with-the-programme argument. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> Subject: Well then it's too late for the dominions - they are already mectricated | |
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Author: Jim (Canada) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 16:57:59 01/07/05 Fri [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> Subject: Metric Martyrs | |
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Author: Dave (UK) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 17:00:46 01/07/05 Fri Whatever happened to them anyway? Are they all behind 3cm bars now? [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Kilolitres - Just Say No. | |
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Author: Ed Harris (London) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 17:18:12 01/07/05 Fri I think that they were all fined a large number of pounds (in hundreds, I imagine) and their scales confiscated and they were obliged to replace them with metric ones. Many of them only bring them out for their six-monthly local authority inspections. One of the martyrs spoke at a rally I went to in London a while back, and, along with the Australian Monarchist League bloke and, of course, the wonderful Chris Gill and Teddy Taylor, was the best speaker there. What he says about the EU, in his broad geordie accent, makes Nigel Farrage sound like Michael Heseltine. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Irish conversion | |
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Author: Jim (Canada) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 17:22:14 01/07/05 Fri With Ireland going over to kilometres per hour, am I correct in assuming that this is just the Republic? Is Northern Ireland, as part of the UK, remaining in miles per hour, the same as Great Britain? If so, you will get a situation the same as the Canada-USA border. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> Subject: It is only in the Republic | |
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Author: Lurker [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 17:26:07 01/07/05 Fri BTW distance signs have already been metric for years now, while they remained in miles on the North [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Metric martyrs | |
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Author: Curnoack [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 20:16:30 01/07/05 Fri What about the THOUSANDS who have died fighting for their countries right to independence? Don't read about them in the Little England Daily Mail do you? Fascist tabloid rag. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: And what about the THOUSANDS of Cornish people who died fighting for the British Empire? | |
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Author: Roberdin [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 20:09:11 01/09/05 Sun [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> Subject: A bit rich for you to talk about national identity | |
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Author: Curnoack [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 20:11:29 01/07/05 Fri "The imperial system has become a talisman of our independence and distinctiveness which it never was before. Read up on the Metric Martyrs from a few years ago: their case suddenly transformed the debate from one about how we buy our carrots into a debate about national identity" You guys have no right to talk to us about national identity... you have tried to wipe out the Cornish and now you don't even recognise us as a nation except as lebensraum for your Londoners. Hypocrites. Kernow bys vyken! [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Mebyon Kernow | |
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Author: Jim (Canada) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 20:55:20 01/07/05 Fri Curnoak, I actually wrote to the leader of the Mebyon Kernow and explained our FCS ideas to him. He was very supportive. He liked the idea of a self-governing Cornwall within a wider Commonwealth Federation, where the domination of England is reduced because of the inclusion of the overseas countries. So I understand your frustration, but don't be too hostile, because the leader of your movement is quite keen on our idea. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Toll din Curnoak | |
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Author: Ed Harris (London) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 00:58:35 01/08/05 Sat I don't wish to be unkind, but have you ever considered any form of professional counselling? Your deranged level of hostility does not seem normal to me. If you can translate "My next-door neighbour's dog has stolen the lemon-meringue which I would have given to my brother's wife's mother for her ninetieth birthday had she not been diagnosed with pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniconioisis" into Cornish in fewer than two minutes, I will recant all objections to your Cornomania, but frankly I doubt that you can. To coin a phrase, futue te ipsum et caballam tuam. If you ever again post on this website then I will not. Serious and good-natured discussion of a shared objective is what I started posting for, not three-quarters deranged abuse, and if the forum is susceptible to this sort of nonsense then it is not for me, and I shall devote my talents and wealth to more conventional movements. Victory for you, I think. Kyj dhe-ves, ty wokki. Re'th kijyewgh hwi. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Negative Contributions | |
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Author: Nick (UK) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 10:13:05 01/13/05 Thu I'm sorry you feel that way but I'm glad you don't seem to have acted on your threat. Your contributions would be missed. It isn't necessary for anyone to debate with individuals with whom they have no wish to debate. Simply ignore topics and they will quickly disappear from the forum. I understand your frustrations - they are regularly voiced by people at one time or another, but personally I believe freedom of speech is a paramount value we should defend, and although I don't think it applies in totality to this forum, I want to encourage as many interesting and different contributions as possible. If individuals descend to the level of spamming this will be dealt with. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Your brother's wife's mother was a miner? | |
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Author: Archie [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 16:06:02 01/14/05 Fri " "My next-door neighbour's dog has stolen the lemon-meringue which I would have given to my brother's wife's mother for her ninetieth birthday had she not been diagnosed with pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniconioisis" Perhaps if you can translate meringue and pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniconioisis first. Presumably this mother was a miner, because they're the ones to get that disease. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Actually... | |
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Author: Roberdin [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 16:09:14 01/14/05 Fri Pneumonoultramicroscopicsailicovolcaniconioisis is in fact an entirely fictious disorder. ;-) [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Yeah, but... | |
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Author: Ed Harris (London) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 01:06:09 01/15/05 Sat ... it's a very cool name for a disease, fictitious or not. Rather like 'distemper' and 'melancholia'. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Not as good as... | |
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Author: Roberdin [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 20:13:23 01/15/05 Sat Not as good as 'Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia' - meaning 'fear of long words' [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Er? | |
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Author: Ed Harris (London) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 00:41:43 01/16/05 Sun I knew that "sesquippedalophobia" meant an irrational fear of long words, but your version sounds like an irrational fear of long words and river horses, from the Greek constituent parts. Mind you, I am a great fan of 'phobia' words. If you're ever in the Science Museum in Kensington, there's a whole section of them somewhere, and some of them are fantastic. Agyrophobia (fear of streets or crossing the street) and cherophobia (fear of gaiety) are two of my favourites. Soceraphobia (fear of in-laws) is also fun. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> Subject: Imperial system sucks | |
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Author: Curnoack [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 20:09:25 01/07/05 Fri "I defy you to divide a kilolitre or something by three or six or eight. A yard, on the other hand, is easy. A third of a yard is a foot, a sixth is six inches, an eighth is four and half inches. All finite numbers. And all based on something physical and tangible rather than a certain number of multiples of wavelengths of light bouncing off sodium at a certain temperature in a vault in Paris. When you can show me one of those on a plate with watercress round it, I'll convert to metric that minute. Until then, I'm 5'11", 11 stone 13 lbs, and it's a mild and not-too-chilly 45 degrees outside with high winds of about 60 mph. Dammit." What's the imperial system based on? The body measurements of some inbred royal mutant with webbed feet and six limbs! People only like imperial because they're used to it, a bit like the inbred monarchy of England that is forced on Cornwall. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> Subject: Curnoak, I agree with you on your opinion of the Imperial system of measurement | |
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Author: Jim (Canada) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 20:51:16 01/07/05 Fri [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> Subject: What? | |
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Author: Ed Harris (London) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 01:03:08 01/08/05 Sat You agree that the imperial system is as it is because of massive royal in-breeding, and that those royals are forced upon Cornwall by a corrupt colonial government? I give up. You're all nuts. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Ed, don't give up... | |
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Author: Dave (UK) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 02:08:14 01/08/05 Sat Ed, I understand your frustration at times, but don’t desert the forum because a few individuals try to stir up some trouble. So, a cat is cast amongst to pigeons from time to time - surely the best way to deal with this going forward is to ignore it. Boy, I’m getting awfully restrained in my old age. It was always going to be the case that an internet forum will attract many differences of opinion, to put a polite term on it. We had to expect this after our brief exposure in the mainstream domain of Wikipaedia (or whatever it’s called). This forum would lose a great deal if you discontinued your posting. I don’t think we will get very far with our aims if we fall at the first hurdle. Those who have witnessed the entertaining, if not entirely productive debates I have engaged in over the last few days will know that I have been lambasted for having the audacity to question the role of certain languages in Scotland, and indeed for stating that the language I, and most Scots use is English. Rather than being grateful for some local insight, I am contradicted by the provision of increasingly bizarre rationale for such misconceptions. If, on the other hand, I had known from the outset that the debate would descend into politically motivated personal attacks, then my natural apathy to the subject of language would have prevailed, and I would not have bothered to respond in the first place. My postings are aimed at encouraging debate, and yes, I am prone to the odd wind-up on occasion. However, if I am wrong on the issue of my own language, in addition to those of my family, friends, colleagues, business contacts, and the bulk of people I come into contact with in a daily basis, then my experience of life from the beginning has been characterised by many contiguous coincidental aberrations. As Curnoack states, I don’t dispute that there are many across Scotland, the UK and Europe who would wish to lynch me. However, I dismiss this, as one thing I do know is that most societies who have resorted to, or who have quietly endorsed the lynching of those who disagree with them, have certainly not earned their place in the history books amongst humanity’s finest. However, I do not let this curb my enthusiasm for this society and its members, whom quite frankly, we need as many as we can get. I never forget the reasons I am here, and that we are lucky to have like minded people from across the commonwealth here too. I am equally proud to be Scottish, British and Commonwealth citizen. I do not see these things as mutually exclusive. I’m a unionist (both UK and FC) I believe that the marriage of Scotland and England has proved to be one the most successful and productive in the world, which has borne many children across the world that most people on this forum would agree, are fundamentally good eggs. Sure, the United Kingdom is not perfect, but is any marriage? I believe that this marriage is in danger, and we need some polygamy to spice things up, and continue the creative, scientific, political and economic genius that the British nation has hitherto produced. Here’s to the FCS… [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: I never said that | |
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Author: Jim (Canada) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 15:58:27 01/10/05 Mon I don't agree with Curnoak's anti-English rantings, I just agree that the Imperial system is outdated and that metric is better. Other than that, I am pro-English (obviously). [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |