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Ruler that measures in 1/10"'s?

Jim DeLaney said:
And... it's just a tad over eighteen feet. Oughtta be about right for laying out a kayak keel.:thumb:
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Ahhhh this just goes to show everyone the problem with working with a base system we are not familiar with. I said 550 MILLIMETERS! Quite a difference. :)

Its funny because up in Canada they are obviously into the metric system...except when it came to the railroads. Up there they still use miles per hour and measure the track miles in miles and not kilometers. That got goofy at times too.
 
Travis Johnson said:
Ahhhh this just goes to show everyone the problem with working with a base system we are not familiar with. I said 550 MILLIMETERS! Quite a difference. :)
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But obviously the appreviation ' and the abbreviation " are models of clarity and completeness. :D

Like many of my age, I imagine in imperial and measure in metric. When I build something I think to myself "That needs to be about 2 ft by 3ft". Then when I pick up the tape measure I know that 2ft is , as close as I need to for these purposes 600mm. Then I measure the actual gap that I have and discover that the gap is 602mm. So I look along my tape to 602mm. Now I can see how it is just as easy to measure to 23.7" (which is close enough for wood) but if we are working outside decimal inches and I have to find 23 11/16" then my ears start to bleed and that messes up the workpiece.

My other problem with decimal inches is also that nobody (as far as I am aware) uses the decimal foot. So if something is expressed as 27.6" there is still a base 12 conversion needed at some point in the process because I have to look along my tape to 2 feet and then measure another 3.6"- or do decimal inch tapes not have foot divisions where the inch count restarts?

And FWIW the general convention over here is that all metric measurements are expressed in mm. So I would say a sheet of ply is 2440mm * 1220mm not 2.44m * 1.22m and therefore risk of the centimetre/millimetre confusion is nearly nil.

It also interests me that, as far as I am aware, the US military measures at least gross distances (kilometre scale) in metric. And presumably nobody is that worried that a 9mm weapon needs to be "converted" to 3543/10000". If my understanding here is off base I'm sure someone will let me know.

The secret with any measuring system, be it metric or ancient Mesopatamian is to pick one and use it throughout without making any conversion calculations
 
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Um Travis I hate to break the news to you but most of the rest of the world (not just Canada) uses the metric system except the US. Metric is easy the problem is that there still is a need to convert. I grew up with the imperial system and we converted when I was a kid and saying that I still call a 2x4 a 2x4 even though it is 38x89mm. It just sounds funny calling it anything else but that.
 
Drew Watson said:
Um Travis I hate to break the news to you but most of the rest of the world (not just Canada) uses the metric system except the US. Metric is easy the problem is that there still is a need to convert. I grew up with the imperial system and we converted when I was a kid and saying that I still call a 2x4 a 2x4 even though it is 38x89mm. It just sounds funny calling it anything else but that.
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No, no, no...you missed my point. I knew we were behind the times, I just thought it was ironic that the railroads in Canada still use the imperial system while the rest of the nation uses the metric system. This is the exact opposite with us, in that only the DOT uses the metric system when it comes to building bridges or measuring distances on the highways. (Signs are given in both miles and kms)

We all need to get together and do this right. Convert back to imperial measurement now darn it!! :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
Travis Johnson said:
...with us, in that only the DOT uses the metric system when it comes to building bridges or measuring distances on the highways. (Signs are given in both miles and kms)...
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[size=+1]Actually, I've seen very few road signs that list metric, except some of those that are close to the Canadian border.

Also, more than just DOT uses the metric system (and to be more accurate, it's properly referred to as "System Internationale" or SI, since nearly the whole rest of the world uses it.). All the automobile and aircraft makers use SI, as do many other manufacturers. For nearly the last twenty years, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has written all its standards in SI, with English as a secondary measurement. These include Aeronautical, and Nautical standards, in addition to Automotive.[/size]


Travis Johnson said:
...We all need to get together and do this right. Convert back to imperial measurement now darn it!! :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
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[size=+1]NO! NO! NO! What really need to happen is for the U.S. to get with the program and conform to the rest of the world. The main reason our manufacturers are doing it is to make their products salable in the rest of the world. That should tell us all something.[/size]
 
Drew Watson said:
Yea I am with you Jim. Hmmm So when are you going to start adding some color to your currency? :rofl::rofl::rofl: and get some really big coins with silly nick names? :rofl::rofl::rofl:
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Drew,
They're 'coloring up' our currency now, one denomination at a time. Still not as bright as yours, though.

As for coinage, they keep trying to introduce dollar coins, but it seems the banks, merchants, etc. don't like them, so they end up failing.

I'd really like to see $1, $2, and even $5 coins, but until the government has the nerve to just mint the coins and discontinue the bills (like Canada did), it ain't gonna happen.
 
Jim DeLaney said:
Drew,
They're 'coloring up' our currency now, one denomination at a time. Still not as bright as yours, though.

As for coinage, they keep trying to introduce dollar coins, but it seems the banks, merchants, etc. don't like them, so they end up failing.

I'd really like to see $1, $2, and even $5 coins, but until the government has the nerve to just mint the coins and discontinue the bills (like Canada did), it ain't gonna happen.
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Jim, I would like to comment on what you said. But, my comments could tread into the political arena. Our Government does not work that way without risking a second Revolution. My flag comment above was meant in good humor.
 
Yea Jim They are talking about the $5.00 coin here in the next few years. We have no idea what it is going to be called as we have the Looney and the Tooney Hmmm maybe it can be called the malroony ?? :rofl::rofl:

Frank everything I have been saying is just in fun and your comments were recieved in the same manner. As far as i am concerned we all should take one big step back and have a good laugh at ourselves from time to time. It's good for the soul

Hey what else could it be but a family poking fun at each other.

Cheers Drew
 
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