On Europe

[Giuseppe]

Funny how being brought up in different systems makes people feel "natural" using that system while almost automatically making the competing system cumbersome. I always thought the imperial system uses increments that are either too large, either too small to be very precise and that saying, for example, that your height is 6 feet 2 inches is a lot more imprecise than saying 1 meter 85 (or water the hell the precise conversion is) and that making conversions between different units of measurement (like ounces into pounds, feet into yards etc.) is more complicated than metric which uses a decimal system for all measurements. It seems even more complicated when you get to compound measurements like PSI or foot-pounds.

Of course, I can't speak for other countries that use metric, but we learn quite early in school the basic "orders of magnitude" that apply to almost any measurement: mili-, centi-, deci-, deca-, hecto- and kilo-. Later on you learn others, in physics.

[alexmann]

I learnt many of them. I find that having something like 12 inches in a foot, 3 feet in a yard is a lot more complicated than 100 cm in a meter.

[Reliant121]

It's half what you are taught, half what you know. That makes what you "think in". I have been raised, educationally at least, to think in metric measurements. This is why on short distances I work in metric. But cars, distances, road speeds etc are all in imperial measurements in the UK. That is how I have been raised with them (You can't do large scale metric in a classroom) and so that's how I think. It's been a real challenge with my going on the road since motorbikes and the motorbike TESTS in the UK have to conform to EU directives and therefore are all in KPH. I've never been taught to convert since the curriculum seems to be adamant that everything is in metric when it isn't. And so I can't really...relate. It doesn't work in my head.

[alexmann]

Don't worry about it. Most people can't convert in their head. I'm just strange like that.

[Giuseppe]

I never had to use miles for anything and I don't know the precise conversion rate between miles and kilometers, but 1 mile = 1,6 kilometers is an adequate approximation I think. Not that hard to calculate I think, though I've never had a problem doing simple maths in my head. Of course being interested in cars helps you learn these things faster.

What does baffle me is the concept of driving on the other side of the road. The wrong side of the road

[alexmann]

Driving on the left was the original way and then in the French Revolution they decided to drive on the right. Then the Americans had a revolution and copied them.

[Captain Seafort]

Driving on the left was the original way and then in the French Revolution they decided to drive on the right. Then the Americans had a revolution and copied them.

So, a bunch of revolutionaries in 1775 copied a bunch of revolutionaries in 1789 eh?

[Giuseppe]

It seems to have something to do with what was sensible in the ancient and feudal world; most people are right handed and it made sense to travel on the left: you hold your sword with the right hand, so by riding on the left you would have your sword ready to strike out at anyone who might move against you. This means that still sticking to this rule makes the British a bunch of feudalistic warmongers.

[Captain Seafort]

This means that still sticking to this rule makes the British a bunch of feudalistic warmongers.

On the contrary - it means we continue to uphold the right of way laid down by the first great road builders.

[alexmann]

Driving on the left was the original way and then in the French Revolution they decided to drive on the right. Then the Americans had a revolution and copied them.

So, a bunch of revolutionaries in 1775 copied a bunch of revolutionaries in 1789 eh?

Other way round, sorry!

[Mikey]

IDK, I rather liked the idea that the American founding fathers used a time machine for the sole purpose of determining traffic patterns.

[alexmann]

This is Captin Braxton of the timeship Relativaty. What can I do for you?

What side of the road shall we drive on?

[Captain Seafort]

IDK, I rather liked the idea that the American founding fathers used a time machine for the sole purpose of determining traffic patterns.

Using what though? A phone box or a de Lorean?

[alexmann]

The Aeon actaully.

[Mikey]

IDK, I rather liked the idea that the American founding fathers used a time machine for the sole purpose of determining traffic patterns.

Using what though? A phone box or a de Lorean?

Please, there were no phones or DeLoreans back then. Be reasonable.