What cheeses me off

[RooFlyer]

It’s a backwards acronym - international system of units. Fancy name for metric.

More a partial 'intitalism' of Système International d'unités , the successor to the metric system which was developed by the French after the Revolution. Acronyms are the initial letters which form a word that is pronounced, like QANTAS

 

[TheRealTMA]

More a partial 'intitalism' of Système International d'unités , the successor to the metric system which was developed by the French after the Revolution. Acronyms are the initial letters which form a word that is pronounced, like QANTAS

Vive la France!

About French Revolutionary (Decimal) Time. Decimal time converter.

FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY (DECIMAL) TIME. Decimal time converter. Normal to decimal time converter.

svalbard.watch

 

[Pushka]

Sailors I know do windspeed in knots. And they seem to have a knack of correctly estimating windspeed by just looking - which led to the Beaufort scale which is a system of estimating wind speed by looking at surrounding conditions (definitely not metric) - so what a sailor sees is more of less standardised. And then there is apparent windspeed and true wind speed

Also speed limits are in Knots as are boat speedos.

Seems easier to just think in knots rather than be constantly converting to and from Km/h.

BOM provides wind speed in Km/h. Just have to get used to it. Other than in areas where low knots are required, eg marinas and protected waters then speed of boat isn't really bothered with. The only other warning to observe is depth and tidal movement. Had a boat for over 20 years.

 

[Quickstatus]

Vive la France!

Luckily the French never got the metric time (which they actually did propose - centi-jour, deci-jour) off the ground. I read, maybe apocryphal, that it has something to do with what happened at Waterloo.

Also before i forget, the SI unit for angle is not degree but radian. No one knows how degree came about - .Maybe the ancients who thought there were 360 days in a year. At least the degree = pi/180

 

[Quickstatus]

BOM provides wind speed in Km/h

because BOM reporting is standardised for BOM. Particular users then convert for their specific uses

 

[justinbrett]

BOM provides wind speed in Km/h. Just have to get used to it. Other than in areas where low knots are required, eg marinas and protected waters then speed of boat isn't really bothered with. The only other warning to observe is depth and tidal movement. Had a boat for over 20 years.

If you’re actually looking at the marine forecast, they use knots.

http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/forecasts/moreton-bay.shtml

I guess if you call it a toilet you’re probably after Km/h, if you call it the heads you’ll want knots.

 

[JohnK]

273 yards seems so much further ...

Yes of course it does.

Funny thing is when using the Laser or Golf Pad it's configured in metres. I know how far I generally hit my clubs in metres but with putts it's mostly feet.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "I missed a 60cm putt" they say "I missed a 2 footer". But when marking near pins it's in metres/cms.

 

[RooFlyer]

Mind you, if you use the head, its probably more important to know the direction of the wind, rather than the terminology of its speed.

 

[RB]

And often those units are used because they are meaningful to the industry.

For example - a nautical mile is exactly one minute of latitude, for altitude, every thousand feet is a reduction of 2 degrees Celsius from standard atmosphere. Plus a thousand feet separation between aircraft is simple. If we did 350m that gets ugly very fast.

Converting aviation to metric (which is a stated aim of ICAO) would achieve nothing but make some suits in Brussels happy.

Not sure everyone will agree with the altitude/temp calculation you state

 

[kookaburra75]

Not sure everyone will agree with the altitude/temp calculation you state

I agree with you there. I always use 3deg C / 1000 feet (again mixing units) when gliding to look at temp traces.

But then in gliding I use knots for airpseed and lift/sink rates, except for certain gliders where it's metres and m/s on the instruments.

 

[justinbrett]

Not sure everyone will agree with the altitude/temp calculation you state

Take it up with ICAO (well, it’s 1.98, but close enough - according to Manual of the ICAO Standard Atmosphere)

 

[JessicaTam]

Realestate still use hectare which is 10,000 sqm or but is actually not SI and arguably metric but very few people know its relationship to the metre

And that's what got me started. My local (regional) newspaper has every agents listing for land in acres!

 

[RooFlyer]

Converting aviation to metric (which is a stated aim of ICAO) would achieve nothing but make some suits in Brussels happy.

Take it up with ICAO

ICAO is an interesting organisation, isn't it? Based in Montreal.

ICAO Council revises international guidelines relating to small lithium battery powered electronic devices in checked baggage

www.icao.int

May apply to AirTags??

Montréal, 3 April 2023 – The ICAO Council has approved a new amendment addressing international instructions on the carriage of active small lithium battery powered electronic devices in checked baggage.

Based on the revised requirement, devices powered by small lithium batteries in checked baggage can stay turned on during the flight, provided their lithium metal battery’s lithium content is less than 0.3 grams, or if its lithium ion battery’s output is less than 2.7 Wh.

 

[justinbrett]

ICAO is an interesting organisation, isn't it? Based in Montreal.

View attachment 323138

ICAO Council revises international guidelines relating to small lithium battery powered electronic devices in checked baggage

www.icao.int

May apply to AirTags?? (LH take note)

Yes I know ICAO is based there but Canada, like us, like to have a foot in both camps when it comes to metric.

The suits I refer to are the Europeans.

 

[downgraded]

because BOM reporting is standardised for BOM. Particular users then convert for their specific uses

But if you press the link in the BOM app that says km/h next to the Wind heading it switches to knots.

 

[RB]

Take it up with ICAO (well, it’s 1.98, but close enough - according to Manual of the ICAO Standard Atmosphere)

My comment was to point out that there are quite a few different approximations/theories. I guess it is a bit like saying most surfers are pilots

 

[justinbrett]

My comment was to point out that there are quite a few different approximations/theories. I guess it is a bit like saying most surfers are pilots

No, just saying most surfer friends I have are pilots because that is the world I live in. Quite different.

 

[Quickstatus]

My local (regional) newspaper has every agents listing for land in acres!

Thats because "acreage" is still commonly used.
No one ever says I am looking to buy some "hectarage"

Its easy to remember 5 acre = 2 hectares (actually 2.02) = 20,000 m2 (actually 20234 m2 but when you have all that land whats +/- 234 M2)

 

[Scarlett]

Everyone knows the SI unit for weight is the elephant… “that tram weighs the same as five elephants”; “the new Range Rover weighs half an elephant”!

They also know the size for aquatic ‘acreage’ is the Sydney Harbour… “the introduction of water saving measures has reduced annual water consumption in our city by two Sydney harbours”

What’s the SI unit for going off topic?

 

[Lynda2475]

Work has refurbished our hot desks, instead of large monitors mounted on arms (which meant you could have one in landscape and one in portrait, as angle to avoid glare) we now have one larger (but not double) curved monitor.

The stupid software that divides this monitor into smaller screens is buggy as hell and you often end up with ginat black squares instead of popup menus etc.

The installers also mounted the new monitor on the old left arm (removing the right) which means for right handed people (the majority) you cannot have your laptop to the left of the screen (as all the spare desk space is on the right); the installer must have a been a lefty.

Seems incredibly wasteful to bin perfectly functional monitors and docking stations for a trendy but less functional curved monitor.

These curved monitors are meant for gamers not office workers. FIne for having multiple portrait docs open, but if trying to compare spreadsheets or project schedules or powerpoint presentations then two landscape monitors side by side if much better as you see way more columns.