X-Virus-Scanned: clean according to Sophos on Logan.com Return-Path: Received: from fed1rmmtao12.cox.net ([68.230.241.27] verified) by logan.com (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 4.3c5) with ESMTP id 921260 for flyrotary@lancaironline.net; Sun, 01 May 2005 11:30:45 -0400 Received-SPF: none receiver=logan.com; client-ip=68.230.241.27; envelope-from=ALVentures@cox.net Received: from BigAl ([68.7.14.39]) by fed1rmmtao12.cox.net (InterMail vM.6.01.04.00 201-2131-118-20041027) with ESMTP id <20050501152958.STYZ550.fed1rmmtao12.cox.net@BigAl> for ; Sun, 1 May 2005 11:29:58 -0400 From: "Al Gietzen" To: "'Rotary motors in aircraft'" Subject: RE: [FlyRotary] Re: Units of measure - say what? Date: Sun, 1 May 2005 08:30:04 -0700 Message-ID: <000001c54e62$a6862d60$6400a8c0@BigAl> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0001_01C54E27.FA275560" X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook, Build 10.0.6626 Importance: Normal In-Reply-To: X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0001_01C54E27.FA275560 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I know Al, But it was LOTS of fun. Jack =20 Ah, yes; but I think it may have been at I my expense; although I was confused about who was disagreeing with who, or who was mixing weights = and volumes. But it was my fault for bringing up this technicality, and I = guess somewhere in there I got caught cross-wise with it. =20 But now that my anniversary celebrations are over, and my headache is = almost gone; allow me to digress. The culprit is this *fluid* oz; which, = dang-it, is a slang unit. Just like "dang-it" is not in the dictionary; the = fluid oz is not in the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, or in the official = listings of the International General Conference on Weights and Measures. Ounces = and pounds are units of weight, and teaspoons and pints and quarts are units = of volume. =20 You see, somewhere is the distant past; some of our ancestors were = measuring other fluids with a measure calibrated in ounces of water at 59F, and calling it a certain number of ounces of that fluid. When their error = was pointed out; they were like - "er, ah; OK, we'll call it a 'fluid' ounce then", and it has been commonly used as a measure of 'volume' ever since = for recipes in the kitchen - and in measuring 2-cycle oil. =20 But as long as we agree that a quart is always 0.94645 liters, and that = a pint is not always a pound, we can get along quite well. =20 Now if we could get rid of this strange and ambiguous 'British' system = of units this confusion would all go away. Did you know that in 1960, at = the Eleventh General Conference on Weights and Measures, 36 countries, = including the United States, officially sanctioned and agreed to adopt the 'International System of units' (known as Systeme International = d'Inites, designated SI in all languages) based on the metric system? Even the National Bureau of Standards officially adopted it. Unfortunately, in = this country the effort to convert failed due to the immense mental inertia; = and, of course the billions of dollars invested in tooling. =20 So now we are stuck with building our airplanes in inches and feet, = while we build our engines millimeters and centimeters; and measuring 2-cycle oil = in FLUID oz. =20 Al (maybe I'll go back and lie down now) ------=_NextPart_000_0001_01C54E27.FA275560 Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

I know Al,

But it was LOTS of fun.

Jack

 

Ah, yes; but I think it may have been at I my = expense; although I was confused about who was disagreeing with who, or who was = mixing weights and volumes.  But it was my fault for bringing up this technicality, and I guess somewhere in there I got caught cross-wise = with it.

 <= /font>

But now that = my anniversary celebrations are over, and my headache is almost gone; allow = me to digress.  The culprit is this *fluid* oz; which, dang-it, is a slang unit.  Just like = “dang-it” is not in the dictionary; the fluid oz is not in the Handbook of = Chemistry and Physics, or in the official listings of the International General Conference on Weights and Measures.  Ounces and pounds are units of weight, and teaspoons and pints and quarts are units of = volume.

 <= /font>

You see, = somewhere is the distant past; some of our ancestors were measuring other fluids with = a measure calibrated in ounces of water at 59F, and calling it a certain = number of ounces of that fluid.  When their error was pointed out; they = were like – “er, ah; OK, we’ll call it a ‘fluid’ = ounce then”, and it has been commonly used as a measure of ‘volume’ ever = since for recipes in the kitchen - and in measuring 2-cycle = oil.

 <= /font>

But as long = as we agree that a quart is always 0.94645 liters, and that a pint is not = always a pound, we can get along quite well.

 <= /font>

Now if we = could get rid of this strange and ambiguous ‘British’ system of units = this confusion would all go away. Did you know that in 1960, at the Eleventh = General Conference on Weights and Measures, 36 countries, including the United = States, officially sanctioned and agreed to adopt the ‘International System of = units’ (known as Systeme International d’Inites, designated SI in all languages) = based on the metric system?  Even the National Bureau of Standards = officially adopted it.  Unfortunately, in this country the effort to convert failed = due to the immense mental inertia; and, of course the billions of dollars invested = in tooling.

 <= /font>

So now we are = stuck with building our airplanes in inches and feet, while we build our = engines millimeters and centimeters; and measuring 2-cycle oil in FLUID = oz.

 <= /font>

Al (maybe = I’ll go back and lie down now)

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