So Napoleon only wanted to be different? Or was a response to the change in sword style or liklihood of ambush from the side?

A bit of all of the above probably.

I’m usually Ok with all of this stuff – except temperature, when relating to weather.

its the media switching between celcius and fahrenheit depending on what extreme of weather you are referring to, with cold weather being expressed in celsius so you can say ‘minus’ and hot weather in fahrenheit so you can use numbers close to 100 which is a number we associate with boiling. Then just using just using the word ‘degrees’ in either instance.

So Napoleon only wanted to be different?

No, Napoleon was left-handed.

if I want to convert 5’7″ to metric i have to enter it as 5.58333333333…..

…..or as 67 😉

Cougar – Member

Or how about light seconds?

That’s a bit unwieldy. You want light-nanoseconds, one of those would be about a foot.

Or, attoParsecs – one of those is about 3cm. Then we could measure speed in attoParsecs per nanofortnight.

😆

So if I “+1” this comment, what’s that work out as? 😉

And if you’re a IT bod who reads The Register, you’ll know they have their own Standards Converter

No, Napoleon was left-handed.

No, no, no – that was Bruce Wayne.

On the subject of measurements: http://www.xkcd.com/1060/

Bike stuff mixing inches and mm/cm is just great isn’t it? Why do we have bar diameters in mm when really they are one inch or one and a quarter inches? (remember one and one eighth bars? I still have one in a box somwhere 😆 ) And 44mm headset cups which take a 1.5″ steerer? That’s two standards on the same part ffs 👿

I once had an Azonic frame whose pivot bolts took a mix of metric and imperial allen key sizes. Kwality!

Aka one thousand microinches (?in)
Do people genuinely use those? Any engineering work I’ve done at that level of detail has been metric. I guess maybe they might use those units in the States?

My dad did before he retired. He trained as an engineer in the 60s and always talked of “a few thou” 🙂

Some confused retired engineers:

Car tyres. Diameter in inches, width and profile in mm???

F is still a pointless system though.

i see your fahrenheit and raise you a rankine scale.

thousands of an inch are commonly used in engineering workshops all over the country. Sadly I know this only too well

constant smell of garlic.

Bad news Hels according to the Saturday Kitchen the British overtook the French in garlic consumption last year!!

So Napoleon only wanted to be different?

No, Napoleon was left-handed.

What about Hitler? Much of central Europe drove on the left until he turned up.

Driving on the left makes a lot more sense. Given that most people are right handed, surely it’s safer to keep your primary hand on the steering wheel, and use your secondary hand to change gears.

So why do racing cars have the gears on the right? Because it’s a lot easier to drive a LHD car fast. With the exception of Roger Clark and Paddy Hopkirk most successful British rally drivers have adopted LHD cars because they’re easier to drive. I learned RHD but have driven LHD for longer and recognise that it’s easier when the right hand does the complicated multi-tasking and the left one just twirls.

Because it’s a lot easier to drive a LHD car fast.

Possibly true, but the emphasis on road cars should be “safely and in control” not “fast” – which might mean the generally stronger, more dexterous hand should be the one in charge of the wheel.

Driving on the left makes a lot more sense. Given that most people are right handed, surely it’s safer to keep your primary hand on the steering wheel, and use your secondary hand to change gears.

Brilliant! I’m going to start to drive on the right immediately.

Possibly true, but the emphasis on road cars should be “safely and in control” not “fast” – which might mean the generally stronger, more dexterous hand should be the one in charge of the wheel.

I’ll have to try that if I get caught speeding. “Sorry your honour, I can’t help breaking the speed limits, I’m left handed.”