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  #11  
Old January 12th 06, 11:41 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
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Yoj wrote:
A couple of months ago I posted, asking for suggestions for a gift to
send an Englishman. Someone suggested an indoor/outdoor thermometer.
I bought one, and it was a big success. He has mentioned it many
times. After I had wrapped it, I realized that we use Fahrenheit and
they use Centigrade. After Christmas I mentioned that in an email,
saying I hoped he knew a good way of converting. He responded that,
not only is there a button on the thermometer to switch back and
forth, but he grew up with Fahrenheit and is more comfortable with
that.

Anyway, thanks to whoever made the suggestion.


Officially we use Celcius/Centigrade, but the majority of people in England
still think in Farenheit.
--
Adrian (Owned by Snoopy and Bagheera)
A House is not a home, without a cat.
http://community.webshots.com/user/clowderuk


  #12  
Old January 12th 06, 11:50 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
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wrote:
Christina Websell wrote:

I also grew up with fahrenheit as a child. I know how hot 80f is.

Hot! I'm in some sort of zone where I can sort of understand both
F & C.

Is this an age thing? That is, is it mostly older people in the UK who
grew up using the Fahrenheit scale, who are still more comfortable
with it? Someone else mentioned that she's more comfortable with
inches than centimeters, too. I imagine that younger people who grew
up after you adopted metric units would be more comfy with those.
When was the change? In the 70s? That's when the US tried to make the
same change, which, as you know, failed.

The only metric units I have a visceral sense of are meters (I know
they're slightly more than a standard yard, at 39 inches), and
kilometers (about 6/10 of a mile). I did a 10km walk to raise money
for AIDS research and care, etc., a few years ago, and it was about 6
miles. Because I actually walked that walk, I have a good sense of
what 10km feels like.

And I remember in the 70s, walking to work on summer mornings (in
Boston, Mass), and having the digital temp read 18C. This was at
about 8 AM, so
it was still cool and comfortable. So I can relate to the concept of
18C without having to convert first. (But if you said it was, say 9C,
I would have to convert to know what that really means, because I
don't have an automatic association with that.)

Joyce


I don't think it's just older people, when I here children talking about
weights and measures they use the same units as their parents. Still usually
imperial.
--
Adrian (Owned by Snoopy and Bagheera)
A House is not a home, without a cat.
http://community.webshots.com/user/clowderuk


  #13  
Old January 12th 06, 01:06 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
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badwilson wrote:
I don't know Fahrenheit, but using Julie's
handy dandy xmas card insert, I see that it's 26C


Or you could use the built-in Google converter. Just do a 'search' for:
80 f

It assumes that you want metric but can convert the other way. Try
entering:
350 grams in ounces

All is explained at the 'More about calculator' link that appears below
the answer.

Those 35 and 72 ounce packs in US supermarkets make more sense when you
realise it is a round metric weight (the metric weight will be on the
label anyway).

  #14  
Old January 12th 06, 03:18 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
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When I was in high school, my chemistry teacher told us that the metric
system was the only sensible one, and that we'd be switched to it within 10
years. That was over 50 years ago, and although a few signs show distances
or speeds in both kilometers and miles, we are nowhere near being on the
metric system.


ROFL! They told US the same thing in high school, 30 years ago.
My goodness, that 10 years is taking a long time to pass! I wish my
body parts were aging that slowly.

Jane
- owned and operated by Princess Rita

  #15  
Old January 12th 06, 04:30 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
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On 2006-01-12, Marina penned:
Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

I'm definitely confused by Celcius


But it's so simple and logical! O C is the temperature at which
water freezes, at 100 C water boils. Normal human temperature is
around 36.5.


Sure, 0 and 100 are easy. Except that water boils at a much lower
temp here at altitude (takes forever to make noodles). It's the other
numbers that just don't 'gel' for me!

Today the high will be 36F, or 2C. Tonight's low will be 17F, or -8C.

In a typical year here in Boulder, there will be a few days when the
high is about 8F, or -13C, and the low ... well, you don't want to
know!

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca
  #16  
Old January 12th 06, 04:39 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
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Yoj wrote:
though. I know a meter is a little over 3 yards (about 39 inches) and a

snips on both sides

A meter is a little over 3 *feet*, not yards. A yard is about 90
centimeters.

I don't do temps in F without my self-made conversion list, am fairly
useless in other imperial measures too. I do know that a pound is about
half a kilo, which gives me a ball park estimate of weights in lbs, but
ounces and cups and sticks and such... on no!

--
Christine in Vantaa, Finland
christal63 (at) gmail (dot) com
photos: http://photos.yahoo.com/christal63
photos: http://community.webshots.com/user/chkr63
  #17  
Old January 12th 06, 06:32 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
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Default Thanks/lots of weather talk coming


"Yoj" wrote in message
...
"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

"Yoj" wrote in message
news


Obviously you live in a cool climate, if you think of 80F as hot.


I live in England. I prefer to think of it as a temperate climate ;-) We
rarely get extreme highs or lows so we aren't used to it. 80F is pretty hot
here, I like it at about 72! The highest temperature I've ever known where
I live is 95F (for one day only) and the lowest -16C for two days.

See, I am still doing the F above freezing and the C below! I can visualise
it better like that.

In
Southern California, it's warm enough to be slightly uncomfortable, but
not
warm enough to be considered hot. In Alaska, where my mother lives, 75F
if
hot.


It's all relative. I went to Germany to visit my friend Nüle in August 2003
and I nearly fried, it was in the mid 90's every day. I wondered if they
were having a heatwave, but apparently not, it's normal.
OTOH their winters are dire. Up neck in snow for months. There were posts
on the side of the roads every few yards with fluorescent markings on. On
one side the markings were spots, and on the other side, diagonal lines. I
asked what they were for.
"Oh, they are so you know where you are on the road when we have winter.."
said N.
One time when she was here, we had snow. It's a really big deal here and it
was on the TV news, it always is, even though we get some every year we act
like we are surprised by it and traffic slows almost to a standstill.
Well, she just laughed and laughed at the thought that snow was a newsworthy
item.

I suspected that your British friend would like a minimum/maximum
thermometer. We Brits are obsessive about weather because it's hardly the
same from one day to another and it's a huge topic of conversation. In
Germany, apparently they describe a bore as "someone who likes to talk about
the weather" but I've had to alert N to the fact that for a Brit, it's
compulsory!
Rains a lot, though here though..mud, mud, mud here at present. Cat
footprints everywhere. Windowsills, chair throws, floors all have muddy cat
prints on. Can't be helped. I cleaned up yesterday. Pointless until the
weather improves.

Tweed





  #18  
Old January 12th 06, 11:09 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
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On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 15:39:25 GMT, "Christine K."
wrote:

Yoj wrote:
though. I know a meter is a little over 3 yards (about 39 inches) and a

snips on both sides

A meter is a little over 3 *feet*, not yards. A yard is about 90
centimeters.

I don't do temps in F without my self-made conversion list, am fairly
useless in other imperial measures too. I do know that a pound is about
half a kilo, which gives me a ball park estimate of weights in lbs, but
ounces and cups and sticks and such... on no!


I'm a bit like you Christina - I can do ball-park estimates of
conversions between imperial and metric weights and distance measures.
I haven't got the hang of F to C conversions (I think in C), except
for 0 C = 32 F and 100F = about 39C. Oddly, I think of people's
height in feet and inches, rather than metres and cm and I used to
think of people's weight in stones and ounces, although that changed
when we got a kg scale.

I mainly do imperial - metric weight conversions when I'm cooking and
trying, for example, to follow an Elizabeth David recipe (where all
the weights are imperial). BTW, does anyone here know what a "gill"
is and what it translates to in metric? I gather it's a liquid
measure, but I'm stumped as to how much it actually us!

Cheers,
Tish
  #19  
Old January 12th 06, 11:23 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
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I mainly do imperial - metric weight conversions when I'm cooking and
trying, for example, to follow an Elizabeth David recipe (where all
the weights are imperial). BTW, does anyone here know what a "gill"
is and what it translates to in metric? I gather it's a liquid
measure, but I'm stumped as to how much it actually us!

Cheers,
Tish


4 fluid ounces. From Wikipedia:
Liquid volume

* 1 minim (min) = 1/480 fl oz (approx 61.612 µL)
* 1 fluid dram (fl dr) = 1/8 fl oz = 60 min (approx 3.697 mL)
* 1 fluid ounce (fl oz) = 1/128 gal = 8 fl dr (approx 29.574 mL)
* 1 gill (gi) = 7.21875 cu in = 4 fl oz (approx 118.294 mL)
* 1 cup = 2 gi = 8 fl oz (approx 236.588 mL)
* 1 pint (pt) = 2 cups = 4 gi = 16 fl oz (approx 473.176 mL)
* 1 fifth = 25.6 fl oz (approx 757.082 mL)
* 1 quart (qt) = 2 pt = 32 fl oz (approx 946.353 mL)
* 1 gallon (gal) = 231 cu in = 4 qt = 128 fl oz = 3.785411784 L

  #20  
Old January 12th 06, 11:54 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
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"Tish Silberbauer" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 15:39:25 GMT, "Christine K."
wrote:

Yoj wrote:
though. I know a meter is a little over 3 yards (about 39 inches) and

a
snips on both sides

A meter is a little over 3 *feet*, not yards. A yard is about 90
centimeters.


I knew that. I just goofed. I meant to say either 3 feet or a yard.

I don't do temps in F without my self-made conversion list, am fairly
useless in other imperial measures too. I do know that a pound is about
half a kilo, which gives me a ball park estimate of weights in lbs, but
ounces and cups and sticks and such... on no!


I'm a bit like you Christina - I can do ball-park estimates of
conversions between imperial and metric weights and distance measures.
I haven't got the hang of F to C conversions (I think in C), except
for 0 C = 32 F and 100F = about 39C. Oddly, I think of people's
height in feet and inches, rather than metres and cm and I used to
think of people's weight in stones and ounces, although that changed
when we got a kg scale.

I mainly do imperial - metric weight conversions when I'm cooking and
trying, for example, to follow an Elizabeth David recipe (where all
the weights are imperial). BTW, does anyone here know what a "gill"
is and what it translates to in metric? I gather it's a liquid
measure, but I'm stumped as to how much it actually us!

Cheers,
Tish



 




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