[time-nuts] gravity controlled pendulumn clock?

[Reeves Paul]

But it is 1 chain, (22 yards), surely? And you admitted that is not 20m when
laid out properly. The laws of cricket have not changed (even if they give a
metric equivalent) just because we might have joined the EU!! I have no
objection to using a metric measure to do it but you have to use a
non-integer value - and do the conversion. Not very elegant. So if tape
measures with joint metric/imperial markings are available - and they are -
why not use the correct measure in the first place? 
As to the definition of the inch it works both ways - why have 25.4
subdivisions of an arbitrary length to equal one inch. Just use an inch -
it's no less valid and the yard/metre can both be defined in exactly the
same way as so-and-so many wavelengths of Kr86 light. As I said, it's just
that the internal standards conversions in the 'metric' system are easier.
Just nit-picking, really. I use both systems happily as, I suspect, most
people of my age do, depending on circumstance.

Paul Reeves      G8GJA


-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Palfreyman [mailto:jim77742 at gmail.com] 
Sent: 14 December 2011 11:23
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] gravity controlled pendulumn clock?

Paul, a cricket pitch is 20 m. Sure when the curator draws the lines it is
12cm longer, (and I guarantee s/he uses a metric measure) but when we pace
it out for backyard cricket - its 20 m.

Also my American friends, all your imperial measurements are DEFINED in
terms of metric. eg your inch is 25.4 mm exactly. By definition. It has been
estimated you could save a trillion dollars a year in your economy by
converting - which you will ultimately do. I just hope it is in my lifetime.

On Wednesday, 14 December 2011, Reeves Paul <Paul.Reeves at uk.thalesgroup.com>
wrote:
> Oh dear, what have I helped to get going :-) It has certainly been 
> interesting reading! My point was, as Chuck notes, that the metre,
kilogram
> etc. are no more 'precise' than a yard, pound etc. being, essentially, 
> arbitrary units and the 'imperial' units can be defined just as 
> accurately and in the same way. I will certainly concede that things 
> become 'interesting' when converting between different units outside 
> of the 'metric' system (and the 'metric' system went through several 
> versions
-with
> distinctly odd units - before the current standardised one) but that 
> just relates to my comment on the reduction of mental arithmetic 
> abilities nowadays as against simple decimal point shifting......
> I'm not sure I would agree on being 'forced' to take on certain
measurements
> - we are a lot closer to Europe (sort of...), after all - but pints,
inches
> and miles do seem more 'natural' (a litre is just too much beer) and 
> you could never measure a cricket pitch in metres!
> That's all from me,
>
> Paul Reeves     G8GJA
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chuck Harris [mailto:cfharris at erols.com]
> Sent: 14 December 2011 02:05
> To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] gravity controlled pendulumn clock?
>
> Arnold Tibus wrote:
>> I don't understand at all the arguments against the metric system and 
>> the polemic remarks about. I second the statements of Neville and Jim.
>>
>> Without these intelligent french Astronomers like 
>> Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Delambre, Pierre-François-André Méchain and J.J.
Lalande (more infos:
>> Ken Alder, The Measure of All Things), we would still have the severe 
>> problems they had centuries ago!
>>
>> Reading WIKIPEDIA, http://en.wikipedia.org 
>> /wiki/German_units_of_measurement,
>> we find a good example of weird units (just for only a part of Germany):
>>
>> "Before the introduction of the metric system in Germany, almost 
>> every town had its own definitions of the units shown below, and 
>> supposedly by 1810, in Baden alone, there were 112 different 
>> standards for the Elle around Germany. The metric system was a 
>> much-needed standardisation in Germany."
>>
>> This was not only a german problem, and we still have today some 
>> problems in the world in this area.
>
> Standardization is fine.  Attempting to force the world's largest 
> economy
to
> bend to the wishes of Europe isn't fine.  The US system has been 
> standardized for more than a century, and works very nicely.  Decimal 
> inches, decimal pounds, and seconds is every bit as valid a 
> measurement system as the equally arbitrary meter, kilogram and 
> second.  Decimal
inches,
> decimal pounds, and seconds flies most of the airframes in the world, 
> won WWII, and took mankind to the moon and beyond.
>
> Saying that the use of pounds, and yards is imprecise is simply ignorant.
>
>>
>> I believe we should think more about what we are saying and doing, so 
>> we would do a big step forward to become a world community. ...
>
> Regardless of our measurement systems, we are already a world community.
>
> The strife we see in the world today is not the result of 
> measurements,
but
> rather is the result of religion, politics, and culture.
>
> -Chuck Harris
>
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