Easier for the public, imagine trying to compare prices when each shop has a different measuring scale.
Except that the majority of the public still use pounds and ounces.
I think in metric for everything except miles and pounds, if everything was in metric I wouldn't have picked that up.
I use both systems equally. It is not the metric system per se that I am complaining about (much of the time it is very convenient) - it is the fact that it was forced upon a country which didn't want it by a group of foreign and unelected bureaucrats.
Actually, it is the Government. The European Commision has nothing to do with metrification in the UK - something which was first recomended by Parliament in the 1800's.
Metrification - Good European Union - Bad
It was because of a European directive that people can't sell things in Imperial. A court found that the European Commission directive took precedence over the (I think) 1994 Weights and Measures Act, which basically allowed people to sell goods in Imperial and Metric. (Remember Steve Thoburn, whose business was ruined because he sold a pound of bananas?)
What you say about the 1890s attempt at metrification is true, but the European Commission had everything to do with metrification in Britain.
Britain (i.e. including England) is rapidly moving away from Imperial/"English" units. It's now illegal to price most fruit/vegetables/meat/etc. per pound unless the price per kilogram/gram/whatever is at least as prominent (although there's nothing to stop supermarkets charging per 454 grams). The running joke is that soon we'll get people in court for selling an ounce of marijuana, not because of what it is but because they sold it by the ounce:-)
Utterly ridiculous; why does the government (well actually the unelected European Commission) feel the need to tell us what system of measuring we can and cannot use?
In any case, most people I talk to still use imperial measurements (and I'm in my early 20s).
The screwed up thing is, the majority of people in the world are STILL mainly concerned with finding enough food on a daily basis to stay alive.
Not quite true, I'm afraid. The number of people who are fed to a decent level has increased dramatically over the past 50 years - one of the great achievements of the 20th Century. . It seems that the reason some people still can't get enough food is because of their own corrupt governments and the fact that they're embroiled in pointless wars.
They traded as Tandy here in the UK then all of a sudden shut down most of their stores. I just wish they'd re-open their branch in my hometown. Now I have to get all my components by mail order which is just dumb when all you want is a 555 and a few resistors.
I think Maplin still have high-street stores, in fact the one of the Tandys in London was replaced by a Maplin...
Someone always says this. Copyright infringement is stealing money from the pockets of those who you would have had to pay to get the media without infringing copyright.
Not necessarily - what if I wouldn't have bought a CD (for example) anyway because of the price? They're not actually losing anything.
Wow, you're gonna *pay* for your stolen goods? And you're going to stop distributing said stolen stuff?
Sigh... copyright infringement is not the same as stealing. I am not saying copyright infringement is morally acceptable, but it is not the same as walking into a store and walking out with an armful of CDs.
With bullet-proof copy protection now available, I should now be able to buy a CD-R in Canada without paying any tariff that goes to the record companies, right?
Can you mail-order from the US? We have a huge cigarette tax (~$7 US for a pack of Marlboros) here, and many of us just get round it by going to Belgium and buying it.
Same here. I used to feel a little guilty about downloading vast quantities of MP3s, and tried to buy a fair proportion of the stuff I downloaded. Not any more.
Remember those computer games from 10-20 years ago. Many of them asked you to look up a certain word (4th word, 5th row for example) from the manual. Some of them even contained those "magical two circles" made of paper, which you needed to turn to reveal the secret code.
I remember Prince of Persia did that. You could get round it by typing 'prince megahit', which would let you recharge your life after your drank any potion with the wrong letter (does anyone know what I'm talking about?)
Well, not knowing this at the time I just went ahead and photocopied the manual.
Copy protection is alive and well in the game industry. In fact the last time I checked there are two copy protection schemes for computer games that no one has broken yet.
I'm not up to date with game copy protection methods, but I was under the impression that a simple crack of the game's exe file will solve all problems in that area...
Slashdot Mirror
I suggest you move to work in the EU as they have very strict laws protecting people.
Many would say too strict.
Easier for the public, imagine trying to compare prices when each shop has a different measuring scale.
Except that the majority of the public still use pounds and ounces.
I think in metric for everything except miles and pounds, if everything was in metric I wouldn't have picked that up.
I use both systems equally. It is not the metric system per se that I am complaining about (much of the time it is very convenient) - it is the fact that it was forced upon a country which didn't want it by a group of foreign and unelected bureaucrats.
Actually, it is the Government. The European Commision has nothing to do with metrification in the UK - something which was first recomended by Parliament in the 1800's.
Metrification - Good
European Union - Bad
It was because of a European directive that people can't sell things in Imperial. A court found that the European Commission directive took precedence over the (I think) 1994 Weights and Measures Act, which basically allowed people to sell goods in Imperial and Metric. (Remember Steve Thoburn, whose business was ruined because he sold a pound of bananas?)
What you say about the 1890s attempt at metrification is true, but the European Commission had everything to do with metrification in Britain.
Britain (i.e. including England) is rapidly moving away from Imperial/"English" units. It's now illegal to price most fruit/vegetables/meat/etc. per pound unless the price per kilogram/gram/whatever is at least as prominent (although there's nothing to stop supermarkets charging per 454 grams). The running joke is that soon we'll get people in court for selling an ounce of marijuana, not because of what it is but because they sold it by the ounce :-)
Utterly ridiculous; why does the government (well actually the unelected European Commission) feel the need to tell us what system of measuring we can and cannot use?
In any case, most people I talk to still use imperial measurements (and I'm in my early 20s).
The screwed up thing is, the majority of people in the world are STILL mainly concerned with finding enough food on a daily basis to stay alive.
Not quite true, I'm afraid. The number of people who are fed to a decent level has increased dramatically over the past 50 years - one of the great achievements of the 20th Century. . It seems that the reason some people still can't get enough food is because of their own corrupt governments and the fact that they're embroiled in pointless wars.
Not that I'm saying we shouldn't help.
farking is the same thing as slashdotting.
So I 'slashdot' my girlfriend, or is that just my British accent playing tricks on me?
Read all about it here.
They traded as Tandy here in the UK then all of a sudden shut down most of their stores. I just wish they'd re-open their branch in my hometown. Now I have to get all my components by mail order which is just dumb when all you want is a 555 and a few resistors.
I think Maplin still have high-street stores, in fact the one of the Tandys in London was replaced by a Maplin...
Japanese call it
Linux not GNU/Linux
RMS pissed off
BMW have tried to enter F1 as an engine supplier before. Remember Zakspeed? Eurobrun? No, neither does anyone else.
If things keep going the way they are now, no one is going to remember F1 in 20 years' time. Shame really.
But I do enjoy the lack of DRM on my mac.
I may be missing something here, but is there any working DRM on the PC?
Someone always says this. Copyright infringement is stealing money from the pockets of those who you would have had to pay to get the media without infringing copyright.
Not necessarily - what if I wouldn't have bought a CD (for example) anyway because of the price? They're not actually losing anything.
Wow, you're gonna *pay* for your stolen goods? And you're going to stop distributing said stolen stuff?
Sigh... copyright infringement is not the same as stealing. I am not saying copyright infringement is morally acceptable, but it is not the same as walking into a store and walking out with an armful of CDs.
87GB! Imagine a beowulf cluster of one of those!
"Eww, what's that smell?"
"Nothing, it's just my karma burning."
You may find this useful.
With bullet-proof copy protection now available, I should now be able to buy a CD-R in Canada without paying any tariff that goes to the record companies, right?
Can you mail-order from the US? We have a huge cigarette tax (~$7 US for a pack of Marlboros) here, and many of us just get round it by going to Belgium and buying it.
take a long, hard suck on my ass
Couldn't have put it better myself.
I've already stopped buying new cd's.
Same here. I used to feel a little guilty about downloading vast quantities of MP3s, and tried to buy a fair proportion of the stuff I downloaded. Not any more.
see how far you can drive a low-rider on the Autobahn
On the other hand, see how fast you can drive on the Autobahn...
Anyone know where I can get these things in the UK, or in Europe? Avon don't seem to post over the Atlantic.
The server j.root-servers.net has changed IP address to 192.58.128.30.
Wow, that's pretty close to my home network address!
Remember those computer games from 10-20 years ago. Many of them asked you to look up a certain word (4th word, 5th row for example) from the manual. Some of them even contained those "magical two circles" made of paper, which you needed to turn to reveal the secret code.
I remember Prince of Persia did that. You could get round it by typing 'prince megahit', which would let you recharge your life after your drank any potion with the wrong letter (does anyone know what I'm talking about?)
Well, not knowing this at the time I just went ahead and photocopied the manual.
Copy protection is alive and well in the game industry. In fact the last time I checked there are two copy protection schemes for computer games that no one has broken yet.
I'm not up to date with game copy protection methods, but I was under the impression that a simple crack of the game's exe file will solve all problems in that area...
At last count, one copy of the MS Office package for students was $300...
I was under the impression that the student edition retailed for about the price of a blank disc...
Hilary Rosen is a woman.