The Imperial System of measurements is not the same as the customary measurements used in the United States. The legal arbiter of measurements in the United States is the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Apendixes B [PDF]and C [PDF] to their Handbook 44 provide a good overview of the structure of the respective standards and their relationship to SI (the science based International System, which was based on the Metric System).
The word system seems misleading when applied to US customary measures. For example:
Appendix B. Section 2.2.5. From 1893 until 1959, the yard was defined as equal exactly to 3600/3937 meter. In 1959, a small change was made in the definition of the yard to resolve discrepancies both in this country and abroad. Since 1959, we define the yard as equal exactly to 0.9144 meter; the new yard is shorter than the old yard by exactly two parts in a million. At the same time, it was decided that any data expressed in feet derived from geodetic surveys within the United States would continue to bear the relationship as defined in 1893 (one foot equals 1200/3937 meter). We call this foot the U. S. Survey Foot, while the foot defined in 1959 is called the International Foot. Measurements expressed in U. S. statute miles, survey feet, rods, chains, links, or the squares thereof, and acres should be converted to the corresponding metric values by using pre-1959 conversion factors if more than five significant figure accuracy is required.
Does this make a difference? From one viewpoint, no, when do you ever need to keep something accurate within 2 mm over a mile? From another, yes, repeated iterations of computations based on incorrect conversions can produce just plain gibberish. Another bit of measurement chaos to keep in mind:
Appendix B. Section 2.3. British and United States Systems of Measurement.... In the customary British system, the units of dry measure are the same as those of liquid measure. In the United States these two are not the same; the gallon and its subdivisions are used in the measurement of liquids and the bushel, with its subdivisions, is used in the measurement of certain dry commodities. The U. S. gallon is divided into four liquid quarts and the U. S. bushel into 32 dry quarts. All the units of capacity or volume mentioned thus far are larger in the customary British system than in the U. S. system. But the British fluid ounce is smaller than the U. S. fluid ounce, because the British quart is divided into 40 fluid ounces whereas the U. S. quart is divided into 32 fluid ounces....
1 U. S. fluid ounce = 1.041 British fluid ounces
1 British fluid ounce = 0.961 U. S. fluid ounce
1 U. S. gallon = 0.833 British Imperial gallon
1 British Imperial gallon = 1.201 U. S. gallons
We also must remember that NASA has proven itself incapable of managing the different systems of measurement before. Ten years ago NASA crashed a Mars bound probe because of botched conversions from customary to SI units. You would think that having paid $125 million for that lesson, they would want to avoid a recurrence. But, I suppose that they are from the government and they do not have to care.
Paper books, if properly cared for, can last hundreds of years. I have some books that my parents purchased before I was born which are still in good condition today, and I'd like to be able to pass them on to any future children I might have.
True story: Many long years ago, in a previous millennium, when I was a college freshman, the Lord of the Rings Trilogy was published in mass market paperback format in the US. (It was originally published in hardback in the US around 1954). I read it at the urging of a professor of medieval history, and I loved it. I kept the books through many moves and changes in my life.
About 30 years later, my youngest child entered middle school and developed a taste for reading fantasy. When he wanted to start reading the Lord of the Rings, I gave him my books. The pages of the books, being of newsprint quality like any mass market paperback, crumbled as he read them. He reproached me with the poor quality of the books. I apologized, if only I had known HE would want to read these books, which cost me $0.95 each 30 years ago.
I bought him new books of his own, on better quality paper, so that he will be able to give them to his son, I hope.
"Why not take the plans, modify them slightly, and then have low-cost housing in North America?"
I take you have never been involved in the zoning approval process for a low income housing project in the US. If you had been you would learn how much hysteria can be generated by the thought that the value of a middle class American's house could be dented by the presence of a less expensive alternative.
My son, who is a math major, took a 300 level course in Geometry last term. Euclid (in translation) was one of the assigned text books. He enjoyed the course. He told me they spent about a third of the course on Euclid, before moving on to more contemporary topics.
Mr. Stallman, and the ever shrinking group of people who care what he thinks, need to grow up. Nothing is free. Absolutely nothing. Everything has a cost. And everybody is subject to constraints on their knowledge, wisdom, and actions.
If we are lucky, the costs are well within our ability to pay, and the constraints are not heavier than those that rational civilized men place on themselves for the sake of good order and pleasant society.
"Have you used Windows Mobile? That's something I reserve for inflicting on only my worst enemies and only as a last resort. It's the Jack Bauer option of OSs."
That is an insult to Jack Bauer. He is competent and works 24 hours a day.
"despite everything the world continues to turn in its old corrupt way. And the same idea may now be crossing the minds of those who believed that electing Democrats into power would mean cleaner government, world peace and a high moral tone only to realize that maybe Washington is like a softdrink machine which dispenses orange bug juice no matter what buttons you push."
This is bog standard litigation tactics. It is done in many cases. One side, sensing a tactical advantage, demands a deposition (out of court, but sworn and recorded testimony) from a person on the other side who thinks he has better things to do. The other side file papers accusing the the party of the first part of having sisters and being lawyers. This will go on and on, until the case ends when one or both parties decide they no longer want to waste time and money like this.
"The guys who originally wrote both had first names that started with R and being the jokers that they were, they thought it would be funny to give it a name very similar to S."
My guess is that Obama does not know what kind of music player he is using, does not load it and has no idea what software is involved. The difference between him and you geeks is that he has a personal assistant who has that job. Read on:
Reggie Love makes sure the water bottle is always full, the PowerBars are stocked and that the boss gets out of bed on time for his daily exercise regimen. The former football and basketball player at Duke University is what presidential campaigns call a "body man." Every major candidate has one. Love, 25, has walked - literally - in Sen.Barack Obama's shadow since February, acting as something of a traveling valetto make sure the Illinois Democrat's personal needs are met.
He snaps photos when supporters ask that their picture be taken with thecandidate, makes sure there is always a Sharpie marker at the ready forautographs and keeps the candidate's favorite music loaded on the iPod....
MCGrew is correct. Further, Obamatrons, you have been played. The permanent government is back in the saddle and ready to ride. Nothing is going to change. Nothing at all. Now, go back to your video games.
The answer is no. In England and Canada, the loser pays the other side's legal fees. In the US, that is not the rule. And, yes it is a serious problem.
I am happy they are doing this. I wish they would buy back more stock instead of crapping around with Yahoo, and conducting R&D that they will never commercialize. Also they raised the dividend from its current crappy l1 cents to 13 cents which is still crappy. They should raise it to at least 40 cents.
Slashdot Mirror
In Yiddish (the Jewish-German creole of Eastern Europe), VASIMR means "woe is me".
I know, probably o/t.
The Imperial System of measurements is not the same as the customary measurements used in the United States. The legal arbiter of measurements in the United States is the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Apendixes B [PDF] and C [PDF] to their Handbook 44 provide a good overview of the structure of the respective standards and their relationship to SI (the science based International System, which was based on the Metric System).
The word system seems misleading when applied to US customary measures. For example:
Does this make a difference? From one viewpoint, no, when do you ever need to keep something accurate within 2 mm over a mile? From another, yes, repeated iterations of computations based on incorrect conversions can produce just plain gibberish. Another bit of measurement chaos to keep in mind:
We also must remember that NASA has proven itself incapable of managing the different systems of measurement before. Ten years ago NASA crashed a Mars bound probe because of botched conversions from customary to SI units. You would think that having paid $125 million for that lesson, they would want to avoid a recurrence. But, I suppose that they are from the government and they do not have to care.
Dude: Word
+1
"A pretty hardcore lisp."
First you Lisp, then they make you a Unix.
Paper books, if properly cared for, can last hundreds of years. I have some books that my parents purchased before I was born which are still in good condition today, and I'd like to be able to pass them on to any future children I might have.
True story: Many long years ago, in a previous millennium, when I was a college freshman, the Lord of the Rings Trilogy was published in mass market paperback format in the US. (It was originally published in hardback in the US around 1954). I read it at the urging of a professor of medieval history, and I loved it. I kept the books through many moves and changes in my life.
About 30 years later, my youngest child entered middle school and developed a taste for reading fantasy. When he wanted to start reading the Lord of the Rings, I gave him my books. The pages of the books, being of newsprint quality like any mass market paperback, crumbled as he read them. He reproached me with the poor quality of the books. I apologized, if only I had known HE would want to read these books, which cost me $0.95 each 30 years ago.
I bought him new books of his own, on better quality paper, so that he will be able to give them to his son, I hope.
"Why not take the plans, modify them slightly, and then have low-cost housing in North America?"
I take you have never been involved in the zoning approval process for a low income housing project in the US. If you had been you would learn how much hysteria can be generated by the thought that the value of a middle class American's house could be dented by the presence of a less expensive alternative.
"Don't forget Euclid's Elements."
My son, who is a math major, took a 300 level course in Geometry last term. Euclid (in translation) was one of the assigned text books. He enjoyed the course. He told me they spent about a third of the course on Euclid, before moving on to more contemporary topics.
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
Mr. Stallman, and the ever shrinking group of people who care what he thinks, need to grow up. Nothing is free. Absolutely nothing. Everything has a cost. And everybody is subject to constraints on their knowledge, wisdom, and actions.
If we are lucky, the costs are well within our ability to pay, and the constraints are not heavier than those that rational civilized men place on themselves for the sake of good order and pleasant society.
Machiavelli must have been the inspiration for Scheme.
"All your base are belong to us."
WFM
"Have you used Windows Mobile? That's something I reserve for inflicting on only my worst enemies and only as a last resort. It's the Jack Bauer option of OSs."
That is an insult to Jack Bauer. He is competent and works 24 hours a day.
"despite everything the world continues to turn in its old corrupt way. And the same idea may now be crossing the minds of those who believed that electing Democrats into power would mean cleaner government, world peace and a high moral tone only to realize that maybe Washington is like a softdrink machine which dispenses orange bug juice no matter what buttons you push."
-- Richard Fernandez
This is bog standard litigation tactics. It is done in many cases. One side, sensing a tactical advantage, demands a deposition (out of court, but sworn and recorded testimony) from a person on the other side who thinks he has better things to do. The other side file papers accusing the the party of the first part of having sisters and being lawyers. This will go on and on, until the case ends when one or both parties decide they no longer want to waste time and money like this.
"3 cups or more may cause hallucinations."
So, I am hallucinating that I am awake?
"And I also don't know why it is called R"
"The guys who originally wrote both had first names that started with R and being the jokers that they were, they thought it would be funny to give it a name very similar to S."
Additionally, in statistics r is the letter used to denote the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient.
WIN2K. I resemble that remark. I am still running Win 2K and Office 97, and they still WFM! WooT!
I prefer the term "smart ass".
My guess is that Obama does not know what kind of music player he is using, does not load it and has no idea what software is involved. The difference between him and you geeks is that he has a personal assistant who has that job. Read on:
"Obama's 'body man' on his game: Ex-Duke athlete and 'good people person' Reggie Love helps keep senator fit, fed and hydrated on trail" by John Mccormick and Tribune Staff Reporter in the Chicago Tribune on November 15, 2007:
More here with pictures: "On the Court and on the Trail, One Aide Looms Over Obama" by Ashley Parker in the NYTimes on May 27, 2008.
MCGrew is correct. Further, Obamatrons, you have been played. The permanent government is back in the saddle and ready to ride. Nothing is going to change. Nothing at all. Now, go back to your video games.
Grams of Hydrogen in 1 liter:
Liquid Hydrogen -- 71 g.
Gasoline (C8H10) -- 118 g.
Diesel (C12H26) -- 130 g.
Windows 2000? Still the forgotten child. And what about the server versions like Windows 2003?
The answer is no. In England and Canada, the loser pays the other side's legal fees. In the US, that is not the rule. And, yes it is a serious problem.
The problem with android developers is that they have to be deactivated after four years, and you have to hire and train new ones.
I am happy they are doing this. I wish they would buy back more stock instead of crapping around with Yahoo, and conducting R&D that they will never commercialize. Also they raised the dividend from its current crappy l1 cents to 13 cents which is still crappy. They should raise it to at least 40 cents.