Whacky Signs.

[Hroth]

3 minutes ago, figworthy said:

 

Is there any other way to murder you ?

 

Adrian

 

Its probably the degree of murderation that worries The Johnster!

 

[KeithMacdonald]

[melmerby]

8 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

That name alone would not work over here.

Comes, strangely, from the Latin for turnip: (Brassica) Rapa.

Rapeseed itself is actually Brassica Napus.

 

As you can see a common crop around where I live (all the green-yellow fields):

 

Plus a couple of golf clubs!

 

 

 

Edited July 1 by melmerby

[Jeremy Cumberland]

8 hours ago, melmerby said:

Plus a couple of golf clubs!

That thing in the middle looks more like a hockey stick to me.

[chris p bacon]

Heard on Borders radio farming segment a while ago (It's now Greatest Hits radio) 

 

Interviewer - "So is Rape popular in the borders..." 

 

Farmer - "Aye it is, others have moved on, but it still has its place"

[25kV]

One of my own from a few years ago, at the entrance to a nearby construction site. 

Now (ignoring that many speedos don't register terribly accurately below 10 mph) I'd kinda get it if it was an imperial conversion of a metric EU standard speed, but ...

6.4 mph = 10.3 km/h = 2.86 m/s = 9.38 ft/s = 5.56 kt = 9.54x10-9c

 

So why? 
 

Ironically 6.4 km/h is almost exactly 4 mph. 

 

[kevinlms]

33 minutes ago, 25kV said:

One of my own from a few years ago, at the entrance to a nearby construction site. 

Now (ignoring that many speedos don't register terribly accurately below 10 mph) I'd kinda get it if it was an imperial conversion of a metric EU standard speed, but ...

6.4 mph = 10.3 km/h = 2.86 m/s = 9.38 ft/s = 5.56 kt = 9.54x10-9c

 

So why? 
 

Ironically 6.4 km/h is almost exactly 4 mph. 

 

It's precisely why some people claim that the metric system is too confusing. Because they try to create an exact conversion, where it isn't necessary.

[Chris M]

No comment.

[Deeps]

I well remember when the RN Submarine Service went metric, with the introduction of the Trafalgar Class. When your brain is full of details for significant pressures, dimensions & levels etc. it takes a while to wipe them from your memory bank and replace them with the metric equivalent, often direct conversions which seemed irrational. Interestingly on the Trident boats, which are nominally metric, the American bits (missile systems) are imperial!

 

Which reminds me of an occasion during my days as a design engineer in the dockyard. One of our team had been doing some survey work on a submarine and when his measurements were examined one of them was for 2 metres 5 inches.

[KeithMacdonald]

15 hours ago, Hroth said:

Its probably the degree of murderation that worries The Johnster!

 

Or how it will be done?

[Reorte]

38 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

It's precisely why some people claim that the metric system is too confusing. Because they try to create an exact conversion, where it isn't necessary.

The same happens in reverse. I've seen things like "100 m (328')" often enough. People simply seem to have trouble with the idea of approximation (and probability). An approximate conversion seems to get them thinking "but it's wrong!" even when the original number was approximate anyway. I remember hearing someone getting worked up over Covid at the idea of marking a 6' separation - "but it's supposed to be 2m!"

 

On the other hand - a length of timber being sold at 1800mm. Why?! It's just short of 6' so no use if you need 6', and if you're working in metric surely you'd have chosen 2m in the first place?

Edited July 2 by Reorte

[franciswilliamwebb]

10 minutes ago, Chris M said:

 

From Kiwi fruit? 😇

[The Johnster]

10 minutes ago, Deeps said:

I well remember when the RN Submarine Service went metric, with the introduction of the Trafalgar Class. When your brain is full of details for significant pressures, dimensions & levels etc. it takes a while to wipe them from your memory bank and replace them with the metric equivalent, often direct conversions which seemed irrational. Interestingly on the Trident boats, which are nominally metric, the American bits (missile systems) are imperial!

 

Which reminds me of an occasion during my days as a design engineer in the dockyard. One of our team had been doing some survey work on a submarine and when his measurements were examined one of them was for 2 metres 5 inches.

4mm/foot.  I don’t think we occupy any sort of high ground on this matter…

[Reorte]

7 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

4mm/foot.  I don’t think we occupy any sort of high ground on this matter…

I think there's a logic to that one, since the prototype was mostly built in imperial. Maybe 1/8" / 1' would've been a more consistent choice. A bit smaller (noticeably so), but not a lot.

[Nick C]

2 hours ago, Reorte said:

On the other hand - a length of timber being sold at 1800mm. Why?! It's just short of 6' so no use if you need 6', and if you're working in metric surely you'd have chosen 2m in the first place?

Probably for the same reason that bottles of beer are often 500mL instead of 568mL - they're hoping that no-one will notice that they're getting less now than they used to, for the same (or more) money.

[Reorte]

34 minutes ago, Nick C said:

Probably for the same reason that bottles of beer are often 500mL instead of 568mL - they're hoping that no-one will notice that they're getting less now than they used to, for the same (or more) money.

 

Doesn't quite work when you actually need a 6' length of wood in order to fit! Maybe it's to encourage people to waste money on the next size up and cut it down.

Edited July 2 by Reorte

[KeithMacdonald]

1 hour ago, Nick C said:

Probably for the same reason that bottles of beer are often 500mL instead of 568mL - they're hoping that no-one will notice that they're getting less now than they used to, for the same (or more) money.

 

Oh, that's so sneaky! Perhaps that explains why three "pints" of my favourite local beer drunk in the pub always feels more filling than the same beer drunk from three 500ml bottles at home. But- hang on - the glass they serve it in, which only just holds one bottle, is clearly sold seperately as a "pint glass".To keep it on topic, there's a sign which says "Pint Glass £5"
😒 

 

 

Edited July 2 by KeithMacdonald
typo

[Nick C]

29 minutes ago, Reorte said:

 

Doesn't quite work when you actually need a 6' length of wood in order to fit! Maybe it's to encourage people to waste money on the next size up and cut it down.

Particularly when the sheet material is still sold at 1830mm or 2440mm!

[jbqfc]

[melmerby]

6 hours ago, kevinlms said:

It's precisely why some people claim that the metric system is too confusing. Because they try to create an exact conversion, where it isn't necessary.

It's even more ridiculous when news pages say something in Europe was "approximately 32.8 ft (10m) long" etc.

 

I would guess the speed limit sign above was for 10km/h badly converted to imperial

Edited July 2 by melmerby

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, Nick C said:

Particularly when the sheet material is still sold at 1830mm or 2440mm!

What's 1830mm for?

The yard I buy from does 1220mm x 2440mm measurements, nowt else for sheets.

Every body still calls it an "Eight by Four" board.

[ardbealach]

8 hours ago, 25kV said:

One of my own from a few years ago, at the entrance to a nearby construction site. 

Now (ignoring that many speedos don't register terribly accurately below 10 mph) I'd kinda get it if it was an imperial conversion of a metric EU standard speed, but ...

6.4 mph = 10.3 km/h = 2.86 m/s = 9.38 ft/s = 5.56 kt = 9.54x10-9c

 

So why? 
 

Ironically 6.4 km/h is almost exactly 4 mph. 

 

Almost exactly?  Eh?  Suggest you are not an EM or P4 modeller then!! (Alisdair)

[chris p bacon]

5 hours ago, Reorte said:

 

Doesn't quite work when you actually need a 6' length of wood in order to fit! Maybe it's to encourage people to waste money on the next size up and cut it down.

 

Although given a metric length, timber is generally in imperial ( some suppliers are changing to full metric)

 

3 hours ago, melmerby said:

What's 1830mm for?

The yard I buy from does 1220mm x 2440mm measurements, nowt else for sheets.

Every body still calls it an "Eight by Four" board.

 The old 6' x 3' board.  

 

1220 x 2440 is still the 8'x4'  board. Its a real pain when you have drawings that show stud work with 9mm (3/8th) OSB board then covered in plasterboard. The PB is metric ( 1200 x 2400) so the stud work has to be laid out to suit, then the OSB has to have the top and side cut to suit.

[Reorte]

1 hour ago, chris p bacon said:

 

Although given a metric length, timber is generally in imperial ( some suppliers are changing to full metric)

That's my beef with 1800mm! No good for any metric or imperial size, but that's all Wickes had when I decided to patch up the rotten bits of a 6' fence panel one Sunday.

[Michael Hodgson]

12 hours ago, Deeps said:

I well remember when the RN Submarine Service went metric, with the introduction of the Trafalgar Class. When your brain is full of details for significant pressures, dimensions & levels etc. it takes a while to wipe them from your memory bank and replace them with the metric equivalent, often direct conversions which seemed irrational.

 

The top speed of a sub isn't going to change even if you express it in furlongs per fortnight.  Surely it doesn't matter what units it's calibrated in, as long as you know where the needles on the pressure gauges should be pointing?