Talk about obsolete units

[Roger W]

Haven't you got an app to do that on your phone?

 

[Laurie]

My 'phone makes and receives telephone calls and is attached by a wire to the great outside.

 

[JasonC]

I remember  a factor of 1760, does anyone else?

Of course - it's yds / mile, with 5280 being ft / mile.

There again, in flying, altitudes are still given in feet, or multiples thereof, so if a pilot talks of FL50, that's flight-level 50 x 100 =5000', and not just in the UK.
Speeds are given in knots, which of course are nautical miles per hour, where a nautical mile is equivalent to 1 minute of latitude so that the distance from equator to pole is 60 x 90 =4500 NM, whereas the metre is defined as 1 ten-millionth of the same distance.  So in theory 4500 NM = 10,000 km, but actually it turns out to be 8334 km.

Considering all this nonsense, it's a miracle anything works.....

 

[Laurie]

Why did we change from acres to hectares?
I understood acres.

 

[kay]

Why did we change from acres to hectares?
I understood acres.

Estate agents still use acres. 1/4 acre garden sounds quite tiny in hectares.

 

[Simon Wilson]

Why did we change from acres to hectares?
I understood acres.

Ah, the acre, now this discussion is getting somewhere. Would you be using seven yards to the rod as is customary in these parts?

 

[Laurie]

Might get a Pole off his perch  :

 

[Laurie]

An acre is 1 cricket pitch (or 1 chain) by 10 cricket pitches.
That's very easy to visualise.

 

[Simon Wilson]

An acre is 1 cricket pitch (or 1 chain) by 10 cricket pitches.
That's very easy to visualise.

Unless you're Cornish and using the Cornish Acre or Cumbrian or North Lancastrian or...

 

[traff]

There again, in flying, altitudes are still given in feet, or multiples thereof, so if a pilot talks of FL50, that's flight-level 50 x 100 =5000', and not just in the UK.

Of course flight levels are only used above the transition altitude with the standard setting of 1013mb (or hecto Pascals). FL50 may well be very different from 5000' depending on the actual pressure.

 

[kay]

An acre is 1 cricket pitch (or 1 chain) by 10 cricket pitches.
That's very easy to visualise.

According to wiki, a hectare is one Trafalgar Square

 

[royfellows]

It was me who actually started this thread.
I struggle to live with the shame, where is my Tanto.

 

[bograt]

An acre is 1 cricket pitch (or 1 chain) by 10 cricket pitches.
That's very easy to visualise.

According to wiki, a hectare is one Trafalgar Square

So how long does that make a linear Trafalgar, or if you walk it backwards is it a Raglafart?

 

[andys]

So how long does that make a linear Trafalgar, or if you walk it backwards is it a Raglafart?

I'm pretty sure a Trafalgar is 1805 (or one kill o Nelson).