Comments on: How Many?

How Many?

moonbiter — Sun, 18 May 2003 22:02:43 -0800

How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement Did you know a pace is equal to two steps? That a pinch is equal to 1/8 a teaspoon? Or that the ancient Greeks defined an obolos as 1/6 a drachma? Now you do.

By: Pretty_Generic

Pretty_Generic — Sun, 18 May 2003 22:30:05 -0800

I've used this site for years. It's very precise. It seems to be the only place that uses the correct plural of "kelvin". It's "kelvins".

By: tss

tss — Sun, 18 May 2003 23:15:39 -0800

*&@! note to self: revise treasure map.

By: Schnauzer

Schnauzer — Sun, 18 May 2003 23:57:36 -0800

I call "no Grandpa Simpson quotes" for the duration of this thread...

By: zztzed

zztzed — Mon, 19 May 2003 00:26:06 -0800

~~My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it.~~ *whistles innocently*

By: arto

arto — Mon, 19 May 2003 01:43:27 -0800

I would, at this point, make some smug remark about how I can jump into a linux shell, type "units" and convert almost anything to anything else. But I'm in Windows, dammit. But instead I'll point out that if you're only getting 40 rods to the hogshead, you must be driving a Canyonero.

By: twine42

twine42 — Mon, 19 May 2003 03:40:36 -0800

But a tad is still equal to 100 gnats knackers. [Semi O/T : Two fish are sitting on a perch. One say to the other "Can you smell fish?"] I have the rather strange honour of having feet that are a foot long, and hands that are a hand wide. Any other similarities between myself and Henry 8th are purely co-incidental. Although if anyone wants to join my religion... ;)

By: birdherder

birdherder — Mon, 19 May 2003 05:57:52 -0800

1 foot = 3 hands = 4 palms = 12 inches (thumb widths) = 16 digits (finger widths) take that metric system! speaking of, when is the u.s. going to make the switch? my grammar school teacher scared us to thinking we're going to switch when we least expected it.

By: rusty

rusty — Mon, 19 May 2003 08:17:33 -0800

Fascinating. I actually measured my "pinch" once, because then when I'm cooking I don't have to measure most of the small amounts of salt or whatever, and it turned out to be exactly 1/8 of a teaspoon.

By: costas

costas — Mon, 19 May 2003 09:59:09 -0800

OK, self link but actually on topic: this little JavaScript converter can download a bunch of units (~250 I think, it's been 6+ years since I wrote it), and can work off-line too...

By: Wet Spot

Wet Spot — Mon, 19 May 2003 16:20:49 -0800

But the site is missing the "milliHelen" - the amount of beauty required to launch one ship.

By: Wet Spot

Wet Spot — Mon, 19 May 2003 16:22:32 -0800

Nor do I see the "rch" - an engineering vulgarism for a very small amount. (r is for red, h is for hair, you figure the rest out.)

By: rusty

rusty — Mon, 19 May 2003 18:14:53 -0800

RCH! That's one of the best units of measurement ever. In my blue-collar construction work days we decided that an RCH was most likely equivalent to 1/128th of an inch. Incidentally, a BCH (blonde) was established at 1/256th of an inch. I don't know if these are real-world equivalents, but some standard was needed, because if my RCH is different than your RCH, well everything would just be all fubared.

By: Eekacat

Eekacat — Mon, 19 May 2003 18:49:53 -0800

I really get a kick out of conversions and odd (to me) units of measure. I remember when I got my first "Handbook of Chemistry and Physics" in High School and spent lots of time perusing the conversions section. Champagne Quarts!

By: Eekacat

Eekacat — Mon, 19 May 2003 18:54:22 -0800

As a footnote, perhaps my favorite measure, which is a subjective one and attributable to Pat Paulsen is the "APR" rating of a wine. APR of course means "Automatic Panty Removal". Much better and more useful than those dang Wine Speculator scores....