MetaFilter posts tagged with measures

Online Unit Converter

netbros — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:01:12 -0800

UnitConversion.org is quite the resource to easily convert between different units of measurement. It has over 2100 units in 78 categories, which range from those that are common, such as, length, weight, volume, currency, velocity, and pressure, to more specialized categories like magnetic flux density, electrostatic capacitance, and surface tension.

Regaining Your Balance

netbros — Wed, 27 May 2009 07:52:09 -0800

"Web professionals are often expected to be “always on”—always working, absorbing information, and honing new skills. Unless our work and personal lives are carefully balanced, however, the physical and mental effects of an "always on" life can be debilitating." Burnout: Running On Empty By Scott Boms

Harry Potter and the Red Herring

jwells — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:02:22 -0800

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows recently leaked on a few torrent sites... or did it? Security measures taken included pallets of books protected by alarms, baited lawyers, and even delivery trucks with satellite tracking, which seems at odds with this UPS delivery truck stacked with loose boxes 5 days before they are to be delivered. A spokeswoman at Scholastic, the book's US publisher, said "she was aware of at least three different versions of the file 'that look very convincing' with what she described as 'conflicting content.'" So what's real and what's fake? We'll just have to wait and see.

How do you convert a slinch to a pat?

blahblahblah — Tue, 19 Apr 2005 17:17:36 -0800

Measuring beauty through arson and ships launched. Introducing the Helen as a unit of beauty. There are plenty of odd units of measure. Some are natural extensions of physical measures, like the microcentury or the pico-parsec, while others are constantly being invented. Can't figure out how large your apartment is? Use a handy converter to measure its area in terms of Wales (or whales, or the Prince of Wales). Of course, despite a long history of odd changes, units are still the subject of political fights and even human rights monitoring.

rodii — Thu, 04 Apr 2002 20:05:59 -0800

Free the metric martyrs! Hate "compulsory metrication"? Join the crowd. Well, not a crowd, per se; more of a gaggle. Historical metrology goes to a lot of weird places, including the Prussian inch and the Dozenal Societies of Great Britain and America.

blackbeltjones — Thu, 30 Nov 2000 02:06:38 -0800

"Help - i have my eye stuck in a Geodetic Tape Measuring Facility!" archive pictures of a 'hundred years of measurement' at the UK's National Physical Labs - lots of fun pictures that look like Q's Lab from the Bond movies - those big water tanks they always test the supertankers in, huge computers attended to by ladies in white coats...