In general, Britain has an anti-sneak culture, so I doubt many people would literally report their neighbour. It's more likely to be general nosiness.
Plus the urge to check your cars to make sure that they have "got it right".
This is the dumbest thing. You've been able to renew your tax disc online for years now and the site's always been fine. You don't have to replace you're existing paper disc until it expires so I don't understand how they've taken a functional site, added barely any additional load and made it fall over.
I put it down to many sites saying that anyone can check any cars status on the government's vehicle inquiry service (currently down). Loads of people want to check whether their friends and neighbours cars are legal.
If you tell them 100 is the hottest summer day and 0 is the coldest winter one, they'll have a pretty good idea that halfway between, 50, is roughly the average temperature during spring and fall.
I think you would find that given this description most people in the UK would have a totally wrong impression of the scale.
Its bound to be . . . a Blockbuster
(apologies - I couldn't resist)
They both share the 4 pints to the gallon, but there's no weight equivalent.
Am I missing something or are there 8 pints to a gallon?
You are right, he must have been thinking of quarts.
If that system had been kept, what would have happened to the introduction of VAT?
It would have been a boon time for accountants!
He said taught, not use. There is a massive difference. Personally don't see the harm in that at all.
He was responding to the point that "Schools should teach pupils mainly in imperial and not metric measurements". I have nothing against teaching arcane units, in fact I find it interesting - but to stop teaching metric is just plain stupid
Well . . . the UK did manage to switch to the "New Pence", and get away from shillings, farthings and half-crowns. If anyone even knew what they were worth.
A shilling was 1/20th of a pound or 5p in decimal
A farthing was a quarter of an old penny. There were 240 old pennies in a pound so a farthing was 1/960 of a pound or just over a tenth of a new penny
A half-crown was two shillings and six pence, or an 8th of a pound, so 12.5p
while "1 cup" and "1/2 cup" do. So when a recipe calls for 1 cup of anything, you can measure that quickly.
You rarely see this in UK measurements, for one thing in the UK cup sizes are not standard. My wife (from the USA) found it confusing at first that things were either given in capacity or weight (fluid ounces and pints/pounds and ounces in traditional UK books) and not various cups or spoon sizes.
Is this because he hasn't a clue about science or because he is catering to a particular political base?
Both.
Mostly though because so many conservatives have a "we have always done it that way" attitude. Many of them don't have a clue that imperial measures are very different from US customary ones (we have 20 fluid ounces to a pint, and the US has 16). Many also don't know their pecks from their bushels, or their furlongs from their rod, poll, or perch, but think the system must be good "because its traditional".
How about the sapiens sapiens giving Europe back to the neanderthalensis?
Or is it too late for that too.
I think its in the works
"When it comes to humility, I'm the greatest." -- Bullwinkle Moose
