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What's the smallest country that can fit everyone standing six feet apart?

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Re: What's the smallest country that can fit everyone standing six feet apart?

#31

Post by goodcanadian »

poooogles wrote: post #27
ben_w wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More U.K. “fun” examples: • Beer served in pints by on-licenses, millilitres by off-licences • Even though distances are all in miles, and petrol/diesel sold in litres, fuel efficiency is in either g/km or miles-per-gallon

>• Beer served in pints by on-licenses, millilitres by off-licences Sure but a pint is defined as 568ml. The only one that really is quirky is how people haven't yet grasped kilometers yet they're the easiest to grok, it's just 1.6 * miles.

Sure but a pint is defined as 568ml.

. . . which I have previously determined to be within 0.5ml of the traditional volume.

Re: What's the smallest country that can fit everyone standing six feet apart?

#33

Post by kd5bjo »

RugnirViking wrote: post #18
scraft wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, over here in the UK, we have MPH for roads, stones and pounds for peoples weight (kilograms are becoming more popular, in particular for the under 25s), feet and inches for peoples height (meters becoming more popular for under 25s). So we have a bit of a hybrid really, I am 36 so get a bit of both, but my parents need everything converted to "old money" as they call it, they can't imagine what 25cm lengt…

I think the important distinction here is that the UK is definately on the path to transitioning away sensibly in that imperial units haven't been taught at any school at any level for many years. All product units (litres, kgs etc) in shops are given in both metric and imperial, with the metric part required by law and the imperial part there for old people's convenience.

In an odd way, the US is fully metricized: they’re one of the original signatories of the Treaty of the Metre, and redefined all of their legacy units in terms of SI ones [1]. SI units are used directly in the sciences and most products have the SI equivalent listed alongside the traditional measure. I understand that industries with international supply chains, like the auto industry, are also mostly metric these days.

There just hasn’t been much of a reason for the purely-domestic parts of the market to switch: house builders are looking for 2x4 lumber, and won’t buy from a lumberyard that calls it 50x100mm. Knowing that, the sawmills continue producing the 1.5x3.5 inch profile that’s called “2x4” and anything else is a specialty item. Who has an incentive to push through the change?

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendenhall_Order

Re: What's the smallest country that can fit everyone standing six feet apart?

#34

Post by ben_w »

Symbiote wrote: post #30
ben_w wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More U.K. “fun” examples: • Beer served in pints by on-licenses, millilitres by off-licences • Even though distances are all in miles, and petrol/diesel sold in litres, fuel efficiency is in either g/km or miles-per-gallon

The metric fuel efficiency measure is litres per 100km. This way round makes more sense -- "how much will it cost to travel X km" is a more common question than "how far can I travel with Y litres or £Z".

Huh, I’ve never seen that used. Yes it is better.

Re: What's the smallest country that can fit everyone standing six feet apart?

#35

Post by oefrha »

Symbiote wrote: post #32
grabball wrote: post #7

I find impossible to read those kind of things when you use the United States customary units

I'm surprised an Indian person has used US units How long does it take immigrants in the US to "go native"?

A decade is not enough in my experience. I think the answer is never.

Re: What's the smallest country that can fit everyone standing six feet apart?

#36

Post by beojan »

Symbiote wrote: post #32
grabball wrote: post #7

I find impossible to read those kind of things when you use the United States customary units

I'm surprised an Indian person has used US units How long does it take immigrants in the US to "go native"?

India is a Commonwealth country, and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people still think in imperial (not US customary) units.

Also, here in the UK, for the purposes of identifying COVID-19 symptoms, a fever is being defined as 38.6 °C = 100.0 °F, so US recommendations are clearly having an influence in other countries.

Re: What's the smallest country that can fit everyone standing six feet apart?

#37

Post by yodsanklai »

grabball wrote: post #7

I find impossible to read those kind of things when you use the United States customary units

Indeed, it seems odd in a "maths" context with nice formatted formulas. Do US kids in science class use the metric system?

Re: What's the smallest country that can fit everyone standing six feet apart?

#38

Post by beojan »

RugnirViking wrote: post #18
scraft wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, over here in the UK, we have MPH for roads, stones and pounds for peoples weight (kilograms are becoming more popular, in particular for the under 25s), feet and inches for peoples height (meters becoming more popular for under 25s). So we have a bit of a hybrid really, I am 36 so get a bit of both, but my parents need everything converted to "old money" as they call it, they can't imagine what 25cm lengt…

I think the important distinction here is that the UK is definately on the path to transitioning away sensibly in that imperial units haven't been taught at any school at any level for many years. All product units (litres, kgs etc) in shops are given in both metric and imperial, with the metric part required by law and the imperial part there for old people's convenience.

> and the imperial part there for old people's convenience.

And also because that's what was used to actually design the container. Milk bottles in 1 / 2 / 4 / 6 pints (imperial pints, not US pints), 454 g jam jars.

Re: What's the smallest country that can fit everyone standing six feet apart?

#39

Post by kd5bjo »

yodsanklai wrote: post #37
grabball wrote: post #7

I find impossible to read those kind of things when you use the United States customary units

Indeed, it seems odd in a "maths" context with nice formatted formulas. Do US kids in science class use the metric system?

> Do US kids in science class use the metric system?

In general, yes. Though like everything else in the US education system, it’s really up to the local school boards. When I went through a couple of decades ago, we did almost everything in SI units with the occasional oddball problem in traditional units to make sure we knew how to do the conversions.

Re: What's the smallest country that can fit everyone standing six feet apart?

#40

Post by tenant »

So, my country which feels big to me couldn't do it. This reinforces my belief that there are way too many of our species on this planet. Given that 2.1 or so is the replacement rate, a "hard" limit of two child per woman would be decent compromise as this would equate to somewhere around 1.7 taking into account women who don't want to /can't have children. In one generation, if there were no unintended consequences this would drop the population by 15%.

Sometime in the 2100s it would be half what it is today and my country could easily fit everyone!

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