Brexit Thread

[Husar]

A half-inch bolt is a simpler measure to work with than a 12.7mm one. Of course, it's all arbitary anyway - if we had used a Metric system originally we'd just have 15mm bolts and 10mm bolts.

Exactly, a 1000th of a millimeter is also smaller than a 32nd of an inch...

Before you chortle too much at the "barleycorns" though you should think about WHY we didn't start with a base-ten system and why one had to be invented arbitrarily.

That may all have been valid in the middle ages but we now live in the 21st century.
I still wonder how you're going to use a sextant from the cockpit of an airplane by the way.
The base 10 system is a lot easier to use and the old system was even more arbitrary given that not every barley corn has exactly the same size. A meter always has the same size unlike the distance a person can walk in a day.

[Greyblades]

That may all have been valid in the middle ages but we now live in the 21st century.

Insert John Oliver "it's current year" meme here

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Exactly, a 1000th of a millimeter is also smaller than a 32nd of an inch...

Jolly hard to mark on a ruler, though - I have me steel rule here with me and it's obvious the Imperial side is more accurate than the Metric one, not by a huge amount but it's clearly visible to the naked eye. So, if I was minded to, say, build a cabinet I'd use the Imperial side.

That may all have been valid in the middle ages but we now live in the 21st century.

It's just as valid today if you don't have a calculator - Imperial is often easier to do in your head. It also exercises the brain - there was a noticeable drop in the scores in the Maths O-Level after Britain abandoned Charlemagne's denarius-based coinage. The fact we were persuaded to do so by the French and Germans is somewhat ironic.

I still wonder how you're going to use a sextant from the cockpit of an airplane by the way.

And I'm still not saying you are, although apparently the jokes on you because they did.

https://timeandnavigation.si.edu/nav...air/challenges

The base 10 system is a lot easier to use and the old system was even more arbitrary given that not every barley corn has exactly the same size. A meter always has the same size unlike the distance a person can walk in a day.

Well, the old system was taken from the length of Henry I's arm, so it's actually based on the Body of a King (and therefore ordained by God). This explains why the EU wanted us to get rid of it, because the Metric system was created by mere men.

[Gilrandir]

So, if I was minded to, say, build a cabinet I'd use the Imperial side.

It is a matter of taste, not of precision/imprecision of either system. Each system's unit is liable to fracturing and it is no use to argue which fracturing is better. Though I don't understand what part of your cabinet would be 1/32 of an inch.

It's just as valid today if you don't have a calculator - Imperial is often easier to do in your head. It also exercises the brain

Either counting exercises the brain, but if you meant that the imperial system exercises the brain MORE than the metric one, then the two sentences contradict each other. It is like saying that lifting a small weight is easier and it exercises your muscles better that lifting a great weight.

[Husar]

Jolly hard to mark on a ruler, though - I have me steel rule here with me and it's obvious the Imperial side is more accurate than the Metric one, not by a huge amount but it's clearly visible to the naked eye. So, if I was minded to, say, build a cabinet I'd use the Imperial side.

It's just as valid today if you don't have a calculator - Imperial is often easier to do in your head. It also exercises the brain - there was a noticeable drop in the scores in the Maths O-Level after Britain abandoned Charlemagne's denarius-based coinage. The fact we were persuaded to do so by the French and Germans is somewhat ironic.

That's both sad and hilarious at the same time.

And I'm still not saying you are, although apparently the jokes on you because they did.

https://timeandnavigation.si.edu/nav...air/challenges

The word challenges is all over that page, do you think everyday air travel should be made more dangerous by introducing more challenges? I suggest we begin by removing all police and body scanners from airports and itroduce sextants instead of GPS. Because hey, in the Middle Ages, airports didn't need police either!

Well, the old system was taken from the length of Henry I's arm, so it's actually based on the Body of a King (and therefore ordained by God). This explains why the EU wanted us to get rid of it, because the Metric system was created by mere men.

Oh hey, it's the Middle Ages again, where a loving god, whose son said to love your enemies, told us to go slay all the brown people and conquer their land and follow the personal ambitions of a dozen kings whom he all selected as rulers of men and then told to try and kill eachother.
Now I get it, makes perfect sense.

I'm a nothing, I do not identify with a party and no party covers all my concerns and views.

I'm sure you are the only very special snowflake who is like that.

[Greyblades]

Must you keep acting the inflammitory idiot?

I dare say most of the nation, nay, most of the world doesnt identify with a single political party anywhere.

[Husar]

Must you keep acting the inflammitory idiot?

I dare say most of the nation, nay, most of the world doesnt identify with a single political party anywhere.

Which was my point, I'd still think a lot of them prefer one party though. And you completely left out the notion of there possibly being a party that would cover all the most important things that you want.

I do however admit that my reply was a bit more inflammatory than it should have been, I misread your post a bit at first, my apologies.

[Greyblades]

Apology accepted.

Britain lost it's "give a toss about the poor" party with blair and it's "I still want to be British" party with thatcher, I dont know why, pundits blame neoliberalism I just know that neither main party of the last 20 years have been willing to do more than pay lipservice to what I care about. Lib dems are sellouts the national movements are opportunistic traitors and UKIP is but a protest vote begging for the main parties to pull their heads out of thier arses.

I dont consider myself loyal to a party because the parties I identify with were coopted by those enthralled to some golden calf they call multiculturalism to the expense of everything else before I left primary school.

[Pannonian]

Apology accepted.

Britain lost it's "give a toss about the poor" party with blair and it's "I still want to be British" party with thatcher, I dont know why, pundits blame neoliberalism I just know that neither main party of the last 20 years have been willing to do more than pay lipservice to what I care about. Lib dems are sellouts the national movements are opportunistic traitors and UKIP is but a protest vote begging for the main parties to pull their heads out of thier arses.

I dont consider myself loyal to a party because the parties I identify with were coopted by those enthralled to some golden calf they call multiculturalism to the expense of everything else before I left primary school.

Have you thought of aligning yourself with the British National Party? As its name denotes, it's very big on patriotism and the idea of pure Britishness.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

That's both sad and hilarious at the same time.

Which part?

The part where we went from base-12 to base-10 coinage and our score in Maths (which used to be very high internationally) declined, or the part where I build in inches?

The word challenges is all over that page, do you think everyday air travel should be made more dangerous by introducing more challenges? I suggest we begin by removing all police and body scanners from airports and itroduce sextants instead of GPS. Because hey, in the Middle Ages, airports didn't need police either!

OK - for the last fucking time, and I'm getting really angry now, I am not suggesting we start using Sextants on planes. HOWEVER it is a matter of historical fact that aerial navigators did prior to the advent or more modern positioning systems, it is also a fact that the astrologically based Nautical Mile would be easier to work with when navigating using astrological observations and a compass rather than a GPS. Now, at no point did I say we should turn off the GPS receivers and use sextants, I merely pointed out that before you decide to be so smug about the metric system you should consider how royally fucked a lot of modern navigators would be if they had to use Trig Table, a compass, a Sextant and a piece of paper.

Oh hey, it's the Middle Ages again, where a loving god, whose son said to love your enemies, told us to go slay all the brown people and conquer their land and follow the personal ambitions of a dozen kings whom he all selected as rulers of men and then told to try and kill eachother.
Now I get it, makes perfect sense.

You know what, I really want to pick apart all the historical fallacies in this but I know you've seen me write at length about religion, heresy, theory of kinship and the Crusades

So I'll just point out that I was joking, although there are political and cultural motivations behind metrication.

I mean, really, we should convert back to the Roman System.

I'm sure you are the only very special snowflake who is like that.

You really shouldn't mock Greyblades, he's just going through that phase.

[Husar]

OK - for the last fucking time, and I'm getting really angry now
[...]
So I'll just point out that I was joking, although there are political and cultural motivations behind metrication.

You see, maybe my jokes are not the only ones that don't translate well, my replies are not always as serious as they come across, although that doesn't mean that I caught every one of your jokes...
I think at this point we should measure the success of our arguments in metric units and then call it a (metric) draw.

I mean, really, we should convert back to the Roman System.

That is the kind of joke I can understand coming from you.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Intentionally dry reply

[Pannonian]

The British civil service has no trade negotiators, the former head of the government’s EU unit has confirmed.

The admission makes clear the scale of the challenge facing Whitehall as it prepares to negotiate its exit from the EU, along with a new economic arrangement with the bloc and agreements with non-EU countries.

“The trade negotiators who are Brits at the moment are basically working for the EU,” Oliver Letwin told BBC Radio 4. Asked if Britain currently had any negotiators, Mr Letwin, who left the government this week after not being included in Theresa May’s government, replied: “No, no.”

Canada, which recently agreed a trade deal with the EU, had “300 trade negotiators”, the country’s trade minister Chrystia Freeland told the BBC. The European Commission, which handles trade negotiations on behalf of member states, has about 600 specialists.

[Gilrandir]

Meanwhile up north...
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...erendum-brexit
Winter is coming?