[quote=tristancliffe] "When I'm machining stuff I routinely use both imperial and metric systems (though not on the same job, one or the other at a time)"

That gave me a good laugh

Quote from tristancliffe :

Because it's a perfectly valid system of measurement. When I'm machining stuff I routinely use both imperial and metric systems (though not on the same job, one or the other at a time), as both have pluses and minuses. But as the actual numbers used are, ultimately, arbitrary lengths that someone, somewhere decided as defacto.

i really dont see the plus of a system that doesnt lend itself at all to applications that either require very large/small units or a large band
for example try to describe the whole range of the em-wave spectrum in terms of wavelength with imperial units ... confusing at best

i openly oppose anything thats not intuitive ... and using a system that to my knowledge is based mostly on base-12 conversions is hardly intuitive at all forsomeone who has been raised to calculate in base-10 (and base-60 to some degree ... well base-2^n also but thats really not the point here )

eg im also largely against using omega in terms of frequency in any calculation ... f is the only way to express it for me
i mean how many of you tune in to 628 Mrad/s instead of 100 MHz when they get in the car to listen to the traffic report ?

Quote from rabidmaddog :

Speaking of turbines, is anyone familiar with the old experiment where they put a turbine engine (used through a transmission to drive the wheels) into a car to compete on the oval track? Evidently, it was somewhat slower off the line, but proceeded to dominate the race until a bearing failure prevented it from finishing, or so the story goes at least.

afaik lotus also experimented with turbines in f1 sometime around the early 80s

Quote :

Where does a German learn words like "ballyhoo"? Seriously!

I don't remember where I heard or read it, I suppose it just got stuck in my head. So to be honest I don't even know whether that word is still alive in the English language, and if so, what kind of people would use it.

Anyway, the easiest explanation is probably that I've studied at a language school and I'm planning to start working as a translator this summer.

Let me guess... FZR is getting a new engine?