The All New SI Units Of Measurement
Its good to see that in the great GIANT SQUID story the BBC no longer trust the standard units of measurement, be they imperial or metric. Instead, as any good news story will have it, the all new SI Units* are being used. In this case the squid is being measured in Double Decker Buses.
But much like the fictional length between King Alfred’s nose and his fingertips, the foundation of this SI measurement system is in itself now non-existent. The Routemaster bus used clearly in this picture as the standard unit length of “quite big” itself is rarely seen on the streets of London, and certainly not elsewhere. So is its position as an SI unit in danger. Or is there some sort of platonic, ur-measurement in the Routemaster that will remain in human brains forever.
For your information my the way, the SI Units I am aware of:
AREA:
Football Pitch**
Wales (Predominantly used to describe areas affected by disasters)
LENGTH:
Double Decker Buses
Football Pitches (again)
The circumference of the world
HEAT:
Temperature of the North Pole
Temperature at noon at the equator
The temperature of the sun
VOLUME (lxbxh):
Albert Hall / St Paul’s Cathedral
VOLUME:(Loudness):
A Rock Concert
FREQUENCY:
The beating of a hummingbird’s wings.
I have clearly missed a large number here, WHICH IS WHAT THE COMMENTS SECTION IS FOR. I am all for this programme by the BBC, ITV last night seemed remarkably retrograde when trying to describe how far five metres was. Admittedly it does not easily fit into the above SI units very well, but nevertheless saying it was the distance between the reporter, and a car about five metres away seemed far too obvious. And no, the car was not moving quickly towards him, worst luck.
*Standard Intuitive.
**In itself amusing as there is NO STANDARD FOOTBALL PITCH SIZE.
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FT's pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør on February 22nd, 2007
FIGURE
1xballpark
FT's Martin Skidmore on February 22nd, 2007
There are some standard height ones - Nelson’s Column, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building. There are small ones to - a pinhead, the full stop in this sentence. Time ones include the time it takes to read this sentence/paragraph or a TV ad break.
Alex on February 22nd, 2007
For length, there’s also the distance to the moon (and back).
FT's CarsmileSteve on February 22nd, 2007
or distance to the sun.
the article itself suggests another:
One expert said calamari rings made from it would be like tractor tyres.
but again, it’s all in the details, front tractor tyres (not really impressive) or back tractor tyres (quite exciting)?
lockedintheattic on February 22nd, 2007
Volume - An Olympic-sized swimming pool
Area - I think the metric equivalent of a ‘Wales’ is a ‘Belgium’ - 1 Belgium being roughly 1.5 Waleses
FT's Steve Mannion on February 22nd, 2007
where did the whole ‘let’s use a double decker bus as length barometer’ thing come from? i suppose they just capture the imagination so well.
when will they replace it with the much longer bendy bus?
FT's Steve Mannion on February 22nd, 2007
One expert said calamari rings made from it would be like tractor tyres.
*drool*
JohnneyB on February 22nd, 2007
Volume = 1 * pneumatic drill
MarkH on February 22nd, 2007
premature babies always weigh as much as a bag of sugar.
jeff w on February 22nd, 2007
The double decker bus as SI unit of length stems in part from Evel Kneivel (sp?) I think - how many can be jumped across on a motorbike.
Or is that width?
FT's Pete Baran on February 22nd, 2007
Surely Eddie Kidd!
(Who as a child I used to get confused with Eartha Kitt!)
Alix on February 23rd, 2007
On the premature baby front, they are often the length of a ball point pen, a la http://english.pravda.ru/img/idb/smallest-baby.jpg
Kevin O'Sullivan on April 17th, 2007
Another unit that is creeping into use and getting rid of the old kilowatt hour.
A TV left on standby and it is always given as 25 Watts.
I have measured many tellys and they range from
Kevin O'Sullivan on April 17th, 2007
Have a look at this web site for the O2 dome.
Clearly the journo’ is a fan of silly units
http://www.theo2.co.uk/web/guest/venueinfo/venuetrivia
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I’ve recently found an excellent video :
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Bye
maik midlooks
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