4 ms·

Very impressive! Since it wasn't immediately clear, the author is based in Cambridge, UK.

by timfsu 3y ago

mperham 3y ago
This fact should be in the first sentence. I had no idea where they were talking about.
- melx 3y ago
  Especially when they specified a radius in km(!).
  - NeoTar 3y ago
    There is a big tension in the UK between people who use kilometres by default, and those who miles. Although road-signs are all in miles, it's not unknown for other distance markers (e.g. on walking / cycling trails) to be in kilometres. When I was studying in Birmingham in 2006-2010 the signs on the canal network were in kilometres. For me, my default unit is kilometeres (although I am one of those awful Bremoaners [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Bremoaner https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Bremoaner] who even moved to Berlin after the vote).
    - tialaramex 3y ago
      Right, the law mostly says to use metric units, except it has specific derogations for some of the road signs to be in miles. So the canal and walking route signs should - especially if put up by some authority rather than informally - be metric, whereas road signs mustn't be in the same circumstances. Same for booze. It's illegal to sell most booze in imperial units (e.g. a shot of whiskey must be either 25ml or 35ml, no other values, and the choice between 25ml and 35ml shot size is for an entire bar, they can't be like house vodka is 35ml but this expensive Scotch is 25ml), but, it's mandatory to sell beer and cider by the pint. It's a temporary fudge that then politicians are reluctant to actually follow through and do the clean-up later because that's only going to annoy the handful of strong opponents and makes little real difference to ordinary punters for whom this isn't a priority. Sometimes this works out OK in politics, e.g. in Britain it was never strictly made illegal to sell leaded fuel only new cars which need such fuel - but it soon made no economic sense to make such fuel as a fuel refinery, so the ban was unnecessary. Politicians could go from telling the niche of pro-lead constituents they'll still be able to buy the fuel they want to commiserating them that it's no longer for sale, never having actually banned it.
      - mattlondon 3y ago
        > but, it's mandatory to sell beer and cider by the pint. Is it? Is it not 568ml of beer? I.e. not sold as an imperial pint measure, but as 568ml? Of course everyone calls it a pint of this or the other, but I think on all the glasses etc the measures are in ml not imperial pints? It's been a while since I've been to a pub (before COVID) so I guess this might have been rolled back after Brexit?
        throwaway290 3y ago
        It's possible to satisfy both "sell beer by the pint" and "use ml to measure", because those are convertible.
        tialaramex 3y ago
        No, a pint. A pint isn't 586ml it's 568.26125ml. Nobody does non-SI metrication, metrication is very expensive, the world pays for it collectively, and so it's done for the SI unit system because nobody wants to subsidise anybody else's weird local units. As a result if you have weird units (as the Americans do and we do) you have to define them in terms of SI unless you either don't care what they mean (not going to be much use for a weights and measures law are they?) or you've got several billion dollars to pay to duplicate that work. The only place a pint is legal is draught beer and cider, which are poured into glasses and the glasses are marked either with a line or "to the brim", with either a crown mark or a CE label signifying the maker claims these glasses comply with regulations. The people making a "beer glass" and putting the crown mark on it need to ensure it conforms, if they've got gear that can tell them it's 568.26125ml that'd work, because that's what a pint is, but the law says "Pint", not "568.26125ml".
    - _dain_ 3y ago
      we do it on purpose to confuse foreigners
- samwillis 3y ago
  I quite liked the fact they he didn't, it was fun to construct a location in my head. But then I know the area fairly well. It's a good location for this as it's quite flat, very few hill, and those that exist are more like a hump.

Very impressive! Since it wasn't immediately clear, the author is based in Cambridge, UK.

by timfsu 3y ago

Very impressive! Since it wasn't immediately clear, the author is based in Cambridge, UK.

mperham 3y ago

This fact should be in the first sentence. I had no idea where they were talking about.

melx 3y ago
Especially when they specified a radius in km(!).
- NeoTar 3y ago
  There is a big tension in the UK between people who use kilometres by default, and those who miles. Although road-signs are all in miles, it's not unknown for other distance markers (e.g. on walking / cycling trails) to be in kilometres. When I was studying in Birmingham in 2006-2010 the signs on the canal network were in kilometres. For me, my default unit is kilometeres (although I am one of those awful Bremoaners [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Bremoaner https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Bremoaner] who even moved to Berlin after the vote).
  - tialaramex 3y ago
    Right, the law mostly says to use metric units, except it has specific derogations for some of the road signs to be in miles. So the canal and walking route signs should - especially if put up by some authority rather than informally - be metric, whereas road signs mustn't be in the same circumstances. Same for booze. It's illegal to sell most booze in imperial units (e.g. a shot of whiskey must be either 25ml or 35ml, no other values, and the choice between 25ml and 35ml shot size is for an entire bar, they can't be like house vodka is 35ml but this expensive Scotch is 25ml), but, it's mandatory to sell beer and cider by the pint. It's a temporary fudge that then politicians are reluctant to actually follow through and do the clean-up later because that's only going to annoy the handful of strong opponents and makes little real difference to ordinary punters for whom this isn't a priority. Sometimes this works out OK in politics, e.g. in Britain it was never strictly made illegal to sell leaded fuel only new cars which need such fuel - but it soon made no economic sense to make such fuel as a fuel refinery, so the ban was unnecessary. Politicians could go from telling the niche of pro-lead constituents they'll still be able to buy the fuel they want to commiserating them that it's no longer for sale, never having actually banned it.
    - mattlondon 3y ago
      > but, it's mandatory to sell beer and cider by the pint. Is it? Is it not 568ml of beer? I.e. not sold as an imperial pint measure, but as 568ml? Of course everyone calls it a pint of this or the other, but I think on all the glasses etc the measures are in ml not imperial pints? It's been a while since I've been to a pub (before COVID) so I guess this might have been rolled back after Brexit?
      - throwaway290 3y ago
        It's possible to satisfy both "sell beer by the pint" and "use ml to measure", because those are convertible.
      - tialaramex 3y ago
        No, a pint. A pint isn't 586ml it's 568.26125ml. Nobody does non-SI metrication, metrication is very expensive, the world pays for it collectively, and so it's done for the SI unit system because nobody wants to subsidise anybody else's weird local units. As a result if you have weird units (as the Americans do and we do) you have to define them in terms of SI unless you either don't care what they mean (not going to be much use for a weights and measures law are they?) or you've got several billion dollars to pay to duplicate that work. The only place a pint is legal is draught beer and cider, which are poured into glasses and the glasses are marked either with a line or "to the brim", with either a crown mark or a CE label signifying the maker claims these glasses comply with regulations. The people making a "beer glass" and putting the crown mark on it need to ensure it conforms, if they've got gear that can tell them it's 568.26125ml that'd work, because that's what a pint is, but the law says "Pint", not "568.26125ml".
  - _dain_ 3y ago
    we do it on purpose to confuse foreigners
samwillis 3y ago
I quite liked the fact they he didn't, it was fun to construct a location in my head. But then I know the area fairly well. It's a good location for this as it's quite flat, very few hill, and those that exist are more like a hump.