How Tall and Heavy Are PF Members?

[Danger]

Most of you use SI units daily and yet you tell your height and weight in feets and punds? Why?!

I can't speak for the Yanks, but it's just a fact of life in Canada. We're officially metric, and use that system for everything except height and weight relating to people. (The government uses metric for that too; 95% of the generation that was born before metrification doesn't.) I think it might just be that it's something personal, our own statistics that are part of our identity, and we don't want to change it.

 

[franznietzsche]

I'm 170-171cm and 65-70kg.

But there's something I don't get... Most of you use SI units daily and yet you tell your height and weight in feets and punds? Why?!

I use SI units for physics and anything physics related.

But I'm still more familiar with pounds than kilos, and feet than centimeters. So much easier to say 6' 1" 150 lbs than to say 185 cm and 68 kg. Well, not really easier to say, but easier to visualize. Come on i been using em since i was yeigh high, I've only been using SI for a few years, it takes a while to get used to thinking in those terms.

I still have no bloody idea how far a kilometer is. I mean sure, 1000 m, 3,280 ft, roughly 0.6 mi, but back home all the major streets were spaced exactly a mile apart(Ave. A to Ave B was 1 mile, 10th st to 20th st was 1 mile), so I'm damn used to thinking in miles, especially when walking.

 

[Danger]

So much easier to say 6' 1" 150 lbs than to say 185 cm and 68 kg.

On the other hand, 11.5cm sounds a lot better than...

 

[Joel]

Yes, I've understood it is commonly used, but it surprised me how hard it sticks. I have a hard time coming up with a similar example here from Finland, most think of prizes in Euros (except those thinking in beer bottles), not in Marks (our money before euros, aha!). So, when did the metrification happen in Canada?

Ps. Do you use punds and miles in elementary school or do you have metrics?

 

[Joel]

On the other hand, 11.5cm sounds a lot better than...

Sure you got that conversion right...? I'll get my coat...

 

[Danger]

So, when did the metrification happen in Canada?

Ps. Do you use punds and miles in elementary school or do you have metrics?

I vastly oversimplified my previous answer, not expecting you to be interested in details. It started in the 70's and never really finished. There are actually a lot of things that are still Imperial, such as square footage for real estate, 1/8"-1/4"-1/2" etc. and board-feet for wood or other construction materials, and a lot of others. If you want to see a very good treatment of the subject, go to Answers.com, enter 'metrication', and scroll down to 'Canada'.
I only learned metric in physics class, because I was out of school before it started nationally.
By the way, one Yank who rocketted off a curve on the #3 highway was heard to exclaim to the cops "You Canadians are nuts having a hundred-mile-an-hour speed limit!"

Sure you got that conversion right...? I'll get my coat...

Actually, that particular reference was to Franz...

 

[Joel]

I vastly oversimplified my previous answer, not expecting you to be interested in details. It started in the 70's and never really finished. There are actually a lot of things that are still Imperial, such as square footage for real estate, 1/8"-1/4"-1/2" etc. and board-feet for wood or other construction materials, and a lot of others. If you want to see a very good treatment of the subject, go to Answers.com, enter 'metrication', and scroll down to 'Canada'.
I only learned metric in physics class, because I was out of school before it started nationally.
By the way, one Yank who rocketted off a curve on the #3 highway was heard to exclaim to the cops "You Canadians are nuts having a hundred-mile-an-hour speed limit!"

Well, I may not stay up all night wondering about it, but interested, yes. So, thanks for the elaboration! From Answers.com it almost seems Canada is stuck between a rock (us) and a hard case (rest of the world):

However there is still significant use of non-metric units and standards in some sectors of the Canadian economy, mainly due to the close proximity to the United States.

- answers.com

Oh, and I suppose it workds the other way around also; coming to the US with a Canadian or european car and their metrics must be a bit challenging.

Actually, that particular reference was to Franz...

Okay, good. Just forget it.

 

[Danger]

it almost seems Canada is stuck between a rock (us) and a hard case (rest of the world):

We're used to it...

coming to the US with a Canadian or european car and their metrics must be a bit challenging.

Not for my generation or older, because we're used to converting common things like speed, weight or distance in our heads. A litre is almost exactly a US quart, so buying gas isn't confusing. (All the money being green sure as hell is, though.) The worst problem would be if you needed a part for the car or something. If you need a metric bolt, you're screwed unless you can find a Honda dealer or something. You can still buy all of that hardware-store stuff like tools, fasteners, etc. in either type here. (In fact, if you buy a socket set it almost always has both in the one box.) I stick to using imperial myself when it comes to building stuff. If I run into a metric and don't have the right kind available, I just retap the thing for imperial. The worst thing about the US system has nothing to do with 'metric or not'. It's those damned ****ing useless Phillips-head screws. They're everywhere. I use Robertsons exclusively. You can put one in with an impact driver and not strip it.

 

[hypatia]

Danger all our money is just plain green anymore...we now have some pretty money! Even out coins have had a facelift.

 

[Gza]

man it's so hard for a normal Indian male to go above six feet, my ultimate height goal is around 6' 2", just recently I got a copy of a more than a thousand years old book on yoga by the ancient scholar Patanjali, it's amazing, yoga has particular asanas for everything, so i have started the ones that help higher growth..

Not to undercut what you have said, but does it make me or the rest of the indian males in my family, who are all over 6 ft "abnormal"? I'm pretty sure that yoga will do very little to nothing to help your height, and I would simply do it for fitness, instead of expecting unrealistic results.

 

[Danger]

does it make me or the rest of the indian males in my family, who are all over 6 ft "abnormal"?

No... that doesn't...

 

[Grogs]

It's those damned ****ing useless Phillips-head screws. They're everywhere. I use Robertsons exclusively. You can put one in with an impact driver and not strip it.

What's a Robertson? Is that the screw with a square slot in it?

 

[SOS2008]

What's a Robertson? Is that the screw with a square slot in it?

Sounds like a Scandinavian design (and a tool I would like... ).

 

[Danger]

Danger all our money is just plain green anymore...we now have some pretty money! Even out coins have had a facelift.

So after all these decades of laughing at our 'Monopoly money', you finally figured out the obvious advantages. Now, have you got the idea about holograms yet?

What's a Robertson? Is that the screw with a square slot in it?

Affirmative.

Sounds like a Scandinavian design (and a tool I would like... ).

It's Canadian-designed. I don't even know where else you can get them. And call me cynical, but I can't imagine that you've ever met a tool you didn't like.

 

[Integral]

Robertson screw is the one with a square recess.

Phillps head are designed to cam out, this was for early automated assembly process, I guess the assumption was when the driver camed out the screw must be tight.

 

[Grogs]

It's Canadian-designed. I don't even know where else you can get them. And call me cynical, but I can't imagine that you've ever met a tool you didn't like.

I use those all the time. When you're trying to sink a 3" screw into an old oak 2x4 that's been there for 80 years, there's no way, no how you can do it without stripping out a phillips head screw. Actually, what I use are the 'combo' screws that you can use with either a square drive or a phillips. I still wouldn't trade them for a phillips head though. When the head of the screw snaps off before it strips you know you're holding pretty well.

 

[Moonbear]

When the head of the screw snaps off before it strips you know you're holding pretty well.

No comment.

 

[SOS2008]

No comment.

 

[Cod]

5'9"
172lbs (thank you military)

 

[Danger]

Robertson screw is the one with a square recess.

I guess I'm still too much of a net-newbie. It never crossed my mind that they'd have a website. Thanx.

Phillps head are designed to cam out, this was for early automated assembly process, I guess the assumption was when the driver camed out the screw must be tight.

That is just freakin' peachy until you want to take it out again.
Also, when I was a locksmith I naturally did a lot of installing and removing doorknobs. When you have to go in at an angle to get around the knob, the damned things strip out twice as fast.

 

[Ba]

6'3" ~150lbs and that's when I've eaten which happens to be most of the time. I didn't even gain anything during the summer when I averaged at least one bannana split per day.

 

[hypnagogue]

Lakers fan since I was born at the beginning of the showtime era just outside of LA. I'm praying for Raymond Felton myself, but Jarrett Jack would be a great consolation prize. This is the first year in a long time I've even cared about the draft.

Well, if the Lakers had to fall into the lottery, this was a good season to do it. As you imply, lots of quality point guards available, and PG seems to easily be your http://www.forumblueandgold.com/2005/03/guest-blogger-knickerblogger.html . I'd say it's virtually guaranteed that one of Felton, Jack, or Deron Williams will be available for you.

You really lucked out in terms of your time and place of birth. I got to see some very good Knick teams, but still no championships remotely in sight.

 

[theCandyman]

I am 165 cm tall and have a mass of 61.2 kg. Hey, at least I am about as tall as my father, which is probably as tall as I will grow.