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Metric Sweden Vs Imperial America - or Ikea vs Lowes

The sun has finally emerged here in Portland after a very long absence and the temperature got above 60F, that’s 16 of your incredibly sensible metric units. I spent much of the weekend wrestling with the incompatibility of metric swedish furniture and insane imperial wood sizes. Even the damn tape measure is marked unilaterally in inches. The US really needs to get on board with the metric system and surprisingly they have tried on numerous occasions. However in typical big government way have been massively ineffectual. According to Wikipedia the decision to go Metric was taken in 1975:

The final report of the study, "A Metric America: A Decision Whose Time Has Come," concluded that the U.S. would eventually join the rest of the world in the use of the metric system of measurement. The study found that measurement in the United States was already based on metric units in many areas and that it was becoming more so every day. The majority of study participants believed that conversion to the metric system was in the best interests of the nation, particularly in view of the importance of foreign trade and the increasing influence of technology in the U.S.

The study recommended that the United States implement a carefully planned transition to predominant use of the metric system over a ten-year period. Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 "to coordinate and plan the increasing use of the metric system in the United States." The Act, however, did not require a ten-year conversion period. A process of voluntary conversion was initiated, and the U.S. Metric Board was established for planning, coordination, and public education. The public education component led to a lot of public awareness of the metric system, although the public response included plenty of resistance, apathy, and even ridicule (for example in the Saturday Night Live decabet sketch).[1] In 1981, the Board reported to Congress that it lacked the clear Congressional mandate necessary to bring about national conversion. Due to this apparent ineffectiveness, and in a Reagan effort to reduce federal spending, the Metric Board was disbanded in the fall of 1982.

The consequences of mixed systems can be expensive as the Mars Orbiter program found out.

The use of two different systems was the root cause in the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter in 1998. NASA specified metric units in the contract. NASA and other organizations worked in metric units but one subcontractor, Lockheed Martin, provided thruster performance data to the team in pound force seconds instead of newton seconds. The spacecraft was intended to orbit Mars at about 150 kilometers (93 mi) altitude, but the incorrect data meant that it probably descended instead to about 57 kilometers (35 mi), burning up in the Martian atmosphere.[2]

So America, lets start having things in both Metric and Imperial that way I will be able to repair crappy swedish furniture far more easily in the future.

My Kindle has arrived

In a word excellent. The screen is spectacular, almost weird. I have gotten so used to computer displays that it is a genuinely strange experience looking at the e-ink screen. It is totally solid, flicker free with really black blacks and a very matt finish. The whole device feels very well made with some nice attention to detail. Particular highlights for me are the rubberized grip pad on the back with its recessed typography and the excellent packaging it arrives in.

One of the initial annoyances as other users seem to have found is that it is somewhat tricky to pick up initially without accidentally pressing the page turn buttons. However after a couple of days use you get use to it and it ceases to be much of an issue.

The kindle store accessed through the device is seamless and it takes about 30 seconds to download a book. This makes it a little too easy to spend money with Amazon. It's not too hard to see a near future where any book ever written is only a couple of clicks away.

I still have my concerns about the DRM on the kindle especially in light of Microsoft's recent decision to stop authenticating MSN Music users DRM protected music. Lets hope Amazon see the light or a broader hacking community emerges to rid the device of the whole mess of DRM.

Listen to this man

Bill Clinton back when he knew what he was talking about.

Insight into Terror

So you run an internationally feared terrorist organization and you find one of your senior terrorists is breaking the rules, what do you do? Drop them into a tank of ravenous pirana fish, cut them in half with a giant saw, apparently if you are al-qaeda you send off a nasty memo...

"I was very upset by what you did," Atef wrote. "I obtained 75,000 rupees for you and your family's trip to Egypt. I learned that you did not submit the voucher to the accountant, and that you made reservations for 40,000 rupees and kept the remainder claiming you have a right to do so. ... Also with respect to the air-conditioning unit ... furniture used by brothers in Al Qaeda is not considered private property ... I would like to remind you and myself of the punishment for any violation."

The memo by Atef, who later died in the U.S.-led assault on Osama bin Laden's Afghan refuge in 2001, is among recently declassified documents that reveal a little-known side of the network. Although Al Qaeda has endured thanks to a loose and flexible structure, its internal culture has nonetheless been surprisingly bureaucratic and persistently fractious, investigators and experts say.

Link

Evolution of Car Logos

Great post on the evolution of car logos. The post is very detailed with some great trivia to go along with the images.

Supposedly, the famous Fiat "scrabble tiles" logo of the 1960s was designed by the company’s Chief Designer who was driving past the Fiat factory during a power outage and saw an outline of the factory’s neon sign against the dark sky

Link

Photoshop disasters

Photoshop Disasters is one of my favourite new blogs. It highlights terrible uses of photoshop in the media. What is surprising is just how many of the posts are from high profile campaigns who should have the money and skill to avoid these disasters. Here are a couple of my favourites.

First from time magazine who really should know better.

Hint: should you really be able to see the flags in the reflection?

Does Beyonce really have four arms?

Link

Worst album covers ever

Total blog rip, from Dom del Torto but this is too good not to repost here.

I think this one must have been before the whole catholic church child abuse scandal...

More fantastic material here

Very Clever Poster Design

Link via FFFFound.com

Yeah!

My birthday present to myself is almost ready to ship...

We now have estimated delivery dates for the Kindle order you placed on 3/21/08, #103-6802550-0861038. We are now estimating that your Kindle will arrive between 4/19/2008 and 4/26/2008. We'll contact you again to let you know when your order is shipped.

Bush worst president ever

A poll of 109 historians by the George Mason History News Network found that 61 percent rated Bush the worst ever.

“No individual president can compare to the second Bush,” wrote one. “Glib, contemptuous, ignorant, incurious, a dupe of anyone who humors his deluded belief in his heroic self, he has bankrupted the country with his disastrous war and his tax breaks for the rich, trampled on the Bill of Rights, appointed foxes in every henhouse, compounded the terrorist threat, turned a blind eye to torture and corruption and a looming ecological disaster, and squandered the rest of the world’s goodwill. In short, no other president’s faults have had so deleterious an effect on not only the country but the world at large.”

Link via Daring Fireball

Omnidirectional Wheels

These omnidirectional wheels that I came across on this robot have apparently been around for more than 35 years. Seeing them in action is totally awesome. They allow the vehicle to move in any direction even sideways. Sideways motion is achieved by counterrotating the front and rear wheels. Check out the video of the robot below and a very cool forklift using the same technology over here.

Via Make

New UK coins look awesome

Apparently these are the designs for the new coins in the UK. The work of 26 year old designer Matthew Dent will soon be in the pockets and behind the cushions on the couch of millions of British citizens. congratulations on the Royal Mint for being so bold.

Link - Royal Mint

Dell 2408WFP, Woohoo

My new Dell 2408WFP just arrived via DHL. I have wanted one of these since the original 2405WFP came out in 2004. First impressions are very positive. The build quality is fantastic, the stand is superb and adjusts very smoothly and its absolutely HUGE!

Nice Work Ford

Ford has finally sold Jaguar and Land Rover today to Tata. What strikes me about the deal is how much money Ford has managed to throw away with these two companies.

Nevertheless, the $2.3bn (£1.15bn) price-tag put on the two carmakers represents "a bargain compared to the prices paid by Ford almost 20 years ago", according to Global Insight automotive analyst Rebecca Wright.

Ford paid $2.5bn for Jaguar in 1989 and $2.7 billion for Land Rover in 2000, and is believed to have invested an additional $10bn.

$15bn in investment for a return of $2.3bn. Ouch.

Link BBC

BBC removes its alternative medicine pages

It seems the BBC has removed all of its pages on alternative medicine after a number of complaints about the accuracy of the information presented there. In one sense I am pleased to see that the BBC has seen the light and removed the content, I actually think it would be better had they simply updated the content to reflect the actual efficacy of the treatments, which could in the main be stated with a single word, none.

Wholesale removal of the pages gives the alternative medicine community the chance to crow about censorship etc. When you are writing fantastic marketing such as this on the Melchidezek method I could see how you would want it to reach the largest audience possible.

Using ancient holographic technology, the basis of the techniques presented is the activation of the Merkaba, a rotating lightfield awakening your spherical consciousness. This raises one’s quotient of light vibration within the human atomic cell structure. Once activated. he merkaba assists us in accessing out naturally ascended consciousness state: the healing capabolities are enhanced a hundref-fold. The Hologram of Love has the ability to heal and rejuvenate any form of creation as it is the living conscious holographic pattern of God Source vibration.

Wow.

Link DC’s Improbable Science

I am an idiot, or why i need a PA.

I am leaving for Portland tonight and had thought I had gotten a great deal on a lufthansa flight via Frankfurt. Now I look at it I realise that its an 11hr 40 min layover not a 1hr 40 min layover which means either an expensive airport hotel or sleeping in the airport. Right now I am thinking I will take the latter option and hunt down a comfy corner of the airport to get a nights sleep in.

The now very useful www.sleepinginairports.net has this to say about sleeping in Frankfurt Airport:

What you can look forward to: * Terminal 2: reclining lounge chairs, chapel, long cushioned benches * Arrival lounge has rows of chairs with armrests * Quiet announcements * 24 hour bar * luggage storage * loud arrivals/departures board * padded seats in transit area * internet kiosks

Cool - life saving ad

via FFFound

Easy on the Meat

This is the latest and greatest work from my friend Dom Del Torto. Enjoy 1 minute and 34 seconds of meatball madness.

Link

Interesting properties of glass

Interesting video showing some very odd behaviour from a form of glass known as Prince Ruperts Drop.

Via Boing Boing