Re: [ihc] WORT for sale - off topic

["Ryan Moore" <baradium@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mac McMuffin" <mac@domain.elided>
To: "Steven Stegmann" <steve.stegmann@domain.elided>; "Ryan Moore"
<baradium@domain.elided>; "Mac McMuffin" <mac@domain.elided>;
<ihc-digest@domain.elided>
Sent: Saturday, July 31, 2004 19:02
Subject: RE: [ihc] WORT for sale - off topic


> ## >> > First, 50kps = 1860 mph
> ## >> >
> ## >> > 50 kph = 31 mph (27 kts)
> ## >> >
> ## >> > I wouldn't like it that slow either, same reasons.
> ## >> > Traveling the country
> ## >> > at 30mph isn't all that nice for anyone stuck behind
> ## >> > you...
> ## >> >
> ## >> > -Ryan
> --
> ## >> Yeah, Yeah,  whats the big difference k per second k
> ## >> per hour.
> ## >>
> ## >> Steve
>
> actually, i believe he was referring to knots.  twenty seven knots.
>
> knot:  A unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour. 1 knot = 1
> n.mile/h = 1.852 km/h.
>
> nautical mile:  a unit of length equal to 1.1508 statute miles
>

That's what it works out to, but not how it's defined.

There are also two nautical miles  (the british have their own version vs
the international one, I think they don't use *their* version anymore
though).

The international standard I believe is 1 minute of lattitude, which happens
to work out to 6076.115 ft (or 1852 meters).

Webster's leaves out some details with their definition:

Main Entry: nautical mile
Function: noun
: any of various units of distance used for sea and air navigation based on
the length of a minute of arc of a great circle of the earth and differing
because the earth is not a perfect sphere: as a : a British unit equal to
6080 feet (1853.2 meters) b : an international unit equal to 6076.115 feet
(1852 meters) used officially in the U.S. since July 1, 1959

> statute mile:  a unit of length equal to 5280 feet
>
> do i really need to go into the metrics too?  i didn't think so.
>
> the really big question on my mind is...  who came up with this statute
mile
> thing?  i mean, where is this statute written?  who wrote it?  in what
> country?  can it be overridden by a statute by somebody else?  can
Governor
> Swarzenegger pass a California statute that indicates a different distance
> for the "statute mile"?  minds with way too much free time on their hands
> want to know!
>
> --Mac
>

Webster's is even more disappointing in their definition of "statute mile."

Main Entry: statute mile
Function: noun
: MILE 1a

It's a statute mile because the unit is part of the standard system of
measurements.  Thus, a mile was a mile "just because."  Hence the length
being by "statute."

Since it became necessary to differentiate between the various miles out
there, they added to each of them.  Nautical mile because it is a result of
sea travel,  statute mile because they said so...

-Ryan


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