Bridge collapse in the US

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Maryland was a slaveholding state during the Civil War 

Yes - slavery was still legal in Delaware as well.

 

4 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

and is considered to be one of the Southern States

No it isn't. It is south of the Mason-Dixon Line* - as is Delaware. The Census Bureau counts them as "Southern" but they really identify as part of the "Mid-Atlantic" today.

 

* A surveying exercise to delineate colonial boundaries before the revolutionary war (of American Independence).

 

4 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

even though it didn't secede from the Union

Agreed. It was not part of the rebellion, and people don't associate them with "The South".

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Guinea coins ended before Victoria came to the throne. 

 

Florins on the other hand were a deliberate first stage of decimalisation ...

My use of Florins and Guineas was facetious, as I hope you recognize. But I very much enjoyed your assessment of all the nuance and complexity. It is precisely the point I was making.

[Ozexpatriate]

 

51 minutes ago, TheQ said:

I think the " Rod, Perch or Pole" is missing from this discussion, we certainly had to recite this measurement of 16 .5 feet at primary school.. so an acre is 4 rods by 40 rods.

I got the "rod" in there. 😉

 

15 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Distances less than a mile are almost always in feet. None of this yards, fathoms, rods, chains, furlongs, nonsense, thank you very much.

I always understood the perch as a 'square rod' - though I sometime see the rod used as a measurement of area.  When I was young, land was offered in perches. It switched to hectares in 1974. In the US it varies, sometimes it is fractional acres, sometimes if small in square feet. Interiors are measured in square feet.

 

I've never seen rods, poles or perches used contemporaneously in the US. I imagine surveyors need to know what they are. They certainly would have been used in colonial times.

 

The "quarter acre" (40 perches) was a desirable (and large) suburban lot - quite unusual now. I remember suburban lots where I grew up being in the thirty-something perches range.

 

Edited May 18 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

The 50p coin was introduced and ten bob note demonetised before decimalisation ...

 

And of course not everyhwere accepted the end of the 10/- note - replaced in IoM by the relatively short-lived 50p banknote - usually viewed on the mainland as "Monopoly money".

The US issued fractional currency banknotes during the Civil War.

Quote

These low-denomination banknotes of the United States dollar were in use between 21 August 1862 and 15 February 1876, and issued in denominations of 3, 5, 10, 15, 25, and 50 cents across five issuing periods.

Due to their short lifespan and ephemeral nature as paper, they are highly collectible. The three cent banknote is quite an oddity.

 

They included things not usually done - like the engraved likenesses of living people - including the then Treasurer of the US.

 

Edited May 18 by Ozexpatriate
Link

[pH]

Unusual(er!) units of measure:
 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement

 

The “Deltic” does not feature, though!

Edited May 18 by pH

[Ozexpatriate]

6 minutes ago, pH said:

Unusual(er!) units of measure:
 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement

 

The “Deltic” does not feature, though!

Sadly the "Deltic" as unit of currency is not shared by enough people to make it to a list - though it is meaningful, relative to inflation.

 

I've long been a fan of foot-pound furlongs per fortnight as a pejorative measure. It is (almost) a meaningful measure of slow rotational torque rate. Perhaps I need to start using FFF - Furlong/Firkin/Fortnight.

[PhilJ W]

17 minutes ago, pH said:

Unusual(er!) units of measure:
 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement

 

The “Deltic” does not feature, though!

Is a Hoppus foot how high you leap when you tread on a Lego brick barefoot?

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Is a Hoppus foot how high you leap when you tread on a Lego brick barefoot?

 

Hoppus feet were still used as the standard measure of felled timber when my father was working for the Forestry Commission in the new Forest in the 1950s.

[melmerby]

Back to the Dali (literally):

 

Edited May 18 by melmerby

[MattR]

Quote

I still dont get the Americans love of weighting incredibly heavy things using pounds? The video quotes 9-12 million pounds of steel to be removed. Surely using tons would be better? Or even washing machines.

 

I work for my state's department of transportation. Steel is always reported in pounds rather than tons. Aggregate and asphalt are always reported in tons, but not concrete, which is reported in cubic yards. Sod is always in square yards but grass seed is calculated as "units" based on the total poundage of bagged seed divided by the spread rate per acre.

 

 

Edited May 18 by MattR
.

[J. S. Bach]

On 18/05/2024 at 16:56, Ozexpatriate said:

Sadly the "Deltic" as unit of currency is not shared by enough people to make it to a list - though it is meaningful, relative to inflation. ...snip...

One "Deltic" is an extremely close equivalent to one "GG1".

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

Apparently they are moving the ship during the night/early morning their time 5 am/ 20th.

[melmerby]

16 minutes ago, ERIC ALLTORQUE said:

Apparently they are moving the ship during the night/early morning their time 5 am/ 20th.

Have they removed that large lump of concrete ballast sitting on the prow?

[PhilJ W]

40 minutes ago, ERIC ALLTORQUE said:

Apparently they are moving the ship during the night/early morning their time 5 am/ 20th.

11 AM UK time.

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

35 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Have they removed that large lump of concrete ballast sitting on the prow?

 

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

The ship forward ballast tanks drained and shes level and five tugs are ready to move her once conditions are right,should see her out the way today.

Edited May 20 by ERIC ALLTORQUE

[Ozexpatriate]

Now alongside a container wharf (Seagirt Marine Terminal) presumably for unloading.

 

CNN: Almost 2 months after it destroyed Baltimore’s Key Bridge, the Dali cargo ship has been moved

[57xx]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Now alongside a container wharf (Seagirt Marine Terminal) presumably for unloading.

 

CNN: Almost 2 months after it destroyed Baltimore’s Key Bridge, the Dali cargo ship has been moved

 

2 months? Wow, where has that time gone. It only feels like a couple of weeks ago.