This will probably sound like a very stupid question to the American
readers of this list ...
What _is_ duct tape ? I suppose it's the stuff you tape air
conditioning ducts together with. Aparantly it has a light side, a
dark side and holds the universe together <grin>
In the UK we have stuff called "gaffer" tape which is a couple of
inches wide, usually silver, made of woven fabric with a very sticky
adhesive. Much used by rock band roadies for fixing mic stands. Is
this the same stuff ?
While I'm on the subject of UK vs US let me try to work out the
differences between US and UK volumes. Using the unix 'units' command
I've come up with the following table.
Unit US UK
gallon 3.79 l (-16.7%) 4.55 l (+20.1%)
quart 0.95 l (-16.7%) 1.14 l (+20.1%)
pint 473 ml (-16.7%) 568 ml (+20.1%)
fluid ounce 29.6 ml (-4.1%) 28.4 ml (+3.9%)
e.g. a US gallon is about 17% smaller than a UK gallon, a UK pint is
about 20% bigger than a US pint, whilst fluid ounces are nearly the
same.
The quart seems to be common usage in the US, whilst it is hardly ever
used in the UK. Petrol and oil are now sold exclusively in litres in
the UK, as are most other liquids. Most people still measure fuel
consumption in miles per gallon though. We still buy pints of milk and
beer (thank goodness) but even a measure of spirits is changing from
1/6 gill to 25ml (you get 5.5% more). All part of European integration
(sigh).
British car content -
After standing in the road with a plastic cover over it for 18 months,
my '79 Spitfire got through its MOT test with just a couple of brake
pipes needing to be replaced. It still needs a new top and some other
work but with an unusually fine British summer, who cares! Now if I
could just stop grinning and look cool ...
Julian.
_____________________________________________________
| Julian Daley, j.daley@ucl.ac.uk |
| Department Clinical Physics, Guys Hospital, London. |
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|