What is Digg?405 Comments
- chingy1788, on 10/26/2007, -25/+310Convert to metric damn it
a thousand times more simpler
1Km = 1000m
1m = 1000mm = 100cm
you and your inches, foots, yards and what not...
12 inches = 1 foot, 3 feet = 1 yard
5 thousand something feet = 1 mile... - cogitocogito, on 10/26/2007, -7/+136PC Load Letter? What the ***** does that mean?
- ropers, on 10/26/2007, -8/+90Insightful, comprehensive and well written. Kudos to the author!
- ianweir, on 10/10/2007, -7/+83haha.. Oh please tell me you're joking. The US is one of the last countries on earth to still use the imperial system. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Metric_system.png)
You really need to get with the times. Welcome to 1960. - DinX, on 10/10/2007, -3/+61Damn Stonecutters.
- inactive, on 10/26/2007, -3/+59http://duggmirror.com/design/A4_vs_US_Letter
Caught it (thank god) - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -3/+55I don't mind that A4 and Letter are slightly different sizes (but it'd be nice if the US caught up with the rest of the world), what grinds my gears is that whenever I install a printer (or scanner) driver the default paper size is set to US Letter, even though I'm in Australia and my windows regional settings and so forth are also set to Oz as well.
Why the hell can't printer makers learn to read the regional settings and change the printer defaults to reflect this??
Also, why can't they make their damn cartridges cheaper!!! - crapmatic, on 10/26/2007, -5/+57And with A4 paper, paper covers rock AND covers scissors.
- regeya, on 10/26/2007, -1/+44Yes, and in print, it's just as fun.
There are APPROXIMATELY 6 picas in an inch, and there are APPROXIMATELY 12 points in a pica. To make matters worse, some software handles points in the Adobe way (there are EXACTLY 72 points in an inch) and some handle it correctly (there are 72.27 points in an inch) which makes it an even bigger mess.
If we were to just switch to metric, there would be one unit of measurement. I don't know why people here in America are so determined it'd be confusing. English measurements would die out pretty quick, I think. I mean, how many people use rods and furloughs anymore? Yards and miles would die a quick and painless death. - octophobic, on 10/26/2007, -4/+41I just want A4 to become standard so I can make better paper airplanes.
- resplence, on 10/10/2007, -4/+41The reasoning behind the A-Series is beautiful, a perfect companion to the logic of the metric system. It's also closer to the Golden Ratio thus/and much more pleasant to the eye: http://duggmirror.com/design/A4_vs_US_Letter/40c324f85670534ae5ad2cfb199e9518_a4_usletter_side-by-side.gif
Rest of the world: 1000000000 x 2.54 :US - greatcaffeine, on 10/10/2007, -5/+40Why should we switch? Well... because the metric system is better. I don't think there's much more that can be said.
- goblindegook, on 10/26/2007, -2/+36The US aren't alone. In fact, "soccer" originated in England as a shorter name to differenciate Association Football (soccer) from Rugby Football (rugger).
- bsmeteronhigh, on 10/26/2007, -3/+35Spain's railroads are a different gauge than the rest of the world to prevent invading armies from having too easy a time. Likewise, the printers in the United States only use "Letter" size paper to avoid the introduction of contrary thought by invading countries. It is only by keeping our paper "our size" that we are able to keep our speech free! Everybody knows this!
- DeFex, on 10/26/2007, -3/+32Well americans have another game called "FOOTball" where they carry the ball with their HANDSs and throw it most of the time.
- sfly510, on 10/10/2007, -4/+31"Who keeps the metric system down? WE DOooo."
- skoops, on 10/10/2007, -5/+31did ya read the article at all?
- snurfle, on 10/26/2007, -3/+29Dugg simply for the article's correct use of 'typeface' rather than 'font'.
- protogenxl, on 10/26/2007, -1/+27My car gets fourty rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it!
- giskard88, on 10/10/2007, -3/+28actualy the big issue isn't the golden ratio (many have suggested that the golden ratio's suposed asthetics are a myth anyway), the ratio is the root of 2. therefore if you fold a sheet of a4 in half, you get a piece of paper with the same ratio of sides (the a5 standard) thereby meaning that all of the standard paper sizes can be made from one another with no waste
- greatcaffeine, on 10/26/2007, -26/+51Should we also find a "more simpler" language?
- ambiescent, on 10/26/2007, -9/+32For those of you who think there's not a lot of benefit from switching to a standard paper size, refer to the 3rd image (A0 divided down to A8). This means that paper companies can produce A0 papers, and simply cut them into A1, A2.. A8 /without any/ waste.
Just imagine how much US letter paper is produced everyday, and how much paper paper mills would have to trim (and throw) away because large rolls have to be cut to many arbitrary sizes. - inactive, on 10/26/2007, -5/+27Nah, we Aussies also call it that. Mainly to piss off the British I think...
- SuperJason, on 10/26/2007, -3/+25They're different sizes.
- awhiteflame, on 10/26/2007, -3/+24Or maybe it's that americans have no idea what 100 km is, and don't care to find out. :P
- Typhoon2009, on 10/10/2007, -5/+26What the ***** are you talking about? The world wouldn't be any more or less boring if we used metric. It'd be a whole lot simpler, yes, but not boring.
- UrinalPooper, on 10/10/2007, -1/+22It is when you're driving.
- Roundbadge, on 10/26/2007, -15/+35... and you 'mericans are also the only people in the world that calls it 'Soccer' - I demand conformity, dammit!
- Icecream, on 10/10/2007, -11/+30A4 FTW
- MrSunshine, on 10/10/2007, -0/+19Colur? Neighbur?
- sstidman, on 10/10/2007, -7/+26Folks, the author has conveniently left out that this wonderful folding property that permits metric formats to fit neatly into one another ALSO APPLIES TO US FORMATS. Here, look carefully at his chart:
Sheet name Width (˝) Length (˝) Aspect Ratio
A (Letter) 8.5 11.0 1.294
B (Tabloid) 11.0 17.0 1.545
C 17.0 22.0 1.294
D 22.0 34.0 1.545
E 34.0 44.0 1.294
So if you take an E size paper (34" x 44"), and divide it along the long edge, you get a sheet that is 22" wide and 34" long. In other words, you get a D size paper. Divide again along the long edge, you get a 17" by 22" paper...aka a C size paper. The ratios are not maintained, but so what? Smaller papers can be produced from larger papers without waste, regardless of whether you use the US or metric paper sizes. That's all that matters. Does it really matter that much that the aspect ratio is maintained?
However, the metric A4 sheet, the most commonly used sheet outside the US, is 62,370 mm squared. The US A size, the most commonly used sheet within the US, is 60,322 mm squared. So the US size uses less paper, therefore less trees, less waste, etc. - Icecream, on 10/26/2007, -2/+21In Australia it is called soccer, but we have our own football league, an entirely different sport. Calling both sports "football" would be confusing, I always guessed Americans don't call Soccer football for the same reason.
- wing05, on 10/26/2007, -2/+20I thought cuttings simply get recycled and put back into the pulp vat.
The only savings you'd see then is the energy to re-roll, dry and cut what's already been made. - bat-21, on 10/26/2007, -1/+18I have an even better idea. Don't use paper. I hate it when someone comes up to me, says "Look at this email I got." and hands me a piece of paper. I usually reply "What happened? Is your monitor broken?".
- iamafatguy, on 10/26/2007, -6/+23Well, literally:
PC LOAD LETTER is an error message encountered when printing on older HP LaserJet printers such as the LaserJet II, III, and 4 series. The error is always displayed fully capitalized.
The actual meaning of the message is very convoluted: "PC" is a two-character status code that stands for "Paper Cassette"[1], the tray that holds blank paper for the printer to use. These two-character codes are a legacy feature carried over from the first LaserJet printers, which could only use a two-character display for all printer status and error messages.
"Load", in this context, is an instruction to refill. "Letter" is the standard paper size used in the United States and Canada. Thus, the error is instructing the user to refill the letter paper tray. A variant is PC LOAD LEGAL, meaning that the printer requires legal size paper be loaded.
But I get your reference. ;-) - miles32, on 10/26/2007, -2/+18STOP
Hammertime - SimonGray, on 10/10/2007, -1/+16Naw, it's just because IE is a buggy piece of *****.
- mlagana, on 10/26/2007, -10/+24it's not just europe, it's the rest of the world. Doesn't it make more sense to use International Standard instead of American Standard???
- HenvY, on 10/10/2007, -6/+20I've used A-series paper my whole life. No problems whatsoever. Then some ***** sent me a US letter which I had to blow up to A3 for a presentation for my boss. It looked messed up but I had no time to fix it, he lost the contract he was pitching for because of it and I lost my job. Then I heard similar stories from people all over the world, apparently this US letter had cost them their jobs and ruined their lives too! I even heard of one Japanese chap who committed suicide because of it, apparently the shame was too much to bear.
- bigtomrodney, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14'than'
- wing05, on 10/26/2007, -5/+18"Which raises the question, why the difference at all?"
Off topic. But finally. Writing that satisfies my grammar-nazi alter ego that doesn't use "begs the question".
As well, it seems letter is slightly shorter and fatter while A4 is taller and leaner.
What's the problem with simply going with the rest of the world and using A4? Why not make 8.5x11/letter just the North American name for A4?
We already do this to generically refer to a piece of lumber. Since a 2x4 is actually 1 1/2 × 3 1/2.
Let's standardize somewhat and move on. Or is this a conspiracy of paper producers to not want to spend the extra pulp on that 2 square centimeters or so? - PixelVision, on 10/26/2007, -4/+17I hear you, I speak COBOL. It's much simpler. STOP RUN.
- aliguana, on 10/26/2007, -1/+14yeah, but the longer form-factor of A4 means your aeroplanes go FASTER. A4 is the Ferrari of origami-aviation.
- alf86, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12Legal size doesn't count. It was created to confuse and disorient with its uncommon proportions. Those crazy lawyers.
- alchemista, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13I printed out the article to a PDF....
- ideapower, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12No, no, no.... you can't give "Kudos" to the author!! The Kudo is a stubborn American standard. The proper quantity of praise to give to the author would be the standard European unit of "Props".
- ksoon, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13Articles like this exist because we seem to have some sort of obligation to continually bastardize international standards.
- pault107, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12The number 1.618, unique in that its value equals the ratio of its integer part to its fractional part.
- sstidman, on 10/10/2007, -2/+13You're right. Good point. So let's start by getting rid of legal paper. Of course, the quickest way to do that would be to get rid of all the lawyers ;-)
By the way, how did my comment get to the top? Others clearly responded to ropers before me. Am I the only one who sees myself as the first replier to ropers? - MightyTonto, on 10/26/2007, -18/+29When you spend as much as America on arms - its laughable that they find it too expensive to change documents and roadsigns to metric.
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