Google: Metric Conversions Made Easy

[bad hammy]

News to me today. Go to Google and type in '55 feet in meters' and out pops '55 feet = 16.76400 meters'. (Works with other numbers and measurements too! :lol: ) Probably doesn't perfectly handle the distinction between horizontal and vertical jump conversions, but still, damn handy.

[Jack Slocombe]

Ur going the wrong way bubba. Wow, I just converted to metrics.....not!

[Marlow]

It does all sorts of conversion - currency, weights, etc. Also does math problems.

[bad hammy]

Ur going the wrong way bubba. Wow, I just converted to metrics.....not!

True. The 55 feet metric conversion example is stuck in my head because a week or two ago a couple of real-measurement-challenged friends of mine were at a track meet near LA when the announcer mentioned a 55 foot triple jump. These folks had no idea how far 55 feet was, so for some strange reason they sent me a text message asking for the conversion to metric.

Well, actually what they asked was 'How far is 55 feet?'. I pondered this rather cryptic question for a moment and replied 'Uh, 55 ft??' The she of the they replied 'F*ck you, a**hole', because being a fem-type she apparently was upset that I could not read her mind, from 500 miles away. The following exchange of messages got uglier and uglier, during which they never did articulate their original question nor get the actual answer they were looking for.

[Marlow]

Well, actually what they asked was 'How far is 55 feet?'. I pondered this rather cryptic question for a moment and replied 'Uh, 55 ft??' The she of the they replied 'F*ck you, a**hole', because being a fem-type she apparently was upset that I could not read her mind, from 500 miles away. The following exchange of messages got uglier and uglier, during which they never did articulate their original question nor get the actual answer they were looking for.

Women! Ya can't live with 'em . . . and ya can't legally eviscerate 'em! :twisted:

[polevaultpower]

Even easier, bookmark this page: http://www.usatf.org/statistics/calculators/

[Daisy]

a week or two ago a couple of real-measurement-challenged friends of mine were at a track meet near LA when the announcer mentioned a 55 foot triple jump. These folks had no idea how far 55 feet was

I'm guessing they were Brits? I too would have had no clue what 55 ft meant. From my perspective their question makes perfect sense.

What I hate the most is that at the pit they are measuring in metric but they keep that a secret and instead do a conversion and only announce that one. Why the secrecy?

[bad hammy]

Even easier, bookmark this page: http://www.usatf.org/statistics/calculators/

Actually, not. Google is the default search engine on all of my browsers on all of my workstations and phone, so is always at my fingertips, and it is far more comprehensive than the USATF site. (Although I do have that bookmarked too.)

[bad hammy]

What I hate the most is that at the pit they are measuring in metric but they keep that a secret and instead do a conversion and only
announce that one. Why the secrecy?

For the most part they keep field event marks secret period.

[Daisy]

For the most part they keep field event marks secret period.

Good point! But at least we know when it's a foul.

[polevaultpower]

Even easier, bookmark this page: http://www.usatf.org/statistics/calculators/

Actually, not. Google is the default search engine on all of my browsers on all of my workstations and phone, so is always at my fingertips, and it is far more comprehensive than the USATF site. (Although I do have that bookmarked too.)

But vertical jumps and horizontal jumps and short throws and long throws are all converted differently, so when accuracy matters, google is likely not your friend.

[bad hammy]

Even easier, bookmark this page: http://www.usatf.org/statistics/calculators/

Actually, not. Google is the default search engine on all of my browsers on all of my workstations and phone, so is always at my fingertips, and it is far more comprehensive than the USATF site. (Although I do have that bookmarked too.)

But vertical jumps and horizontal jumps and short throws and long throws are all converted differently, so when accuracy matters, google is likely not your friend.

I'm not a T&F official, just a metric idiot who needs an occasional assist. . .

[lonewolf]

Most modern electronic board display metric then immediately convert and display Imperial. Just don't look away for very long.
If performances are being displayed on a manual board it is difficult to show both metric and Imperial in the time between attempts and most US fans want to see Imperial.

[Daisy]

I can understand the manual board issues. I guess with the electronic ones that millisecond is easy to miss

[bad hammy]

I have re-evaluated the usefulness of the Google converter. Upon using it to convert from metric to real I found the fatal flaw - it does not convert to both feet and inches. It is either xx.xxxxxx feet or xxx.xxxxxx inches, no xx feet xx inches.