70 replies to this topic

[pugfan]

Pretty sure hexadecimal is only popular because it is the lowest 2^n greater than ten.

The biggest convenience of hexadecimal that I found (I don't use it much anymore) is that a single hexadecimal digit represents 4 binary bits. Much more concise than Octal and Octal can be confusing in that it uses a subset of decimal digits rather than a superset.

[gruntguru]

I was talking more about which system we might choose, starting from scratch but with the benefit of hindsight. It would probably be octal or hexadecimal, methinks octal because its more amenable to mental arithmetic. (We don't have enough fingers for hexadecimal for a start.)

[Spoofski]

As I said elsewhere - "I wonder how many billions we waste through lack of worldwide standardisation - Metric/imperial, 110V/240V, Left-hand-drive/RHD . . . . . ."

American billions or English billions?

[DogEarred]

If they are one side, traffic flow at the pumps would be optimized. Cars going in one direction on the road would use one side of the island, and vice versa. This would cut down on cars facing each other at the island and all the other creative ways that drivers find to fuel their car without any regard for the fellow motorists.

It amazes me just how many people do queue. Pumps thesedays, quite comfortably have reach, even if you are on the 'wrong' side. I never think twice about going for the wrong side & avoiding the queues. What's the problem? Herd mentallity?...

[John Brundage]

It amazes me just how many people do queue. Pumps thesedays, quite comfortably have reach, even if you are on the 'wrong' side. I never think twice about going for the wrong side & avoiding the queues. What's the problem? Herd mentallity?...

If you are on the "wrong side" and the hose reaches, there is no issue. Most of the time around here, the only pumps with long hoses are for diesel, so they can fill both tanks on trucks. The problem arrises when cars with fills on opposite sides face each other at a douple pump island and cars line up behind those facing each other at the island.Day in and day out, I see lines of cars facing each other at the islands in a standoff. It is worse at certain gas stations than others, and worse again when everyone is trying to fill their cars before a storm arrives, such as this past weekend in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy. Initially my suggestion was tonque in cheek based on observations, but why can't it be standardised?

[DogEarred]

If you are on the "wrong side" and the hose reaches, there is no issue. Most of the time around here, the only pumps with long hoses are for diesel, so they can fill both tanks on trucks. The problem arrises when cars with fills on opposite sides face each other at a douple pump island and cars line up behind those facing each other at the island.Day in and day out, I see lines of cars facing each other at the islands in a standoff. It is worse at certain gas stations than others, and worse again when everyone is trying to fill their cars before a storm arrives, such as this past weekend in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy. Initially my suggestion was tonque in cheek based on observations, but why can't it be standardised?

I do see your point now I realise you're from New England. I'm from Old England where polite queuing has ben a national downfall for thousands of years. Also, petrol stations, like all things, tend to be smaller here & there are usually one way signs in & out or just a 'natural flow' to things.
I'd rather have your gas prices & suffer the queues though....

[blkirk]

I do see your point now I realise you're from New England. I'm from Old England where polite queuing has ben a national downfall for thousands of years. Also, petrol stations, like all things, tend to be smaller here & there are usually one way signs in & out or just a 'natural flow' to things.
I'd rather have your gas prices & suffer the queues though....

Am I the only one that can remember cars that had the fill pipe located in the center of the car behind the rear license plate? It didn't make a difference which way you went through the gas station. I guess that didn't work out so well for safety with rear end collisions, though.

All things considered, I used to prefer the fill to be on the same side as the driver. It makes it easier to judge where it is in relation to the pump. But I'm starting to prefer having it on the opposite side from the driver. It gives you more space to open the door and get out of the car when you don't have the bollard that's protecting the pump in the way.

[DogEarred]

Am I the only one that can remember cars that had the fill pipe located in the center of the car behind the rear license plate? It didn't make a difference which way you went through the gas station. I guess that didn't work out so well for safety with rear end collisions, though.

All things considered, I used to prefer the fill to be on the same side as the driver. It makes it easier to judge where it is in relation to the pump. But I'm starting to prefer having it on the opposite side from the driver. It gives you more space to open the door and get out of the car when you don't have the bollard that's protecting the pump in the way.

I'll ask my chauffeur which side he prefers...

[munks]

Am I the only one that can remember cars that had the fill pipe located in the center of the car behind the rear license plate? It didn't make a difference which way you went through the gas station. I guess that didn't work out so well for safety with rear end collisions, though.

A driverless car could take the location of the fill pipe and tank into account when deciding on an avoidance maneuver.

/oops, wrong thread!?

[gruntguru]

A driverless car could take the location of the fill pipe and tank into account when parking at the pump. (Who is going to operate the pump if there is no driver? This could return us to full employment) No need to standardise the location of the filler.

[Canuck]

That sort of comment drives me nuts.

It's poor form to generalise like that. You need to get to the root of things first.

On a partly serious note- 10 is not completely arbitrary... When's the last time you counted your fingers?;)

Uhm...8 fingers here. They're international according to my wife - Russian fingers and Roman hands.

[Lee Nicolle]

I would like to see fuel fill cap locations standardised. Why can't they all be on either the right or left side?

Left, Right, Central rear, hiding behind numberplates, hiding behind taillights and for VW in the luggage area at the front!!
I once saw a Cortina GT being refueled in both tanks at once at a petrol station.

[Lee Nicolle]

It amazes me just how many people do queue. Pumps thesedays, quite comfortably have reach, even if you are on the 'wrong' side. I never think twice about going for the wrong side & avoiding the queues. What's the problem? Herd mentallity?...

Not in Oz they do not. Some just reach but with a 4wd the roof gets in the way often.

[pugfan]

A driverless car could take the location of the fill pipe and tank into account when parking at the pump. (Who is going to operate the pump if there is no driver? This could return us to full employment) No need to standardise the location of the filler.

Now you're being stupid, it would obviously crash into the pump. I find it quite tricky to avoid the pumps so a computer would find it impossible.

[Catalina Park]

Not in Oz they do not. Some just reach but with a 4wd the roof gets in the way often.

The hose will reach around my Morris 1100 quite easily.

The Cooper S was more fun when filling two tanks from two pumps at the same time, one hose in each hand.

[Tony Matthews]

... one hose in each hand.

Must have looked like The Lone Ranger.

[DogEarred]

Must have looked like The Lone Ranger.

The price of petrol in England, it was more likely The Loan Arranger...

[Tony Matthews]

Boom boom!

[MattPete]

The story behind the British, and their Empire/Commonwealth, driving on the left hand side of the road in right hand drive cars goes back a couple of centuries, where riders would ride on the left so that they could draw and fight with their swords if necessary.

What is the history behind driving on the right?

To keep limeys on the left from chopping at us with their swords!

[Tony Matthews]

Spoilsport.

[J. Edlund]

you could go a step further, in terms of cost saving

instead of just standardisation, why not eliminate (all) competition

why do we need tens if not hundreds of electronics companys, spending vast sums of money, on designing niftier tv's, or mp3 players, or different toothpastes, cars, mobile phones, etc etc

surely we only really need one tv maker

competition is what your realy talking about here, differing, competing standards, each with their own pro's and con's, each favoured by different groups for one reason or another

While we may have a large number of TV makers, most TV's are actually built from parts made by a few companies. There are for instance only a few companies that make the LCD panels used in TV's. If you take apart a typical consumer electronic devices you will find that most of them are built up with off the shelf parts made by a small number of manufacturers where each of them have their respective areas of expertice.