On Friday 10 September 2004 08:18 am, Tim Wescott did deign to grace us with
the following:

John Woodgate wrote:

I read in sci.electronics.design that Tim Wescott
wrote (in .
com) about 'Another hopeless text: spot the errors...', on Fri, 10 Sep
2004:

In some states (Oregon included, IIRC), pi _is_ legally equal to three -
- at least for the purposes of calculating the number of board feet in a
log, and most likely as an informed decision to make calculation easier.


It is, AIUI, based on an average diameter and allows for the taper of
the log.

Probably -- I suppose if you measure more toward the butt end of the log
that'll take care of the 0.14159etc.

I used to know a guy who had worked at a company that made estimator
pads for log scalers -- had keys to enter all the parameters, an LCD
screen, microprocessor, the whole nine yards. The first time he went to
check it with a _real_ log scaler this old coot stepped out of the
shack, looked at an entire load of lumber on a truck and said "that's
about X board-feet". Kevin spent half an hour measuring and entering
and came up with the same number.


Wow, Roman Numerals! How old was this guy?

;-)

On Friday 10 September 2004 08:49 pm, Tim Williams did deign to grace us
with the following:

"Gary S." Idontwantspam@net wrote in message
...
Some get enough experience that they can eye something to an amazing
degree of accuracy. Just takes 25 years of practice.

After building and molding a pattern, I can estimate how much metal it'll
need to within a half pound. That means at worst, a slightly short pour
and at most, a bit of metal left in the furnace (which pulls out nicely
later). (Check the metalworking part of my website for terms...)

Well, I can do wire sizes and machine screws. :-)

"Rich Grise" wrote in message
news:WuH0d.875$xH1.335@trnddc03...
On Friday 10 September 2004 09:14 am, John Woodgate did deign to grace
us
with the following:

I read in sci.electronics.design that Tim Wescott
wrote (in
.
com) about 'Another hopeless text: spot the errors...', on Fri, 10
Sep
2004:
I used to know a guy who had worked at a company that made estimator
pads for log scalers -- had keys to enter all the parameters, an LCD
screen, microprocessor, the whole nine yards. The first time he
went to
check it with a _real_ log scaler this old coot stepped out of the
shack, looked at an entire load of lumber on a truck and said
"that's
about X board-feet". Kevin spent half an hour measuring and
entering
and came up with the same number.

Progress. Go figure.

The old coot had probably already measured it. Old coots have a way
of
fixing to win.
--
By golly, I guess I must be an old coot. I went to Staples to get a
ream of 11x17 paper. All they had was a box. (10 reams per). The droid
said that was the only way they can sell it. I said, "Don't be stupid.
Just break open the box and get out a ream." This moron says, "Oh,
they
don't have barcodes on the single reams, they can't scan it." I just
grumbled at him and went up to the register, and asked the kid, "Can
you do a price check?" - BTW, this was the same kid who had got his
boss, who was the one who said they can't sell one ream. So, the droid
is off somewhere, I go slide a ream out of the box, the kid prices it,
and it's about five bucks. So I go to the droid, and ask, "Are you a
betting man? Tell you what - let's crack that box, and if the ream is
not marked, I'll pay you five bucks, but if it is, you gotta buy it
for me." He didn't want to bet, but he relented, and went and got
the same ream that I had just had scanned, but stealthily put back,
and let me buy it. Maybe this should be a true tale of induhviduals.

Cheers!
Rich

I bought a bag of candy at the Ralph's supermarket, and as I checked out
the checker couldn't scan it nor find a price on it, so she had to send
a boxboy back to check the price. This took a minute, so when she rung
it up, instead of 99 cents, she rang 99 items at 1 cent each. I asked
her whay, and she said that they are constantly measuring their
performance, so if they ring 99 items it looks like they're more
productive, like they had to count them out or something like that.

Well, you ask, what does this have to do with the price of tea in China?
Well, it gave me an idea. Just go back and get the price off the 2500
sheet carton and divide it by 2500. Then have them ring it up by the
sheet(!) They can tell the management that they were extrremely
productive and counted them all in only 10.7 minutes! And get a free
break, to boot!

I figured it out and a 2500 sheet carton costs $32 so it's $.0128 a
sheet. That's $6.40 a ream. But I got the prices off their website and
they also show a ream of 11x17 'ledger' as $6.99. So you could save
$.59 if they'll do it my way. But their BOFH website wouldn't work
without cookies enabled. I'll have to delete them when I'm finished. I
think that it's easier to remember 11x17 than it us to remember that
it's ledger, plus it's less typing. Same with legal.

Speaking of having fun with the droids, I mailed a package to Tampa Bay,
FL, this morning. I asked the postal clerk if he had hurricane
insurance for it. He thought that was good for a laugh! ;-)

Tim Wescott wrote:

Roy Lewallen wrote:
Gary S. wrote:

On Thu, 09 Sep 2004 20:09:55 GMT, "Tom Donaly"
wrote:


They (the politicians) were relying on that vast storehouse of
scientific information, the
Bible, for their instruction.
73,
Tom Donaly, KA6RUH



I missed that part. Guess it would be in the Book of Numbers.
. . .


Actually, it's in I Kings vii.23 and II Chronicles iv.2:

"Also, he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in
compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits
did compass it round about."

In _A History of Pi_ by Petr Beckmann, the author states (p. 174) that
"There is a story about some American legislature having considered a
bill to legislate, for religious reasons, the biblical value of pi = 3.
I have found no confirmation of this story; very probably it grew out of
an episode that actually took place in the State Legislature of Indiana
in 1897." He describes the incident. . .

A bill was introduced in the Indiana House in 1897 which said in the
preamble:

"A bill for an act introducing a new mathematical truth and offered as a
contribution to education to be used only by the State of Indiana free
of cost by paying any royalties whatever on the same, provided it is
accepted and adopted by the official action of the legislature in 1897."

In Section 1, the value of pi is effectively declared to be about 9.2.
In Section 2, it's said to be exactly 3.2. The bill was referred
["perhaps symbolically", muses Beckmann] to the House Committee on Swamp
Lands, which passed it to the Committee of Education, which reported it
back to the House "with recommendation that said bill do pass." On Feb.
5, 1897, the Indiana House passed it unanimously.

A charitable person would speculate that, like our current legislators
and the more recent Patriot Act, they just didn't trouble themselves to
read it before voting.

It was saved from passage by the Senate by the intervention of a Purdue
math professor named Waldo who, horrified when learning about it,
coached the senators.

History repeats itself. Now political interests are being used to
modify, distort, ignore, and contradict scientific findings. And Kansas
is once again attempting to legislate against the teaching of evolution.
Some things never change.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

In some states (Oregon included, IIRC), pi _is_ legally equal to three
-- at least for the purposes of calculating the number of board feet in
a log, and most likely as an informed decision to make calculation easier.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

PI - 3 = Sawdust Cheers, JLS

Tim Wescott wrote:


In some states (Oregon included, IIRC), pi _is_ legally equal to three
-- at least for the purposes of calculating the number of board feet in
a log, and most likely as an informed decision to make calculation easier.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

PI - 3 = Sawdust Cheers, JLS