Clarification/Follow-up by labman on 07/27/08 6:11 pm:
OK, I got cut off by ''Answer too long''.

Science has taken a real beating. I ran across this in discussion about dogs recently, ''Kawczynska likens the Millan cult of personality and popularity
to the anti-science, anti-academic sentiment she sees prevalent in American
culture and politics. '', http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/15/CMGPHL9D1N1.DTL I think science has shot itself in the foot lending its credibility to dubious political agendas such as global warning and evolution. Thus people tend to favor their own limited experience over the results of careful, controlled studies.

Another dog example: This from a Q&A site I won't name, '' My dog is 8 months old. I need some advice!! How to train my dog not to gnaws he nit picks and driving me crazy? Any tips!! Please help!!'' Any idea what she needs? While many dogs are over fed leading to being picky eaters, nit picking usually is what will happen to my answer here. Perhaps the dog has lice?

Clarification/Follow-up by labman on 07/28/08 2:41 pm:
''actually the answer is 2.438 metres, millimetres are a much better measure'' I rounded which is often appropriate. Where I said 8 feet, I suggested a integer. Quite often lengths are a measurement with a limited degree of accuracy. In any science course, people are taught to only use the number of significant figures justified by the original data.

Millimeters are a better measurement, for what? Unless you started with a length known to in this case 0.001 feet, in millimeters the answer would need be rounded off and reported as perhaps 2.44 x 10^3 millimeters. Although proper use of measurements are taught in science class, many people misuse them.

Clarification/Follow-up by paraclete on 07/28/08 10:44 pm:
a much better measure to work with in carpentary or metalwork when fitting parts together because you can accurately determine the dimentions of a saw cut. If you come from the US where imperial measurements are used it is unlikely you would observe this since working in .001 inch is impractical from most people

Clarification/Follow-up by labman on 07/29/08 1:34 pm:
And an American machinist will explain how well a micrometer calibrated in thousandths works on his job. Don't ask a surveyor or astronomer to work in millimetres.

So in wood working how much difference is it using a scale with the slightly finer 1/32 markings compared to millimeters that are 1/25.4 of an inch? The scales on the commonly used combination squares here usually include 1/8'', 1/16''. and 1/32'' allowing you to chose accuracy, or ease of reading.

Clarification/Follow-up by HANK1 on 08/09/08 2:03 pm:


Clete: Bottom-line: I love the way we're confident of our knowledge - until someone asks for a little detail. Do you agree?


HANK

Clarification/Follow-up by paraclete on 08/10/08 3:49 am:
I remain confident of my knowledge within the context it is applied, I don't find it necessary to go to the enth degree to prove someone wrong but to be practical about the application