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"Captain Corelli's Mandolin" has been changed to "Corelli's Mandolin"
Are you sure about that? I've only seen it with the Captain part.


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That's the title it's arrived here under. I'll check again where it was published. The copy I was given in the UK a couple of Christmases ago was "Captain Corelli's Mandolin."

Bingley


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#38107 08/15/01 12:31 PM
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My book is called "Corelli's Mandolin" while the movie is called "Captain Corelli's Mandolin". My book was a gift from a friend, and I think they got it from some US website, although I'm not sure.


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I mentioned this long time ago -- I had a friend get me a copy in London and title was "Captain Corelli's Mandolin." Later, raving about the book to my Librarian she said "We have that only here it's 'Corelli's Mandolin'!" So there you go. All this talk about differences makes me think I should borrow the library's US copy and check .... nah!


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Bean, I do the same. I work in metric, but I use imperial "measure exaggerations" freely, without even knowing how much they amount to! At the end of the day, I have only a vague idea how long a mile or a foot is. Fortunately, the new "European" Britain has had to turn bi-measural, so I can manage just fine. My British friends get all miffed about it, claiming that since I am in Britain I should learn to measure in imperial! Well, they can sit around and wait a bit longer for that to happen...



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Don't worry about it Marianna! We really are increasingly bi-metric, to the extent that when I am buying wood, it is usually "3 metres of 4 inch by two inch," or some such blend. My wife buys curtain material by the metre, but its width is still measured in inches.

I am told, BTW, and I have no idea of the truth of this, that the construction industry in Scandinavia finds that the metre is an inconvenient measure, so have invented a measure which is one third of that length - in other words, about the same length as the imperial foot.

The secret lies, I guess, in the fact that the old measures were based on human activity and human dimensions, so fit humans well. For instance, the League (as in "seven-league boots") was the distance that a man and pack horse could walk in one hour, therefore varied in linear distance from one terrain to another. (In the fairy tales, of course, the person with seven-league boots could complete a day's journey in one step!) It has died out, I suppose, because we no longer need that sort of measure - it is a matter of how many miles we do in an hour rather than hours to complete a mile!

But metric measurements are based on an estimate of the world's circumference made in the 1790s! What sort of basis is that, I ask you!


#38111 08/16/01 12:13 PM
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It has died out, I suppose, because we no longer need that sort of measure - it is a matter of how many miles we do in an hour rather than hours to complete a mile!

But metric measurements are based on an estimate of the world's circumference made in the 1790s! What sort of basis is that, I ask you!


Ah, yes--change: further evidence that (linear) time has passed! [naughtily cross-threading e]






#38112 08/16/01 02:07 PM
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My "measure" is my open hand . I know that it is 20 centimeters, and I often measure everything around me in this way - tables, furniture, public bathrooms...
In fact, I am very interested in
- how small you can build a comfortable house
- which are the correct measures for ergonomic pieces of furniture .



#38113 08/16/01 05:21 PM
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a US dollar bill is 6 inches long (actually 6 1/8 inches) but close enough for a rough measurment.
as for
which are the correct measures for ergonomic pieces of furniture --
until human come in one size-- how can any one size be ergnomic?
my parents are very short-- (Father 5.1, mother 5.2)-- and they often had problems buying furnature. Dining room chairs were often too high for them.. and couches were too deep..

of course, those of us who are normal sizes (or at least normal height) found their furniture way too low, and too shallow.. My favorite chair as child was our wing chair-- i didn't feel like my knees were in my chin when i sat in it.. my mother hated that chair-- when she sat in it, her feet didn't touch the floor!

the japanese, seem to have mastered small living spaces.. and one trick they sometimes use, is high ceilings..

big spaces, with low ceiling seem cramped. -- the NYC subway has some.. ceiling heights of just over 2 meters, so that very tall people feel they have to crouch. and even though there is a lot of area, the low ceiling is very uncomfortable.. even for me, and i am in no danger of hitting my head on the ceiling.



#38114 08/16/01 05:58 PM
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But metric measurements are based on an estimate of the world's circumference made in the 1790s! What sort of basis is that, I ask you!

Some while back, I read a story, only vaguely remembered, about a town in England that had posted their speed limit signs in km/hr. When asked if this meant that England was at long last converting to the metric system, somebody (local official, mayhap? the Queen?) is reputed to have said "Do you honestly think we'll ever adopt a measurement system invented by a people that have to say 'three twenties and seventeen' for 77?"

But the way weight and volume correspond in the metric system sure is useful and cool. Makes it easier to guess how much my hot tub weighs when full, which is very important, for reasons I'll not go into here.


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