Name this knob

I have radios marked 0-10 or 0-100. They're fun to use.

NT

Some late 20s superhets used a 0-100 scale, in keeping with the TRF three dial scales.

I still write Mc on whiteboards and paper schematics, because it's faster. The official switch to hertz predates me, but I always did like old radio books--I'm just re-reading "Superregenerative Receivers" by Whitehead. Magic.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Every car I can remember being in here in the US of A for quite a number of years has had a speedometer with MPH and KPH calibrations on it.

Jeff

nents.

many

in).

H = 120

About a decade ago, I was told that in Ireland the road distances are poste d in km whilst the speed limits are given in mph. When I asked a few years ago, I was assured that this was still true. However, from my point of vi ew, this is just hearsay since I have not actually witnessed it.

-------------------------

.... Phil

(...)

I agree, probably because I wrote that. You really should spend some time learning how to properly format a Usenet posting, so that my rants are properly attributed to their rightful author.

On April 19, Israel celebrates 70 years of independence. Every year for at least the last 15 years, a document approximately titled "Facts about Israel" is recirculated. Plenty of variations to choose from online, all of them somewhat different: Besides the usual boasting about firsts, Nobel prizes, and innovation, there are some interesting items of trivia:

1) There are over 100 sushi restaurants in Tel Aviv...

1. Microsoft has more employees in israel than it does per capita anywhere in the world.

1. Israel is one of only three democracies in the world without a codified constitution. The others are Britain and New Zealand.

We (UK) have the Magna Carta. While its provisions are few, one of them is more than a little important.

NT

I was looking at a presentation on and of Magna Carta in Salisbury on Wednesday. (Unconnected with the fuss about the poisoning of a russian spy, his daughter and a policeman in that city last weekend.)

IIRC less than 10% of its provisions are still encoded in current law according to the modern translation.

Does the US really benefit from having a constitution? E.g. on the subjects of free speech and gun law?

Mike.

Of course having a constitution does not ensure it gets enforced, as every country can demonstrate.

NT

That's not a constitution. It's like saying the 613 commandments are the constitution of Israel.

This might be closer to the mark for England:

"Let it be un-written, so let it be un-done." (Apologies to C.B. DeMille and his version of the 10 Commandments).

The advantage of an unwritten Constitution is that it allows multiple parties to be Right.

The advantage to English Law is that it allows multiple parties and opinions to coexist as it requires compromise in order to function at all.

The disadvantage to both the above is that the are remarkably sloppy and remarkably disorganized. Brits "muddle through" for good reason. But, muddle they do.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

Israel did it's best to copy all the mistakes and disadvantages of the British parliamentary system in 1948. For example, Britain has 650 members of parliament and about 10 active political parties. The Israeli Knesset has 120 seats, 17 parties with seats, and a huge number of minor parties that appear and disappear as the crisis of the day warrants. Anything worth doing is worth over-doing. Perhaps if Israel increases the number of seats in the Knesset, the number of parties might decrease?

Fortunately, there are better ways to settle disagreements available to middle east politicians: "Jordan MP challenges firebrand Israeli MK to a duel"

Incidentally, Israel has been debating the merits of having or not having a written constitution since 1950.

sure it is. It may only have one useful provision, but it's the most important one possible, and is the legal & human rights foundation on which modern Britain exists.

NT