OT: Speed of light [was Re: Why not a Python compiler?]

[Jeff Schwab]

Jeroen Ruigrok van der Werven wrote:
> -On [20080212 22:15], Dotan Cohen (dotancohen at gmail.com) wrote:
>> Note that Google will give a calculator result for "1 kilogram in
>> pounds", but not for "1 kilogram in inches". I wonder why not? After
>> all, both are conversions of incompatible measurements, ie, they
>> measure different things.
> 
> Eh? Last I checked both pound and kilogram are units of mass, so where is
> the incompatibility?

I've never heard of "pound" as a unit of mass.  At least where I went to 
school (Boston, MA), "pound" is the English unit of force, "slug" is the 
(rarely used) English unit of mass, and "kilogram" is the SI unit of 
mass.  ("English" in this context does not refer to the charming isle at 
the Western edge of Europe, but to the system of non-metric units used 
by most Americans.)