http://blog.jimbo.org.uk/archives/2005/09/how_bigs_a_barr.shtml Everyone knows oil comes in barrels. The price of crude is something like $60 a "barrel", and among its other horrendous effects, Hurricane Katrina has reduced world oil production by a couple of million barrels a day. But, almost none of this oil ever sees a barrel, instead being transported/stored in tanks, or via pipelines. Barrel is just a macro for "35 gallons". Beer, on the other hand, almost always comes in barrels. In beer land, a barrel refers to 36 gallons, but in the cellars of most pubs you'll mostly find barrels of just 11, or maybe 22 gallons. Except casks of ale, which tend to be 9 gallons or multiples thereof. I hereby propose that people stop using "barrel" as a unit, and just use it as a term for a type of container. Right now. Thanks! Anything else is just too firkin complicated.... en-gb Tue, 06 Sep 2005 01:34:17 +0000 Fri, 09 Mar 2007 01:33:27 +0000 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.2 jkg@jimbo.org.uk 180