Without government intervention, would the U.S. be metric by now?

[Mahkato]

Seems to me that the government is a huge part of the inertia that's keeping the U.S. away from metric, with their food label mandates, mileage signs, and so on. Would a free market have made the switch to metric by now?

How can we switch? Should we switch? I know it's been tried before, but that was when I was too young to be paying attention. Would it be possible to switch without a government mandate?

Here's a map of when countries switched to metric:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/SI-metrication-world.png/800px-SI-metrication-world.png

[torchbearer]

I doubt it.
In a free market, free of government, the people would decide.
If you grew up using the english standard, why would you want to relearn the metric system?

Now- on the flip side- since we don't really produce anything anymore... those countries who are successful will dictate the standards of measure.
If we buy all our goods from china, and they use metric, we'd use metric. Or we wouldn't be able to fix the products.

[Bruno]

I remember as a kid in the seventies there was a big push for metric and we all learned it. It's all what you get used to, I guess.

[nate895]

I agree with torch. It would have stayed standard English (or whatever the standard is in that part of the world) if it wasn't for governments interfering in those countries and forcing the people to learn the new system. Personally, I like the English standard system since you can use body parts to measure things when you don't have an appropriate measuring device.

[Fox McCloud]

I'm pretty sure that the US, at the very least, would have remained English; I also believe that the world would have used it too because of our massive influence, but, as other mentioned here, when the government decrees something, it usually sticks, sadly.

Personally, I hope we don't swich; it sets us apart from the world, which makes us a little different.

[yokna7]

I scoff at your simple means of conversion!!!Simple is just not American!!!
(say it out loud with a british accent)

[Danke]

Personally, I hope we don't switch; it sets us apart from the world, which makes us a little different.

What sets us apart? All the swearing? Like the swearing when working on a car, etc. because of having to switch between metric and English and running around trying to find the right tool? :p

[slothman]

I think we should have a contest with the UK.
They switch to driving on the right side of the road and we switch to Metric.
I wonder which would bbe easier.

I think people would switch since they have no need to.
There may be a few problems(the Martian lander) but it works fine.

[Free_Trade]

The US would not be metric. This is a very interesting and useful topic. I think the important thing to realize is that standards of communication work differently on the free market from all other goods and services. There are three prominent examples of standards of communication:
(1) Language, which we use to communicate all sorts of ideas
(2) Currency, which we use to communicate price levels
(3) Units of measure, which we use to communicate physical quantities

With most goods and services, we use what WE prefer. With standards of communication, we use what OTHER PEOPLE prefer. For example, if I go to the supermarket to buy toothpaste, I can buy the brand that I prefer, regardless of what other people think. However, when I go to pay for the toothpaste, the store-owner would demand payment in US dollars (if we're in USA), because the US dollar is used by everybody around him. The store-owner doesn't want US dollars because he likes US dollars or believes in its monetary quality, but simply because that's what everyone around him is using.

On a free market, the best goods and services generally tend to outcompete and drive out lower quality goods and services. But the same does not apply for standards of communication. Look at language for instance - the English language is very complicated, but it is becoming an international language. People don't choose to study English because of its linguistic qualities, but simply because that's what most businesspeople on the international markets use. This also explains why everyone in a country uses that country's currency, regardless of how poor it may be, with no marketplace of currencies like Hayek had suggested in his Denationalization of Money.

The framers of the US constitution appear to have been aware of this problem. Although they generally had a libertarian outlook and supported states' rights on most matters, they did provide for Congress to "fix the Standard of Weights and Measures." They also gave Congress the power to coin money and regulate its value. Language was probably not much of an issue. While they allowed a free market for most goods and services, they realized that standards of communication needed to be fixed centrally or by common agreement.

[Demigod]

I agree with torch. It would have stayed standard English (or whatever the standard is in that part of the world) if it wasn't for governments interfering in those countries and forcing the people to learn the new system. Personally, I like the English standard system since you can use body parts to measure things when you don't have an appropriate measuring device.

You can use body parts for the metric as well.For example 2 steps of a man with normal height are give or take a meter.Also in time you can tell by experience what is one kilogram and what is not.

This is not a global conspiracy it is a way to make things easier when trading.Can you imagine what would happen if we all used different signs for numbers? You will adopt the metric system with time cause it is superior to the one you use.

[Zippyjuan]

First post is to dig up a 3 1/2 year old thread on the metric system? Hmm. Points for researching old threads.

Welcome to the forum!

[Pericles]

I remember as a kid in the seventies there was a big push for metric and we all learned it. It's all what you get used to, I guess.

That was a government push to convert, not market. The Army is metric for the most part (all distances are in meters or km), fuel was in gal. but we were familiar with liters ... Cooks still have recipes in English measures, though. Most weights still in pounds, but ....

[sailingaway]

no. I for one like cultural differences and am sad that Europe is all 'one country' almost now. That one cubic milimeter of water equals one gram isn't more scientific to me than one square inch of something or other equaling one ounce. Use it if you like it. It is only used here to hide inflation, selling litres where they used to sell quarts, and pricing it the same.

[AFPVet]

I had to learn a little bit of metric in the Air Force. We didn't use yards, we used meters lol.

[Sam I am]

Seems to me that the government is a huge part of the inertia that's keeping the U.S. away from metric, with their food label mandates, mileage signs, and so on. Would a free market have made the switch to metric by now?

How can we switch? Should we switch? I know it's been tried before, but that was when I was too young to be paying attention. Would it be possible to switch without a government mandate?

Here's a map of when countries switched to metric:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/SI-metrication-world.png/800px-SI-metrication-world.png

The reason we haven't switched is because people are still use to English standard. A Switch to the Metric system is one of those things that is going to happen eventually, as a younger generation, who's more familiar with metric, ages.

[Sam I am]

no. I for one like cultural differences and am sad that Europe is all 'one country' almost now. That one cubic milimeter of water equals one gram isn't more scientific to me than one square inch of something or other equaling one ounce. Use it if you like it. It is only used here to hide inflation, selling litres where they used to sell quarts, and pricing it the same.

first off, a liter is more than a quart

a cubic inch of water is equal to about 0.554112554 ounces.

there are about 14.6456 cubic inches in a cup

The metric system is a lot easier to use than English standard because units of volume, temperature, mass, and length are all related to each-other, and it's easier to convert between them

[oyarde]

Nah , if it was up to the people , it would have never been so much as a conversation.

[John F Kennedy III]

Body parts sound more impressive when measured in metric.

[Krugerrand]

The metric system is a bunch of hooey.

Okay, I'll admit that a base-10 system is more useful for scientific calculations. However, the English system is drastically more practical, as the measurements have evolved out of usefulness. Almost all of the English system measurements are Base-12 or Base-16. A 12 unit item is easily divided into 2,3,4,or 6 while retaining whole units. A 16 unit item can be divided in half 4 times and still be in whole units. That 1-cup of butter has 16 tablespoons. Your 1/3 cup measure cup hold 16 teaspoons. That is a measurement system of convenience.

For those convinced that a metric system is so much better I ask why you hold so stubbornly to a standard clock. Why not divide the day into 100 units instead of 24?

There is nothing intrinsically superior about a Base-10 system, other than it corresponds to how many fingers we have on our hands.

Also, the history of measurement systems is governments forcing the systems on the people. Go to towns in Germany and you'll still see the government imposed measurement units mounted on some state house walls. As an interesting tie in with my clock example .... the Government even forces us to agree on "official time." Noon is not anymore when the sun is directly above you. It's when the government says it is. Daylight savings isn't an agreement among locals (for the most part) - it's when Congress tells you to turn back and spring ahead your clock. This was not always the case. There is an old observatory outside of Pittsburgh that used to 'sell time' to the railroads. Cities set their time as was convenient for them.

[fisharmor]

Are you putting objects in orbit? By all means, use metric. I'm sure it'll keep people with effing PhD's from making elementary conversion errors that cause the loss of a couple hundred pounds of metal.

Are you putting up a 20 story high-rise apartment complex, and relying on the fact that it's not going to collapse and kill hundreds of people?
SAE seems to be good enough for a bunch of belly-scratching hillbillies and illegal immigrants to get the job done.

[Krugerrand]

Body parts sound more impressive when measured in metric.
http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2010/12/11/9375d2e3-524b-404f-b00e-a4820cb9f46c.jpg

[ShaneEnochs]

I remember when I was in 7th grade, which was eleven years ago, my math teacher told us that within the next three to five years, we would all be using the metric system. So we learned it, and I hated every second of it.

Even if it would make certain things easier to switch, I like the system that we use, and I would prefer to keep using it.

[Demigod]

To fishamor and kruger

So your only argument against the metric system is that the Imperial is easier for ordinary people to understand which is total nonsense.Neither system is more complicated than the other,it is just which one you are used to measure things in.

For example when you want to measure distance you measure it in yards and miles because as you say you can "measure" it with body parts,but you can do the same with the metric.For example I always thought that the conversion in the Imperial is total stupidity with no whole numbers always going into 3 decimals to convert even the most simple things.


It is all a habit.

[Krugerrand]

To fishamor and kruger

So your only argument against the metric system is that the Imperial is easier for ordinary people to understand which is total nonsense.Neither system is more complicated than the other,it is just which one you are used to measure things in.

For example when you want to measure distance you measure it in yards and miles because as you say you can "measure" it with body parts,but you can do the same with the metric.For example I always thought that the conversion in the Imperial is total stupidity with no whole numbers always going into 3 decimals to convert even the most simple things.


It is all a habit.

Why do you not use a metric clock?

[Krugerrand]

Oh ... and another thing for the metric fans ... why no metric circle? Why not divide a circle into 100 degree?

360 degrees is DRASTICALLY more useful.

In a 100 degree circle, common angles would change to:

90 - 25
45 - 12.5
30 - 8.333333333333333

[Demigod]

Why do you not use a metric clock?

I have never seen one :D and because everyone else use the 24 one.It would just make things complicated for no reason.

[fisharmor]

To fishamor and kruger

So your only argument against the metric system is that the Imperial is easier for ordinary people to understand which is total nonsense.Neither system is more complicated than the other,it is just which one you are used to measure things in.

I said nothing of the sort.
My point is that whiz-bang professors with eight years of college like the metric system so that they don't fuck up some elementary arithmetic, and try to convince the rest of us to use it for that exact same reason.
The rest of society, being the uneducated savages they are, choose simply not to fuck up the elementary arithmetic.

If there's resistance to metric, it's because I believe most people just aren't that stupid and are sick of being told they are.

[oyarde]

Oh ... and another thing for the metric fans ... why no metric circle? Why not divide a circle into 100 degree?

360 degrees is DRASTICALLY more useful.

In a 100 degree circle, common angles would change to:

90 - 25
45 - 12.5
30 - 8.333333333333333 For a compass , 6400 mils ?

[oyarde]

Are you putting objects in orbit? By all means, use metric. I'm sure it'll keep people with effing PhD's from making elementary conversion errors that cause the loss of a couple hundred pounds of metal.

Are you putting up a 20 story high-rise apartment complex, and relying on the fact that it's not going to collapse and kill hundreds of people?
SAE seems to be good enough for a bunch of belly-scratching hillbillies and illegal immigrants to get the job done. :) , my belly does not itch today .

[Anti Federalist]

Is it just me, or is nobody learning or using fractions anymore?

Its two and half feet, not 2.5.

And engines for me, will always in cid. Fuck a bunch of liters.

Now, I say we all go to metric time.

Like, right now, it's just past 1300 EST.

Little over half the day down. 65 minutes past five.

ETA - I see I'm 100 minutes late to the punch, Kruggerand already addressed this.

[BamaAla]

If we were going to switch, wouldn't SI be preferable to metric?

[BamaAla]

I have never seen one :D and because everyone else use the 24 one.It would just make things complicated for no reason.

I studied abroad in Sweden during college and had a mishap with a 24 hour clock. We had gone out on the first night there and when it was over we were waiting at the bus stop to get home. The times were in 24 hour format and we were waiting for the :15 bus at around 11 o'clock. About 45 minutes into waiting, we asked the natives also waiting what the problem was as we had already been waiting 45 minutes for a bus that was supposed to arrive in 15 minutes. They laughingly informed us that the bus was going to arrive at :15...12:15. That was almost as embarrassing as mistakenly walking into (and using) the girls toilet at the theater because I had mistaken it for a co-ed bathroom like in the metro stations :o

[Demigod]

I studied abroad in Sweden during college and had a mishap with a 24 hour clock. We had gone out on the first night there and when it was over we were waiting at the bus stop to get home. The times were in 24 hour format and we were waiting for the :15 bus at around 11 o'clock. About 45 minutes into waiting, we asked the natives also waiting what the problem was as we had already been waiting 45 minutes for a bus that was supposed to arrive in 15 minutes. They laughingly informed us that the bus was going to arrive at :15...12:15. That was almost as embarrassing as mistakenly walking into (and using) the girls toilet at the theater because I had mistaken it for a co-ed bathroom like in the metro stations :o

Using the girls toilet is nothing to be ashamed off ( if you are drunk :D ) It could be said it is even tradition.

On the other hand the clock thing has no excuse .

[oyarde]

Is it just me, or is nobody learning or using fractions anymore?

Its two and half feet, not 2.5.

And engines for me, will always in cid. Fuck a bunch of liters.

Now, I say we all go to metric time.

Like, right now, it's just past 1300 EST.

Little over half the day down. 65 minutes past five.

ETA - I see I'm 100 minutes late to the punch, Kruggerand already addressed this. I am good with two and a half feet , I have 1328 on the laptap. That is what I use at work too.

[Krugerrand]

I said nothing of the sort.
My point is that whiz-bang professors with eight years of college like the metric system so that they don't fuck up some elementary arithmetic, and try to convince the rest of us to use it for that exact same reason.
The rest of society, being the uneducated savages they are, choose simply not to fuck up the elementary arithmetic.

If there's resistance to metric, it's because I believe most people just aren't that stupid and are sick of being told they are.

I would add that I also did not advocate Imperial as easier to understand. I argued that it is more USEFUL. Clearly everything divides by 10 is EASIER to understand. 16 Tablespoons or 48 teaspoons/cup, 2 cups/pint, 2 pints/quart, 4 quarts/gallon, 2 gallons/peck, 4 pecks/bushel clearly requires more thinking than slide a decimal 1 place. However these are USEFUL units of measurement. In fact, one of the biggest arguments FOR metric is that then people don't have to think about it.

[The Free Hornet]

Are you putting objects in orbit? By all means, use metric. I'm sure it'll keep people with effing PhD's from making elementary conversion errors that cause the loss of a couple hundred pounds of metal.

Are you putting up a 20 story high-rise apartment complex, and relying on the fact that it's not going to collapse and kill hundreds of people?
SAE seems to be good enough for a bunch of belly-scratching hillbillies and illegal immigrants to get the job done.

Using one system or the other does not avoid unit conversions. They messed up on that Mars probe. Despite this debate, all scientists should know which units they are using and how to convert from one to the other.

In many engineering and science classes, I/we were able to infer the formulas - and thus the answers - by knowing the units. If you keep them straight, you are less l ikely to screw up. The error is best described as "human error". Take a formula for distance traveled, x (meters). You are given velocity, v (meters/second) and time, t (seconds). When you multiple "v" and "t", the seconds cancel out leaving the unit of the desired answer, x (meters). You don't need to remember that x = vt.

Your high-rise apartment is a more interesting example. To me, there is little point in converting the sizes we use to metric. E.g., I would not want to buy a 12.7 mm bolt. Although that is a size given in metric that corresponds to 1/2 inch, the practical alternative would be a 12 mm bolt. How much re-engineering has to be done to convert our lumber, electrical, plumbing, networking, our PCs (which use both a standard and metric screw).

It only makes sense to be metric if we re-tool and re-size the millions of non-metric parts we use. People who think this is about driving 55 mph or weighing 200 pounds don't know the 1% of it.

In this sense, I think the government is a hinderance in that it often mandates certain non-metric standards (like building codes or labeling requirements) without a metric equivalent. That said, the notion that the US is not metric because the government hasn't mandated such, is simply fascist nonsense.

For some reason, it is lauded to be bilingual but a hilljack with metric and SAE tools is somehow backwards.

Who applauds France or Quebec for mandating the use of French? The only mandate is not being fraudulent and we cracked that nut a long time ago.

[Anti Federalist]

Easier to use?

Bullshit, the Europeans seem to be leading the way in coming up with more and more obscure and confusing "metric" measurement systems every day that goes by.

For instance, measure system pressure in "bars". Entirely unsuitable for most applications as the unit is too large.

For wind speed, not MPH, not even knots, but "meters per second".

Volume measurements in "cubic meters" instead of barrels, gallons or even liters which I could deal with.

Weights not in pounds or tons or even kilograms, but in stress force measurements as Kilo/Newtons, almost impossible to convert.

[Krugerrand]

Is it just me, or is nobody learning or using fractions anymore?

Its two and half feet, not 2.5.

And engines for me, will always in cid. Fuck a bunch of liters.

Now, I say we all go to metric time.

Like, right now, it's just past 1300 EST.

Little over half the day down. 65 minutes past five.

ETA - I see I'm 100 minutes late to the punch, Kruggerand already addressed this.

Isn't it amazing we could go 100 years as a country without our government dictating time to us.

http://www.pitt.edu/~aobsvtry/history.html
By May 1867 interest in the observatory had waned and the declining membership, being in debt, voted to donate the telescope and observatory building to the Western University of Pennsylvania, later to become the University of Pittsburgh. In that same year the observatory was infused with new life through the appointment of Professor S.P. Langley as Director of the Observatory and Professor of Astro-Physics. The observatory received new scientific direction. Langley used the telescope to study the sun, especially sunspots and heat from different parts of the solar spectrum. At last true research had come to the Allegheny Observatory .

Through the friendship and aid of William Thaw, a Pittsburgh industrial leader, Langley was able to improve the observatory equipment and build additional apparati. One of the new instruments was a small transit telescope used to observe the position of the stars as they cross the celestial meridian. With this instrument Langley obtained accurate time. Realizing the need many industries, especially the railroads, had for accurate, uniform time, Langley arranged to send time to subscribers through the telegraph.

The money paid by these users, nearly $3000 annually, helped finance the observatory's research, pay staff salaries, and help maintain the building. One of Langley's greatest interests was to see the observatory put on sound financial footing.


http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0330_040330_daylightsavings.html
In 1883 the U.S. railroad industry established official time zones with a set standard time within each zone. Congress eventually came on board, signing the railroad time zone system into law in 1918.
Weren't those early 1900's grand?

[Demigod]

Easier to use?

Bullshit, the Europeans seem to be leading the way in coming up with more and more obscure and confusing "metric" measurement systems every day that goes by.

For instance, measure system pressure in "bars". Entirely unsuitable for most applications as the unit is too large.

For wind speed, not MPH, not even knots, but "meters per second".

Volume measurements in "cubic meters" instead of barrels, gallons or even liters which I could deal with.

Weights not in pounds or tons or even kilograms, but in stress force measurements as Kilo/Newtons, almost impossible to convert.

Wind:

First we measure wind speed in km/hour which is just like measuring in miles per hour,measuring in meters per second is just converting the km in meters (1= 1000 ) and hours in seconds.Maybe some weather forecasters use it meters per hour because the numbers are bigger and they think that makes the news more sensational.


Volume:

Liter represents one cubic decimeter.I read someone here said that one liter is equal to 1 kg but that is only true if you take one litter of water and it is more close to 0.98 kg.

Also measuring volume in cubic meters is the most practical.You can not say this warehouse is 1000 liters or barrels big.


Weight:


It is always taken in kilograms and I don't even understand why would anyone put it in newtons when newtons is a force measurement .I think that you may have confused weight and mass. The mass of one kilogram is equal to 1 liter ( 10 cubic decimeters of water at normal pressure and at a temperature of 4 degrees Celsius ) while weight is a force that is given to the mass by the gravitational pull that is measured in Newtons.

So one kg of mass on earth has around 9.8 newtons but instead of newtons we use kilograms

It is very simple :D

[Krugerrand]

Wind:

First we measure wind speed in km/hour which is just like measuring in miles per hour,measuring in meters per second is just converting the km in meters (1= 1000 ) and hours in seconds.Maybe some weather forecasters use it meters per hour because the numbers are bigger and they think that makes the news more sensational.


Volume:

Liter represents one cubic decimeter.I read someone here said that one liter is equal to 1 kg but that is only true if you take one litter of water and it is more close to 0.98 kg.

Also measuring volume in cubic meters is the most practical.You can not say this warehouse is 1000 liters or barrels big.


Weight:


It is always taken in kilograms and I don't even understand why would anyone put it in newtons when newtons is a force .

60 seconds / 1 minutes, 60 minutes / 1 hour, 24 hours/1 day. Sorry - why use a half 10-based system and pretend it is truly metric?

At least you can admit that your units are not practical.

[Anti Federalist]

You should have a talk with your fellow seafarers then.

And we should pull out of the IMO treaty.


Wind:

First we measure wind speed in km/hour which is just like measuring in miles per hour,measuring in meters per second is just converting the km in meters (1= 1000 ) and hours in seconds.Maybe some weather forecasters use it meters per hour because the numbers are bigger and they think that makes the news more sensational.


Volume:

Liter represents one cubic decimeter.I read someone here said that one liter is equal to 1 kg but that is only true if you take one litter of water and it is more close to 0.98 kg.

Also measuring volume in cubic meters is the most practical.You can not say this warehouse is 1000 liters or barrels big.


Weight:


It is always taken in kilograms and I don't even understand why would anyone put it in newtons when newtons is a force .

[Demigod]

You should have a talk with your fellow seafarers then.

And we should pull out of the IMO treaty.

landlocked

[FindLiberty]

I can be a horrid troll at times… well, most of the time, or a real horse’s ass by just acting stupid the rest of the time.

Decades ago, while visiting with a lead P.H.D. scientist acquaintance who worked at Amoco at the time, I asked about the metric system and how one would convert Gallons to Liters, and Liters to Gallons.

He patiently explained the conversion mathematics used to convert one way …and then back again.

When he finished, I frowned (as if challenging his Spock-like number crunching) and exclaimed, “A liter is only point 2642 of a gallon? …Why, I expected more from a LEADER!”

I will never forget the look I got from that guy: Disgust, anger (tempered by a slow burn while simultaneously fighting back a laugh) all at the same time.

We don’t speak at all anymore. (Sorry Glenn). I think that was the exact moment when I became addicted to full-time trolling!

(At the time, “You Expect More from a Leader” was a new Amoco marketing slogan.)

[eduardo89]

first off, a liter is more than a quart



What the fuck is a quart?

And who the heck is stupid enough to still use a system where water freezes at 32°?

[eduardo89]

60 seconds / 1 minutes

On a microwave, if you push 60, then it will cook for 60 seconds or 1minute
AND also if you press 1:00 it will cook for 1 minute (right? right!)

So then...

if you add 1:00 and 1:00 is = 2:00 right? so you can cook food for total of two minutes.

BUT if you add 60seconds + 60 seconds it will only cook for one minute and twenty seconds. Even though 60 seconds is 1 minute?
(I know, confusing question, right?)

I guess put into simpliest terms, How come 1 miniute plus one minute = 2 minutes but 60 seconds + 60 seconds = 1 minute 20 seconds? (1:20)

[heavenlyboy34]

What the fuck is a quart?

And who the heck is stupid enough to still use a system where water freezes at 32°?
The US government. ;)

[eduardo89]

If we were going to switch, wouldn't SI be preferable to metric?

The International System of Units (abbreviated SI from French: Système international d'unités) is the modern form of the metric system and is generally a system of units of measurement devised around seven base units and the convenience of the number ten.

SI base units:
Metre
Kilogram
Second
Ampere
Kelvin
Candela
Mole

[Krugerrand]

What the fuck is a quart?

And who the heck is stupid enough to still use a system where water freezes at 32°?

Is it really that strange that a quarter of a gallon would over time become known as a quart?

While 0 and 100 make for handy numbers to remember in science class. It's pretty clear that Fahrenheit has far greater precision to the whole number than Celsius. Again, it is more practical!

(I do like celsius from a science perspective.)

http://www.biglearning.org/photo-thermometer.jpg http://constructionmanuals.tpub.com/14279/img/14279_104_1.jpg

[oyarde]

What the fuck is a quart?

And who the heck is stupid enough to still use a system where water freezes at 32°? To be helpful , just think of a quart as a big beer , the kind you reach for after work.

[Anti Federalist]

What the fuck is a quart?

A quarter of a gallon, you silly European pig-dog.

Now, go away, before I taunt you some more.

[oyarde]

On a microwave, if you push 60, then it will cook for 60 seconds or 1minute
AND also if you press 1:00 it will cook for 1 minute (right? right!)

So then...

if you add 1:00 and 1:00 is = 2:00 right? so you can cook food for total of two minutes.

BUT if you add 60seconds + 60 seconds it will only cook for one minute and twenty seconds. Even though 60 seconds is 1 minute?
(I know, confusing question, right?)

I guess put into simpliest terms, How come 1 miniute plus one minute = 2 minutes but 60 seconds + 60 seconds = 1 minute 20 seconds? (1:20) I think you may have a defective chinese machine ;)

[Xenophage]

I agree with torch. It would have stayed standard English (or whatever the standard is in that part of the world) if it wasn't for governments interfering in those countries and forcing the people to learn the new system. Personally, I like the English standard system since you can use body parts to measure things when you don't have an appropriate measuring device.

No you can't. That's idiotic. For instance, something may be five penises long when you measure it, but only one penis long when I measure it.

[brushfire]

Metric is superior, IMO. There are some mfg companies who have voluntarily converted - mostly due to international trade, and of course the DOD uses metric.

[LibertyRevolution]

I prefer metric, I prefer decimals over fractions.
It pissed me off to no end when people hand me a floor plan with dimensions like: 98ft 5 3/32in x 65ft 7 3/16th
I think its easier to just say 30m x 20m...

[Rothbardian Girl]

I, too, prefer metric, for the same reason as noted above ^. Can't stand fractions.

[EvilEngineer]

As an engineer... I do all my work in metric and convert back only if needed. A base 10 system is much easier to work with.

[Sam I am]

Oh ... and another thing for the metric fans ... why no metric circle? Why not divide a circle into 100 degree?

360 degrees is DRASTICALLY more useful.

In a 100 degree circle, common angles would change to:

90 - 25
45 - 12.5
30 - 8.333333333333333

Generally speaking, when people do more complicated calculations involving circles, they use radians. There are about 2*PI radians in a circle

[VanBummel]

For instance, something may be five penises long when you measure it, but only one penis long when I measure it.

Thread winner.

[heavenlyboy34]

A quarter of a gallon, you silly European pig-dog.

Now, go away, before I taunt you some more.
AhHHHH HAHAHAHAHA!!!! :D:D:D classic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V7zbWNznbs

[eduardo89]

Is it really that strange that a quarter of a gallon would over time become known as a quart?

While 0 and 100 make for handy numbers to remember in science class. It's pretty clear that Fahrenheit has far greater precision to the whole number than Celsius. Again, it is more practical!

(I do like celsius from a science perspective.)



Science is the only time you really need precision and Kelvin/Celcius make more sense than Fahrenheit. In everyday use you don't need precision. I'm not going to notice the difference between 25°C weather and 25.363738 degree weather.

[eduardo89]

No you can't. That's idiotic. For instance, something may be five penises long when you measure it, but only one penis long when I measure it.

Thread winner.

[Tod]

As an engineer, I've worked with both metric and us, and both have pros and cons. In this day of computers, I don't think metric has the potential for savings that it had at one time; computers don't mind what units you use.

For everyday use, I find the us system to be remarkably more useful than metric because so many of the units work so well with natural phenomena, such as the fact that my foot is about a foot long, my thumb is about an inch across, 60 mph is a mile a minute, etc. I use those facts and others quite often, surprisingly enough.

[Icymudpuppy]

I prefer metric. I wish time was also measured in convenient units of Ten. I've actually invented a clock that uses a 10 hour day, with 100 minute hours, and 100 second minutes. A new hour is a little more than twice as long as an old hour. The new minutes however are only a little longer than an old minute, and the new seconds are almost the same as an old second. The biggest problem is that resetting the time measurements would throw all kinds of measurements out of whack as many chemist and physicist measurements even in the metric system are still based on a 24 hour time measurement system.

[eduardo89]

I prefer metric. I wish time was also measured in convenient units of Ten. I've actually invented a clock that uses a 10 hour day, with 100 minute hours, and 100 second minutes. A new hour is a little more than twice as long as an old hour. The new minutes however are only a little longer than an old minute, and the new seconds are almost the same as an old second. The biggest problem is that resetting the time measurements would throw all kinds of measurements out of whack as many chemist and physicist measurements even in the metric system are still based on a 24 hour time measurement system.

The second is actually based on something though:


the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133 atom.

[pcosmar]

Without government intervention, would the U.S. be metric by now?

Which government? World Government?

I had no interest at all till the Government started pushing it in school.

I was fine with American Standard, and even managed with British/American Standard.

And I would honestly like to punch out the guy that invented and promoted Torx.

[eduardo89]

And I would honestly like to punch out the guy that invented and promoted Torx.

Robertson, Phillips and Slot are all that's needed.

Torx is American invented btw, company from rhode island

[Anti Federalist]

I was fine with American Standard, and even managed with British/American Standard.


Ah, Whitworth fasteners, I see we meet again.

I like to pull my hair out the first time I started digging into that Trumpy of mine, wondering wtf are these sizes.

[Jingles]

Metric makes sense for science related things. I just don't think in metric so to speak. If someone tells me something is like 15kgs or 4kms away I can't exactly visual it in my head. If some tells me something is 20lbs or is like 3 miles away I can visualize what they are talking about.

[Icymudpuppy]

The second is actually based on something though:

It could just as easily be based on something else. Say a precise division of a fraction of 1:100,000 the time it takes the earth to complete 1 rotation.

[eduardo89]

Metric makes sense for science related things. I just don't think in metric so to speak. If someone tells me something is like 15kgs or 4kms away I can't exactly visual it in my head. If some tells me something is 20lbs or is like 3 miles away I can visualize what they are talking about.

1 mile = 1.6 km
1 km = 0.6 miles

1 kg = 2.2 lbs
1 lbs = 0.45 kg

[eduardo89]

It could just as easily be based on something else. Say a precise division of a fraction of 1:100,000 the time it takes the earth to complete 1 rotation.

I know I was just pointing out how arbitrary a second really is.


the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133 atom.

[Carson]

There were plans and a time table. I think what happened was someone pointed out that part of what makes our engineering so sound is that it was developed with practical size fasteners. Other aspects were developed for practicality as well.

The thing with the fasteners for me is that nuts bolts and screws where made for applications because they fit. Metric fasteners are made to scale. In other words they were developed by scaling from say 1mm to 2mm and on and on. When you go to building the things we've been building they just seems to fit oddly. Then you go to grab a metric drill to drill a hole for you metric fastener and all the soul in the size has been given over to making them to a scale.

I don't know if I'm getting things what I want to convey through.

Stuff just comes out odd in the application.

English on the other hand is not to any scale. When you make a screw you need to go by a chart for the dimensions. Drills were also developed in wire, letter and fractional sizes. It was done because of practical applications. Like I said before it approached the problem in a forward direction or the beginning and not re-engineered a concept from the end results back.

[LibertyRevolution]

Robertson, Phillips and Slot are all that's needed.

Torx is American invented btw, company from rhode island

Slot needs to go the way of the dinosaurs, they are horrible to work with. Why do they make these still?

I find that using Safety Torx screws is a great way of keeping my screwed down stuff not stolen.
I used these in my stereo competition car. You get bonus points for them under system security.
http://i00.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/222497272/Security_Screw_Torx_Pin_Head.jpg

People looking to steal stereo equipment from cars don't tend to carry these bits.

[Anti Federalist]

AhHHHH HAHAHAHAHA!!!! :D:D:D classic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V7zbWNznbs

You tiny brained wipers of other people's bottoms!!!

[Mark37snj]

The scientific community already uses the Metric system. The Metric system is based on science and is more useful in science then the Standard system America uses. Although I am not looking forward to having to shop for shoes in a Metric society. :D

[heavenlyboy34]

The scientific community already uses the Metric system. The Metric system is based on science and is more useful in science then the Standard system America uses. Although I am not looking forward to having to shop for shoes in a Metric society. :D
When you measure your body parts in centimeters it sounds more impressive. ;) :D lolz

[idiom]

Interestingly, nautical kilometres are the same as land kilometres which are the same as imperial kilometres.

Also there a 1,000,000 millimetres in a kilometre. Exactly. Every time.

A Cubic metre contains 1000 metric litres, but also 1000 short litres and oddly enough 1000 imperial litres. If filled with pure water it will weigh about 1 tonne, which is also 1000 kg, or 1,000,000 grams.

So a cubic centimetre of water weighs 1 gram.

More or less.

On the other hand a Mile always has 63360 inches in it, except when it has 63360.125 or 72913.2 inches. Much simpler.

[Ireland4Liberty]

We use both in Ireland and its not a problem. I dont see what the big deal is here?!

[Icymudpuppy]

The scientific community already uses the Metric system. The Metric system is based on science and is more useful in science then the Standard system America uses. Although I am not looking forward to having to shop for shoes in a Metric society. :D

Why not? It would make more sense to use a linear measurement for shoe size than some random numbers. Now, if my size 8.5 E was 8 1/2 inches long by 5 inches wide, it might make sense. But my foot is 10 3/4 inches long by 4 inches wide. I don't see why I couldn't just use metric and order a shoe that was 27.5 centimeters long and 10.25 centimeters wide.

[Noob]

I hate the metric system...