The US should switch to metric - Page 2

Urban Ranger · May 15, 2003, 00:37

Quote:

Originally posted by Felch
Why the hell would I need to? If you're trying to fill the hottub up, you turn the ****ing faucet on until it's full. We live in the United States, not in some physics final.

Then somebody askes you, "How much water is in that tub?" Then you'd end up looking like a babbling twit.

Inverse Icarus · May 15, 2003, 00:38

Quote:

Originally posted by Asher
Metric is easier for academia, but much of the measurements are a pain in the ass in the real world.

in academia, we use metric (in all my physics / calculus classes anyway).

Combat Ingrid · May 15, 2003, 01:01

Quote:

Originally posted by Asher
Metric is easier for academia, but much of the measurements are a pain in the ass in the real world.

It's just a matter of what units you are used to.

Regarding kilometers/miles, in Sweden what we call a "mile" is ten kilometers. That's a very convenient unit for distances, try it!

Promethus · May 15, 2003, 01:08

Who will fit in a 3 cubic foot hot tub (12" X 12" X 36" = 3 cubic feet.

IIRC water = 42 Lbs per cubic foot.

Deg C suck (and they don't do that very well) for HVAC work but are maybe ok otherwise.

SB is correct Hex is better 1 cup = 8 oz - 1 pint =16 oz - 1 quart =32 oz - 1/2 gallon = 64 oz - 1 gallon = 128 oz

and liters just plain kilck me off!

Gatekeeper · May 15, 2003, 02:44

My hectare is bigger than your acre!

Az · May 15, 2003, 02:52

actually, metric are great for describing people and distances, too, if you're born with it. And then you won't have trouble changing units when you go to the academic world.

BeBro · May 15, 2003, 03:17

Yeah, US, use metric!!! And while you are at it, you could also switch to the German language, would be easier for me

Az · May 15, 2003, 03:19

No seriousy, switch to metric.

Ramo · May 15, 2003, 03:19

And SI's much better than cgs. Damn astronomers.

BeBro · May 15, 2003, 03:23

Seriously I support it.

But OTOH it would be funny to see protesters against the US crying "Bush - no Kyoto protocoll - no metric system!!!"

CyberGnu · May 15, 2003, 03:28

Man, is this the most obvious thread on apolyton ever?

Should we try "people should stop smoking crack" next?

Rufus T. Firefly · May 15, 2003, 03:39

Three pages and no one has quoted Grandpa Simpson yet? Must I do everything myself?

"The metric system is the tool of the devil. My car gets fourty rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it!"

I fully admit the logic of switching to metric, but the problem is that the US system has too strong a grip on my psychology. Take height. We all know the world is divided into two types of men: those who ar over 6 feet tall, and thus Real Men, and those who are under 6 feet tall, and thus Almost Men (disclaimer: I'm 5'11"). 6 is a nice round number, easy for making this distinction. But in metric, it's 182.88 cm. Where's the manhood in being able to say, "I'm over 182.88 centimeters tall!" And, sure, you could just make the knew Real Man cutoff 2 meters, but then you're only dealing with basketball players and circus freaks.

Same thing with temperature and distance. "Man is it hot; must be 110 in the shade!" sounds way hotter than "43 in the shade"; 100 miles an hour sounds fast and IS fast, while 100 kph sounds fast but isn't.

Urban Ranger · May 15, 2003, 03:50

Quote:

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
"The metric system is the tool of the devil. My car gets fourty rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it!"

I think Uber did

Quote:

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
I fully admit the logic of switching to metric, but the problem is that the US system has too strong a grip on my psychology. Take height. We all know the world is divided into two types of men: those who ar over 6 feet tall, and thus Real Men, and those who are under 6 feet tall, and thus Almost Men (disclaimer: I'm 5'11"). 6 is a nice round number, easy for making this distinction. But in metric, it's 182.88 cm. Where's the manhood in being able to say, "I'm over 182.88 centimeters tall!" And, sure, you could just make the knew Real Man cutoff 2 meters, but then you're only dealing with basketball players and circus freaks.

You're just short and a Real Man wannabe

As for myself, I am content to be a geek

Nothing wrong with 2 meters, otherwise there'd too many fake Real Man pretenders.

Quote:

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
Same thing with temperature and distance. "Man is it hot; must be 110 in the shade!" sounds way hotter than "43 in the shade"; 100 miles an hour sounds fast and IS fast, while 100 kph sounds fast but isn't.

When a car runs into a tree, 100 kph is plenty fast enough to turn it into a total wreck. Speaking of which, you can easily figure the force of impact, and the energy, and so forth. Can't with the Imperial system.

Rufus T. Firefly · May 15, 2003, 03:59

Quote:

Originally posted by Urban Ranger

I think Uber did

Damn! I do that a lot when I read 'poly in the morning. Clearly, I need more coffee.

Main_Brain · May 15, 2003, 06:51

US measuremen is sooo 15th Century :P
You are the 'Old America'

Paul Hanson · May 15, 2003, 07:00

I use both, but when I use imperial for distances I always work it out in metric terms, if you see what I mean; I can tell if something is 3 feet away, but that's only because I know that a foot is roughly 30 centimetres. Likewise, I know that an inch is about 2.5 centimetres, making it fairly easy for me to calculate things like that.

lightblue · May 15, 2003, 07:07

I have lived in the UK for 7 years now, and though i got a good handle on miles/yards/feet/inches I still can't deal with stones (lbs is easier to convert to kgs: -10% and /2). I think they are about 6.2kgs but I hear variable stuff

Buck Birdseed · May 15, 2003, 07:16

The reason things seem easier to express in Imperial is because the measurements are so ingrained in the language. It takes a while for relevant idioms to develop around the metric system, but it does happen, eventually... I mean, if I gave my height in swedish as "sex fot två tum" it'd sound insane compared to "en och åttinio".

CerberusIV · May 15, 2003, 07:18

I am surprised that no-one has mentioned the Mars probe NASA lost because someone forgot to convert kilometres to miles. It would be easier if everyone used the same system. I would say it should be whichever system most people use but I don't know what units they measure in in China

and if it isn't metric that would be too difficult for europeans as well as americans.

In the UK it is crazy. We drag people who sell fruit and vegetables weighed in pounds to court and fine them yet our speed limit and distance signs on the roads are still in miles not kilometres.

Dauphin · May 15, 2003, 07:21

Both systems seem perfectly natural to me. Metric is obviously far easier to actually calculate anything with.

MikeH · May 15, 2003, 07:22

Quote:

Originally posted by Big Crunch
Both systems seem perfectly natural to me. Metric is obviously far easier to actually calculate anything with.

Of course, if the Americans want to make their lives much harder then it doesn't bother me.

CerberusIV · May 15, 2003, 07:25

Quote:

Originally posted by lightblue
I have lived in the UK for 7 years now, and though i got a good handle on miles/yards/feet/inches I still can't deal with stones (lbs is easier to convert to kgs: -10% and /2). I think they are about 6.2kgs but I hear variable stuff

One stone is 14 pounds. A hundredweight is actually 112 pounds (8 stone) and a ton is 20 hundredweight or 2240 pounds.

That is my memory feat for the day. Not bad for something I learnt in school back in 1968.

Oh yes, and there are approximately 4.5 litres in an imperial gallon, which is not the same as a US gallon.

Sava · May 15, 2003, 07:55

IIRC, England, the country that spawned the dreaded English Standard system, has switched to metric. IT'S TIME TO SWITCH!

Dauphin · May 15, 2003, 07:59

Quote:

Originally posted by Sava
IIRC, England, the country that spawned the dreaded English Standard system, has switched to metric. IT'S TIME TO SWITCH!

We've switched to impetrical system. A cross between the two.

Sava · May 15, 2003, 08:00

How does that work?

MikeH · May 15, 2003, 08:02

Quote:

Originally posted by Sava
IIRC, England, the country that spawned the dreaded English Standard system, has switched to metric. IT'S TIME TO SWITCH!

What the hell's the English Standard system? We used to use imperial which has different volume measurements to your system

Sava · May 15, 2003, 08:04

In the US, they blame our system on the English.

tinyp3nis · May 15, 2003, 08:37

Quote:

Originally posted by Asher
I actually agree with Horsie on this one.

It's easier to describe a person's height in feet and inches rather than meters or centimeters.

Likewise for weight in pounds rather than kilograms.

Metric is easier for academia, but much of the measurements are a pain in the ass in the real world.

I don't have a problem with kilometers though...

Only to you and the others who learned it first. The ones who learn the metric first, think metric is easier even for height.

Rufus T. Firefly · May 15, 2003, 08:48

Quote:

Originally posted by tinyp3nis

Only to you and the others who learned it first. The ones who learn the metric first, think metric is easier even for height.

What I've always wondered about, though, is why there's no popular use of decimeters. To my American mind, a unit of measure that's about 4 inches long seems far more useful in everyday life than a unit of measure that's less than half an inch long (i.e., the centimeter). Whatever became of the decimeter?

MikeH · May 15, 2003, 09:02

It never vanished it's just not commonly used. You might as well just use meters.

In engineering terms everything is measured in millimeters or meters. Decimeter is just .1 meters.