May 16, 2003, 12:45
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#121
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Prince
Local Time: 02:31
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Posts: 366
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Quote:
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Originally posted by Urban Ranger
These measurement units are all artificial constructions.
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Not all. A year has to have 365 and a bit days no matter what units you want to use.
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May 16, 2003, 17:45
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#122
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Emperor
Local Time: 20:31
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: San Antonio
Posts: 18,269
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Quote:
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Nah, I want Kelvin.
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I actually cannot understand fahrenheit.
BTW, why do the Americans use a system that orginated in Germany?
You would think they would learn after the FIRST spacecraft that crashes.
__________________
Scouse Git (2) LaFayette and Adam Smith you will be missed
"All my own perception of beauty both in majesty and simplicity is founded upon Our Lady." - JRR Tolkein
Get busy living or get busy dying.
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May 16, 2003, 18:04
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#123
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King
Local Time: 03:31
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Hooked on a feeling
Posts: 1,780
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I think the second comes from the heart rate. But you have to be extremely fit and rested to have a heart rate of 60 bpm. Perhaps the Sumerian elite soldiers were like that? Or the unit has changed over the millenia.
But I wouldn't complain if they changed hours, minutes and seconds into 10 hours a day and the other sub-units into 10 or 100 parts of that.
Have a nice 10-hour day
__________________
So get your Naomi Klein books and move it or I'll seriously bash your faces in - Supercitizen to stupid students
Lord know, I've made some judgement errors as a mod here. The fact that most of you are still allowed to post here is proof of that. - Rah
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May 16, 2003, 18:50
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#124
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Emperor
Local Time: 11:31
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Caerdydd, Cymru
Posts: 5,303
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I'm happy for the Americans to keep their feet planted firmly in the dark ages - after all, even their own mother country has adopted metric...
No skin off my nose, I can do both either independently or as a convertion from one to the other...
What I do find disturbing is that there seem to be a large number of you americans using 'imperial' (ah, the nostalgia...  ) who don't have a clue how many pounds there are to a stone - if you're gonna use it, use it properly...
Horse is right about miles and kms though, at least with miles you get a real sense of achievement when you've reeled off a few hundred - not like those namby-pamby kms...
__________________
"People would rather die than think, and most people do." - Bertrand Russell
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May 18, 2003, 03:37
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#125
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Deity
Local Time: 09:31
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: May 1999
Location: The City State of Noosphere, CPA special envoy
Posts: 14,606
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Quote:
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Originally posted by Rogan Josh
Not all. A year has to have 365 and a bit days no matter what units you want to use.
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Why chose a year? It's only because of agriculture that humans needed to know when to plant crops. So it's all artificial, after all.
__________________
(\__/) 07/07/1937 - Never forget
(='.'=) "Claims demand evidence; extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence." -- Carl Sagan
(")_(") "Starting the fire from within."
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May 18, 2003, 08:03
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#126
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King
Local Time: 02:31
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: All Connections That Have Been Made Are Now Dead
Posts: 2,981
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i was taught metric, but i still understand imperial much better.
here we use different systems for different things, height, weight and distance are still measured in imperial, but if you buy petrol or large quatities of drink you'll be buying in litres. temperature is measured in degrees C rather than F.
i would hate to switch fully to metric, if someone tells me their height or weight in metric i always ask 'what's that in english?'
__________________
"The Christian way has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found to be hard and left untried" - GK Chesterton.
"The most obvious predicition about the future is that it will be mostly like the past" - Alain de Botton
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May 18, 2003, 08:32
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#127
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Chieftain
Local Time: 01:31
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: St. John's, Newfoundland
Posts: 48
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Duh. The US is using the metric system. Do you think the White House buys a pound of butter? No, it buys .6kg (or whatever it is) instead. The metric system is the standard system for the US Government, its just not used on food labels and highway/road signs as well as when talking about property (like ft squared and miles squared, acres, etc...) and other stuff like that. Its just the stuff where Imperial works just as well and everybody knows it already so why intentionally screw up everyone when you don't have to?
Remember the US is a big country... it would cost a ton and confuse millions. Why bother?
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May 18, 2003, 22:57
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#128
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King
Local Time: 19:31
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Liberal Socialist Party of Apolyton. Fargo Chapter
Posts: 1,649
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The units of time were first used by the Sumerians and are still used because it is a base-60 that can easily be used as parts of a circle (a year is 360 plus 5.24 days). A 24-hour system is quite rational, it can be divided easily into many things, much more that a base-10 time system.
__________________
Nothing to see here, move along: http://selzlab.blogspot.com
The attempt to produce Heaven on Earth often produces Hell. -Karl Popper
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May 18, 2003, 23:00
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#129
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Deity
Local Time: 09:31
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: May 1999
Location: The City State of Noosphere, CPA special envoy
Posts: 14,606
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Quote:
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Originally posted by JimmyCracksCorn
Remember the US is a big country... it would cost a ton and confuse millions. Why bother?
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Canada is bigger, and China has more people.
__________________
(\__/) 07/07/1937 - Never forget
(='.'=) "Claims demand evidence; extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence." -- Carl Sagan
(")_(") "Starting the fire from within."
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May 19, 2003, 20:00
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#130
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King
Local Time: 18:31
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Ca. USA
Posts: 1,282
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Quote:
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Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Canada is bigger, and China has more people.
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Yes, but the USA is number 3 in Population and Number 3 in size of Country.
Pop. China, India, and USA.
Size Russia, Canada, USA.
Besides, I have already said no and any more posting on this thread is a waste of time.
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May 19, 2003, 20:03
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#131
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Local Time: 21:31
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: on the corner of Peachtree and Peachtree
Posts: 30,698
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Quote:
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BTW, why do the Americans use a system that orginated in Germany?
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Well that's obvious isn't it? If you dislike the French, the Germans are your natural ally  .
__________________
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
- John 13:34-35 (NRSV)
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May 19, 2003, 20:06
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#132
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Local Time: 12:31
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Skanky Father
Posts: 16,530
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Quote:
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Remember the US is a big country... it would cost a ton and confuse millions. Why bother?
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Because America trades with the rest of the world, and excluding two other countries, everyone uses metric. So while your millions continue to use that old system, it confuses billions.
__________________
I'm building a wagon! On some other part of the internets, obviously (but not that other site).
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May 19, 2003, 20:26
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#133
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Deity
Local Time: 18:31
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: In a bamboo forest hiding from Dale.
Posts: 17,436
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Other then sending the odd satilite crashing into the atmosphere of other planets what harm does it do us? None at all.
__________________
Christianity is the belief in a cosmic Jewish zombie who can give us eternal life if we symbolically eat his flesh and blood and telepathically tell him that we accept him as our lord and master so he can remove an evil force present in all humanity because a woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from an apple tree.
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May 19, 2003, 21:22
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#134
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Deity
Local Time: 18:31
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: In a bamboo forest hiding from Dale.
Posts: 17,436
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Quote:
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Originally posted by MOBIUS
I'm happy for the Americans to keep their feet planted firmly in the dark ages - after all, even their own mother country has adopted metric...
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 My dad's from Scotland and everytime his family comes to visit us in California they always, always, always talk about stones, pounds, feet, and miles. Canada is metric too but I remember a Canadan girl my friend dated in College and she couldn't even say how tall she was in metric; she'd just say 5'7".
__________________
Christianity is the belief in a cosmic Jewish zombie who can give us eternal life if we symbolically eat his flesh and blood and telepathically tell him that we accept him as our lord and master so he can remove an evil force present in all humanity because a woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from an apple tree.
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May 19, 2003, 22:14
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#135
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King
Local Time: 21:31
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,251
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<-----American who is 100% for s witching to metrics.
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May 19, 2003, 23:01
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#136
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Prince
Local Time: 01:31
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: Far away from here
Posts: 612
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We have the MEGATONS and we say no!
__________________
Pax Superiore Vi Tellarum
Equal Opportunity Killer: We will kill regardless of race, creed, color,
gender, sexual preference,or age
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May 20, 2003, 00:22
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#137
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Emperor
Local Time: 21:31
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Sep 1999
Posts: 3,361
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Why switch? There's no reason to. Besides, variety is the spice of life.
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May 20, 2003, 03:01
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#138
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King
Local Time: 03:31
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Hooked on a feeling
Posts: 1,780
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Shouldn't that be Megatonnes?
95% of the world population have adapted the metric system. Almost 50% of them have Megatonnes too (China, India, Russia, France etc). And metric tonnes are heavier than short tons...
__________________
So get your Naomi Klein books and move it or I'll seriously bash your faces in - Supercitizen to stupid students
Lord know, I've made some judgement errors as a mod here. The fact that most of you are still allowed to post here is proof of that. - Rah
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