My metric: rant

[Sethos]

I am from the US and I love my country, but I'm never one who is to proud to throw out something, when there is something better out there. I am also in a physics class, and as we all know science uses metric (this should probably tell us something...) and it amazes people when I make simple metric conversions like say meters to Km or Ml to L. Keeping this in mind, allow us to examine the measurment systems: Standard, and Metric.

Metric: the rule is really rather simple, a power of ten and zammo you're there.

Standard: the smallest unit that you have in length measurment is the inch, you must then begin to sub-divide this in to fractions of an inch that is massivly in accurate. then we jump in to the so called foot. now a foot is made of 12 inches (where this number came from we know not, but there is some speculation that it comes from king James's actual foot...). now then we travel in miles, there are 5280 feet in a mile, and one must wonder where do we get this particular number from?? Of all the questions one could ask the real one is, why did we start the standard system in the first place? (one that finally has an answer no matter how pathetic it is...) The answer is (do I hear a drum roll?) Because we didn't want to be like the evil Brittish (remember this is way back like 200 years ago (a unit (year) that does make sence by the way)). The next question is prehappse, why haven't we converted over yet?!?! Yes still in the standard system even though it sucks, yes even though it caused a $40 million accident with a satalite sent to Mars; the answer is "it's to hard to learn (in a whiny voice none the less). At this point if you could hear me I'd be screaming out of exasperation "WHAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

The last question is: will we ever change over? God I hope so!

This concludes my little rant on the general ignorance, stuborness, and lazyness of a lot of people *caugh*politicians*caugh*.

~Sethos

[thop]

I believe the US likes to have things there own way Same goes for Fahrenheit/Celsius or for the date format they use (mm/dd/yyyy).

[KeiFront]

You can simply avoid the last one 14-JAN-2003

[Ribbit]

Lets not forget things like US gallons vs. Imperial gallons etc....

[Wombat]

Imperial gallons are stupid.

On the other hand, imperial pints are some of my best friends.

[Novdid]

Well fact is that the metric system is easier, and that Celsius is more suitable to our environment than Fahrenheit.

BUT, it's tradition in the US, and traditions are difficult to completely do away with. So my bet is that you'll have to live with inches and miles and weather with temperatures around the boiling point of water a long time come.

[Pace]

You could also argue that using the freezing point of water is a silly scale as well. While I do like the idea, it really confuses people to consider that -273 degrees Celsius is the lowest temperature possible.

<q>"Whaddya mean, absolute zero? You must be able to get colder than that. Zero degrees Celsius is "no temperature", from there it's either cold or hot"</q>

Why do we divide the day into 12 hours? Hours into 60 minutes? Minutes into 60 seconds? Why not split the day into 10? Obviously the remainder of time units (days, years) are related to the movement of the Earth (although I see no need for months at the moment, other than real lunar ones).

P.

[Wombat]

Besides that, it's pretty meaningless anywhere but fresh-water sealevel. Water boils a tad earlier up here, and freezing is another game entirely.

[KvHagedorn]

This is an utterly stupid point of contention. Learn both, use both... no big deal. I have drawn plans out where 1mm = 1 foot. This is easy for most people to comprehend because a mm is easier to work with on a plan, but a foot is more easy to visualize when you are thinking about the size of a room. We might start using liters for gasoline here simply because it makes gas look cheaper per unit measure.

How do you respond as a non-Briton when confronted with someone stating that they weigh 10 stone? Do you get aggressive and think "you prick, use some measure I can understand!" I don't. I go look up how much a stone is, find that it's 14 pounds, think "oh," and convert it in my head, then I think about how that might be an easier measure for some people to visualize when using human weight, like "hands" might be for horse people when measuring a horse's height.

These are just tools. They do not rule us, they are there to be used. It ain't no big thing.

[Dr Mordrid]

I agree with KvHagedorn: learn 'em both. Thats what I did and it didn't make my skin fall off

Dr. Mordrid

[SitFlyer]

Originally posted by Dr Mordrid
I agree with KvHagedorn: learn 'em both. Thats what I did and it didn't make my skin fall off

Dr. Mordrid

I also agree.

[Sethos]

I would gladely agree to learning both, acutually I already have, the point is that most of the public here is to lazy to do so, which is very annoying, because Metric makes much more logical sence, unlike standard...Oh well doomed to disappointment I guess...

~Sethos

[Admiral]

My mind's set on metric but out of necessity or curiosity I'll probably learn more about standard.

There's no need to start a holy war on it though

[The PIT]

Originally posted by KvHagedorn
This is an utterly stupid point of contention. Learn both, use both... no big deal.

Not if you don't check what measurements the other scientists are using. 40 Million is quite a bit of dosh to lose over a silly mistake.

[Gurm]

My problem is that, being brought up using standard units, my mind has no quick conception of how much a kilo is, or how long a kilometer is.

I can do the conversion and then go oh, it's X miles or Y pounds, but until I do that, it's a meaningless number.

"I'm 2 meters tall..." means a lot less to me than "I'm 7.5 feet tall".

THAT SAID, I think metric is better, and frankly we SHOULD use it, even for time units. It's silly not to.

- Gurn