Foo - Why don't we use the metric system, again?

red = countries not using the metric system.
grey = everyone else.

What about lasagna?

o.o

They may have us out numbered but we have them out brained...:rolleyes:

So, is Hawaii red, or is it just too small for my monitor to know the difference?

I use it all the time to measure medicine for my kids. Your map is teh wrong.

How do you convert 42 quail eating porcupine jerky from to metric?

We are part of an elite few.

I use it every day. I hate the English system.

<Beyond the Fringe>
"Sir, I want to be one of the few!"
"I'm sorry, there are far too many."
</Beyond the Fringe>

Hey we are. Bikes are metric (56cm frame, 27.2 seatpost, etc.) and some beer, wine and liquor are in liters. What else is there?

Hey we are. Bikes are metric (56cm frame, 27.2 seatpost, etc.) and some beer, wine and liquor are in liters. What else is there?

i actually drink my beer in gallons.

Metric system is nice, but I would have no idea how fast to drive if speed limit signs were in km/h...

We do. ;)

Metric system is nice, but I would have no idea how fast to drive if speed limit signs were in km/h...100KM/H translates to about 60MPH (actually more like 62). Mathematic accordingly. ;)

They taught us metric in grade school because the whole country was going to change to it. That was 30 years ago. Ah, well at least a know some trivial metric measures.

i actually drink my beer in gallons.
You just think you are drinking it in gallons. It laughs all the way down your throat knowing it is flowing in litres. Beer is sneaky like that.:D

i actually drink my beer in gallons.

Frat boys in the states routinely swig beer by the yard...but it takes a real man to drink a meter of beer!

red = countries not using the metric system.
grey = everyone else.
I'm totally on that page, man. I've been complaining about that since high school. I wish we would quit thinking "our way" is better JUST BECAUSE it's "our way".



Metric system is nice, but I would have no idea how fast to drive if speed limit signs were in km/h...
Why not? Every car I've ever had (and I'm nearly twice your age) has had Km/Hr as well as M/Hr in the speed gauge.

We don't even know the English system, so why do people complain about metric?

Whats the English unit for mass?

How many pecks in a bushel?

Don't even get me started on Whitworthless threads.

Why not? Every car I've ever had (and I'm nearly twice your age) has had Km/Hr as well as M/Hr in the speed gauge.

I was just being a little sarcastic, I'm sure I could learn to read signs in metric just fine...:rolleyes:

I've taken a lot of chemistry and biology classes lately, and we use a lot of metric measurements. It really is easier. It would be nice to switch over completely, but I think Americans would be way too stubborn.

I've taken a lot of chemistry and biology classes lately, and we use a lot of metric measurements. It really is easier. It would be nice to switch over completely, but I think Americans would be way too stubborn.
Maybe once the old fogeys who have never learned it die off...

We don't even know the English system, so why do people complain about metric?

Whats the English unit for mass?

How many pecks in a bushel?

Don't even get me started on Whitworthless threads.

exactly. so, we don't know the english system and we don't really use the metric system. so, what do we have, exactly?

It is pretty strange.
For science and engineering the english system is completely ridiculous and only a hack would continue to use it. But in most other things it really doesn't matter much to me. I am equally comfortable with either system. I'd rather use metric exclusively, and I set my bike computer to km/h, but in the grand scheme of things I really don't care whether the grocery store weighs my bananas in pounds or kilograms.

Ken B. has spoken!

Metric system is nice, but I would have no idea how fast to drive if speed limit signs were in km/h...
100KPH= 60 MPH.

We don't even know the English system, so why do people complain about metric?

Whats the English unit for mass?

How many pecks in a bushel?

Don't even get me started on Whitworthless threads.

The English unit for mass is not pounds. It's slugs, or something like that.

There are 3.14159 pecks in a bushel. No, wait a sec, never mind. That's furlongs per fortnight.

Whitworthless threads? What is that? No, just kidding. Don't start.

Units are just that: units. Who cares? It's really not that hard to use whatever units are in front of you, or to pick units that are best for the task at hand. There's nothing magical about base 10 besides the fact that we have 10 fingers.

100KPH= 60 MPH.

100 KPH = 100 MPH :D

for the same reason that most of the world uses the qwerty keyboard even though other configurations are far more efficient.

100KPH= 60 MPH.

Actually it's closer to 1.0 kph = .62 mph, and 1.0 mph = 1.61 kph.

for the same reason that most of the world uses the qwerty keyboard even though other configurations are far more efficient.
My endurance typing speed is about 80 wpm in Dvorak (layout I use on all my own computers), and perhaps 70 wpm in QWERTY. But it doesn't really matter since I can't sustain a level of thought that allows me to have that much to type anyway.

We don't even know the English system, so why do people complain about metric?
Whats the English unit for mass?


http://pumpkincam.net/pumpkin/pictures/pics017/dscn2194.jpg/view?display=large

look...anything with base 10 for its system is just too complicated...why you want to go there :rolleyes::D

All I know is that I love crossing from UK to the mainland. 200km goes by so much faster than 200mi.

That and I will always want to drink English beer in portions of 568ml.

Actually it's closer to 1.0 kph = .62 mph, and 1.0 mph = 1.61 kph.
{Picky, picky....I was just doin' it the Q&D conversion!:p

What about lasagna?
Yes. I vote lasagne. Followed by more lasagne. Then pie. Ummmmmmm . . . piiiiiiieeeee.

When did we use it the first time?

We (those of us from the states) probably do not switch over to the Metric system for the same reason that we are the most obese country in the world and for the same reason we use the most fossil fuels. We are lazy and too large to care. (no pun intended).

I buy my 'oregano' by the gram... 1k at a time. :)

100KPH= 60 MPH.

do you mean Kilo Pascals per Hour?:)

http://pumpkincam.net/pumpkin/pictures/pics017/dscn2194.jpg/view?display=large

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!

Yeah Whitworth!

(former '69 BSA owner)

I'd switch over except for temperature. Who wants a system with ~1/2 the precision?

Units are just that: units. Who cares? It's really not that hard to use whatever units are in front of you, or to pick units that are best for the task at hand. There's nothing magical about base 10 besides the fact that we have 10 fingers.

no, but what's better about metric is that units are universal. If I know the dimensions of an object, I can know it's volume easily.

Millions of dollars are blown every year in unit measure mistakes in US units. that doesn't count conversion.

But all science is done in metric, has been for decades.

But this will never change in the US.

"My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I likes it".

The real reason the US doesn't convert to metric is simple. We are too tied to English units. How many pieces of US manufactured/designed machinery are in English units? Billions. Even if we were to say "from 2010 on, everything we do will legally be in metric" we'd still have to teach/use English for the next 100+ years just because of the thousands and millions and billions of buildings/machines/etc using English measurements. Fact is, English units are too ingrained into the mechanical fabric of American society to allow us to simply decide to change to metric.

But metric would make sense :P

I'm glad we use it in Canada, having the freezing point at water being 0 just makes more sense than 32!

"My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I likes it".
"Oh, jeeh, you're ignorant! That's the Wright Brothers' plane. At Kitty Hawk in 1903, Charles Lindbergh flew it fifteen miles on a thimbleful of corn oil. Single handedly won us the Civil War, it did."

Actually it's closer to 1.0 kph = .62 mph, and 1.0 mph = 1.61 kph.

5/8, 8/5. Easier to do the math and almost exact.

I was giving my wife a refresher course on the metric system (because the nutrition info on the milk was per 100g, WTF?) when this came up. Let's see who the first is to get it:

A centigrad is to a minute as a kilometer is to a _______ .

The real reason the US doesn't convert to metric is simple. We are too tied to English units. How many pieces of US manufactured/designed machinery are in English units? Billions. Even if we were to say "from 2010 on, everything we do will legally be in metric" we'd still have to teach/use English for the next 100+ years just because of the thousands and millions and billions of buildings/machines/etc using English measurements. Fact is, English units are too ingrained into the mechanical fabric of American society to allow us to simply decide to change to metric.

Canada went through this in 1972. You just have to do it and tell the ******s to piss off. Construction measure is still in imperial units, people just learn two systems, like two languages.

Most machinery and devices manufactured in the US is already in metric, you can't be in real business these days making parts that only work with one country.

Canada went through this in 1972. You just have to do it and tell the ******s to piss off. Construction measure is still in imperial units, people just learn two systems, like two languages.

Most machinery and devices manufactured in the US is already in metric, you can't be in real business these days making parts that only work with one country.

If construction is in imperial/English/whatever you want to call it then it isn't a total switch. As you point out, so much of US heavy industry is in metric, thus the majority of people who have need to do learn to use both. When people talk about the US switching to they make it sound like they expect a total 100% change. What I'm saying is that isn't going to happen for a long time, if ever, no matter how hard we try. Unless we decide to completely raze the entire country and rebuild from the ground up. We already are dual-measurement system, even if most people don't even realize. Even countries that are thoroughly metric otherwise still have carryover from old systems, UK still regularly uses miles.

Ahh, construction & nominal board sizing, our third system of measurement. Almost as good as Whitworth. I love how the 2"x4"s in my 1926 built house were really 2x4, and so now to repair anything I get to shim current (actual) 1.5"x3.5" and or rip (nominal) 2x6s.