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Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

petitions.whitehouse.gov

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Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#91

Post by rohern »

randomdata wrote: post #77
SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #14

Before we start with the standard junk about "imperial measures are better because they are easier to understand / better suited to human scale / etc." can I say nope . The only advantage that imperial measures have (for some) is that they are familiar. That's the sum total of it. People where were raised metric find these apologies for imperial measures to be pure gibberish.

I was raised metric, but still find utility in the imperial system under some circumstances. I use my anatomy to measure things all the time while out on the farm, for instance. You could say step off 914cms, but I think 30 feet makes more sense in the context since you are literally counting your steps. If you have precise measuring tools at your disposal, then I'm inclined to agree though.

This doesn't make any sense. 1ft is ~30cm. Just measure in units of 30cm. Doing the math in your head is trivial.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#92

Post by dickbasedregex »

Avalaxy wrote: post #71
dickbasedregex wrote: post #49

At the risk of being lumped in with the negative/unhelpful/HN-is-on-the-decline comment crowd, and I hate naysaying here but... Seriously? 1) If you haven't seen enough of these White House Polls go by yet (and there is a never ending list of inanity, for example: http://www.modernman.com/12-dumbest-whitehouse-petitions/ ) let me clue you in. They do nothing. Nothing. No one reads them. Just go back to wishing on a s…

It does have a lot to do with programming actually. I'm building an international application and I have to convert all my dimensions and weights to make it work in the US.

No. It has as much to do with programming as currency conversion does. It's a problem involving numbers that people occasionally solve with the use of code. By your logic beanie babies have a lot to do with programming because someone built a site to list and sell them online (ebay).

But hey, the metric system seems more sensible to me too.

Edit I don't mean to come off as a jerk. I haven't slept yet and just got a BS call from m boss so I'll probably read this later and wish I were more diplomatic.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#93

Post by jvzr »

davidw wrote: post #43
RBerenguel wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone managed after around 2 years, with the Euro. Even older people.

But that's just one unit. Try doing it with 4, and it gives people an idea of the difficulty involved. I'm not saying it's impossible, just hard.

Are the US afraid of a little challenge?

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#94

Post by UnoriginalGuy »

jamesjguthrie wrote: post #33
jamesjguthrie wrote: post #3

I look forward to everywhere using metric. I'm in the UK, 27 and still struggle at times to comprehend lbs, ounces, stone, feet, inches, yards, miles etc., when everything I was taught in school was in metres, litres, newtons and kilogrammes.

We ask for a footlong, a quarter pounder etc when we go out for fast food. Our fat friends are 16 stone, 17 stone. We live miles away from each other. Penalties in football are taken in the 18 yard box. We use cup measures for flour, sugar etc in cooking. The average penis is ~6 inches when fully erect. I've got two 4 pint cartons of milk in my fridge. I could go on. Imperial units are absolute muck and I cannot wait…

> We use cup measures for flour, sugar etc in cooking.

We do? My cookbooks are in metric units. In fact I own no books that use "cups."

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#95

Post by attheodo »

Metric system is way more understandable and easy to mentally manipulate. The only good argument against standardizing it, is people are used to it for many years. But so were my grandparents with our country's currency before we switched to Euro. There's an awkward "bootcamp" period where you just convert every unit to the old one just to get the feeling of the "quantity" but after a couple of months the new units feel normal.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#96

Post by HCIdivision17 »

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #14

Before we start with the standard junk about "imperial measures are better because they are easier to understand / better suited to human scale / etc." can I say nope . The only advantage that imperial measures have (for some) is that they are familiar. That's the sum total of it. People where were raised metric find these apologies for imperial measures to be pure gibberish.

From what I've experienced, we use the imperial units for the same reason we use degrees over radians: the units allow for common use of integer multiples of simple fractions. For some people, a simple fraction of a relatable unit really is easier to deal with than a base ten decimal, and a lot of labor out there simply doesn't need higher precision.

Of course, once you enter any sort of engineering work, well, simple fractions often won't cut it and it's far, far easier to simply use a decimal number. And then there's no reason not to use metric measurements.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#97

Post by ohwp »

davidw wrote: post #18

The way I explain this one to my European friends is: Do you remember the transition to the Euro? How you had to mentally convert prices at first? And how old people had more difficulties with it in some cases? Now, imagine that, not just for one unit, but weights, lengths, temperatures and volumes, all at the same time.

Well old people manage to move from Europe to the US (and visa versa) do they?

Just with the Euro the change should be at once. Then everybody will be fine in 2 years or so.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#98

Post by rohern »

Every objection that is being raised on this thread was raised when other countries enacted metrication. You are free to read the history of these processes. Nations did not collapse and people learned how to use new units.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication

I would more support a petition that was well and cogently written, however.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#99

Post by [deleted] »

xefer wrote: post #51
SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #14

Before we start with the standard junk about "imperial measures are better because they are easier to understand / better suited to human scale / etc." can I say nope . The only advantage that imperial measures have (for some) is that they are familiar. That's the sum total of it. People where were raised metric find these apologies for imperial measures to be pure gibberish.

To be honest, although I know the obvious benefits of metric, I still prefer imperial simply because of its messiness. I realize the system is archaic, etc., but I still like that connection, as attenuated as it may be, to our ancient past. Use metric for all scientific purposes, etc., but keep that connection to the natural world. I suppose I like it in the same way I prefer natural languages to some artificial lang…

[deleted]

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#100

Post by Tichy »

danielbarla wrote: post #76
Tichy wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not use metric volumes instead of bushel? You'd have the same conversion issues converting bushel to imperial weights.

Well, at some point, that part of the world decided that they'd use weight to measure produce, as opposed to volume. So now, if you read a scientific paper from Europe, you will get numbers in KG, likely with no indication of moisture content (since they don't particularly care). So, you're left with an inaccurate conversion to bushels, or more likely, you simply don't use the paper. The same goes for the other way a…

I get the problem, my point was just that it is unrelated to the issue of imperial vs metric system.
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