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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

#251

Post by masklinn »

DanBC wrote: post #172
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.

You think there are no advantages to easy divisibility? 16 is divisible by 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16. 24 is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24 10 just has 1, 2, 5, 10

And then people invented decimals.

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

#252

Post by bjustin »

smackfu wrote: post #179
veidr wrote: post #114

It's obviously a great idea, and obviously (to Americans) unlikely to happen in the lifetime of anybody reading this forum. Does anybody else from America remember being taught the metric system in public elementary school, and being told that we'd be switching to it over the next few years? I was taught this around second grade (1981), I think based on the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki…

Amusing visual evidence that speaking English sucks: http://cnrsociety.org/images/English-Official_Map-s.png

>1/6 is a rather sizable fraction of the world's population (India itself is ~1/6 or 1/7 at over a billion people). Are there any other languages that are official for so many people?

The metric system graphic indicates <1/6 of the world's population highlighted as not using the metric system, making gp's point stronger.

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

#253

Post by reycharles »

DanBC wrote: post #172
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.

You think there are no advantages to easy divisibility? 16 is divisible by 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16. 24 is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24 10 just has 1, 2, 5, 10

Converting between m and km is dead simple, it's just a "decimal shift" / textual operation (move the comma).

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

#254

Post by jacquesm »

maxerickson wrote: post #234
jacquesm wrote: post #42

It very likely is never going to happen. The main reason for resistance apparently is the various land boundaries that would have to be re-scaled to metric, which would be a source of endless legal wrangling. Already houses in the US have the longest history attached to them, sometimes all the way from the homesteading days if the plot is old. I've used both metric and imperial, for construction imperial is lots easi…

I was reviewing some old deeds that a relative had. A particular inclusion of land was expanded (they transferred some land to expand a township cemetery). The deed before the transfer is specified relative to survey markers and such. The deed after the transfer gives the corners as lat/long coordinates. I guess there is some room to argue about the representational accuracy of a chosen coordinate system, but it woul…

Common sense never stopped most lawyers from not litigating when they knew their case was lost. Present company excluded.

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

#255

Post by acangiano »

veidr wrote: post #114

It's obviously a great idea, and obviously (to Americans) unlikely to happen in the lifetime of anybody reading this forum. Does anybody else from America remember being taught the metric system in public elementary school, and being told that we'd be switching to it over the next few years? I was taught this around second grade (1981), I think based on the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki…

Much better visual evidence: http://signword.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/423399_101506340...

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

#256

Post by AutoKorrect »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #154
tych0 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but how is that picture evidence that the US system sucks? I don't disagree that we have a poor system, but "everyone else is doing it" has never been a justification to do anything!

If everyone else was using tcp/ip would it be sensible to continue using ipx/spx?

yeah, if you wanted to keep the hackers out

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

#258

Post by xiaoma »

aidos wrote: post #127
xefer wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

In the year MMXIII is sentiment really a good reason to continue using an inefficient system :)

Those numbers are used for Superbowls, not years. Get it together!

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

#259

Post by jacquesm »

tokenadult wrote: post #198

From the petitions.whitehouse.gov petition kindly submitted for comment here: "The United States is one of the few countries left in the world who still have not converted to using the Metric System as a standardized system of measurement. Instead of going along with what the rest of the world uses, we stubbornly still adhere to using the imprecise Imperial Unit - despite the fact that practically every other country…

That's a typical case of theory and practice.

Yes, in theory the US is a country that supports metric. In practice, go and ask anybody in the country outside of the military for the following:

- An M10 bolt

- a 16mm wrench to drive it with

- a 3 meter long 50 mm od pvc drainpipe

- a tape-measure that measures only in metric

- a highway sign that is posted in km

And so on. See how many people can point you to any of these.

Then try this:

- a 3/8th " bolt

- a 9/16th " wrench to drive it with

- a 10' long 2" od pvc drainpipe

- a tape measure that only measures in Imperial

- a highway sign posted in Miles.

The petition is dead on in the way the US approaches the metric system, in practice it is imperial all the way. As long as the practice doesn't change what the technical situation is won't matter one bit.

The only way to get out of this is to change the law, and to deprecate Imperial in favor of metric.

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

#260

Post by Thrymr »

jzwinck wrote: post #212
frogpelt wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should all have one currency too, then?

Of course not: sovereign currencies have well-known benefits. Multiple systems of measurement are only a hindrance, a friction.

The friction of unit conversion is much lower, though, because they are constant and don't have transaction fees. The number of centimeters per inch or pounds per kilogram is the same today as it will be next month or next year.
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