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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

#291

Post by mpyne »

drcube wrote: post #275

We already have the metric system. An inch is defined as 2.54 centimeters. Et cetera. I can't think of a single way in which we're NOT metric, except that stubborn people refuse to let go of gallons, miles and pounds. Every item you buy in the stores will be measured in metric units. Just because we call it a gallon doesn't mean it isn't actually 3.785 liters. And just because the serving size is a cup, doesn't mean…

> So what's the problem again?

America sucks and is like the worst thing to ever happen to the world. Or something, it all blends together eventually.

Oddly no one ever makes a serious push to ban languages other than English or Mandarin Chinese throughout the world, or currency other than USD which would actually have beneficial effects on global interaction. Instead they compare the U.S. to Myanmar as if Americans should seriously be offended by that.

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

#292

Post by ajuc »

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…

Where I live we use metric for everything, except monitor screen size and hard disks dimensions (5.25', 3.5').

Food stuff is typically bought in dekagrams for meat or cheese and kg for fruits or grocery (you skip "gram" in informal language, so it's "30 deko of this, and kilo of the apples, please").

Drinks are sold by liters, soda mostly in 1.5l ("one and a half" in Polish it's one word), alcohol in 0.75(default), 0.5 ("a half"), or 0.25 ("a quarter"). Everybody are used to it and it's quick.

Prices everywhere are per kg, sometimes also per 100g (I don't understand why, dividing by 10 is automatic, but anyway).

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

#293

Post by blhack »

jacquesm wrote: post #259
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 t…

Have you ever been inside of a hardware store?

Every hardware store I've ever been to has a section for metric. Our lab, for instance, keeps a supply of bolts, and as far as I remember /only/ has metric.

Also every socket set I've ever used has a metric and standard set.

Why would you care about road signs? And why would you care about a tape measure that is /only/ in metric? The second one seems kindof silly.

The only thing I know of that isn't available commonly in metric sizes are machining tools like mills. As far as I know, machining is always done in "mils", or thousands of an inch.

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

#294

Post by edj »

The US use of imperial units definitely requires a good bit of annoying overhead - owning two sets of socket wrenches and hex keys and never knwowing which one a manufacturer has used is just the first such inconvenience that comes to mind. So I agree that it's well past time to complete the switch.

That said, I will miss imperial units if they go. There's a natural poetry to them that metric lacks. Imperial units seem to embody and communicate their own history - history of path-dependence and weird math, to be sure - while metric units seem too perfectly consistent, and therefore somehow sterile.

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

#295

Post by MaggieL »

mpyne wrote: post #276
jacquesm wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

The comment you replied to never claimed that the U.S. uses metric units, only that it has been legal and even encouraged since 1866. So to re-iterate, there no change needed to the law, it already allows metric just fine (as you yourself note when you mention that the government-run military understands metric). Simply deprecating customary units won't be enough to make the switch, you would actually have to make it…

Actual problems like the dollar is no longer a defined weight of silver. Talk about weights and measures...

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

#296

Post by jmaygarden »

jacquesm wrote: post #259
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 t…

This is anecdotal, but I recall that Alabama put up highway markers in kilometers during the 1990's [1]. It confused people, and they cancelled the program. You can still find signs that haven't fallen down or been stolen in some places.

[1] http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/signs/AL.html

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

#297

Post by stusmith1977 »

Svip wrote: post #218
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…

The UK and the US is essentially the same story. The British seemed furious that the EU mandated use of metric internally. But it did not force the UK to change its road signs (still in yards and miles) or what beer comes in (pints). Nothing really changed, other than confirming by directive that EU member states uses the Metric system with one another. There are still Brits who complain that the weather reports are…

The UK did use legislation to gradually switch to the metric system, with certain exceptions.

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

One major way in which metrication is being introduced properly is via schools - nowadays schools generally only teach the metric system, and the generation below me genuinely do weigh themselves in kilos, and measure themselves in meters.

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

#298

Post by javert »

RivieraKid wrote: post #205
javert wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Countries tend to converge on an optimal balance of individual liberties and social protections because it measurably works. That's just utter nonsense. What measurement are you optimizing for? What makes you think that moving the US to the left moves it closer to, say, Germany, instead of closer to, say, Brazil, India, and Mexico (which is what I think will happen)? And even if it did move it closer to Germany, I…

Society should optimize for happiness. It's not measurable, but you can estimate it (for example you can estimate that average German is happier than average citizen of North Korea). My vague definition happiness is this: Let's say you must choose between 2 states of mind and you'll spend the next hour in the selected one. Before your choice, you can try each of them by clicking some button. The one that you choose h…

So let's draft 1% of the population and place them in a large underground bunker at birth. They will never be allowed to know anything about the "real world," and they will provide all the labor, engineering, and scientific research for the other 99%, who get to everything for free. Does that sound like a good society to you?

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

#299

Post by eru »

sakopov wrote: post #200

I was born in Russia and used the metric system until i moved to the US. Imperial system is so archaic it's amusing to see a developed nation use it. A few centuries ago Russians used to measure weight in "handfuls" and short distances in "elbows." (scratch that, it's "cubits") When only a fraction of the population had any sort of education, it was easier for everyone to understand an anatomical measurement. Eh, som…

> [...] and short distances in "elbows."

Cubit might be the word you were looking for.

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

#300

Post by brudgers »

jacquesm wrote: post #259
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 t…

This is a bunch of fictions. Americans with wrenches tend to have both SAE and metric sizes. The thread pitches of metric bolts differs from SAE standards, and drain pipes are sized on inside diameter not outside because ID is relevant to capacity.

Tape measures have standard units because they're standard where tape measures are used - in construction.

Where it makes sense, metric is common, e.g. soft drink bottles.

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