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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

#351

Post by achy »

mosburger wrote: post #187

One argument some people make against switching away from imperial units - it acts as sort of an artificial trade barrier for foreign competition. It costs non-domestic manufacturers more to package their products for distribution in the United States, making it sort of a "tariff" for foreign goods that international trade agreements can't touch.

That is a ridiculous argument for a country that is already so heavily reliant on foreign manufacturing. If anything, at this point, the imperial standard is a barrier to having the US become a manufacturing nation once again - because so much industrial technology has been developed without a thought to the archaic measurements.

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

#352

Post by lancefisher »

There were still some kilometer markers on the roads in Alabama when I moved there in 1997. Apparently, the state spent $3.2 million to put up km markers and signs in addition to the mile markers and signs. This proved to be too confusing, and they were all taken down. Most the people I knew didn't miss them.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1842&dat=19971128&...

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

#353

Post by benholmen »

xxpor wrote: post #337
chiph wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last sign in the US that I saw marked in metric was one on northbound I-95 in South Carolina, just north of the I-26 interchange. The sign was replaced about 2 years ago with a new one that only shows distances in miles. I suspect that metrication of the highway system in the US will only happen if a large state like California or Texas converts. But with the current budget situation, that's highly unlikely.

The federal government has a law that federal funds can not be used to pay for signs with metric measures on them.

Do you have a source for that?

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

#354

Post by asher_ »

tych0 wrote: post #150
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…

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!

I'm guessing you're quite unfamiliar with the metric system. The different types of measurements are defined in relation to one another and are thus easy to figure out, unlike the imperial system where everything is odds and ends.

A kilogram is (almost exactly, but slightly different) to the mass of one litre of water. The force required to accelerate this mass at one metre per second squared is one Newton. One Newton acting on one square metre is one Pascal of pressure. Applying a force of one Newton through a distance of one metre is one joule of energy. This is the same amount of energy in passing a one ampere current of electricity through a resistance of one ohm for one second. One joule per second is one Watt.

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

#355

Post by groby_b »

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…

Ah, so it's not legal definitions that make street signs show distances in miles and speeds in miles per hour?

And if it's indeed the law since 1875, we wouldn't have needed the Metric Conversion Act from 1975, would we?

We're still on Imperial units because the U.S. commitment to metric units has been patchy and haphazard since the beginning. Unless we're willing to mandate the use of metric units only for all state business, especially in education, we're going to be stuck with furlongs per fortnight.

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

#356

Post by [deleted] »

tnuc wrote: post #331
Svip wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>..or what beer comes in (pints). If you read the bottom of the glass you will see the size in ml, 568ml. You may call it a pint but officially it is a 568ml glass.

[deleted]

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

#357

Post by tedunangst »

jlgreco wrote: post #327
tedunangst wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if we measured time using units of varying multiples. Every time a friend tells me "see you in two weeks", I'm like really? 2 times 7 times 24 times 60? Fucking asshole, do I look like a calculator?

Were time conversions as common or necessary as other unit conversions, you can bet your ass decimal time would have more takers. Even so, varying units does restrict how we can express time. Even if someone tells you something as simple as "half a week", you have to ask for clarification. And while "a week from now" translates to a date, forget about "a month from now." That could mean half a dozen different things.

When someone tells me "half a kilometer" assuming they really mean 500m would usually be a dreadful mistake. It means "some uncertain distance you can probably walk". Decimal units don't magically make people more accurate.

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

#358

Post by dubcanada »

derleth wrote: post #283
smackfu wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The map's wrong to the extent it implies the USA has an official language. We have a de facto standard language, but we have no laws defining an official language.

And that's even funnier because Canada (as well as "the African ones") English isn't the only standard language. Canada for example has French as well as English, and Africa, well that depends which one. But it certainly isn't 100% English.

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

#359

Post by thomseddon »

krschultz wrote: post #145

Most of the comments in this thread are talking about the units for personal height, weight, local road signs or for the weather forecast. Those are by far the least important things to be worried about. All of those things are local and there is no carrying cost for them. There would be a cost to change all those signs and forecasts - for no real gain. However, dimensions of physical goods are a constant recurring c…

Quite right. I just finished a civil engineering degree and found that despite the vast amounts of published academic research and literature from the US, the use of imperial units rendered a very large proportion virtually unusable. Its an inherently empirical subject and continual conversion was both incredibly tedious and introduced a likely source of error (you get "an eye" for metric units so you can quickly tell if you are obviously an order out from where you should be).

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

#360

Post by jacquesm »

DannyBee wrote: post #338
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…

I have all of those things except the drain pipe and a highway sign. Every socket set i have contains both SAE and metric. Half of my power tools are in metric (festool). All plywood that you buy from the hardware store in the US is really metric sized nowadays. Every screw/fastener on every tool I own is metric or metric sized. I haven't used my SAE hex keys in eons.

When you say 'metric sized' do you mean 1250x2500 or do you mean 1219.20 x 2438.4?

Home Depot does not agree with you.

From http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbu0m/h_d2/Navigation?c...

this is my absolute favorite: "5.2 mm x 2 ft. x 4 ft. Sanded project panel", all the rest is in Imperial.

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