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Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

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

#381

Post by fatbird »

tolmasky wrote: post #316
Kylekramer wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty weak argument for Celsius. Why should people care that the boiling and freezing points are simple? That is almost irrelevant for the most common uses of temperature reporting. People care about the ambient outside temperature (which Fahrenheit seems optimized for), not the effect it has on the state of one particular compound.

Yeah, never understood the "problem" with Fahrenheit. When I ask people to tell me why Celsius is better, many will tell me because its "decimal", and then I point out to them it is no more decimal than Fahrenheit, there are no "kilodegrees". They will then point out the water freezing/boiling, as if they regularly have to set that temperature to accomplish that (you don't, you just put water in the freezer or a kett…

In Celsius, a negative temperature means snow instead of rain, or icy streets instead of wet. Whether the ambient temperature is below freezing is pretty useful knowledge, and more clearly expressed in Celsius.

As for the difference between 16 and 17 degrees, the only people who give a shit are people who know how to use decimals for their measuring purposes. In everday use, the finer gradation of the Fahrenheit scale are irrelevant.

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

#383

Post by TheAmazingIdiot »

bjourne wrote: post #56
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.

Oh, the problem with the Euro was that they raised prices everywhere where they introduced the new currency. What was previously 0.8€ becase 1€, 28€ to 30€ and so on. Economic power also moved from individual countries to the ECB in Brussels. If the US started using SI (Systeme International), it's not like you would be subject to a metric-controlling organisation in Paris. :)

That's ACTUALLY where Le gran K is still stored. (outside paris)

It's the last artifact of a physical object used to measure all others. And that fucker changes weight too, so the kilogram ISNT stable. Its just like all those nasty imperial measurements used to be.

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

#384

Post by return0 »

xiaoma wrote: post #258
aidos wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

No! MMXII is the guy who owns the copyright to all movies from last year.

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

#385

Post by gyardley »

goodcanadian wrote: post #103

Only vaguely relevant, but I grew up in a rural area in Canada which caused me to learn a strange set of units. For me, highway distances are measured in kilometres, but country roads are measured in miles. Groceries are priced per kilogram, but my weight is in pounds. I readily swap inches and centimetres for measuring small sizes and distances (sometimes on the same project). I am more comfortable with Celsius, but…

In my neck of the Canadian woods, the default unit of measurement for road distances was the time it took to travel that distance.

"How far is it into town? Oh, about twenty minutes."

People could deal with kilometers just fine, but you'd have to ask for them explicitly. Often they'd give you a rough guess by converting from minutes, and that's how you could back your way into the unofficial local speed limit (as opposed to what the signs said).

At first I assumed this was universal, or at least universal to rural areas, but they don't seem to do it much down here in Texas.

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

#386

Post by buster »

Kylekramer wrote: post #326
beagle3 wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fahrenheit is not really optimized for that either. It's basically optimized for "still positive in the coldest days in Denamrk some 200 years ago, and less than 100 in the warmest days". (Seriously) If you live in e.g. San Diego, it goes from ~60 to ~90. If you live in NYC, it goes from ~25 to ~100. That's not more optimized than Celsius, which goes from ~15 to ~30 and ~-4 to ~35 respectively. However, when in NYC,…

Here is the thing: Created for still positive for the coldest days in Denmark and under 100 for the warmest is optimizing for ambient outdoor temperature. And much more human readable than heating one liter of water etc. I am not saying it is perfect, but I don't see why it shouldn't continue to be used as it is currently: F for weather reports and such while using C/K for more scientific pursuits.

Yet, it's quite handy that Celsius is based on the freezing temperature of water in winter. You always now when you'll have ice on the streets, cars, etc. :)

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

#388

Post by xxpor »

benholmen wrote: post #353
xxpor wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

http://www.legistorm.com/score_gao/show/id/25766.html

"However, Congress passed legislation in 1994 and 1995 that prohibited federal funding for converting highway signs, such as those for speed limits, to metric units."

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

#389

Post by cglace »

Svip wrote: post #219
vibrunazo wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But aren't things like road signs in mph defined by law?

My understanding of speed limits in the US is that each state defines it. There is no national speed limits (hence why Montana is famous for its high speed limits on motorways, but not much else). But I doubt that Washington D.C. uses kph on its speed signs, though.

Are you saying that Montana is not known for much else other than having high speed limits?

There are two incredibly beautiful national parks there, Glacier and Yellowstone. Yellowstone is one of the best known parks in America.

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

#390

Post by brudgers »

jacquesm wrote: post #330
brudgers wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> This is a bunch of fictions. Not really, those are all pretty practical examples. I've dealt with each and every one of those. > Americans with wrenches tend to have both SAE and metric sizes. The metric ones will be brand new if they have them, the imperial ones will be well worn. > The thread pitches of metric bolts differs from SAE standards Indeed they do. In the EU Ford vehicles are all metric unless they were…

The U.S. auto-industry typically uses metric fasteners. In my experience, that's pretty much been the case since the early 1980's - though that experience is mainly with GM products.

Some of my older metric tools predate that. I owned a '64 Baja bug - thereby learning the art of static timing adjustment.

Changing tape measures isn't going to change US construction practice. Lumber has to change. Cold formed steel manufacturing standards have to change. Steel mills have to change.

All the engineering tables have to change. And insurance underwriters have to be willing to eat claims based on any confusion which this creates - it's kind of like the Hubble telescope without NASA redundancy, except that people will probably die.

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