Posted on 05/25/2006 6:51:10 PM PDT by captain_dave
The metric system is apparently too nuanced for this author.
Base ten numeral systems at least make sense historically. Count your fingers to see why we count in base ten.
Here in New Zealand the under 40 knows hardly anything about the "old" imperial measurement units. Ask him how many feet is and he will draw a blank stare. In Australia it is illegal not to use metric units LOL.
But considering as a separate issue, I don't think using fractions for a metric unit is such as big deal. People will always use "half a litre", or "one and a half metres".
Gee. We figured out the answer to that one in junior high. ("Middle school" to you youngsters.)
Simple geometry, if you have decent teachers.
(Not that we've had many decent teachers for a long time -- a good many are nothing but union workers.)
They make sense in the lab too. The powers of ten (milli, mega, giga, etc.) don't quite work with inches, feet, and furlongs. I know some people have espoused going to a base 12 system, which is pretty cool.
And learning a base 12 system would be hell on a stick for me. Base ten is, like, part of the furniture of my mind.
When I went to school I was taught that 16 oz was a pint and two pints equaled a quart. I was also taught that a liter was a little larger (1.8 oz) than a quart. Thus I conclude that a half liter is 500 ml rather than 250 ml as described in this article.
The Metric System: Proof that what comes from Europe, is stupid!
A rectangular plot of land is 6 2/3 furlongs wide and 512 rods long. How many such areas would it take to equal the area of 15 square nautical miles?
Ah, the English system!
When I went to school in the 1980s Asia the old traditional units were long banished from schools and they were busy burying the imperial units as well. You got through the school and wouldn't realize what a pound or an inch means. All you got into drill was litre is the basic unit for measuring measure and 1 L = 1000 mL.
And in fact I only got to know what a pound is later in life when I read conversion table 1 kg = 2.2. pounds, or approx 1 pound ~ 450 kg.
The metric system was a communist plot to overthrow the west. It partially succeeded.
Well, in Maoist-era China, the traditional Chinese units of measurements were still in use. In fact it wasn't until Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms that the PRC wholly adopted the metric system in public. (And even now and then buying things in markets still require the use of tarditional units)
Even a stopped clock is right once (or twice, depending upon the clock) a day.
I grew up with inches, pounds, quarts and all the rest... though I didn't grow up with farthings, ha-pennies, thruppence, groats, sixpence ("bang goes saxpence!" -an old Scots saying), shillings, florins, half a crown, corwn, nobel (sp?), half-sovereign, sovereign, and giunea (sp?)...
Gimme a decimal-based system. And all else as well. If we have to create Latin-based shortcuts such as "quarter" (one-fourth), we'll do it.
But measurements like "furlong per fortnight" or "firkins per florin".. when you're trying to scale to a common base such as "miles(kilometers) per hour" for comparison, are just a headache. A question such as "How many ounces in a gallon?" is a piece of cake in a decimal system. But tell me this: "How many groats in a sovereign"? (If you're a Brit I'm sure you can me in a flash, but I will follow up: "How many crowns are 1.3 bob?")
And they still got it wrong! Isn't the whole meter measurement based upon WRONG numbers? So what if it's divisible by ten? It's crap to begin with!
If they want to impose standard units of mesurements upon mankind the least they should do is do it correctly! Confederacy of Dunces!!!
The astronaut was strapped to the top of the shuttle and was instructed by mission control on how to grab the telescope so it could be brought into the service bay.
They did not play metric games by saying a decimeter to the left or 5 centimeters to the right.
They saved the Hubble Telescope by giving clear instructions in inches.
Inches saved the Hubble Telescope.
Base 12 is much nicer...just can't use your fingers so readily.
Base 12 is much nicer...just can't use your fingers so readily.
Oh, and Base 12 is ancient.
Base 60 is how the ancients did it (See clocks). 360 if they got really wild, like for geometry.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.