Posted on 11/05/2012 2:14:59 PM PST by null and void
Back in grade school, we were told that the Imperial System was a thing of the past, that eventually we’d be living the Metric System life, with all it’s base-10 logic built right in. We’d be just like the rest of the world. But those predictions have proven about as accurate as the flying cars and moon colonies that we all imagined we’d be enjoying in the year 2012.
Occasionally, the issue bubbles up and people argue back and forth about why we haven’t gone Metric, but I think it’s all about inertia. There would be a huge intellectual cost in moving to a new system—training ourselves to think of temperatures in Celsius when we’re leaving home and trying to decide on whether to grab a jacket. Straining to remember what kilometers per liter really comes down to, when we’re used to a lifetime of miles per gallon. Attempting to determine whether you’re losing enough weight, as you stare at the scale showing a strange number of kilograms.
While there are economic costs—heck, just think of the signage issues on our roads—they should be lower today than they would have been a generation ago. Many consumer products in this digital age already allow us to toggle between Imperial and Metric units. And the prevalence of smartphones means that no one has an excuse not to have a conversion app (or at least a calculator) on them at virtually all times.
What this issue comes down to is, as I said, inertia. It’s laziness. No one wants to be the generation that has to juggle two systems in their heads all the time. If we switched today, my kids would grow up pretty much thinking in Metric and would have no problem. But I feel like I’d forever be doing that calculation in my head. Even if I knew 28° C was a nice warm summer day, I think I’d always be converting it back to 82° F just to make sure I knew exactly how warm it was, based on my past experiences. We don’t want to be the ones straddling the two worlds, dealing with parts in both sizes or wondering how to deal with machinery that still had Imperial components that were no longer allowed to be manufactured.
Besides, who has the guts to push an idea like this forward in the country today? If Republicans championed the cause, Democrats would rail against it. And vice versa. And unfortunately, engineers, scientists and the like don’t have the kind of lobby that would be needed to get politicians interested. Even a public relations disaster like losing the Mars Climate Orbiter (due to a conversion mishap) didn’t move the needle on fully switching to Metric. So I guess I’ll just wait with you for that long-off day when we get the first flying car—and wonder what kind of miles per gallon that thing will get.
Lumber is regular american 2X4s.
American 2x4’s haven’t been 2”x4” in a long time
That's why there's the micrometer (1/1000th of a millimeter) and the nanometer (1/1000th of a micrometer). 1/1000th of an inch is roughly 255 micrometers. European and Asian machine shops seem to work quite well with metric units.
The majority of the metric system's critics are those who don't know it. It's an education and acceptance problem, not inferiority.
2 cups = 1 pint
2 pints = 1 quart
2 quarts = 1 pottle
2 pottles = 1 gallon
2 gallons = 1 peck
2 pecks = 1 pail (or kenning)
2 pail = 1 bushel
2 bushels = 1 strike
2 strikes = 1 coomb
2 coombs = 1 cask
2 casks = 1 barrel, unless it’s beer, wine, oil, and depending on whether it’s in the US or the UK. From there a perfectly orderly system pretty much segues into the twilight zone...
I can do gas mark 3 or 325F or 160C (close enough for a cook) and if pushed, could take it out to Kelvin...
I need to not get involved in these kinds of discussions. My logical brain says the only smart thing to do is go to the bad side of town, hire 2 pretty girls, a dwarf, a jello pool, score an 8-ball, 750 ml. of Jack, and ignore the issue. And that rarely solves anything for more than a month(lunar) or two. ;)
Buttons, I have one.
/johnny
“The wife recently converted to the metric system .. her concealed went from a .380 to a 9mm.”
Being the scientist that I am, I am on the ‘not metric’ system...mine is a .45 :)
I think that some livestock in the UK are still priced in guineas (namely, sheep). Today, I think that works out to one Pound and five Pence in decimalised currency.
1/25th of a mil.
Motorola's semi-failed attempt to ease into metric mask layout.
Truth be told, I've never used Mocrons, I was just pulling your chain...
Wrongo! I majored in physics, so the metric system is something I understand well. The problem is replacing dreadfully expensive machine tools.
“The problem with the metric system is that a decimal system does not equate to daily human life in most respects.”
That’s been one of my favourite rants since we (Canadians) converted to metric. The Imperial system is more “high touch”. However, it must be admitted that learning Imperial requires a lot more work than learning metric. Metric is all base 10, Imperial is base 2, 3, 3, 8, 10, 12, 22, 32, 220, 1760, 5280, etc. etc. It makes calculations more “interesting”. If I were an elementary school student, I’d probably prefer learning metric. Since I’ve already learned it, I still prefer Imperial.
One of the more irritating things about the metric system here is the way we measure “mileage”. Instead of a perfectly sensible “kilometers per litre” (which would at least allow for easy conversion to MPG); we use “litres per 100 km”. Talk about something that’s hard to relate to! It’s supposed to make us think of efficiency more — but, I think that’s just a stupid rationalization for a stupid convention.
Quick, without using a specialized calculator, convert 8 litres/100 km to miles per gallon.
You might find this handy:
http://calculator-converter.com/l_100km_mpg_convert_mpg_to_l_per_100_km.php
Yeah. I've always known it existed, and that it wouldn't be for the squeamish.
Fvcking management.
No kidding. I recently renovated the bathroom in my old shotgun shack, which involved tearing out part of a wall, and replacing it.
The inexpensive method of addressing that issue is to rip modern wood to provide tack strips which bring the replacement lumber back to 4". Air powered staple guns are heaven sent.
Try tearing out even somewhat rotted oak real 2x4s. My brother did mention that 6 lb sledge hammers weren't typical framing tools.
/johnny
That's always been measured in liters?
Who knew?
Because one-thousandth of a inch (.001") is at the limit of perceptibilty, thus the ideal smallest unit. To use micrometers, you need a microscope, and the next unit up, the millimetre (or even a tenthmillimetre - whatever that's called) is too coarse.
Metric units: either too small or too large
Heh, groats from back when they went by four-pence increments to divide a shilling in thirds rather than three-pence and six-pence increments to divide it into quarters.
Prior to decimalization, the British penny had the same diameter as the US half-dollar coin. Remember the Beatles song “Taxman” and that line “Now my advice to those who die / Declare the pennies on your eyes”?
Yes, and Jacob would have stopped at ten sons . . .
I guess you’re right. 95% of the world does use the metric system, though.
No matter which system is in use, I still now have to have TWO SETS of tools to do a simple battery change in my auto.
And for some reason my 10 MM wrench is constantly missing!
Back when I was a child, in the '70s, the Canadian government was pushing the metric system. My dad got a whole book - probably handed out free by the Canadian government - on the metric system and I read most of it diligently. I was enough of a metric geek, I still remember that "hecto" means "hundred" - well enough to get mildly irked at the term "centimillionaire." Centi, of course, stands for hundredths.
But in everyday life? Like most people, a hybrid based upon what's easier to use and more memorable. Like, "I drove 5 kilometres to the building centre in 4 degree Celsius weather - fridge temperature. Damn gas cost $1.30 a litre, which is a real pain because my minivan only gets 20 miles to the gallon. While there, I picked up ten eight-foot 2 X 4s and three inch nails, plus a 15-metre extension cord for my electric lawn mower. The mower's a beaut, all right: it can sometimes blow a 15-amp circuit but it weighs less than twenty pounds so it's easy to haul. Easier to haul than a 10 kg bag of flour - try hoofin' that for a mile walk."
The point behind this measurement flip-floppery? We use measurements that are not only well-designed, but also memorable to us - and, as the defenders of Imperial pointed out, meaningful too.
So what if we use a mish-mash of two systems in everyday life? What counts is use-value. In this way, a measuring system is a lot like a language.
Also, with two systems, we have a choice. There are some who think that with choice come chaos, but I've yet to see such in North America.
“Give them a centimeter and they’ll take a kilometer” will never have the same ring to it.
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