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.
I bet I have at least a dozen 1/2 inch combination wrenches and yet I can never find one when I need it.
My Grandchildren are coming for Christmas and I decided to give my Grandson a couple of inexpensive Stanley tool sets. Just this afternoon I was looking at the sets which each contain maybe a hundred different tools. To my irritation both sets were complete except the 1/2 inch wrenches were missing.
I must have needed a half inch wrench and couldn’t find one so I took one out of the sets and never put it back.
Race horses are still priced in guineas.
Americans plagued with unions are the ones at risk of being noncompetative because the unions won’t change.
I worked for a hydraulic components manufacturer as a design engineer and I traveled a lot with our sales people to supply technical backup when proposing systems to new customers. I remember a meeting with some John Deere engineers, when we looked at their "metric" drawings the steel thickness for the frame members for a new machine was speced as 6.4mm which is 0.25" on the dot. No mill rolls plate to a "Metric" 6.4mm, lots of US mills roll 1/4" plate.
The company I worked for was bought out by Robert Bosch and we went through hell trying to convert to metric. I was the CAD/CAM system manager and tried to explain that converting the existing product line would require a complete redesign as a "soft" conversion was not going to work for us or our customers. A true "modular" metric conversion was not possible and should be reserved for new products only.
Regards,
GtG
PS There's metric and then there's METRIC
Correct. Let us not forget Farthings. :-)
As for the reference to “Taxman”, I’ll have to give it listen again as I do not recall that line.
I thought that was pigs...
1000 feet at a time : "Altitude now 21,000 feet, still looking very good ... velocity down now to 1200 feet per second." - One shot
Correct.
Yes, and we still say that space vehicles need to accelerate to 25,000 mph escape velocity instead of 11.2 kilometers per second.
When 2x4’s were 2x4’s — most weren’t. The lumber was sawn to 2x4 — but, there was no standard for the moisture content when sawn. If sawn from green logs, a 2x4 would shrink more than if cut from air-dried logs. The amount of shrinkage varied by type of wood too. The modern practice of kiln drying the rough-cut lumber, then planing it to size, yields more uniform material. That makes it easier to work with.
Of course, the old-time carpenters knew how to deal with the small differences owing to shrinkage. Mostly, they did that by ignoring it. For instance, one of the (few) benefits of plaster-on-lathe is that the framing doesn’t have to be very precise.
And you know why the liter is almost useful? It's about a quart!
I sneer at the metric system because it was the French revolutionaries' vision for seizing power over everyday life. They also insisted on 10-month years, 10-day weeks . . . yes, you can't make it up. They tried make farm animals follow their schedule changes, too, but got uncomprehending, cow-eyed stares. What you see as the "metric" system today are the few idiocies the gnostic elites in Paris were able to make stick (like everything they decreed, under pain of death).
And just think: Robespierre was guillotined as well.
That is an aesthetically pleasing design.
Bite.
Your.
Tongue.
Modern 2x4s didn't quite match on depth requirements. That's the point of the tack strips I stapled onto them.
I then replaced the layers of plastic overlaid on thin linolium with a fancy pattern, and some kind of weird sheetrock kind of stuff with standard R-15 insulation, green sheetrock, and a modular composite tub and shower wall.
Glad I didn't have to touch the outside part with the shiplap and asbestos siding.
The floor was worse. We don't talk about the floor.
/johnny
That's not the way I learned it. Zero Fahrenheit was the coldest winter day of the year wherein the thermometer was invented and one hundred was the hottest day observed that same year. It makes no difference as 32 is still the temperature of an ice/water mixture and 212 is the boiling point of water at sea level. These two calibration points correspond to zero and 100 degrees Celsius. It may seem trivial but there are only 100 degrees between the two calibration points on the metric scale and 180 on the Fahrenheit scale. It don't mean much but it all means something...
Regards,
GtG
If you want an odd methodology for measuring try gauge as in shotgun gauge. Only the British could have thought this up.
You just need to fill in your wrenches and sockets with 32nd’s, as in 5/32, 7/32, etc, and your good to go.
No, F=ma works out much better in that French k ~| @|)
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