[Junior]

I've always liked the metric system; a lot of my interests are international in scope and nearly all researchers publish their findings using the metric system.

[raccoonradio]

If you're in Toronto and the radio says it's 25, you won't need a winter coat. You can wear shorts (25=77 F)... :)

the way I remember it--and yes I know there's a formula--

32= 0 C
from there, every 9 deg F= 5 deg C
50= 10 C
68= 20 C (room temperature) etc.

a meter is just over a yard, just under 40 inches
a liter just over a quart. You can get a pint of beer
at a bar in the US, but soda is schizo: 12 oz cans but also
1 ltr./2 ltr. bottles. Milk in gallons/half gallons.

You feel a lot lighter in metric. 220 pounds= 100 kg

In the 70s, they tried to teach us the metric system
and PSAs ran on TV and radio, "Take 10 (minutes) And
Learn the Metric Way".

based on a system of tens at least

[HitmanLV]

Brent Maynard says he weighs 74 kilograms and is 169 centimeters tall. And if you ask him for directions, he'll give them in kilometers.

Sounds like a kid I used to take lunch money from. Mr. Smarty Pants! Glad to know where he is now - if I need some lunch money, I know where to go! :-)

[Koblenz]

This guy's been into the metric system since he was 14? Geez. Maybe he should try dating girls.

[Dead Dog]

Metrics are fine, but from an engineers point of view, they don't make a bit of difference.

One good thing with the english system is the reliance on fractions (outside of engineering). Learning fractions gives a better visual correlation then the decimal system. Metrics are only helpful in eliminating fractions...

In reality metrics are the domain of The Hate America, Let's let the French Control Everything left.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

What impact will metrics have in football?

"Reggie Bush EXPLODES through the hole for a 26 meter gain."

[Petronski]

But in a country that's hooked on pounds, gallons and miles, it is a lonely cause. Last October during National Metric Week he sat alone in front of Norwich City Hall wearing a pro-metric placard and asking for signatures on a petition to get the U.S. Postal Service to weigh and measure packages in metric. Six people signed it.

[showme_the_Glory]

Remember, football is a game of centimeters?

[Liberty Valance]

in for a penny, in for a pound

[doc30]

It's always good to know both systems. Standard units for common, everyday things and metric for a lot of technical things. Being from Canada, I was fortunate enough to have learned both systems in elementary school. Now, it's all metric there. Co-workers who come from Europe though only backwoods red-necks would be the only ones not to use metric. They are shocked that Standard units are used by everyone in day to day living and they need to learn that system, too.

That being said, even in the sciences, there are different units used in different disciplines. Metric, acually known as SI units (Systeme Internationale - yes, the metric system was officially named by the French) can be broken into the 'kilogram-meter-seconds' and the 'gram-centimeter-second' subdivisions, plus all the esoteric units derived from those two systems!

[Flightdeck]

It is much easier to calculate using the metric system.

[nightdriver]

"Maynard argues metrics is simpler because it's based on powers of 10...."

Maybe so, but it can't be divided by 3.

It makes no difference to me personally, but have you ever considered the overwhelmingly gargantuan task it would be to convert the legal description of every miniscule plot of land in America to the metric system? Our entire country has been surveyed based upon a 5280 foot mile.

Think about it!

[Right Wing Assault]

Brent Maynard says he weighs 74 kilograms

This article doesn't even get 10 words in before it makes the first mistake. Weight in the metric system is measured in newtons. Mass is measured in kilograms. Mass and weight are not the same thing.

Odds are the reporter screwed it up.

[Moonman62]

The great thing about America is we use both systems as we see fit.

[Aquinasfan]

He's even special ordered his truck with an odometer that reads distance in kilometers

You can't make this stuff up.

Personally, I got a kick out of the midwesterners who used to use the metric highway signs for target practice.

[caveat emptor]

I've always liked the metric system;

Me too (French wines, as well), but it depends on what I'm doing. I can't imagine doing chemistry using English measures, but like to use inches, halves, sixteenths, etc. when building houses, and prefer having both standards available.

[The Electrician]

Wanna bet that he is also a supporter of Esperanto? And that he wears a bow tie? I have nothing against the metric system, in fact I often use it when its use is appropriate, but this guy has either deliberately chosen a lonely and unfulfilling path, or else he is simply lacking in the common sense department.

[Optimus Prime]

Brent Maynard says he weighs 74 kilograms and is 169 centimeters tall.

And that's why the Metric System sucks. 169 Centimeters tall? What the hell is that? I'm 6'1". Not that's a REAL measurement. Now, if they want to come up with a standard of measure in which the base unit is about the same length as a Standard foot, then great. Otherwise, I'll stick with the standard.

[BooksForTheRight.com]

I'll convert in a millisecond.
I don't like the idiotic system based on gills, hogsheads, pints, fluid ounces, avoirdupois ounces, and other nonsense.
5,280 what?
Is this a bit of American superiority that I detect here in many of these comments?

[nutmeg]

Connecticut ping!

Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent Connecticut ping list.