Metric/imperial

Tom Gardner · 2007-05-25T03:43:43+00:00

Mike's post about a rifle receiver somehow started a very heated argument in my office today about the metric system vs. imperial measurements. My point being that the measuring system doesn't matter, as long as it is comunicatable and intuitive. Roger's point is that metric is so vastly superior in every way that Imperial should be abandoned and not taught in schools anymore. I say people in the US won't change and there is no NEED to change.1. Why did the USA not embrace the metric system? I remember the hoopla when I was in grade school, then it just died.2. How did the rest of the world adjust where the US couldn't/wouldn't?# I'd guess that half of us in the US, in metalworking, use metric regularly if not exclusively. I can't quite THINK in metric, almost but not quite.One of the Russian immigrant engineers I know once said: "No wonder US win Cold War, you are all brilliant...to be able to use this fu*ked-up system!"

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john 19 years ago

If something is said often enough, even though it is incorrect, people will believe it is correct.

Repeat after me " the metric system is a better system because it is easier" " the metric system is a better system because it is easier" " the metric system is a better system because it is easier" " the metric system is a better system because it is easier" " the metric system is a better system because it is easier" " the metric system is a better system because it is easier" " the metric system is a better system because it is easier" " the metric system is a better system because it is easier" " the metric system is a better system because it is easier" " the metric system is a better system because it is easier" " the metric system is a better system because it is easier" " the metric system is a better system because it is easier" " the metric system is a better system because it is easier"

There are WMD's in Iraq

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john 19 years ago

I bought a nice Starrett 12 inch /metric scale on ebay a while ago.... I looked at it closely and it was almost 12 inches to be precise, it was

300mm a little shy of 12 inches. I dont think I used it for it's full length that I had thought was a 12 inches. I now keep it hid in my desk so no one will screw up a part using it.

John

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john 19 years ago

The only things that is better in metric is the length of your pecker... 6 inches is 15.2 cm.

John

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Michael A. Terrell 19 years ago

Don't forget the Nazi rifles they found in Iraq.

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Don Young 19 years ago

Do metric concrete and excavation people use "stere" as their unit of volume? I only know it as a crossword puzzle word meaning "cubic meter".

Don Young

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Martin H. Eastburn 19 years ago

The stere isn't used in SI or common measurement. It is from old French definitions and likely related to the French Meter or is that Metere :-) of the day, not the British or German or the Japanese. All members have as the US has signed onto the SI units. And a new or common Meter was developed based upon atomic values. Common terms are used locally.

Martin

Mart>>> >> snip----

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Martin H. Eastburn 19 years ago

Yes there were and you are in denial. The facts are solders have been chemically harmed by being in the same room as some of the junk.

Much of it was burned in the battle field, but buildings contained the equipment and nominal stores. We knew two large groups of citizens that two types of gas was used upon them before the war to verify that the people making it did their job. And we have the people that mass produced the chemicals.

Oh - yea - the lefty types only treat WMD's as an H-Bomb. Right...

Mart> john wrote:

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Harold and Susan Vordos 19 years ago

The only *steer* I'm interested in is the one on my plate. Make it medium rare. :-)

Harold

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Harold and Susan Vordos 19 years ago

Chuckle!

Damned straight! It's better for those that have little to no ability to think and remember, I'd probably agree. I've worked with measurements of importance since I was a young teenager. I'm 68 in July------and don't find anything about metric "easier"--------not that I can't work with the system----I can. I simply convert everything to inches, where it makes sense. Screw the metric system----leave it for those that have little ability to think beyond the idea that payday's Friday.

Oh yeah! :-)

Harold

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Harold and Susan Vordos 19 years ago

Count me in! We should all move to the metric system, now that I understand the importance! :-)

Harold

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Grumman-581 19 years ago

If you want some confusion, go up to Canada... There is certain things which they use the metric system for and other things for which they use the US system... Road distances are in kilometers, but land area is in acres (i.e. 1/640th of a sq-mile)... Houses are likely to be measured in sq-ft also... It's like they can't quite decide which system they want to use...

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Nick Mueller 19 years ago

"Drills by numbers and letters are intuitive" "Wire gages are intuitive" "Sheet metal gages are intuitive" "Bolts by numbers are intuitive"

TBC

Nick ;-)

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Nick Mueller 19 years ago

No, the stere is used for wood only. It is a cubic meter of rough lumber (including the gaps). So the difference.

Nick

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Grumman-581 19 years ago

Agreed... Let's define the base unit for distance as the diameter of the nucleus of a hydrogen atom and base everything else on some 10 based factor of it... Time starts getting a bit difficult to redefine since the orbit of the planet around the sun does not come out to an even multiple of 10... As long as we're not concerned with any backwards compatibility, we could define the base unit of time as the time it takes for light to travel the distance of the diameter of a hydrogen atom nucleus in a vacuum...

Staying on the hydrogen bandwagon, so to speak, let's define temperature as 0 degrees being absolute zero (like in the Kelvin scale) and 1 degree being the melting point of hydrogen...

Hell, this is as good of a base for unit measures as what is currently used in the metric system... Probably even better, come to think of it...

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Harold and Susan Vordos 19 years ago

As I've said before, when you grow up with these things and understand them, they're no more difficult than any other system to understand and use. To me, they are intuitive. I see no need to change to yet another system-----especially when the reason is it requires less intelligence.

Harold

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Grumman-581 19 years ago

Perhaps, but give me a 20mm over a .50 anyday also...

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Nick Mueller 19 years ago

Intelligent systems don't require intelligence because it is inherent. Stupid systems require charts, not intelligence because stupidity can't be fought by intelligence.

:-)))

Nick, duck and run

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Lew Hartswick 19 years ago

-leave it for those that have little

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Harold don't forget the other two things that a plumber needs to know. " Hot on the left " and " Sh-- runs down hill " :-) ...lew...

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rigger 19 years ago

I just saw a special on TV which said there were about 450 POUNDS of material returned from the moon missions. If the Imperial system was so lacking wouldn't those rocks have been measured in kilos?

I mean where is the "proof of the pudding" when it comes to the much vaunted superiority of the metric system? I, for one, don't see it exhibited anywhere.

In fact, if anything, it appears the opposite.

dennis in nca

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