To Metric or not Metric

[race aficionado]

I was just shown this world map where it shows the the countries that have not implemented the Metric system.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Metric_system.png

Through my life time I have been witness to the unsuccessful attempt of the US of A to change from their feet and inches standards to what is now used by the majority of other earthlings.

It would be so much practical for a unified standard of measurement.

Do you care?
:s mokin:

[schmenke]

Canada "went metric" back in the '70s and I think most Canucks will agree that the system is sooo much easier to use than imperial. All measurements are based in multiples of 10 :) .
However, ask me how tall I am and I'll reply "5 foot 10 inches" :rolleyes:

[Roamy]

I don't know who keeps living under the rock here but I suspect it is Detroit.

[Daniel]

Roamy, some people here in the UK still long for the days of nonsensical units of measurement

[Rollo]

The speed of light is about 1.8 Megafurlongs per Microfortnight.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2690/4408421627_b9a80a519d.jpg
A Nebuchadnezzar is 20 Bottlesworth and a Balthazar is 16 Bottlesworth. This demonstration is a bit more than a Balthazar.

One of my favourite units of measaurement is the amount of stupidity in a conversation which is measured in "likes per minute". If the word "like" is being used as a comparitive then it isn't counted, but phrases such as "and then she was like" are.
Conversations which are more than about 10lpm are quite stupid.

I hate Metric generally for two reasons. Firstly units like Feet, Pounds, Inches, bhp, the pint etc are all inherantly useful (and in some instances tasty), and secondly the Metric System is French... and that's terrible.

[Sonic]

Roamy, some people here in the UK still long for the days of nonsensical units of measurement

I just wish we'd pick! I buy a pint of milk, but a litre of petrol. I drive in mph, but the highway code is in meters. My son was 9lbs 2oz, but I'm 80kg's!

[Jag_Warrior]

With increasing globalization, having a standard system of measures would make things easier for those involved in international trade or travel. But outside of that, I'm not sure that it matters. Anyone involved in engineering, CNC, CAD/CAM work or automated production already uses a system which is based on 10th's: .0001, .001, .010, .100 of an inch. Only carpenters, or those in the (rough) building trades, use 1/4's, 1/8's and 1/16th's much these days. So if one is already using increments of 10, much of the advantage of metric is removed. Although I admit that when moving to broader measures (feet to yards to miles), there are clear advantages to metric. It's not something I ever think about, so I'd have to think hard (back to 6th grade) to remember how many feet or yards are in a mile. But unless you're a Sarah Palin type person, you'd automatically know that there are 1000 meters in a kilometer. Heck, even someone as stupid as Paris Hilton probably knows what a kilo of coke goes for these days and what that amount should look like.

What concerns me most right now is how many $'s it's going to take to buy a barrel of oil this summer. My fear is that price will either go up... or they're going to charge the same but make that dang barrel smaller! :p

[Eki]

Inches smell like foot.

[Eki]

BTW, can anyone identify those two countries other than the US using the Imperial system without peeking another site or a map?

[Rollo]

BTW, can anyone identify those two countries other than the US using the Imperial system without peeking another site or a map?

The USA, Liberia and Myanmar. :D

And the only reason I know this is that it was in a pub quiz (where they sell pints). When you say PUB, I say QUIZ.

PUB... QUIZ
PUB... QUIZ
PUB... QUIZ :D

[anthonyvop]

I was just shown this world map where it shows the the countries that have not implemented the Metric system.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Metric_system.png

Through my life time I have been witness to the unsuccessful attempt of the US of A to change from their feet and inches standards to what is now used by the majority of other earthlings.

It would be so much practical for a unified standard of measurement.

Do you care?
:s mokin:

The solution is simple. All you metric types should switch over and follow the USA!

[chuck34]

I don't know who keeps living under the rock here but I suspect it is Detroit.

Ever work on an "American" car? Lots of metric bolts there too.

[schmenke]

Ever work on an "American" car? Lots of metric bolts there too.

That boggles me.
My Hyundai POS built in Korea uses metric bolts, but the missus's Toyota minvan, built in Ontario, uses imperial :crazy:

[Don Capps]

The solution is simple. All you metric types should switch over and follow the USA!

Public Law 39-183, the Metric Act of 1866, and its subsequent amendments , made it illegal to refuse to trade or deal in metric quantities. Section 207: "It shall be lawful throughout the United States of America to employ the weights and measures of the metric system; and no contract or dealing, or pleading in any court, shall be deemed invalid or liable to objection because the weights or measures expressed or referred to therein are weights or measures of the metric system."

As an American who grew up in Europe, I have never quite understood, much less fathomed, the whole nonsense with inches, yards, pecks, pints, rods, acres, and so forth and so on. An irrational and antiquated system at best, dumber than a box of rocks or a passel of Republicans/Tea Party lunatics (same thing) at worse.

[GridGirl]

I to and fro between using imperial and metric depending on what I'm doing but my height and weight are measurements that swap between imperial and metric depending on my mood. :s

When it comes to cooking I have a fridge full of equivalent magnets.

Temperature: carenheit - celcius - gas mark
Solids: grams - ounces
Fluids: millilitre - fluid ounce
Others: cup - fluid ounce - tablespoon - teaspoon - millilitre

If often find myself staring at my fridge in despair when cooking depending on who and what type of receipe I'm following. I always find slow cooker recipes tend to be measured in cups which normally means that I stare at the fridge for a while, go back to chopping and then throw it all in the crockpot anyway.

[Mark]

I was just shown this world map where it shows the the countries that have not implemented the Metric system.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Metric_system.png

Through my life time I have been witness to the unsuccessful attempt of the US of A to change from their feet and inches standards to what is now used by the majority of other earthlings.

It would be so much practical for a unified standard of measurement.

Do you care?
:s mokin:

That map is quite misleading since the UK isn't listed, as it should be as a 'halfway house' type of arrangement.

We use imperial exclusively on the roads, with feet / miles and miles per hour. Fuel is sold by the litre but economy figures are quoted in miles per UK gallon.

In pubs you by beer by the pint when it's served draft but bottles are sold by the millilitre.

Sizes of televisions are still quoted in inches. Weights of people are in stones and pounds, heights of people are in feet and inches, whereas weights of products sold in the shops are in metric, unless you are a market stall trader when for some reason you insist on selling everything by the pound.

Temperatures are quoted in degrees C most of the time, except when there's a heat wave and the media will always quote it in Fahrenheit because it sounds bigger.

In short: it's a mess!

[MrJan]

Canada "went metric" back in the '70s and I think most Canucks will agree that the system is sooo much easier to use than imperial. All measurements are based in multiples of 10 :) .
However, ask me how tall I am and I'll reply "5 foot 10 inches" :rolleyes:

Yeah we're well down the middle here too. We travel miles but measure things in millimetres, yet talk about being 6 foot tall. I drink a pint of beer but buy a litre of water etc.

Working in the building industry you come across some really weird combinations. It's not uncommon to ask for x metres of 4"x2", then we have 2'6" doors etc. You can also ask a bloke for a measurement and he'll tell you it's 535mm by 10". This is usually just based on what side of the tape measure is easiest to read. For this reason I always keep a tape in my desk drawer, so that I can convert any of these dodgy measurements to something that makes 'sense'.

I find millimetres so much easier though, even than using Jags idea of 10th of an inch. 10mm to 1cm, 1000mm to 1m etc. etc. is far easier than 10/10ths of an inch to 1 inch 120/10ths of an inch to a foot.

[MrJan]

In pubs you by beer by the pint when it's served draft but bottles are sold by the millilitre.

Aah but a bottle of beer beer (as in ale) is 568ml, so that doesn't really count as metric that's actually a pint.

Love the weather thing though, we talk farenheit in the summer and celsius in the winter purely because it makes it sound more extreme.

[Hondo]

It's not a mess and the solution is simple. The reason people resist a system change is because it forces them to learn and use a system that already exists and is in use. Come up with a new Global Measurement System that every body will have to go through the trouble of learning, and you'll have a winner. People don't mind getting it broke off in them as long as everybody else is getting some too.

[MrJan]

It's not a mess and the solution is simple. The reason people resist a system change is because it forces them to learn and use a system that already exists and is in use. Come up with a new Global Measurement System that every body will have to go through the trouble of learning, and you'll have a winner. People don't mind getting it broke off in them as long as everybody else is getting some too.

They did, they call it...the metric system ;)

[Hondo]

Maybe something wasn't clear.

[Rollo]

Aah but a bottle of beer beer (as in ale) is 568ml, so that doesn't really count as metric that's actually a pint.

An American pint is a pitiful 473mL. Even un demi is 500mL.

I also think it's funny that we still talk of a 24 hour day made up of 60 minutes and 60 seconds. Maybe we should have gone to a 10 hour day of 100 minutes and 100 seconds like the 1928 film Metropolis, and redefined what an hour, minute and second are.

[schmenke]

...I also think it's funny that we still talk of a 24 hour day made up of 60 minutes and 60 seconds. Maybe we should have gone to a 10 hour day of 100 minutes and 100 seconds like the 1928 film Metropolis, and redefined what an hour, minute and second are.

Not a bad idea. Give me a minute to think about it.

[Eki]

How about the Swatch Internet Time?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time

[BleAivano]

in Sweden metric is widely dominating, however units like feet and acres and tablespoons do occur as well and of course nautical miles.

Feets are used to describe both lengths. like how big boat do you have? i have a 28 "feet'er". acres are used when it comes to describing the size of larger properties like forests and etc.
tea/tablespoon etc are still used in cooking and nautical miles are used within maritime navigation.

[race aficionado]

That map is quite misleading since the UK isn't listed, as it should be as a 'halfway house' type of arrangement.

We use imperial exclusively on the roads, with feet / miles and miles per hour. Fuel is sold by the litre but economy figures are quoted in miles per UK gallon.

In pubs you by beer by the pint when it's served draft but bottles are sold by the millilitre.

Sizes of televisions are still quoted in inches. Weights of people are in stones and pounds, heights of people are in feet and inches, whereas weights of products sold in the shops are in metric, unless you are a market stall trader when for some reason you insist on selling everything by the pound.

Temperatures are quoted in degrees C most of the time, except when there's a heat wave and the media will always quote it in Fahrenheit because it sounds bigger.

In short: it's a mess!

According to other responses it looks like that is the case in many other countries.

It is a mess.

I wonder who is actually metric 100%.

[Mark]

France is probably the most as they were the pioneers in the system. However a pound (livre) is still known there and generally regarded as 500g.

[BleAivano]

forgot to say that obviously Sweden uses Celsius (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celsius) as a temperature measure unit since its scale was invented by Swedish scientist Anders Celsius (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Celsius) and later modified by Carl von Linné (http://www.motorsportforums.com/forums/Carl%20von%20Linn%C3%83%C2%A9).

[ioan]

Maybe something wasn't clear.

Right, it was the part about having 95% of Earth's population bow down to the selfishness of the remaining 5%. :p

[Rollo]

Not a bad idea. Give me a minute to think about it.

If you can do it without hesitation, repetition or deviation from the subject, your time starts now :D

[rah]

hasn't the US military started using metric? I remember seeing it some recent shows regarding m and km.

[BDunnell]

I have never understood why this matters so much. I think of some things in imperial and others in metric. In fact, I can't think of any instances where the fact of two systems still existing has caused confusion.

[Mark]

hasn't the US military started using metric? I remember seeing it some recent shows regarding m and km.

I think they always have? I've seen many a Vietnam film where they talk about 'clicks', meaning kilometres.

[Don Capps]

hasn't the US military started using metric? I remember seeing it some recent shows regarding m and km.

The US Army began its initial move towards going metric as a result of its experience in the Great War (WW I), but following WW II it was decided to make the conversion to metric as soon as possible. By the end of the Korean War and the early Fifties, the process was in place regarding such items as ordnance, maps, and many other items. The large US presence in Asia (Japan and Korea) and Europe (and the need to adopt to NATO standardization) ensured that the process succeeded. Yes, in Viet-Nam we thought in metric, with meters (mikes) and kilometers (klicks) being how distances were measured. At US bases that are OCONUS (Outside the Continental United States), metric is now the standard for vehicle speeds and so forth.