USA & The Metric System

[Braaainsss]

You said you're from Europe? So you have lower incomes, higher taxes and a higher cost of living. Enjoy!

And yet I have a far higher quality of life, I am healthier, will live longer and stay healthier during those extra years, will see fewer of my children (should I choose to get them) die and be maimed, am much freer than I would be in the USA, run a much lower risk of being stricken with poverty, have a much higher level of social class motion and so on. You see, the USA really isn't that impressive. Sure you've money, but fritter away and waste it, leaving your social divides not divides, but chasms and so on. I know you're probably used to being able to impress a Mexican with the "greatness" of the USA. You'll see it's not so easy when you try to do so with someone who actually lives in a developed country.

You kind of set yourself up for this inane argument by responding to a criticism of our measurement system with a reflexive defense of America's status as a great nation.

Precisely.

Yet a bunch of Europeans still move here.

If by Europeans you mean Mexicans.

[Sibirsky]

Fassitude accused us of not being able to convert to the metric system. This latest exchange started from that. The hell we can't. We do not need or want to.

I want to. It's just not worth beating back the hordes of people who would be outraged by it, just like they're outraged by bilingual signs and their kids being taught science in school. And that makes me sad for my country.

If they decide to use the decimal system, so be it, I have no problem with it whatsoever. I would be very outraged by bilingual signs. Science in school? What do they teach now? I had science.

[Sibirsky]

If by Europeans you mean Mexicans.

Try Irish, British, Spanish, French, Italian German and so forth.

[Braaainsss]

Fassitude accused us of not being able to convert to the metric system. This latest exchange started from that. The hell we can't. We do not need or want to.

I want to. It's just not worth beating back the hordes of people who would be outraged by it, just like they're outraged by bilingual signs and their kids being taught science in school. And that makes me sad for my country.

If they decide to use the decimal system, so be it, I have no problem with it whatsoever. I would be very outraged by bilingual signs. Science in school? What do they teach now? I had science.

Wait--the decimal system? What do you use, base twelve?

And really, you're offended when you go into the grocery store and see a sign that says, "Vegetables/Verduras?"

[Sibirsky]

Wait--the decimal system? What do you use, base twelve?

And really, you're offended when you go into the grocery store and see a sign that says, "Vegetables/Verduras?"

I am not offended by it. I find it unnecessary. Why not have it in all the languages of all the immigrants?

[Fassitude]

Yet a bunch of Europeans still move here.

And a bunch of people from the USA move from the USA. It's as if this global village of ours were... global... and migratory patterns multivariate and highly individual... intriguing and complex, so one could see how you were stumped.

[Sibirsky]

Yet a bunch of Europeans still move here.

And a bunch of people from the USA move from the USA. It's as if this global village of ours were... global... and migratory patterns multivariate and highly individual... intriguing and complex, so one could see how you were stumped.

Far more Europeans move to the US than Americans to Europe. Even now. Look we can keep this up forever. Bottom line, you seem to be happy where you are. Good for you. I am happy for you. I am also happy here in the US and, at least at this point in time would not want to live elsewhere, at least on a permanent basis.

[England and France]

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

I find myself wondering, why the hell is the U.S. not on the Metric system? The system itself is clearly superior to the U.S. Customary units system. So why the hell can't we just switch over to it like the rest of the world already has?

The only other countries not on the Metric system are Liberia and Burma - Third World Countries.


Why are we not on it yet, and would anybody else here be in favor of making the complete conversion?

I live in the UK, where everything's still MPH and miles to a place but most other things are Metric.

For my younger generation it's confusing. I can tell you what's roughly a yard (still commonly referred to in popular usage, such as sports) and roughly a m but I can't do it very well and because we're confusingly taught a bit of both it makes little sense.

We get cm with just about everything, but I can't tell you how many m or cm there is in a mile. I couldn't even tell you how many yards in a mile. My parents could but my generation generally can't.

I agree you should switch. But switch completely, not partly

[Pope Joan]

Why are we the only nation not to sign the Kyoto accords, other than, what, Somalia?

Donald Rumsfeld: "BECAUSE WE CAN!"

[Anarchic-Marxist]

Yeah the metric system is way better.

[Parthenon]

Unless you are using it for mathmatical or scientific purposes the metric system is pretty damn shitty.

I am 6'3'', not 1.90500 meters

I have one tablespoon of vanilla, not 14.7867648 milliliters. or 1.47867648 centiliters

There is 10 yards in a first down, not 9.14400 meters

Houses have square footage, not square decimeters.

[Pope Joan]

Most manufacturers and producers of physical goods already comply with ISO 8000, which is an international compliance and quality assurance incorporating metrics.

So it is only we ignorant peons who think we're so cool using measurements based on the length of a king's forearm.

[Vaarshire]

We get cm with just about everything, but I can't tell you how many m or cm there is in a mile. I couldn't even tell you how many yards in a mile. My parents could but my generation generally can't.

I agree you should switch. But switch completely, not partly

1,760, if I recall correctly. I may have switched some digits around, blasted dyslexia.

At any rate, I like the metric- excuse me, SI system just because it is a bit simpler. Everything is in terms of 10. 10 mm in a centimeter. 10x10 cm in a meter. And I like the Latin prefixes, too.

I learned to like the SI system when I took Physics. I was pretty bad at the math part, and the physics part, but I was especially bad when I tried to do physics in US customary units. That was probably just because I was used to doing physics in met... SI. It's just easier to move the decimal place to convert something into a different sized unit. Plus, I much prefer "Newton" to "Foot-pound". I'd have to say that Newton is one of my more favorite units, for no particular reason. I like Ohms, too.

However, PSI is a bit more useful than the Pascal. Pascals are just too small to do anything good with. But there inlies the beauty of SI! Just throw some Latin in front of it and, boom, Kilopascal!

However, while I believe that the US should switch to the SI system, the fact of the matter is that there are too many old, stubborn people who refuse to use metri... SI at all. People would send angry letters to their Congressmen. Ron Paul would probably blather about loss of sovereignity.

Not to mention, people would complain about expenses- rightfully so; just changing all the speed limit signs would cost millions of dollars. People would argue that there isn't any need for the whole country to switch. Scientists already work in SI units, many engineers do as well.

The thing is, John Q. Voter from Screendoor, Kentucky who probably won't ever leave the country won't have any use for SI. All he needs to know is that the bar is so many miles from his trailer, that his handgun's caliber is so many fractions of an inch, and that his pickup truck gets so many miles per gallon less than new automotive fuel effiency requirements. As has been pointed out, all that changing the units would do for him would replace a system that worked just fine with him with a different system that would probably work just as fine but take a little while getting used to. In the meantime, he might get a few speeding tickets for going the right speed limit in the wrong unit. "I wondered why I was going faster than everybody... but the signs do all say 95..."

It could be argued that the entire nation does not need to switch to SI. Those people whose work often deals with other countries could learn to use the system, as many of them already do, and those like John Q. Voter to whom switching would make no real difference in the long run wouldn't have to foot the bill of national Metrification SI-ification with their taxes. The US is in astronomical amounts of debt. Things have working well enough for the past 30 years as we convert our units back and forth with the rest of the world. Again, while I believe we should use the SI system, we shouldn't be paying to switch nationwide right now.

[UnhealthyTruthseeker]

I am 6'3'', not 1.90500 meters

No, you are both. Your argument is like saying 2 + 2 is 4 but 2 + 2 isn't 12/3.

I have one tablespoon of vanilla, not 14.7867648 milliliters. or 1.47867648 centiliters

No, you have both.

There is 10 yards in a first down, not 9.14400 meters

Nope, both are correct.

Houses have square footage, not square decimeters.

You just can't get anything right can you?

[Parthenon]

The thing is, John Q. Voter from Screendoor, Kentucky who probably won't ever leave the country won't have any use for SI. All he needs to know is that the bar is so many miles from his trailer, that his handgun's caliber is so many fractions of an inch, and that his pickup truck gets so many miles per gallon less than new automotive fuel effiency requirements.

Stereotyping, how quaint.

[Parthenon]

I am 6'3'', not 1.90500 meters

No, you are both. Your argument is like saying 2 + 2 is 4 but 2 + 2 isn't 12/3.

I have one tablespoon of vanilla, not 14.7867648 milliliters. or 1.47867648 centiliters

No, you have both.

There is 10 yards in a first down, not 9.14400 meters

Nope, both are correct.

Houses have square footage, not square decimeters.

You just can't get anything right can you?

Apparently you don't understand what rejection is and think everything should be taken literally. Might help your love life a bit if you picked this simple idea up.

[UnhealthyTruthseeker]

Apparently you don't understand what rejection is and think everything should be taken literally. Might help your love life a bit if you picked this simple idea up.

Translation: I'm an Internet Tough Guy and made a stupid macho statement about how I don't conform to the silly "logically consistent" metric system, and now I'm pissy about the fact that UT deconstructed my post, so I'll make an oh-so-mature attempt to insinuate that he lacks in the manhood department.

I'm well aware that your statements were not to be taken literally, but they were still asinine and made no legitimate point. Why are you so defensive all the time?

[Vaarshire]

The thing is, John Q. Voter from Screendoor, Kentucky who probably won't ever leave the country won't have any use for SI. All he needs to know is that the bar is so many miles from his trailer, that his handgun's caliber is so many fractions of an inch, and that his pickup truck gets so many miles per gallon less than new automotive fuel effiency requirements.

Stereotyping, how quaint.

That, of course, is the important thing about my post. The fact that I used stereotypes in my example. That invalidates all of my points, right?

[Blouman Empire]

Slumming it? You're talking out of your ass and you know it. I have been all over the world and I know what slumming it is, and I know how Europe is (various parts) and I know how the US is (again various parts). You said you're from Europe? So you have lower incomes, higher taxes and a higher cost of living. Enjoy!

I'm sure he will enjoy a $20 Gin and tonic.

[Parthenon]

The thing is, John Q. Voter from Screendoor, Kentucky who probably won't ever leave the country won't have any use for SI. All he needs to know is that the bar is so many miles from his trailer, that his handgun's caliber is so many fractions of an inch, and that his pickup truck gets so many miles per gallon less than new automotive fuel effiency requirements.

Stereotyping, how quaint.

That, of course, is the important thing about my post. The fact that I used stereotypes in my example. That invalidates all of my points, right?

No, but the fact that you chose a gun toting, blue collar, truck driving citizen to be the subject of your demagogy when advocating a move to the metric system indicates to me that you are from the feel good liberal crowd that thinks that buying into something because europe and other "free-thinking" places do it it must be better...

[Greater Americania]

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

I find myself wondering, why the hell is the U.S. not on the Metric system? The system itself is clearly superior to the U.S. Customary units system. So why the hell can't we just switch over to it like the rest of the world already has?

Because current system works just fine. In truth it is a superior system and I'd support moving over, but it's not a big deal.

The only other countries not on the Metric system are Liberia and Burma - Third World Countries.

This is entirely irrelevant. It sounds sort of like the traditional childish "Ahh, come on! All the cool kids are doing it!". It doesn't matter what the rest of the world does. Their measurement systems are of no importance to the USA.

[Vaarshire]

No, but the fact that you chose a gun toting, blue collar, truck driving citizen to be the subject of your demagogy when advocating a move to the metric system indicates to me that you are from the feel good liberal crowd that thinks that buying into something because europe and other "free-thinking" places do it it must be better...

I used a gun toting, blue collar, truck driving citizen because- to be honest- that's the first kind of person I thought of that probably wouldn't be particularly fond of switching measurement systems. As I said, I advocate switching to the metric system because I find it to be simpler. While I personally have it memorized that there are 12 inches in one foot and 5,280 feet in one mile, I believe it's simpler when one just has to move the decimal place to change from a smaller unit of something to a larger, or vice versa. Switching would also make it simpler when one deals with nations on the metric system, but that isn't my primary reason.

[Eternal Mysteries]

The world obsession with the love of numbers and money is repulsive and deserving of a big "wake up!" and before the greedy and power hungry "invisibles" rip you from your "comfortable false reality" you swallow to fill your little bubble mind world.

If you continue to allow these "lying warmonger pigs" to set the rules you are willing to swallow, then you have no hope for a true view of reality.

In this portal of eternal mystery, you have a choice. When you bend of and take it up your *** you only empower them more to your own loss.

When you arrange "it is all in your mind" and spread a collective conciousness to be free of "trantrum childish" powermongers you hasten their destruction and permanent removal to your real inner desire to be at peace and prospering.

Yes I am on something ! It is called "I don't have to believe or live by any system of measurement that slave nations use to validate existence and liquidity to prove you are in control, and not in denial "that you are in mortal fear of your lives"! Go ahead, set yourself up for the ultimate *** reaming, and don't cry if it you take it dry.

[Braaainsss]

The world obsession with the love of numbers and money is repulsive and deserving of a big "wake up!" and before the greedy and power hungry "invisibles" rip you from your "comfortable false reality" you swallow to fill your little bubble mind world.

If you continue to allow these "lying warmonger pigs" to set the rules you are willing to swallow, then you have no hope for a true view of reality.

In this portal of eternal mystery, you have a choice. When you bend of and take it up your *** you only empower them more to your own loss.

When you arrange "it is all in your mind" and spread a collective conciousness to be free of "trantrum childish" powermongers you hasten their destruction and permanent removal to your real inner desire to be at peace and prospering.

Whuh? Are you on LSD or something?

[UnhealthyTruthseeker]

The world obsession with the love of numbers and money is repulsive and deserving of a big "wake up!" and before the greedy and power hungry "invisibles" rip you from your "comfortable false reality" you swallow to fill your little bubble mind world.

If you continue to allow these "lying warmonger pigs" to set the rules you are willing to swallow, then you have no hope for a true view of reality.

In this portal of eternal mystery, you have a choice. When you bend of and take it up your *** you only empower them more to your own loss.

When you arrange "it is all in your mind" and spread a collective conciousness to be free of "trantrum childish" powermongers you hasten their destruction and permanent removal to your real inner desire to be at peace and prospering.

Standard systems of measurement are part of a vast government conspiracy? Seriously?