USA & The Metric System

[Ifreann]

BY THE WAY I TOTTAY AGREE WITH MOST SANE PEOPLE THAT THE US SHOULD SWITCH TO THE METRIC SYSTEM

And are you American? Really, someone earlier said this poll should say:

Americans: yes
Americans: no
Europe: yes
Europe: no
World: yes
World: no.

That way we kind of get an idea of where we are. If it is 80% of Americans saying we should not switch over, and 80% of Europeans say we should, well, sorry but the Europeans would lose because this is OUR country, NOT yours lol.

The idea is to gauge the opinion of NSG. Not to actually make a decision one way or the other.

You should trust us when we say "IT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER."

It does though. Money is being wasted on conversions that need not be.

Besides, I don;t know why people outside the US should really care either way. You don;t live here, unless you're planning on moving here.

Or if they're doing business in America.

Which means that there is SOMETHING about this country you do like, or else you wouldn't be moving here lol.

Almost certainly but not necessarily. Not that that's relevant at all.

[The Future Kingdom]

BY THE WAY I TOTTAY AGREE WITH MOST SANE PEOPLE THAT THE US SHOULD SWITCH TO THE METRIC SYSTEM

hey if ur not american than stay out of it cause USA is the best damn nation in the world

[Dyakovo]

BY THE WAY I TOTTAY AGREE WITH MOST SANE PEOPLE THAT THE US SHOULD SWITCH TO THE METRIC SYSTEM

hey if ur not american than stay out of it cause USA is the best damn nation in the world

[Galloism]

BY THE WAY I TOTTAY AGREE WITH MOST SANE PEOPLE THAT THE US SHOULD SWITCH TO THE METRIC SYSTEM

hey if ur not american than stay out of it cause USA is the best damn nation in the world

You know, as an American, I'm getting tired of hearing that.

I mean, America is the only country that stomps around the world telling all the other countries that it is the greatest country on earth.

Imagine if you worked in an office, and there was a guy that came in every day and shouted "I'm the greatest motherfucker here!!! The rest of you guys are shit!" By the end of the week, you would have killed him.

[Dyakovo]

hey if ur not american than stay out of it cause USA is the best damn nation in the world

You know, as an American, I'm getting tired of hearing that.

I mean, America is the only country that stomps around the world telling all the other countries that it is the greatest country on earth.

Imagine if you worked in an office, and there was a guy that came in every day and shouted "I'm the greatest motherfucker here!!! The rest of you guys are shit!" By the end of the week, you would have killed him.

Indeed

[Ifreann]

BY THE WAY I TOTTAY AGREE WITH MOST SANE PEOPLE THAT THE US SHOULD SWITCH TO THE METRIC SYSTEM

hey if ur not american than stay out of it cause USA is the best damn nation in the world

Yet you persist in using a system of measurement that costs you money for no good reason.

[Psychotic Mongooses]

Imagine if you worked in an office, and there was a guy that came in every day and shouted "I'm the greatest motherfucker here!!! The rest of you guys are shit!" By the end of the week, you would have killed him.

Or pissed in his coffee.

[Ifreann]

Imagine if you worked in an office, and there was a guy that came in every day and shouted "I'm the greatest motherfucker here!!! The rest of you guys are shit!" By the end of the week, you would have killed him.

Or pissed in his coffee.

I would have pissed in his coffee by the end of the day.

[Maximus Corporation]

We should avoid changing it to upset those folks around the world who are unable to comprehend anything outside of base ten.

[The Orion Federation (Ancient)]

Money being wasted on conversions? Really? I didn;t know it costs a ton of money for someone to use a calculator once in a while....

No, it does not cost anything....not anything significant. Most engineers, and physicists already can measure in both directions. And if they need an EXACT measurement from one system to another, there are charts for that. It takes what? All of about 2 seconds to glance at a chart, or to use a calculator? Sorry, but that argument is not really all that convincing.

Or if they're doing business in America.

Like I said, there has to be SOMETHING you like about America. Unless you really hate your job, in which case, you should probably switch careers then. And I said about MOVING here, meaning PERMANENTLY. "Doing business" isn't exactly "moving here." lol.

Almost certainly but not necessarily. Not that that's relevant at all.

Of course it's relevant. If you hate America that much, you would quit your job if that was the only reason for moving here. Using a different measurement system is a minor inconvenience. Not exactly a very tough inconvenience to get over either, actually.


I think another good poll to conduct would be to see how many people from other countries actually VISITED the USA. Compare that to how many people from the USA visited other countries. Americans who say Europe, and other countries are horrible have no right to say such things unless you've been there, experienced the culture, and know what it's like. And vice-versa.

When I went to Europe, we went there to visit family over in Italy (Sicily). We did go into Italy. The second time over there, soon as we crossed over into Southern France, we stopped by a small restaurant in a small city. When we went in to be seated, the seating person told us in a very unkind manner that they do not serve Americans here. Now, my grandfather was fluent in 5 different languages: Italian, French, German, English, and Swiss. So he started speaking to the guy in French, explaining that he was Italian, and moved to American. The guy said that was even worse. Eventually he ran to get the maitre d. He comes in, threatening to call the police if we didn;t leave. Now, come on! How RUDE, and IGNORANT is that? Sorry, but I say that's even worse than any old foolish redneck our country can come up with. At least American rednecks are truly ignorant, with very little in the way of any sort of education. This was clearly a nice/respectable restaurant, and anyone who is able to run such a place is hardly uneducated.

[Ifreann]

Money being wasted on conversions? Really? I didn;t know it costs a ton of money for someone to use a calculator once in a while....

In fact I said it was a tiny cost.

No, it does not cost anything....not anything significant. Most engineers, and physicists already can measure in both directions. And if they need an EXACT measurement from one system to another, there are charts for that. It takes what? All of about 2 seconds to glance at a chart, or to use a calculator? Sorry, but that argument is not really all that convincing.

Perhaps because you can't multiply a tiny cost by the large number of times it must be incurred.

Or if they're doing business in America.

Like I said, there has to be SOMETHING you like about America. Unless you really hate your job, in which case, you should probably switch careers then. And I said about MOVING here, meaning PERMANENTLY. "Doing business" isn't exactly "moving here." lol.

Almost certainly but not necessarily. Not that that's relevant at all.

Of course it's relevant. If you hate America that much, you would quit your job if that was the only reason for moving here. Using a different measurement system is a minor inconvenience. Not exactly a very tough inconvenience to get over either, actually.

The system of measurement used by the US and whether its a good thing or bad or otherwise that they continue to do so has nothing to do with whether one likes the US, or why one is moving there, or why one is doing business there.

I think another good poll to conduct would be to see how many people from other countries actually VISITED the USA. Compare that to how many people from the USA visited other countries. Americans who say Europe, and other countries are horrible have no right to say such things unless you've been there, experienced the culture, and know what it's like. And vice-versa.

Quite false. They have every right, but their opinion is uninformed. But this has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Better that it be dropped or a different thread be made for people to complain about how America is crap, and people to complain about how complaining about America is crap.

[Dyakovo]

Money being wasted on conversions? Really? I didn;t know it costs a ton of money for someone to use a calculator once in a while....

In fact I said it was a tiny cost.

What, precisely, is the cost?

[The Orion Federation (Ancient)]

Perhaps because you can't multiply a tiny cost by the large number of times it must be incurred.

Sure, but I highly doubt it would offset the absolutely enormous chunk of GDP it would cost to replace all sign posts on all highways, reprinting textbooks, redoing entire interne/intranet web sites, redistributing measuring materials of all types and sizes, reconfiguring every single vehicle, from planes, to trains, to automobiles, to boats, and ship, and bicycles.....Etc, etc, etc....

Sorry, but the few second it would save an engineer from having to use a calculator or chart for any type of project is HARDLY worth the revamping of every aspect of our society.

The system of measurement used by the US and whether its a good thing or bad or otherwise that they continue to do so has nothing to do with whether one likes the US, or why one is moving there, or why one is doing business there.

Yeah, but it is still used as an example why other countries dislike America. I have already read it several times in this thread alone. I agree it should have absolutely nothing to do with people's opinion of this country, but sadly, it apparently does. Or else there would be no argument from foreigners period as to how we measure things. They simply would not care, since it wouldn't affect their opinion about us at all.

Quite false. They have every right, but their opinion is uninformed. But this has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Better that it be dropped or a different thread be made for people to complain about how America is crap, and people to complain about how complaining about America is crap.

I actually quite agree! I was just merely speculating here anyway.

[quote="Dyakovo]What, precisely, is the cost?[/quote]

^ This.

My answer is that the so-called "cost" is quite negligible, especially in comparison to the cost for everything I already mentioned above that would have to be replaced. Even if not in comparison to anything, it would still be negligible. A physicist being payed $100/hour to determine whether a ride at an amusement park is safe or not taking a few seconds now and then to do some quick conversions would MAYBE cost $5/hour at the very most. ( I would highly bet it would be much lower than that even. A fraction of what any company would pay for a single minimum-wage, part-time worker.)

But the cost to the amusement to to pay a web master to go into the HTML code of that park's web site to change all the figures for all the rides into a metric system alone would probably cost hundreds, if not, thousands of dollars. They would have to order new ride height maximum signs on all the adult rides, pay the maintenance person to around the park to replace the signs. Any signs which have the ride's statistics would need to be reproduced and replaced. By this time, we are talking tens of thousands of dollars, just for signs, and a web page.

So, anywhere from $1 - $5 being spent for a physicist to take out a couple seconds/hour to convert the physics of a ride into mathematically better number, or the $100,000 spent on replacing signs, and redoing a web site? Oh, and not to mention the tools that the park would need to carry for maintanance jobs. Now it would have to carry both Imperial and Metric tools, because every new ride would be built using the metric system, and all the old rides would still be around. So you can very easily add another quarter million dollars ordering metric tools just for 1 amusement park. Not even talking about the cost to taxpayers for replacing highway signs, such as MPH signs, distance signs, and mile markers. All Just because a bunch of Europeans want us to convert to Metric lol.

Do you see why it would be a living hell for Americans to just drop their current measuring system and start using a completely new one, without any apparent practical reason to do so?

[UnhealthyTruthseeker]

If you really want a truly non-arbitrary system of measurement, why not have all base measures set to the values of specific quanta?

[Gun Manufacturers]

....Imagine if you worked in an office, and there was a guy that came in every day and shouted "I'm the greatest motherfucker here!!! The rest of you guys are shit!" By the end of the week, you would have killed him.

Not me. I would start making fun of him for fucking his mother.

[Minnas]

I like our system the way it is.

[Lunatic Goofballs]

hey if ur not american than stay out of it cause USA is the best damn nation in the world

You know, as an American, I'm getting tired of hearing that.

I mean, America is the only country that stomps around the world telling all the other countries that it is the greatest country on earth.

Imagine if you worked in an office, and there was a guy that came in every day and shouted "I'm the greatest motherfucker here!!! The rest of you guys are shit!" By the end of the week, you would have killed him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mCDZMWVWuc

[Dyakovo]

I like our system the way it is.

I actually prefer the metric system, though I am much more used to the Imperial/American system.

[Minnas]

I like our system the way it is.

I actually prefer the metric system, though I am much more used to the Imperial/American system.

I find the metric system too confusing.

[Dyakovo]

I like our system the way it is.

I actually prefer the metric system, though I am much more used to the Imperial/American system.

I find the metric system too confusing.

What do you find confusing about it?

Or is it that not so much that you find it confusing per se as that you have a hard time picturing just how large a particular unit of measure is?

[UnhealthyTruthseeker]

I find the metric system too confusing.

How exactly is it confusing?

[Minnas]

I find the metric system too confusing.

How exactly is it confusing?

The conversions. They're fucking confusing.

[UnhealthyTruthseeker]

The conversions. They're fucking confusing.

Sliding the decimal point is confusing, but multiplying by arbitrary factors like 3 and 12 and 5280 isn't?

[Dyakovo]

The conversions. They're fucking confusing.

Sliding the decimal point is confusing, but multiplying by arbitrary factors like 3 and 12 and 5280 isn't?

I think she's referring to the conversions from metric to American...

[Minnas]

The conversions. They're fucking confusing.

Sliding the decimal point is confusing, but multiplying by arbitrary factors like 3 and 12 and 5280 isn't?

I do it naturally. I grew up with the American system. It works. Why must we change it?