Can we try again to go metric?
This came up in a limited thread today. As a scientist, I wish Reagan wouldn’t have undone the progress towards going metric.
h/t Cindy Brown for mentioning the 1982 Reagan part.
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November 24, 2012
i can’t fathom doing any thermal heat transfer calculations using imperial units!!
November 24, 2012
I wish we could. I like inches for crafts, and to be honest I only know how to bake in F even as a Canadian, but metric just makes sense and Imperial does not.
November 24, 2012
One of my friends, while in grade school, got in a fist fight with a kid who’d moved to Canada. Because that kid said that the metric system was stupid.
That didn’t add anything to the conversation, I know.
November 24, 2012
It added a few mm of text.
November 24, 2012
It added amusement, Tara Mulder.
November 24, 2012
i still relate to people’s height in weight in imperial though, but physics without metric is masochistic
November 24, 2012
Congress fumbled the imperial / metric conversion back in 1866.
http://www.nist.gov/pml/wmd/metric/metric-policy.cfm
November 24, 2012
Thanks for the link Tom Nathe
November 24, 2012
As a Canadian, I once read a fascinating defense of imperial measurement that I ought to find again. I still know my weight in lbs and height in inches despite measuring distance and speed in SI units.
November 24, 2012
i learned the number of feet in a mile during a summer job at a gold mine. the new shaft was 14 feet short of a mile in depth.
November 24, 2012
I can’t think in kph, except at the extreme in F1.
November 24, 2012
I still like my temperature in Fahrenheit and my meat in lb.
454 mg is the amount of meat to feed a family or 1 lb.
1 kg is too much and more than two meals or 2.2 lb.
I love the picture. When our gas pumps went metric I remember them being $0.75/gal now the gas is $1.36/L! Our gallon was over 4L. The US gallon is just under 4L (3.8L I think)
It’s crazy.
November 24, 2012
what no furlongs per fortnight??? that is what the F stands for in F1.
November 24, 2012
And how much does a stone weigh? 14 lb
November 24, 2012
Until recently Michel Carriere
November 24, 2012
It’s hard to adapt to the imperial system for anything. I have to convert everything into SI units… I guess it’s what you’ve been brought up with as well. For me g will always be 9.8 m/s2
November 24, 2012
You’re absolutely right, Lacerant Plainer. I grew up during the metric conversion in Canada (1970s), but still default (in my head) to feet and inches for height and pounds for weight. I have to convert to metric in order to make myself understood.
November 24, 2012
I learned metric in school but I still convert so many things. When I learned to drive my parents car had only miles, so I had to learn to convert while I drove and read the km/h signs.
Cooking – I have finally learned some of the metric measures in recipes but most of them are in imperial measures.
November 24, 2012
sigh… many more errr… leagues to go :/
November 24, 2012
LOL Feisal Kamil but sometimes I do find novelty in using the old ways of measuring stuff… why last week I was just admiring a nice 2 square furlong apartment
November 24, 2012
Actually, I know my apartment size in square feet. I claim to be metric, but am mixed.
November 24, 2012
while we’re at it, can we also standardize all the different shoe size systems :/
November 24, 2012
I’m surprised Americans fight to maintain a system that is the same as the British…and to be honest, if you practice thinking in one thing you will know it. Our (Canada) problem is that everyone still talks about feet/inches for height, pounds for weight and square feet for real estate (not to mention cooking) so it is hard to train yourself!
November 24, 2012
Wesley Yeoh, while we’re at it, it’d be nice if even within the same clothing manufacturer, they’d standardise women’s clothing sizes.
November 24, 2012
Denny Winkler Even weirder, I don’t think it is completely the same as the British system. Gallons are still different (as was mentioned above), yes?
November 24, 2012
Yep, British Imperial doesn’t match up completely with American Imperial.
November 24, 2012
I LOL’d at the “explanation” why:
A British (imperial) gallon contains four imperial quarts of 40 ounce each for a total of 160 ounces, and a US gallon contains four US quarts of 32 ounces each, for a total of 128 ounces.
one gallon US equals 3.7854 liter, or 0.0037854 cubic meter, or 0.13368 cubic feet,
one British (imperial) gallon equals 1.2009 gallons US, or 277.42 cubic inch, or 4.5460 liter, or 0.004546 cubic meter
The difference between the Imperial gallon and the smaller US Gallon might be explained by the fact that, in the post medieval past, the whiskey filled barrels leaving the shores of UK didn’t have the same content when arriving in the new world….
November 24, 2012
So all this confusion ‘coz some sailors tippled from barrels? O..o
November 24, 2012
We need to do the switch to metric. It is so embarrassing to host international scientists and have to explain miles, etc.
Plus, how awesome is the metric system that you can convert between mass, linear measurement, and volume so easily? water= 1g = 1cm3 = 1ml !!!
November 24, 2012
Kevin Folta stop making sense, that’s not how we do things in the USA
November 24, 2012
Oh and before the Europeans get too proud, can you stop using a comma for a decimal point? They aren’t the same and 16,99 is a lot more Euros than 16.99.
November 24, 2012
Chad Haney you won’t believe the headaches I had with that one in Rome.
November 24, 2012
Heh I kept wondering if they were going to charge me 100 Euros for a tiny coffee in a cafe.