Frank and Ernest by Thaves for March 28, 2020

We’re right there with those other, world-power non-metric using countries: Liberia, and Myanmar!! Yes, that’s it. The whole list.

I can remember the day when speed limit signs were in both miles per hour and kilometers per hour. It looked like we were actually going to get the job done. Then it all collapsed. I think I’d rather be drinking half liters instead of pints. Although pints does sound more authentic.

In model work I use the metric system. It’s so much easier to work with millimeters than fractions of an inch. OTOH, I doubt I will ever accept jet thrust related in kilonewtons. One may as well use ‘zyzerxations.’ I have no experience with either. Fortunately, I have very little influence on the rest of the world so, carry on!

How many lives were lost in that mother of all wars.

before you judge a person, walk a kilometer in his shoes…

All I can remember from those days for some reason is that a kilo is 2.2 lbs. ;o)

In Canada, we lost the battle; although the grocery stores still sell things by the pound, and few people know their height in centimeters.

I’m still waiting for someone to tell me where I can buy a metric ratchet. Until then, Imperial wins.

Most of the rest of the world advanced to metric. The irony here is that the the imperial system was adopted from the British. Tell a ‘true blooded ’merican’ that.

I’m retired. Thankfully, when it comes to metric, I have Google.

I guess war is hell no matter which war it is.

You want some fun math? Work in medicine. You have to take the patient’s weight in pounds, then divide by 2.2 (to get kilograms) then the dose is some variation of mg/kg or ml/kg in dosing. Always fun. Especially in critical situations.

Then again, people would be happy for a second when they realize that their weight number is cut in half. I’m 190 pounds, but only 40.9 kg. Hmmmmmmmm. This might be good.

I support the move to the metric system…every inch of the way.

And there are still some people banging that drum … fortunately, not very many.

shoot, I had to duck and cover under my desk in the 50s. banged my head on the stupid desk too many times.

I think Americans would be more willing to convert to metric if it wasn’t for that damn Celsius.

The big argument in favor of the metric system was that by just moving the decimal it would be trivial to multiply or divide by ten.

But how many times — in a store, bar, or whatever — do you find yourself deciding between one amount and either ten times or 1/10 as much? No, it’s almost always between one amount and either twice or half as much.

E.g., in some countries they sell draft beer by the liter or half liter, but not by the tenth-of-a-liter, nor a ten-liter glass. And butter is commonly sold in 250g or 500g bricks. That’s 1/4 kg and 1/2 kg… powers of 2, not powers of 10.

So why did so many people, politicians, and governments buy the “factors of 10” argument?

mark twain

“So, there!” I recall that “noble” attempt. I wish it had been done, but I see it creeping in gradually anyway, so perhaps that was best(?)…

I also hoped it had been done. In my labs, we used metric units. Reading things from other countries, they express measurements in metric units.

With all the fascists running our government and in the WH I am not so sure we won WWII.

But Frank, that was a pointless War waged for the wrong reasons. Even the English who established our system gave it up for the Metric one over 100 years ago

The first was The Great Crusade; the second, Great Folly.

I would have been nice to learn the metric years ago, especially when I travel in other countries.

I’ve lived in Europe and the Far East and metric is just a different set of numbers. And I found that making the change abruptly was actually easier than doing it slowly. You just learn a new set of references and use them all the time the same way as the old (see The Brooklyn Accent’s reply to WilliamMedlock).

It ain’t that hard and you get to drive so much faster… I routinely did 120kph on the Tangenziale di Napoli (I don’t recall what the actual speed limit was back then), but that was just to keep up with traffic.

The metric system won by stealth. The units Americans use for measurement are defined in SI units. An foot, for example, is defined as exactly 0.3048 meters. A pound of mass is exactly 0.45359237 kilograms. A pound of force is 4.4482216152605 Newtons.

The metric system is the most successful revolution in history, having won over 95% of the planet in under 200 years — it originated after the French Revolution of 1789 — by sheer logic, without firing a shot or spilling a drop of blood.

Wow…. 75 Imperial comments so far today… now, how many Metic comments is that…?

I don’t mind using metric, but the problem is that I grew up learning measurement in pounds, gallons, feet, etc. (as did most all Americans) and have used it for 60+ years. So, when using metric, I usually have to mentally convert it to be able to “visualize” it well. Usually it’s easy to do: “OK, it’s 2 liters, so that’s a bit more than half a gallon” or “a meter is 39.37 inches”, but defeats the purpose and is a waste of time. Kilometers I never had any trouble with and can use easily, but I really have a hard time with kilograms. Using metric would be much simpler if we just used it!

If we had simply changed in 1975, no one under the age of 50 would have even known anything but Metric. The main reason we didn’t change is my generation just did ’t want to be bothered learning a new system. Changing would most certainly have improved the economy, someone will always make money off of any change in society.