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#91
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US going metric?
alohacyberian wrote:
"MMcC" wrote in message ... "alohacyberian" wrote in message ... "Dave Smith" wrote in message ... Can you tell the difference between 84 and 85 F ? I have enough trouble No, but, I can tell the difference between 70 and 72. But can you tell the difference between 71 and 72? If a 2 degree F difference is as low as you can go then Celsius would work just fine as 1C is 1.8F But, as I said, media weather reporting and forecasting is unlikely to use decimals. KM If their viewers cared enough for it to make a difference to them, they probably would. DMW (Current local temp -16.3°C) |
#92
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US going metric?
alohacyberian wrote:
"Bob Myers" wrote in message ... "alohacyberian" wrote in message ... As I said, people in Hawaii may complain when it's 70 degrees, but, won't if it's 72. Some people who live in climates where there is very little variation can certainly tell the difference. When it's 70 degrees, most Hawaiians will wear jackets or sweaters. KM OK, so they'll complain at 21 deg. C but not at 22 deg. C. What's the problem? There are already many, many examples of places with climates very similar to Hawai'i, and yet the residents are quite at ease with temperatures in Celsius. Why should we think Hawai'ians can't also adapt to the other system? Bob M. I'm not acting as a spokesperson for Hawaiians or Americans, I'm merely stating the way it is in light of the fact that Americans are slow or resistent to accepting the metric system, particularly temperatures. If you don't want to believe that, don't. I already stated numerous times that I think the metric system has it all over the alternatives, but, the fact of the matter remains that though you and I may be enamored with total metrics, a good deal of the rest of Americans are not and will not be. If you want to see that as a "problem" or live in the world of "problems", be my guest. If I were to tell many, many Americans that at this moment it's 19 degrees celsius where I live, they wouldn't have any idea if that's hot or cold. Is that a problem? Change takes adjustment. I remember in kindergarten (mid 70's) making a "thermometer" out of cardboard and red string. The scale was in Farenheit. Not too long after, maybe the same month, everything went metric. I semi-adjusted. I understand Celsius over Farenheit, ml over fl oz, km/h over mph, but grew up with and still have a better grasp of lbs over kg (standing on the scale), ft over m (chalk marks on the wall as we grew), and miles over km (but only in the country, where I was told early on that the distance between two gravel roads is generally 1 mile). I'm sure all those who started school after me had a greater and greater feel and comprehension for metric. Give me a temperature in Farenheit and I have very little clue how hot or cold it is. Except for -40F, I know that's -40°C. I wish I had no use for ever knowing that. Other than that Farenheit to me is in 10 degree ranges (60's somewhat cool, 70's comfortable, 80's warm, and so on). Most of that is just being forced to adapt to old Farenheit scale thermostats, and visits to the States and wanting to have a general feel for what the temp was like outside before I left the hotel room without a jacket. DMW |
#93
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US going metric?
Greg Johnson wrote:
Is my memory failing, or did NASA have a problem ten years, or so, ago with a launch where some calculations were made in metrics and some were not? I believe that was one of the probes to Mars. One group used metric (manufacturing/development end), the other (NASA) used Imperial. Oops. DMW |
#95
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US going metric?
(me) wrote in message om...
(Abe Kouris) wrote in message . com... [snip] Actually, even the Frenchies and other Europeans resisted the metric system after it was introduced, but their 19th century authoritarian governments (Does "Napoleon ring a bell?) made it happen. And even today, Europeans apparently have some non-official, but core convenient, units in common use: the German "pfund" (500 grams), and German and Scandanvian plumber supposedly measure pipe diameters in "thumbs" or "inches." Strange belief that units should serve people, instead of people serving units. They use the units that serve them. Except, of course, that a Euro "pfund" or "livre" is based on the metric system, no? It's nothing more than half a kilo, dressed up with a nostalgic name. Its use just shows how stupidly senitmental humans are. My guess is that the Americans won't convert in common use until the American Empire collapses and they won't be able to dictate to suppliers like they do today. Until then, I don't see America going metric in comman usage even though Americas, in reality, a metric country. It is sort of an interesting lesson in economics. When the economic incentive is there, folks will change. There will be economic incentives for a long time in some industries NOT to change. Actually, most industrial specification in the US, especially for products that are possibly going to be experted, are done in metric already. The holdouts are things that would be too much of a pain into the butt to change, like land surveying, or building standards. But we don't export land or houses to Europe and Asia, so who cares? Probably more accurately, in some applications, there is little economic advantage to metric units. Both systems are equally accurate. Liknlater's book describes some of the numerical advantages of the US customary units that are divisible by 4. For activities that involve halving and doubling quantities by hand, use of such as system can be highy accrate without resort to mechanical aids. But now, almost eveyrhting commercial is measured out mechanically, so that advantage is gone. Metrics have won worldwide, the basic idea of the system is that it's a standardized system of measures derived form easily reproducible natural phenomena rather than based on the size of the king's personal body parts. The meter was originally a fraction of a degree of longitude (or maybe it was latitude), now it's the wavelenght of light emitted by a certain gas, and the foot is defined in terms of the meter. Jefferson, too, wanted to develop a metric system, but the Frenchies beat him to it (and Congress dithered and dallied until it was too late, and government land needed to be surveyed and sold to the speculators, so they just continued with the traditional units.) My personal suspicion is that by the time any wholesale conversion takes place, you'll see a fairly basterdized metric system around the world. No you won't the basis is pretty standardized, even in the few countries that don't use it in everyday life. Standardized weights and measures are essential for any kind of globalized economy. I'm already seeing "kilograms force" That's just *******ized physics, not *******ized metric system. I've heard of metric "bricks" that aren't multiples of 10 of any metric unit. Then they're not metric units. What are they? Are they based on metric units or are they some non-standardized units that trademen use to cheat their customers? A guy I knew in snow removal measured in "trucks". I asked him how many tons or cubic feet and he didn't know. He knew how many trucks to the mile. That's just a question of precision, and the miles, being based on the foot, is, in the end, based on the meter, so he could estimate "trucks per kilometer" very easily. Those kind of "organic" units are common and don't convert well to arbitrary metric values. Trucks per mile * 1.6 = trucks per kilometer If your snow removal guy lived in Europe or Canada, he'd be quoting you "trucks per kilometer," too. So what makes "trucks per mile" so organic? It's just an American quirk. By Gawd, we red-blooded 'Mericans ain't gonna use some pansy-assed system devised by a bunch of Frenchies! Totally irrational. The joke is that the US customary units are based entirely on the metric system. Abe (who is just finished his 0.5 liter bottle of Coke. Now, if the US goes metric, maybe we'll call it a "pint," but it will still be half a liter.) |
#96
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US going metric?
[snip] The Seattle Times had a very interesting article on metric measurements a few weeks ago. After receiving many letters from readers pointing out the advantages of the metric system, the Times' home improvement reporter visited a Home Depot near Vancouver (British Columbia, not Washington :-) ) and made a few observations, including: - Dimensional lumber was sold in US sizes (e.g., 2x4, 4x6) - He couldn't find a metric tape measure The last statement would make me wonder about the accuracy of the rest of the article since the vast majority of tape measures show both metric and imperial. Perhaps he didn't count this as 'metric' |
#97
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US going metric?
Richard wrote:
[snip] The Seattle Times had a very interesting article on metric measurements a few weeks ago. After receiving many letters from readers pointing out the advantages of the metric system, the Times' home improvement reporter visited a Home Depot near Vancouver (British Columbia, not Washington :-) ) and made a few observations, including: - Dimensional lumber was sold in US sizes (e.g., 2x4, 4x6) - He couldn't find a metric tape measure The last statement would make me wonder about the accuracy of the rest of the article since the vast majority of tape measures show both metric and imperial. Perhaps he didn't count this as 'metric' ....and a 2x4 is not really a 2"x4" piece of wood, as a matter of fact its closer to 1 1/2"x 3 3/8" or 42mm x 86mm. So what should we call it? "Hey Bob, pass me up a couple of 42x86's, oh and a 6 pack, eh!" ;-) |
#98
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US going metric?
On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 04:02:40 GMT, Richard
wrote: [snip] The Seattle Times had a very interesting article on metric measurements a few weeks ago. After receiving many letters from readers pointing out the advantages of the metric system, the Times' home improvement reporter visited a Home Depot near Vancouver (British Columbia, not Washington :-) ) and made a few observations, including: - Dimensional lumber was sold in US sizes (e.g., 2x4, 4x6) - He couldn't find a metric tape measure The last statement would make me wonder about the accuracy of the rest of the article since the vast majority of tape measures show both metric and imperial. Perhaps he didn't count this as 'metric' Huh. We have five tape measures around the house and not one has metric on it at all. Maybe you should go to Home Depot and do a survey. ************* DAVE HATUNEN ) ************* * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps * |
#99
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US going metric?
Richard wrote:
[snip] The Seattle Times had a very interesting article on metric measurements a few weeks ago. After receiving many letters from readers pointing out the advantages of the metric system, the Times' home improvement reporter visited a Home Depot near Vancouver (British Columbia, not Washington :-) ) and made a few observations, including: - Dimensional lumber was sold in US sizes (e.g., 2x4, 4x6) - He couldn't find a metric tape measure The last statement would make me wonder about the accuracy of the rest of the article since the vast majority of tape measures show both metric and imperial. Perhaps he didn't count this as 'metric' My dad recently bought me a tape measure (I couldn't find mine one day when he was visiting and needed it). It was Imperial only -- probably seemed fine to him. I didn't realize that until the first time I went to use it. I don't recall what I was measuring, but I needed metric (I needed to do some algebra with the measurement and it was getting cumbersome with inches and feet) and either found a ruler or had to convert the measurement to cm. I've since found my two other tape measures, both of which have metric and Imperial. DMW |
#100
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US going metric?
Hatunen wrote:
On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 04:02:40 GMT, Richard wrote: [snip] The Seattle Times had a very interesting article on metric measurements a few weeks ago. After receiving many letters from readers pointing out the advantages of the metric system, the Times' home improvement reporter visited a Home Depot near Vancouver (British Columbia, not Washington :-) ) and made a few observations, including: - Dimensional lumber was sold in US sizes (e.g., 2x4, 4x6) - He couldn't find a metric tape measure The last statement would make me wonder about the accuracy of the rest of the article since the vast majority of tape measures show both metric and imperial. Perhaps he didn't count this as 'metric' Huh. We have five tape measures around the house and not one has metric on it at all. Maybe you should go to Home Depot and do a survey. I checked my collection - of the four I could find three had metric on them, the one that did not came from Virginia (I live in Vancouver B.C.). ************* DAVE HATUNEN ) ************* * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps * |
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