Isn't it time we just went metric?

[john70t]

Originally Posted by p911dad

At some point back in the 1980's the Fed DOT tried to get all the state DOT's to change all the highway signs to the metric system. NY as I recall started but the whole thing landed with a thud. Those signs quickly disappeared when the idea died from too much public resistance and pointless cost.

Why not post both?
That is easy enough.

NYC can afford to make signs for the 20 different languages of people occupying it.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

I can switch between the two easily but I find fathoms and furlongs tricky

[cockerpunk]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

In engineering school in the early 80s we had to deal with both systems simultaneously They'd give us an exam and one problem would be metric, the next would be Imperial, etc. What a PITA that was.

this is how it still is.

its not confusing. what is confusing is when people who know better use there own systems wrong. like not using slugs for mass, or thinking the kilogram is a measure of weight ... you know, dumb **** stuff.

but by and large, everything that crosses my desk now a days is metric.

[john70t]

I still am confused about metric on a daily basis, but the base-10 system is better in the long run.

[island911]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

LOL!

Look into garage tool chests...pretty easy to spot the one owned by an old guy...it will have both SAE and metric tools. The young guy will be metric..

I have (inherited) sockets for square nuts.

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

In engineering school in the early 80s we had to deal with both systems simultaneously They'd give us an exam and one problem would be metric, the next would be Imperial, etc. What a PITA that was.

I'm not going to tap-dance around it, when I got a calc123 exam problem in furlong /fortnight (velocity) I was pissed.

[varmint]

[cstreit]

Originally Posted by john70t

For the record: I could not edit this last post.

-PP hit me with a popup "Not https. blah blah. Third parties could see". .

MOney is tight., its $99/year for a security certificate.

Kidding. Just enter the site with https and it should persist I think.

[A930Rocket]

I remember being taught the metric system in a science class in eighth grade in junior high school back in the early 70s. I think that was the only time it was taught.

I use feet, inches and fractions all day at work building houses. Metric only comes in the play working on the cars.

[sc_rufctr]

"We" transitioned to Metric in the early 70s but I still use both.
- For instance I use Foot Pounds for torque values instead of Newton Meters.

IME - It's easier to measure the journals of a crank shaft using thousands of an inch instead of fractions of a millimeter.

And the bicycle world has always been a mishmash of both.

[Geronimo '74]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

Calculations were carried out using the metric system, but display readouts were in units of feet, feet per second, and nautical miles – units that the Apollo astronauts were accustomed to.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by varmint

I gots a 9mm and 7 grams of coke in one pocket .... a .45 and an ounce of pot in the other ... just pick a system dammit.... Maf is hard !

[mjohnson]

Extractive metallurgy - 1997. Colorado Sch of Mines. Troy oz per cubic meter came up a few times. As did "so just a rough guess - how much copper is in that train car of ore?" It was an exam question...

You accept it and move on. It's not a big deal like the M&M's shoes.

Frankly, I like it. I know the mass of a cubic meter of water, if done in metric. Cubic meter of other stuff is that first thing times the density (Mg m^-3). And a meter isn't that hard, it's about my nose to fingertip, plus another handful as I'm a short dude. See? It's still "human based".

But I'm an odd duck. There are two scales in the kitchen, most of our bowls have tare weights scribed into them and every recipe gets annotated with mass call-outs when we use them.

[LJ851]

How would the world tell what diameter their wheels were if we gave up our system ?!

Could I still get tires for my 406.4mm X 228.6mm Fuchs ?

[KFC911]

A professor held up his hands 12 inches apart and said that's how far light travelled in a nanosecond.... he was sooo FOS.

I knew it was only 30 centimeters .

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by p911dad

At some point back in the 1980's the Fed DOT tried to get all the state DOT's to change all the highway signs to the metric system. NY as I recall started but the whole thing landed with a thud. Those signs quickly disappeared when the idea died from too much public resistance and pointless cost.

On parts of the Oklahoma Turnpikes the legal limit it 80 MPH.

I would love to see a speed limit sign with a large 128 on it. You just KNOW that lots of people would be trying for 128 MPH and claim they did not know it was metric.

Off topic: As a man that vividly remembers the bad old days of the national 55 mph limit, and just poking along at an insane slow speed, to cruise past a State Trooper running radar at 80 still makes me smile and giggle. 80 mph was handcuff and go to jail speeding back in the 55 mph days. One of my friends got a free ride downtown for 80MPH back then. 25 over was something the police discouraged aggressively.

[KFC911]

Technically ... more than 15 over the posted speed should cause one to lose their NC license (ticketed in any state) .... I can assure you that it's not usually enforced .

55 mph on I-95 or I-40 was a roadblock back then

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by KC911

Technically ... more than 15 over the posted speed should cause one to lose their NC license (ticketed in any state) .... I can assure you that it's not usually enforced .

55 mph on I-95 or I-40 was a roadblock back then

I have long said that anyone that thinks a national 55 MPH limit is a good thing should be dropped off in Kansas City, and told to drive to Denver, CO. The car will be wired to give an electrical shock if they get over 56 MPH. It will be the longest day in their lives.

At 75 it is a very long endless drive and it is like the Twilight zone when you drive for 2 hours, stop to pee, and drive for two hours, stop to pee and the rest stop and the surrounding are just the same.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by john70t

Or the France to Britain/EU/Whatever Chunnel, which was off a few hundred meters.

Base-10 is easier to convert than Base-16.
The nomenclature is still very bad....
Meter whut?
Are we talking astronomic or microbiology?????

There is no distinction between "big" and "small", relative to basic human thinking.

Do they drill this conversion shyte into every student in every school?
Simple answer.

Any answer I would give automatically diverts to parf.
Biting the hand.

There was a small argument...probably fake..that the Earth's atmosphere would not be conducive to penetrating it.
And going into the layers of 'space' surrounding the Earth would be fatal due to radiation or other factors.
(Especially with 1960s tech.)

it might not be bad if it was just base-10 vs base-16. But we've got inches to feet (12), feet to yards(3), yards to miles(1760), mins/second (60), hours (24), ounces to pounds and pints (16) but 2 cups to a pint, 2 pints to a quart and 4 quarts to a gallon.

I did get metric to imperial conversion pounded into me. 2.2lbs to a kg, 25.4 mm to an inch, 1.609 km to a mile, 39.37" to a meter, etc.... But then I'm generally really good with numbers.

the nice thing about metric is the prefixes to indicate big vs small
milli, centi, deci, deca, hecto, kilo (most common, but there are lots more).

[KFC911]

Milli should be millions, not thousands .... sneaky bastids

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

I can switch between the two easily but I find fathoms and furlongs tricky

Thankfully, I'm not into boats!