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why is the US not Metric

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tooki:
You are confusing them still. Indifference means “I don’t care”, not ”why bother” (that’s defeatism, not indifference!). Most Americans simply do not care about it either way, and don’t think about it at all.

You all seem to think that Americans spend their days worrying about their endangered system of units and measures, when in fact most people just don’t give a shit. Arrogance is one potential outcome of giving thought to the matter. But people aren’t giving it any thought.

SilverSolder:

--- Quote from: tooki on February 09, 2020, 08:28:29 pm ---You are confusing them still. Indifference means “I don’t care”, not ”why bother” (that’s defeatism, not indifference!). Most Americans simply do not care about it either way, and don’t think about it at all.

You all seem to think that Americans spend their days worrying about their endangered system of units and measures, when in fact most people just don’t give a shit. Arrogance is one potential outcome of giving thought to the matter. But people aren’t giving it any thought.

--- End quote ---

Exactly, which is why introducing a change to metric will be easy when the decision finally gets taken. 

For example, all US stock exchanges converted to decimal pricing in 2001 (previously, you had fractional prices like $12 3/32 and so on).

"By bringing the U.S. into conformity with international practices, decimalization should improve the competitiveness of the U.S. markets" was one of the stated reasons for the project (this one from CEO Grasso).

bsfeechannel:

--- Quote from: CatalinaWOW on February 09, 2020, 04:44:04 pm ---I repeat - Metric doesn't prevent misunderstanding. The numeric value for the Boltzman constant is not a number like pi which is independent of units.
--- End quote ---

After 2019, the Boltzmann constant is a fixed universal value, not a measured quantity. It is just a scaling factor between energy in joules and the temperature in kelvins.

But you can lobby the CGPM to alter its value to 299.150762461×10⁻³⁶ CatalinaWOW/J so that you can create an absolute temperature scale that will certainly be named in your honor and 1 CatalinaWOW = 3.342796093 · 10³³ · 299.150762461 · 10⁻³⁶ · 1 J, being 3.342796093 · 10³³ the approximate number of molecules in 1 kg of water.


--- Quote ---Also, using your own arguments, America is already metric.  In this last quote you wave off a few odd or legacy uses of older units as irrelevant to the status of metrification, which is where the US is today.
--- End quote ---

Nope. What I said is that the existence of A FEW things non metric doesn't justify the maintenance or the imposition of imperial units. In the US MOST of the things are imperial and many of them are required so by force of law. So the US is not in the least bit metric.

The US didn't do its homework, so it can't claim the metrication certificate.


--- Quote ---Perhaps the real question is why you want to make such uses illegal in the US?
--- End quote ---

Perhaps the real question is why is there no ground based on reason for the US not to be metric?

Cubdriver:

--- Quote from: bsfeechannel on February 10, 2020, 04:30:42 am ---Perhaps the real question is why is there no ground based on reason for the US not to be metric?

--- End quote ---

Read the answers previously provided to you, earlier in this thread.   ::)

CatalinaWOW:
Bfees, I am glad you recognize that the Boltzman constant is an arbitrary number, chosen by agreement rather than unique physical properties of the universe.

I have no interest in naming rights.  I am quite sure I don't have primacy on this suggestion.  The change would simplify the lives of students and many others, though for most the benefit would be small or non existent.

I doubt the change will be made because the current system works well and change would cause confusion and many other problems.  If it ain't broke don't fix it.  Indicating to me that the whole world exhibits common sense on such matters.

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