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| why is the US not Metric |
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| Tepe:
--- Quote from: tooki on February 12, 2020, 04:49:30 pm ---Not to mention that many common metric sizes for things are actually just the metric approximation of US fractional sizes. For example, in many industries one finds diameters of 3.2, 2.4, 1.6, and 1.2mm, which are the metric approximations of 1/8”, 3/32”, 1/16”, and 3/64”, respectively. --- End quote --- But nonetheless expressed in mm. The origin doesn't really matter. |
| Tepe:
--- Quote from: forrestc on February 12, 2020, 05:13:49 pm ---The one major area where pretty much every country in the world has not metricated is aircraft flight levels. --- End quote --- Note the altimeter in this Saab J35 Draken ("Höjd m"): |
| DBecker:
--- Quote from: Tepe on February 12, 2020, 09:27:51 pm --- --- Quote from: forrestc on February 12, 2020, 05:13:49 pm ---The one major area where pretty much every country in the world has not metricated is aircraft flight levels. --- End quote --- Note the altimeter in this Saab J35 Draken ("Höjd m"): --- End quote --- Wait... is that compass in degrees? Not radians? Surely that has been changed to the proper SI unit of radians by now. We wouldn't want pilots using flight levels in 100 foot intervals and headings in degrees in the metric-only sections of the world. ("They'll take my degrees only when they pry my compass from my cold dead hands.") |
| bsfeechannel:
--- Quote from: xrunner on February 12, 2020, 01:07:20 am ---Must be an embarrassment to admit his location. :-// --- End quote --- Not the least bit. I live in the world. And the world is metric. I'm really grateful that I am not forced to use any incoherent, cumbersome, obsolete, nonsensical, outdated, clumsy, crippled, lame, ill-contrived, quirky, elephantine, inelegant, graceless, ungainly, unwieldy, clunky, maladroit, bumbling, gawky, loutish, oaf, uncoordinated, uncouth, rustic, boorish, provincial, parochial, splay, lumpish, klutzy, incongruous, disparate, bizarre, erratic, haphazard, disjointed, rambling, antiquated, archaic, outmoded, bygone, kaput, moldy, moth-eaten, old-fashioned, totaled, sunk, floored, overthrown, bewildered, fusty, antediluvian, behindhand system of units. And I pray every day for those who are not so lucky as I am. |
| tooki:
--- Quote from: Tepe on February 12, 2020, 09:21:40 pm --- --- Quote from: tooki on February 12, 2020, 04:49:30 pm ---Not to mention that many common metric sizes for things are actually just the metric approximation of US fractional sizes. For example, in many industries one finds diameters of 3.2, 2.4, 1.6, and 1.2mm, which are the metric approximations of 1/8”, 3/32”, 1/16”, and 3/64”, respectively. --- End quote --- But nonetheless expressed in mm. The origin doesn't really matter. --- End quote --- Doesn't it, though? If the whole point is to standardize on metric production, then using things that aren’t metric (even if they’re expressed in metric) violates the metric-ness of the matter. At least, that’s the logic of the folks who don’t consider that it counts that American food products usually have customary (in addition to metric, by law), but depending on the product, it may be an even amount in metric or in customary, in which case, when it’s an even metric amount, the fact that it’s expressed in customary by most people makes it not count. It’s an interesting question. Does a country suddenly become “more metric” simply because they start referring to 1/4” as 6.35mm, especially if they still have to stock both 6.0mm and 6.3mm versions of a product, anyway? (I’m looking at you, potentiometer knobs!) I think that no, this doesn’t count, since you still have the various sizes... |
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