General > General Technical Chat
why is the US not Metric
boffin:
--- Quote from: rstofer on October 31, 2019, 04:41:39 pm ---There is no reason for metric in the things that most affect people's lives and that's why we haven't changed and probably never will.
--- End quote ---
You'll need to double the dosage of your medication if you actually believe that.
Oh, and in what units is that dosage measured?
CatalinaWOW:
--- Quote from: rstofer on October 31, 2019, 05:50:31 pm ---
--- Quote from: CatalinaWOW on October 31, 2019, 05:07:35 pm ---Rstofer, it must be a long time since you worked on that pickup.
--- End quote ---
Here's a thought: Why does anyone in the metric world care what the US does? It's our concern, nobody else's.
--- End quote ---
While I think you are wrong on the never part on US conversion, I totally agree on this sentence.
The big reason seems to be that some folks who bought some US gear that did something they couldn't get elsewhere, or who got a fantastic bargain on US gear can't buy repair parts locally. And if the US fully converted to metric today their problem would be even worse because those parts needed to fix their old scope or whatever wouldn't be available anywhere. At least now they can order it from the US.
ScroatyBallSac:
Yeah i really love the way electronics imperial units are in Mils |O. Being a mechanical engineer, THOU's would have been an obvious unit....
"Hey Jim. Here's a way to screw with people. Let make imperial small units called Mil's there's no way someone would confuse them with mil's volume or mm's distance" :wtf:
tooki:
--- Quote from: rstofer on October 31, 2019, 04:41:39 pm ---
--- Quote from: tooki on October 31, 2019, 03:00:12 pm ---
People and companies do switch when it makes sense to. Detroit is as "flyover" as you can get in USA, yet American cars went metric decades ago, because it made sense.
--- End quote ---
Are you sure about that? Across the board?
--- End quote ---
There could be some exceptions in theory, but it's my understanding that they're practically all-metric now, since nearly all car models these days share platforms with foreign versions of the car, and this has been the case for a long time.
--- Quote from: rstofer on October 31, 2019, 04:41:39 pm ---https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2015/07/us/metric-road-american-story/
--- Quote ---''I hear that the meter is based on a rod somewhere outside of Paris,'' Wolfe said, according to the Times story. ''To use that as a basis for measurement is completely arbitrary and intellectual. I should say I have tremendous admiration for the French, but a matter of this importance should not be left to them. I like the idea of the foot - as a measurement in relation to the human body.
--- End quote ---
Seems like I'm not the only one that feels that way. It's an interesting article.
--- End quote ---
I'm sure you're not alone, but most people don't give a crap either way.
Wasn't that interesting an article to be honest. And that quote of a quote of a quote from 1981 about what some guy thinks he heard, well, the guy was wrong. The meter was originally defined (after rejecting pendulum movement, since it's not consistent around the world) as 1 ten-millionth of the distance from the north pole to the equator: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metre
Yes, by the French, but not based on some random Paris landmark! :palm:
--- Quote from: rstofer on October 31, 2019, 05:50:31 pm ---Are people using metric in their everyday lives to the exclusion of customary units and the answer is a resounding no.
--- End quote ---
To the total exclusion? No. But are people regularly using metric instead, even if not in EVERY situation? Absolutely.
--- Quote from: rstofer on October 31, 2019, 05:50:31 pm ---The US is not metric and never will be. For competitive reasons some industries may choose to use metric but that isn't the country, it's an industry.
--- End quote ---
The US will never be 100.000% metric — but then again, neither is any other country, even the ones who claim to be all-metric. But that's not really the benchmark. You're using your own private goalpost, not one germane to the discussion.
But is the US going to become predominantly metric? I believe so, in the mid to long run.
--- Quote from: rstofer on October 31, 2019, 05:50:31 pm ---Here's a thought: Why does anyone in the metric world care what the US does? It's our concern, nobody else's.
--- End quote ---
This is the only sensible thing you've said in this entire thread, and it's a question to which I have posited an answer multiple times already: smug, arrogant prejudice against USA. No objective analysis of the situation results in a justification for the vitriol some of the anti-customary people spew.
Macbeth:
--- Quote from: bsfeechannel on October 31, 2019, 07:49:41 am ---The name cavalo-vapor, popularly known as cavalo, was inspired by the same unit created by James Watt, the horsepower.
With the introduction of the steam engine, the reference people had for power were horses, so how many horses (equivalent to the same power in) steam is your engine? Other languages also have similar names, like the French cheval-vapeur (or just cheval), the Italian cavallo-vapore, etc.
In countries with the Imperial System, the horsepower is still 33,000 ft lbf/min = 745.69987158227022 W
In countries with metric system the horsepower, cavalo-vapor, Pferdstärke, лошадиная сила or whatever was rounded down to 75 kgf⋅m/s = 735.49875 W.
--- End quote ---
That's because European continent horses are gay. Those of us in the Anti-gay horse Popular Front of Judea get taken to court all the time. :-DD :horse:
The difference is my car is 130 PS which is great for the manufacturers marketeers when it's only 128 bhp in Imperialist UK measurements.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version