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why is the US not Metric

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KL27x:
^So are you suggesting that changing to metric will fix this? Americans will have better healthcare because of meters? The cost will drop, infant mortality will drop, and life expectancy will increase? 

Oh, you got dragged completely off topic by a looney bin?  :-//

Yes, our country sucks. Our healthcare is expensive. Anything done by the government is expensive (including changing road signs). Our people are stupid and entitled and lazy. Making a symbolic gesture by changing road signs doesn't change the fact that America remains relevant because of its influence over oceans and airspace.

boffin:

--- Quote from: KL27x on December 09, 2019, 08:40:36 pm ---^So are you suggesting that changing to metric will fix this? Americans will have better healthcare because of meters? The cost will drop, infant mortality will drop, and life expectancy will increase? 

Oh, you got dragged completely off topic by a looney bin?  :-//

Yes, our country sucks. Our healthcare is expensive. Anything done by the government is expensive (including changing road signs). Our people are stupid and entitled and lazy. Making a symbolic gesture by changing road signs doesn't change the fact that America remains relevant because of its influence over oceans and airspace.

--- End quote ---

No, I'm using it as an example of

Some countries think they're #1 and hence don't have to change; vs
Other countries know they're not #1, but are willing to do things to improve

Zero999:
I can't believe anyone seriously thinks changing road signs will do anything. It might affect the road accident rate for a short period of time, it might increase because people drive faster or decrease if people are more careful, but it will return close to what it was before hand.


--- Quote from: rstofer on December 08, 2019, 03:51:23 pm ---
--- Quote from: Tepe on December 06, 2019, 11:56:32 am ---
It's not the cost that keeps the US from metricating the road signs, it is lack of will and that is totally understandable. It wouldn't really serve any purpose.

--- End quote ---

Why are we still nibbling around this topic.  Look, it's really as simple as this:  The US is not going to have some low rent country (or association of countries) tell us how to measure stuff.  See?  Simple!  Work from that premise and see where it takes you.  Pretty much where we are today.  Once people are told the metric standards are held in France, a member of the EU, it's game over in terms of conversion.  There's no way in the world we are giving up our sovereignty to the EU.  We can see how it's working out for the UK.
--- End quote ---
You forget a fair proportion of the EU made the US what it is today.

In reality not converting to metric because the EU invented it is a really childish reason not to. Plenty of others have given perfectly valid arguments for not to convert such as it requiring a huge investment, without a significant return to warrant it, but not using something because someone else who you don't like invented it is a silly reason. Perhaps we should all stop eating noodles or using rockets because big bad horrible China invented them?


--- Quote ---Those who are compelled for other reasons to use metric will use it.  Science, for example, is slightly easier using metric units but there are equivalent conventional units that work just as well.  But not engineering.  Structural is still in KIPS, HVAC is still in CFM, FPM or GPM, Civil is still in feet and inches and Mechanical (omitting HVAC) is still primarily conventional units.  Electrical (as in power, industrial, etc) is still conventional units including AWG and MCM.  In other words, all traditional Professional Engineering is still in conventional units.  Other kinds of engineering (eg biomedical) is not in the family of Professional Engineering and is likely metric in any event.  But you certainly can't say US engineering is metric.  It isn't.  And it won't be!  Ever!
--- End quote ---
Well SI units are a hell of a lot easier to use, than imperial.

For example try solving the problem I posted a few pages ago:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/why-is-the-us-not-metric/msg2787160/#msg2787160

--- Quote from: me ---A 400V 3 phase geared motor is 80% efficient. It lifts a 500lb weight,  to a height of 12ft, in 30 seconds. Think about how you'd work out the power in metric (Watts) vs imperial (horsepower). Now calculate the current draw, assuming a power factor of 0.9. I'm not going to go through it, but to calculate the current you'll need power in Watts, a metric unit, so why not start with metric units in the first place?  Try again with 227kg and 365.8m. See how much easier it is.
--- End quote ---


--- Quote ---How is it that those who want us to change are from countries of minimal accomplishments?  They want to drag us down to their level, that's why!  The EU tries to level the playing field such that high rent countries don't outperform the others.  They don't want competition, they want 'equaity'.

It's like that NHS thing.  The standard of care in the UK is to get an appointment in 12 weeks.  In 12 weeks I could be dead!  I can get an appointment with my HMO for the same day if the triage suggests things are serious.  I can go to one  facility for everything except overnight stays.  MRI, ECG, Lab, GP, Specialists are all in the same facility.  For the more serious stuff, I can go to any hospital emergency room and the cost is covered by my HMO.  Sure, it costs more than a buck ninety eight per month but it's worth it.  All socialized medicine accomplishes is to drag everybody down to the same level of misery.  Same as socialized anything else!
--- End quote ---
The problem with US healthcare is if you don't have the money you die. Socialised healthcare is not simply throwing money at wasters. It's an investment which pays for itself in the form of getting people back to work more quickly and paying taxes.


--- Quote ---It's interesting that Boris Johnson wants to pull the UK back to imperial units.  That ought to be fun to watch!  I can see the smoke pouring out of Juncker's ears when that begins.  Yes, I know he is out of office...
--- End quote ---
He's an idiot, pure and simple.


--- Quote ---As I said much earlier in this thread, we aren't going to change.  Certain fields already use metric but the people use conventional units and always will.

Anybody keep track of Nobel Prizes by country?  The US doesn't quite keep up with the idea that we have more than all the other countries combined but it's surprisingly close.  Somehow our 'morons' are smarter than everybody else's 'morons', combined.

OK, that's just science.  What about something more important:  Money!  The DOW is up more than 42% since the inauguration.  If you have a boatload of money in your retirement account, 42% of a boatload is still a boatload of money.  Lowest unemployment in 50 years.  Lowest unemployment of minorities, ever!  Modest wage growth but it's starting to tick up, labor is tight.  How are the European countries doing?  Last I heard, not too well!  And the reason unemployment was so low in the '60s (the 50 years ago thing) was the vast number of people drug into the military.

I expect the US to stand pat.  We're holding all the high cards and don't really need to concern ourselves with the other players.

--- End quote ---
Science mostly uses SI units and Europe is doing quite well and the UK will start to go downhill if they cut their ties with Europe.

KL27x:

--- Quote ---The problem with US healthcare is if you don't have the money you die. Socialised healthcare is not simply throwing money at wasters. It's an investment which pays for itself in the form of getting people back to work more quickly and paying taxes.
--- End quote ---
No, not even remotely close, FYI.
Any emergency room will save your life, even if you don't have the right card in your wallet. It's just the ones that don't have that card will be given a bill that is ridiculous (it could be 10x what the insurance company pays for the same services). The still living patient might pay it; they might never. Medical bills don't affect your credit rating and you can't have your wages garnished or your home foreclosed due to medical bills. That's between you and your hospital and doctors. We also punish people at tax time if they do not cover themselves or their employees.

Does healthcare cost more in America? Heck yeah. Why wouldn't it, when we have a generation of rstopher's who have "gamed the system and got theirs, so much more wealth than their kids will ever see." The cost of healthcare is basically what people will pay to die a little nicer. And in America, today, this business is booming.

Rstopher brags about amassing this kind of wealth. It is pretty much how things are here. America's youth is financially obligated to wipe their old peoples' asses in a professional/commercial setting. In some states there is a two year waiting list for nursing school to get in on this lucrative profession of butt-cleaning and sponge bathing and hand-holding of someone else's dying grandpa. And to fetch them some morphine or another packet of graham crackers when they ring a bell. To heck with building cars. In America, our old sick people have the real money to spend. Why would our country not have ridiculous healthcare expenditures? The men with the money decide what they spend it on, and some sort of privatization or tiered nature of healthcare is a natural part of the house raking back some of the chips from this generation of wealth. Gotta give people options. If everyone is treated equally by the healthcare system, how are rich people supposed to spend more money to feel better than everyone else while dying? If you're poor, you die with an idiot on either side preaching to you the sins of the imperial system. If you poney up for First Class Death, you might get a decent conversation among your own class. Plus graham crackers on demand. While you play wheelchair shuffleboard, in the Aspen mountains, next to a creek.

Zero999:

--- Quote from: KL27x on December 09, 2019, 09:08:43 pm ---
--- Quote ---The problem with US healthcare is if you don't have the money you die. Socialised healthcare is not simply throwing money at wasters. It's an investment which pays for itself in the form of getting people back to work more quickly and paying taxes.
--- End quote ---
No, not even remotely close, FYI.
Any emergency room will save your life, even if you don't have the right card in your wallet. It's just the ones that don't have that card will be given a bill that is ridiculous (it could be 10x what the insurance company pays for the same services). The still living patient might pay it; they might never. Medical bills don't affect your credit rating and you can't have your wages garnished or your home foreclosed due to medical bills. That's between you and your hospital and doctors. We also punish people at tax time if they do not cover themselves or their employees.

Does healthcare cost more in America? Heck yeah. Why wouldn't it, when we have a generation of rstopher's who have "gamed the system and got theirs, so much more wealth than their kids will ever see." The cost of healthcare is basically what people will pay to die a little nicer.

--- End quote ---
Yes, you're right, ER will save a patient's life, even if they don't have a dime, but in many cases, if they had enough money they would have sought treatment much earlier, not needed ER and had a much higher chance of survival.

The problem with the US system is the insurance companies make loads of money. I accept the NHS isn't perfect but at least most people here have access to healthcare and those who are able to afford it can still go privately.

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