Imperial or Metric system?

[Surenas]

Sorry, for me your argumentation sounds somewhat helpless old-fashioned.

Perhaps rowing against the mainstream gives you a good feeling, who knows.

Or it's just patriotism. Be it. We have already reached an endless loop where

nothing new is to say. We should let it go at that!

[Nexus Set]

International and local standards should co-exist, ideally, that is. It doesn't have to be one or the other. What's just needed is a good knowledge in translating from one to another.

 

It's like this forum. It is an English forum. Everybody is encouraged to post in English, but the fact is, not everyone's first language is English. Nobody is being asked or imposed upon to give up on their native language, only that they post here in English as much as possible.

 

I think the two standards are like languages and each has it's own character and purpose.

[Aurielius]

International and local standards should co-exist, ideally, that is. It doesn't have to be one or the other. What's just needed is a good knowledge in translating from one to another.

 

It's like this forum. It is an English forum. Everybody is encouraged to post in English, but the fact is, not everyone's first language is English. Nobody is being asked or imposed upon to give up on their native language, only that they post here in English as much as possible.

 

I think the two standards are like languages and each has it's own character and purpose.

 

 

Nicely stated and I totally agree. Well put Nexus.

[evilneko]

Surenas's arrogance in this thread sure gets grating, but one thing she keeps harping on works quite well against her agenda: the idea of this networked world we live in.

 

Networks are indeed a fine thing. Especially computer networks. The TCP/IP protocol is, essentially, the metric system of computer networks. But guess what?

 

Other protocols still exist and are used to this day, and most coexist with TCP. Even within TCP/IP, there is the whole IPv4 to IPv6 conversion coming up, which unlike metric vs. imperial, will be pretty much forced--IPv4 will quite simply become unusable publicly. Note the qualifier: publicly. There is absolutely no reason why most devices sitting behind a v6-capable router (or other gateway) have to be v6-aware--only those apps and devices dealing directly with IP addresses need to know it, your browser, email, and IM clients do not. Similarly, the American public need not concern itself with metric, when the myriad middlemen between them and the rest of the world can (and do) easily deal with it for them.

 

It costs money dealing with two standards, sure, but that is our prerogative, our decision to make, and it is not for you or anyone else to tell us we must change. Or do you propose to invade and conquer the UK, US, and Liberia?

 

 

And to end the argument...

http://www.wimp.com/metricsystem/

 

But in fairness, if they knew how to subtract fractions in their head, they probably wouldn't be building motorcycles. The fact that the measurement keeps changing and getting screwed up because nobody bothers writing any of it down and they're collaborating on an answer when only 1 of them has taken a measurement doesn't help things.

 

Looks more to me like the dude just doesn't know how to measure. Thus they'd have problems no matter what the system.

[ginnyfizz]

Evilneko, for that post which is both humorous and informative, kudos! I had no idea about any of that business with internet protocols, that's very interesting!

[The1Doc]

well i see that if people cant argue over religion, then this must be the next best thing? lol

 

metric all the way.

 

yanks seem to love their imperial system, but i wonder how they would do with imperial money?

[Burnagirl]

Here in ZA we used to use the imperial but then changed over to the metric ...

 

There are however some points I'd like to mention though;

 

1) A "click" used by the American armed forces is in actual fact 1000 meters (1 kilometer), I find this a bit strange seeing that America uses the imperial system.

 

2) I know someone who used to be in the armed forces here in ZA who told me that a run of a "military mile" with full kit was in actual fact 2.4 miles, please note that this

has nothing to do with the ironman triathlon swim distance of 2.4 miles being the equivalent of 4000 meters.

 

3) And then of course there is the Nautical mile which isnt really a mile in distance (a "normal" mile is 1609 meters) but the nautical mile is 1852 meters.

 

Personally I dont have hassle with imperial system, I just remember that 1 inch is 24.5 centimeters, 3 feet is roughly equivalent to 1 meter or 2 steps with heels on and

a door is 2 meters or six feet in height and that pretty much covers it for me.

 

The only place I fall out of the bus is when it comes to liquid measurements but I dont really deal with them so it's no problemo.

 

But nothing quite beats the line that "he\she was going a 100 or a 1000 miles an hour", even though I'm metric cause that still packs quite the mental picture punch in any movie for me.

Well there we go all done.

Edited November 15, 2010 by Burnagirl

[ginnyfizz]

Lol 1 inch = 2.45cm! Sorry about that...

[AliasTheory]

2.54 centimeters.

 

I guess I need to contribute...

 

Metric system. It is easy to understand relative to the imperial system. Adding a zero to measurements makes things easy, and one can write things in the compact scientific notation. Whoo hoo. Because just look what happened with the whole inches and centimeters thing; it's like trying to memorize crazy mathematical ratios involving pi or e. Though I know a good deal of them because I've seen them so many times in my studies.

 

But damn. I still need to know the imperial system. One thing is for sure: the last thing I want happening is going 50 mph in a 50 kph zone.

 

1 in = 2.54 cm

12 in = 1 foot

3 feet = 1 yard

5280 feet = 1 mile

1760 yards = 1 mile

 

See, look at that. =/ It's like someone decided to smash his head on a keyboard number pad and declare it a conversion factor.

[Burnagirl]

Lol 1 inch = 2.45cm! Sorry about that...

 

 

Thanks Ginnyfizz & AliasTheory for "pointing" out the fact that I "pointed" my "point" at the wrong "point" :wallbash:

 

And so for the record ... 2. (point) 54 centimeters is equal to 1 inch :thumbsup: ... my bad.

 

Furthermore, after noticing this error I contacted my source for the "military mile" and it turns out that it was 2.4 kilometers and not 2.4 miles ... hmmm

me thinks I need me another holiday :D .