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Why Does the US Cling To Imperial Measurements?
PhunkySchtuff writes "As one of only three countries on Earth that hasn't converted to a metric system of units and measurements, there is a huge amount of resistance within the US to change the status quo. Whilst the cost of switching would be huge, there is also a massive hidden cost in not switching when dealing with the rest of the world (except for Liberia & Burma, the only other two countries that don't use the metric system) With one of the largest organisations in the US, the military, using metric units extensively, why does the general public in the US still cling to their customary system of units?"
Bunch of redneck morons thats why.
The "Imperial" system actually works better for "rule of thumb" style measurements.
In particular, the "Imperial" style of measurements are all easier to divide into equal portions by prime numbers. Feet and Inches make it so that "one foot" length is easily divided into halves, thirds, quarters, sixths, twelfths... the only number it doesn't easily divide by is five. By contrast, meters/centimeters make for a pain in the ass to divide by anything but multiples of 5 or 10, not to mention that common everyday occurrences that are approximately "one foot" long are then 30.5 centimeters, a measurement that divides cleanly by precisely Jack and Shit.
Miles make for easy measurement of rate-of-motion and gallons make for easy measurement of fuel usage when traveling. Going the average street-value 30mph? Two minutes per mile to destination. Going the average highway 60mph? One minute per mile to your destination off-ramp.
96 km/h? Ah fuck.The math isn't clean even by rough estimate.
You obviously have a very low opinion of the education of people on this forum to have typed all that out. I think everyone here knows the differences between the systems. I think a little memorization and mental math to do the conversions is good for the brain. I can do a lot of the conversions between the systems and within them in my head in just a few seconds. I'm sure many of you can too. What I'm trying to say is that if we do all standardize on the same systems, we're losing the ability to cope with different systems.
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So wait ... you're telling me that Texas teaches metric units (in an Imperial country) ... alongside creationism and intelligent design!? My brain hurts just thinking down to the level of the logical disconnect that must exist in your Dept of Education (or whatever you call it).
Actually that there above should be a reason to change ... using Imperial measurements makes you slaves to the Imperialist (that'd be British, mind you) yoke.
Let's see how many hornets THAT stirs up.
So, you're saying that SI people don't even know the units of their own system well enough to pick the right ones?
The argument that SI makes more sense would make more sense if all the people using SI actually knew which units go with which measurement.
It should also be noted that the value of surface gravity varies (slightly) over the Earth's surface. So, no, mass and weight are NOT interchangeable.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
hahahahahah I wouldn't brag about being a canadian, you fuckwit.