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Presidential Candidate Lincoln Chaffee Proposes That US Go Metric
New submitter Applehu Akbar writes: The good news is that for the first time in years, a candidate in the next presidential cycle has proposed completing our transition to the metric system. Though unfortunately it's Lincoln Chaffee, let's all hope that this long-standing nerd issue gets into the 2016 debate because of this. Warning: Lame CNN autoplaying video.
It's a non-starter of a proposal from a non-starter of a candidate. There is no huge push in the US to go fully metric right now.
I don't know the stances of Lincoln on other issues, but trying to push the metric system is a great start and bound to fix the economy as soon as people can figure out how to measure things. Why can't one of the main stream candidates get this?
Place something witty here
Bernie Sanders was nuts
I propose Chaffee as the new unit for most common sense idea that will not happen due to the war of independence.
It's great that he's finally talking some sense. I just wish he weren't doing it to an empty room with only his mom and kids present.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
I am surprised the republican field has not proposed we get rid of the english system for Biblical set of measures in units of Palms, Spans, and Cubits.
"We want Metric. We want it now!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
- In Soviet Korea, only old people loose all their bases to Natalie Portman's petrified hot grits overlords.
I love Alan Smithee's films.
You're pushing an unimportant issue nobody cares about.
Really, with all the important issues that should occupy a president's attention, if this is even on your radar, you're not qualified for the job.
Not until those Eurowussies go all the way and start measuring temperature in Kelvins. Only hardcore!
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
It's the only good thing Jimmy Carter did while in office.
The same way that gas stations in the 70's tried to sell gas in liters. People just thought, divide by four, but since there are more than 4 liters in a gallon, they though they were getting ripped off when in many cases they were saving a bit of cash. America just isn't ready for that sort of progress.
Vote Barns, Furlongs, Fortnights and Hogheads for America! Metric is a Communist plot, I tell ya!
Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!
Vote for Bernie in 2016!
And while we're at it, let's make the national sport SOCCER!
America is a contrarian country, we will never fit in with the rest of the planet. Forget trying, the only way to be sure is to nuke it from orbit.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Go metric and your dicks will become about 2.5 times larger!!!
Antisthenes: "Wisdom begins by examining the words/names." - excuse my English, i am (slightly...) better with my Greek!
"The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it!"
class Temperature {
public:
static Temperature FromFahrenheit(double degF);
static Temperature FromCelsius(double degC);
static Temperature FromKelvins(double degK);
Temperature(double degC = 0.0);
~Temperature();
Temperature(const Temperature& qty);
Temperature& operator=(const Temperature& qty);
bool operator==(const Temperature& b) const;
bool operator!=(const Temperature& b) const;
Temperature& operator-=(const Temperature& rhs);
Temperature& operator+=(const Temperature& rhs);
double degC() const;
void degC(double val);
double degK() const;
void degK(double val);
private: // Temperature value in canonical units (degC).
double mValue;
};
Fixed.
Didn't the US officially go metric back in the 80s? Not that it means anything obviously, but there was a push to make sure Metric was taught in schools and used where convenient.
I read the internet for the articles.
Why is that?
They want their metric ruler back.
Nor is there any need to for the majority of people.
This.
It's irrelevant, unless you are a hard science scientist, and if you are a scientist in a hard science, you are already metric.
All measurements systems are arbitrary.
the advantage of metric is that it is a global standard and the units are all divisible by ten.
That's it.
However in the US, we're familiar with the current system so it isn't a big deal... and the US has never really cared what was standard in other countries. We just don't care.
The US tried to go metric in the 1970s.
First, most people just ignored it and used the existing imperial system.
Second, it was the middle of a bad economic time and transitioning costs money because you have to change everything to suit the new system. It was just a tough sell in hard times.
Third... and this can't be stressed enough... I feel like the metric advocates really don't get this... Americans don't care about joining a global standard. At all. Not even a little.
When you factor it out, what you're left with is advantage of their divisible by ten units versus the more varied divisions in imperial.
That's pretty much it. And then you have to factor that Americans know imperial so it isn't a hardship to use it. And they don't know metric as well so it is inconvenient.
What does this leave us with? The US is not going metric any time soon. Just isn't happening.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
I would like to sit down and have a pint with.
Metric is socialist! America beware!
A liberal Republican, Chafee was frequently ranked as the least conservative Senate Republican, and to the left of some conservative Democrats. He opposed eliminating the estate tax, voted to increase the top federal income tax rate, voted against allowing drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, supported an increased minimum wage and was the only Republican Senator to vote against authorising the use of force in Iraq. Chafee is pro-choice, supports same-sex marriage, affirmative action, gun control and federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and opposes the death penalty and a Flag Desecration Amendment to the United States Constitution.
I don't know what to make of this, but he seems better than all the Republicans running so far.
Let's be honest here, going metric is just like banning guns: regardless of how you feel about the subject, the cost of changing the way it has been for hundreds of years is just too great.
Just *think* of all the make-work *jobs* ("work for one person for one year") this would create for people whose major talent in life is "smoking weed" and their other major talent in life is "installing new road signs and other manual labor, as needed"!
I realize I'm in the minority here. I wonder how many people have ever actually thought about it though. A looonng time ago this came up on slashdot, (back when my 5 digit slashdot id was a 'high' number); a European who had moved to the US posted that he liked the US system at least for linear measurements because they were 'about right' for things you wanted.
Yeah, I know, it's hard to calculate how many inches is in a furlong, etc, but who needs to do that? It's nice to be able to say 3 inches is a 4th of a foot and 4 inches is a third. Also I like 2 pints to a quart and 4 quarts to a gallon.
The metric system is a child of the French Revolution and has about as much warmth as a painting by Jacques-Louis David, and as much bonhomie as Marat or Robespierre.
Temperature could probably go metric without much bother though.
In theory, theory and practice are the same; in practice they're different. (Yogi Berra & A. Einstein)
22.22222222 degrees C please.
Honestly, that alone will kill me.
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
Why is mandating metrification the government's job? Schoolchildren are ALREADY universally taught the metric system and anything the government BUYS is specified in metric. If I want to make or buy products using Imperial measurements, shouldn't that be my own business?
He wants to show integration, as outside the US people laugh/groan at the arrogance of the US. This seems like a step towards acknowledging that the US is no longer the biggest boy in the schoolyard that can do whatever they want and should NOT be doing what they want, whether it is getting with the times (metric) or stopping waging war everywhere..
we can only hope that other candidates will pick this up. it is a good idea.
You don't count (almost) all the other countries on the planet being metric as a huge push?
Nope. Most people in the US could not possibly care less what other countries are doing. We tried going metric once about 30 years ago and couldn't handle it. I don't expect the US to convert in my lifetime. The longer we wait the less likely conversion becomes.
Metric is NOTHING! Do you realize that fluoridation of water is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?
A foreign substance, introduced into our precious bodily fluids, without the knowledge of the individual, and certainly without any choice... that's the way a hard-core commie WORKS!
I first became aware of it... during the physical act of love. A profound feeling of FATIGUE... a feeling of EMPTINESS followed... loss of ESSENCE! Women, women sense my power, and they seek the LIFE ESSENCE. I do not avoid women... but I DO DENY THEM MY ESSENCE!
Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
Of all the issues important to the American voter; income, taxes, security, Chafee decides to waste several lungfuls of hot air on the metric system.
I think blatant stupidity like this should automatically disqualify one from being president, but sadly we let them continue in their quest.
Where it is useful, we use the metric system. Where it is useful, we also use British units. Let the engineers and scientists figure out when to use which system.
Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!
Vote for Bernie in 2016!
If we are going to change systems why not use the International Standard?
I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...
And note that the US was one of the initial signatories of Metre Convention and that our "customary" units have been actually defined from Metric units since 1893. The problem being that the people have been rather slow to stop using the customary units and the government hasn't really done much to encourage a total switch.
Well except in the 70's, Carter got blamed for that even though it was Ford who signed the legislation. The Reagan administration that came after was full of nostalgia addled traditionalists including the president himself, so the encouragement ended.
Look, you want some geek cred, you come out in favor of Star Trek/Star Wars and dis the other.
But talking about the metric system is like talking about ... well, the metric system.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
http://rs1img.memecdn.com/why-...
So a presidential "candidate" that I've never even heard of is proposing that the US switch to the metric system despite there being NO political will to do so? While I would love to see my country finally switch over this is the very definition of Not News.
Really, with all the important issues that should occupy a president's attention, if this is even on your radar, you're not qualified for the job.
Converting to metric is not just a fun science nerd issue no one cares about.
Really it's an economic issue, and I'm surprised it hasn't been made more of a big deal. When we follow international standards, we can better share ideas and better trade goods. If the US used metric, we'd be in a much better position to sell our goods worldwide, as we wouldn't need to re-tool or re-calculate all the time.
Great example: our US engineers are mostly trained in the English system. My wife used to work in an industry that is now heavily developing and building things overseas. The American engineers had to build everything to metric standards, since they were building in India and what not, and really had trouble with it, as they weren't properly trained to do metric calculations and the equipment they wanted to buy from American companies didn't always come in a metric size. Instead, the engineers would have to half-ass some crazy scheme (like buying parts and then cutting them -- makes sense until you realize you'd have to pay field guys to do this 10,000 times) to get it to work. The quality suffers, and since there's all these problems, I get the sense that many international companies would rather just hire Germans or whatever to do it.
This is an anecdote of one industry, sure, but if our engineers were trained in metric, and our businesses made the jump to make metric products in the first place, we'd probably be a lot more competitive in the world market. We wouldn't need to spend all this extra time and money on customization, we could just do it. I imagine all this effort has long ago exceeded the cost of buying new tools once; we should have just switched then and told businessmen to shut up about costs.
All the nuts and bolts in my car and bike are metric. The bike is made in the good old US of A. Everyone knows what a 2-liter soda is, why can't they figure out what a 2-liter bottle of milk is? We are partially converted. We use 35mm film (old people, at least) and 9mm ammo. Anyone who has been in the military has done everything in metric, it's not that difficult. It is hard to change everything. Even countries you changed decades ago still use old units. England and Ireland are full of examples of that. The most noticeable change will be road signs. It's not that hard to learn that 60 mph is 100 kph. We will have to watch out during the transition. A Canadian airliner ran out of fuel half way due to bad conversions from gallons/pounds to liter/kilograms during their changeover.
Most units were redefined in terms of the Metric System in 1893 and 1959. Or did you think the inch being *exactly* 2.54 cm was a coincidence? The notation differs but the underlying basis is metric.
From the oblig. wikipedia article:
"The majority of U.S. customary units were redefined in terms of the meter and the kilogram with the Mendenhall Order of 1893 and, in practice, for many years before."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U...
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Let's transition to base-12.
I'll resist this with every ounce of my being.
I'll resist this with every gram of my being.
I won't give an inch on this issue.
I won't give 5 centimeters on this issue.
They came at us with a shit ton of rockets and mortars!
They came at us with a shit kilogram of rockets and mortars!
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
An gram of prevention is worth a kilo of cure.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
For someone who spend their career as a Republican, looks like he's actually to the left of DINOs Hillary and Obama.
First, the US is officially metric.
The problem most non-Americans can't understand is that the US government/system ostensibly has few tools to compel this transition, CERTAINLY none that are worth political cost of using on an issue that most people don't give two shits about.
In short: the people who need/want metric use it.
The people who don't would strongly resist doing so.
Second: there's no "automatic" value inherent in the metric system. It's a SHIT TON easier to use with computers and calculators, certainly, as it's all decimal. But otherwise its less wieldy in daily use as 10 doesn't divide neatly by 3 or 4.
If your pro-metric argument is about the value of universalization, hell, we can't even agree that we should all speak ENGLISH in this country, and the 'universalization' value of that would be orders of magnitude more useful/immediate than all switching to a measuring system most of us don't use in the first place.
-Styopa
Even going just partial metric can also lead to big problems.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Because Linc is a Repugnant-ican? That is a knee-jerk reaction. Look deeper and you will find out that Linc is a liberal, very liberal, Republican. The reason he is Republican is because in Rhode Island, the Democratic Party is basically the Mafia Party.
For years I have been using the metric system during discussions, it's fun to say "Oh yeah that's only 3 KM from here" or "I'm 2 meters tall" and watch the confused looks on most peoples faces.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
I remember a push to get the US on metric in the 70s. The bank temperature displays had Fahrenheit and Celsius, and they used it on newscasts. We talked about it in high school. But for the most part it went nowhere.
Even in Metric countries like Canada, many people still use imperial units for a lot of things.
Canada may not be a great example, as we are right beside the US and there's economic and population (30M vs 300M) difference. The imperial system comes comes across the border via osmosis. Of course Canada also only switched over semi-recently (1970s), so the Previous Generation is still around.
As a Canadian I think of my height in imperial, but distances in (kilo)metres (and speed in km/h); my weight in pounds, but general volumetric stuff in litres.
With regards to lumber, again it's because of our proximity to the US and how heavily our two economies (and many industrial standards) are linked.
Why is mandating metrification the government's job?
Because if the government doesn't do it then it will never happen. Construction companies in particular will never switch unless it is mandated by law.
Schoolchildren are ALREADY universally taught the metric system
Which they quickly forget because they never use it in their daily life. I learned to write in cursive too but guess how much I use that? The mere fact that it is covered in school is pretty much meaningless in the real world.
anything the government BUYS is specified in metric
So what? Relatively few companies supply the government directly so that's not going to be a game changer. I run a manufacturing company and maybe 1 out of 5 drawings I see are in metric. Most are in US Customary units and that isn't likely to change. The only way I see it changing is if the biggest manufacturers drive it into their supply chains and construction codes mandate everything going forward be in metric. Otherwise we'll muddle along with this two system fiasco indefinitely.
If I want to make or buy products using Imperial measurements, shouldn't that be my own business?
Of course it is your business. That doesn't make it a good idea however.
I don't know what to make of this, but he seems better than all the Republicans running so far.
Talk about damning with faint praise... I haven't seen a candidate yet from either party that doesn't have oversized shoes and a red squeaky nose.
I would like to sit down and have a pint with.
People said the exact same thing about Bush the Lesser and that didn't work out so well. I don't give a crap how personable the guy is because that has NOTHING to do with his ability to effectively execute his duties as president.
imperial measurements were already redefined to be based on metric.
1 inch = 25.4mm
Fahrenheit is also aligned to Celsius
32F = 0C
Now that his series from the 90s is on Netflix, I noticed that he used Metric for all his measurements. Moving metric would eventually cut the number of wrenches/sockets I need in half and require fewer trips to the toolbox (@$%$# metric....#$$# nope imperial...)
Use both, like we do in Quebec, nothing like using inches and centimetre when either one is better suited for specific things.
the advantage of metric is that it is a global standard and the units are all divisible by ten. That's it.
"That's it"? That's HUGE. The economic costs alone should easily justify the switch. It won't matter but being on the global standard is a huge deal.
What does this leave us with? The US is not going metric any time soon. Just isn't happening.
I believe you are quite correct. The only way I see it happening is if two things happen. 1) The big manufacturing companies drive it all the way through their supply chains. 2) We require all construction documentation and specifications to be in metric and metric alone by code. Until those things happen we simply aren't going to see a switch. Since both of those things are quite unlikely I don't see the US converting within my lifetime.
Sure people use it, but if you buy anything it is usually 6, 8, 12, 24 or 25mm the equiv of .25 .375 .5 or 1.0 inches anyway. Or some muliple of what used to be inches converted to metric.
There was a metric equiv for time, but it was so bad they dropped it.
The US will go metric when the sheep lie down with the wolf.
When you measure in centimeters, the numbers get bigger!
A vote for metric is a vote for a bigger penis, numerically speaking!
The US is already metric
Not in any way that really matters. Technically what you say is true but pretty much nobody except some engineers actually uses it.
About the only thing they could do is post signs in metric, which they have already attempted several times, and the experiments pretty much failed.
Not true at all. They could require all construction documentation and specifications be done in metric. They could require all packaging deprecate or eliminate US Customary units. They could require surveys to be done in metric instead of acres. They could do all sorts of things to force the change but our "leaders" would rather argue about gay marriage and other inconsequential nonsense.
Currently this in the US not using the metric system aren't because there is no reason to and for those who are, there is.
It's NOT true that there is no reason to switch. What is true is that there is insufficient political will to endure the short term inconvenience such a switch would require. The economic benefits are long term and mostly indirect. Well beyond the next election cycle. So nothing happens.
Metric is a bad choice for industry and engineering. Because it isn't aligned on a power of 2, it's constantly subject to rounding error when we do any computation. And we do computation. We rarely work with these numbers by hand. Rounding errors bite us again and again.
The Imperial system isn't any better, but at least the funkiness leads us to expect errors and check for them more vigilantly.
I await the politician willing to push the octal system!
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
Cars would drive less per mile .5m pizza
Points of interest would be further away
Juice would last for only two days
No one wants
People would get fat buying kg of everything
My 2000 Explorer is mostly, if not all, metric.
It's already done. Get over it.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
Why use a rational system of measure that's easy to remember and based on something useful when you can instead use a system that was (almost literally) pulled out of someone's ass and is different for every fucking thing you do.
Wait, is it 4 ounces per pint or 12 or some other random number?
I loathe the English system or measure for the same reason I hated most subjects in school aside from math: why memorize random facts when you could just figure them out instead?
...of a less relevant or critical issue we should be spending our time and money on.
a paperback from 1970s says all about how to prepare as in a few years the US will be metric. I found it a month ago but now I lost it. So I guess if Chaffee becomes president I will be stuck with an outdated measurement system.
mfwright@batnet.com
You are free to do so.. Many products have metric hardware - even American car parts!
Just government BS as usual.
If metric is so awesome why aren't computers 10 based?
Checkmate.
The Metric system has Celsius for daily use.
Celsius is not arbitrary defined, in fact its the opposite.
Read up on how Celsius is defined:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celsius
From 1744 until 1954, 0 C was defined as the freezing point of water and 100 C was defined as the boiling point of water, both at a pressure of one standard atmosphere with mercury being the working material. Although these defining correlations are commonly taught in schools today, by international agreement the unit "degree Celsius" and the Celsius scale are currently defined by two different temperatures: absolute zero, and the triple point of VSMOW (specially purified water). This definition also precisely relates the Celsius scale to the Kelvin scale, which defines the SI base unit of thermodynamic temperature with symbol K. Absolute zero, the lowest temperature possible, is defined as being precisely 0 K and 273.15 C. The temperature of the triple point of water is defined as precisely 273.16 K and 0.01 C.[3]
Your use of units is arbitrary and to me comes over as stupid.
Your comparisons are so inacurate it's stupid.
And this while you give lack of accuracy for ditching Celsius.
According to your metric you should ditch feet you self-contradicting emotionist.
I am not sure that Mr. Chaffee understands the issue.
Let me start by quoting the National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST a division of the US Department of Commerce]. Appendix B "Units and Systems of Measurement Their Origin, Development, and Present Status" to their publication Handbook 44 "Specifications, Tolerances, and Other Technical Requirements for Weighing and Measuring Devices" [pdf] states:
Perhaps Mr. Chaffee wants non-metric units to be outlawed. That is not US policy (see above). I doubt that there is any enthusiasm for changing the policy, or any money to implement such a change.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
>It's a non-starter of a proposal from a non-starter of a candidate.
I think the consensus was that it would be more efficient and would work better with trading partners, but going through the change would be put US at a disadvantage until the dust settled.
This whole seconds minutes hours days weeks months years thing isn't very clean either.
Why isn't anyone telling us to change all that? Maybe weekends and holidays should go to?
What should a holiday repeat yearly? Maybe some would rather see in-laws only once per solar cycle?
What about student holidays? (spring break being based on the migratory habits of two-legged masterbatory animals?) A cup of coffee would have to be a glass of coffee, except it's probably plastic. How many pounds and inches are you? How many milliliters is a wad? What's the cup-size of those man-boobs? Are mega and giga bytes going to be powers of two? Why name colors when one could just cite the wavelength? Some songs need to be rewritten. Maybe we should change musical scales and pick a new reference.
Are the phases of the moon just about in sync with the 27 day or solar effective (as viewed from a moving Earth) solar rotation interval?
Except for valuing politicians by their heat value as biofuel, do we really have a desire to change?
What system was in use in the US during the planning and design of the Apollo missions?
What system was in use in the US during WWII?
Need I go on?
The funny thing is that the US is already moving to support Metric units in lots of things, and we're getting better at "guesstimating" metric lengths as that happens. But apparently some people want to force the change to happen overnight rather than letting it gradually take over, like millions of people will die tomorrow if it doesn't happen. I wonder what agenda is at work here, since honest scientists/mathematicians/engineers realize that needlessly perturbing things when it's already evolving in the right direction absent critical need is counterproductive.
The US has been a signatory to the Metric convention for years -- longer than the UK I believe though I could't rapidly find reference on the net. In addition the inch was fixed at precisely 2.54 cm (we'd say 25.4 mm these days) 56 years ago. So Americans are already metric.
I am not much of a fan of the metric system, actually. I do use celsius (mainly because I , and do engineering with it, but for day to day use (fixing a stair, cooking etc) I find the customary units superior.
And I curse whatever god (Finnagle?) put five digits on each limb! Should have been six. Even four would have been superior.
"Going Metric" really has nothing to do with measuring in Centimeters and Celsius and never did. It really has to do with retooling industry and parts to new standard sizes. The problem is it is very costly to do so. Think about the metric and common wrenches you have, is used to be you had one set of tools and best of all because there were not really that many commonly used sizes, and the differences were visually apparent, you could just reach for the right wrench by looking at it. Right now you might be thinking "ah but of only the U.S. would just use the parts the rest of the world uses, things would be fine.". First, remember that goes both ways as metric nuts are in no way better than common ones. Second, well, frankly most industries have fairly specialized tools, in other words you care more about those immediately around you, the sizes of available nuts have nothing to with board lengths. But, we are entering a new custom manufacturing world. We may soon be manufacturing boards AND nuts to the specific needs of the product rather than standard sizes. When that happens, well, you can measure in inches, meters or cubits and the computer will be able to convert and manufacture just fine.
Which is kelvin shifted by 270Â approx. With celsius the zero is the temperature of pure ice melting/freezing at standard STP, and 100ÂC the temperature of boiling water. The scale zero and 100 were precisely used due to that, to the point it was kept for kelvin and jsut shifted to the new hypothetical zero. 1ÂK=1ÂC.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
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visit randi.org
The problem is that it would cost a ton of money to switch.
Plus, most Americans aren't rational enough to see the benefits.
Slashdot itself is not metric. What can we expected from normal people...
I found out that it's common around the world to use millimeters to measure rainfall.
Okay, that's certainly a more precise way to measure rain but who really gives a shit whether you get 6 or 8 mm of rain?
I would think centimeters would be the default units for measuring rain.
Then a few weeks ago after flooding somewhere the news said that they got 100 mm of rain but when they actually got down to it they only got 97 mm of rain. (I bet they were relieved - that extra 3mm just might have wreaked more havoc that the 97 mm they got).
If they're going to round like that it would make even more sense to use centimeters and report it as either 9.5 cm or simply 10 cm.
I have never heard anyone wanting to measure rainfall in the US any more precisely than down to the half-inch (although I suppose serious metereologists might). They're probably using the metric system already.
It also seems that when you try to be that precise you're going to overgeneralize. I'm sure the whole area didn't get exactly precisely 97 mm of rain. There's probably a bit of variation.
why do you want to divide by 3 or 4 ??
aaaaaaa
Ha! Yeah, well, Canada is just as huge and is only bordered by ONE country. And they use metric.
If are you living near the US border, as almost every Canadian does, you have to be comfortable using both systems.
Everyone knows most of Canada is uninhabited, but seeing really is believing.
This Is How Empty Canada Really Is (MAPS and PHOTOS)
Suppose your boss asked you to have an automated server task run "3 times a day". The time values would look awkward and be hard to mentally verify if our clocks were 10-based.
Things are often partitioned by 2, 3, and 4 in "domain land". Five is used less often, and only usually due to our usage of base 10. (60 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 5, but it's too large to be practical in my opinion. 12 is the best compromise.)
Table-ized A.I.
The US has done both for decades. Not a measuring cup nor speedometer made does not have metric measurements on it. Sure, we use miles and Fahrenheit. Big deal. No mechanic doesn't have a metric set of sockets and wrenches. No serious scientific research doesn't use metric measurements.
The fact is, we can multi-task using two measuring systems and the rest of the world can't.
How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
Decimal sucks for computers. A base-2^n system would solve all kinds of issues when it comes to automation.
Even a compromise like base-60, which we're all already somewhat familiar with, would be better, as it's evenly divisible by commonly used fractions such as 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, and 1/10, which would help avoid many rounding errors. Base-12 is also almost as nifty as similarly familiar. (We use base-60 and base-12 to tell time.)
Heck, even imperial units are in many respects better in this regard, as well.
Decimal sucks for just about everything. Metric is useful not because it's in decimal, but because it was rigorously standardized, is consistent across many different kinds of units (length, area, volume, mass, etc), and those units were closer to scientifically distinct phenomenon. The fact that it's base-10 isn't a feature. It merely follows from our misfortune of inheriting base-10 from ancient India via the Arab conquests.
Anybody who _defends_ decimal hasn't actually thought it through. Also, base-10 has nothing to do with how many fingers and toes we have. That's a myth. Ancient people's used all kinds of numeric systems. Base-10 is something of an anomaly in that regard, and that's probably not a coincidence because, again, base-10 sucks.
... what's in it for me?
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
In 1959 the US customary inch was redefined as exactly 25.4 millimetres. All of the other common units are defined as exact metric conversions, with tracable pedigree to the standards maintained by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures
From that point onward the only non metric US measures are the ones needed to maintain backwards compatibility like the US survey foot.
Hooray! After all, this just becomes more and more important, as conversion gets easier and easier and more at our fingertips and even voice ... oh.
I like the idea of a nice round 10 oz. per pound ... and seriously, what self respecting nerd, especially in this digital age, could object to hexadecimal in the kitchen?
Finally, even with silly little distractions like terrorism, the economy, foreign threats to our security, and other things, there is a candidate that is ready to tackle the real issue of our time - our unit system! Seriously, this has to be the biggest threat to our prosperity since the Spanish Flu and George W. Bush.
Even if he doesn't win the nomination, which I admit is a long shot given how incredibly obvious it is that our unit system is the most compelling issue of our time, I'll write him in.
Go metric!
That alone gets my vote. I don't care about his stance on anything else. It can't be any worst than any other candidate.
Pardon me but I do not get what you are saying
Just because all the other countries on the planet are doing something doesn't mean that USA has to follow suit
I was from a country where the Metric system has been used since the 1950's - 1960's, but I still prefer to get a GALLON of milk, measuring distance in MILES, getting temperature reading in FAHRENHEIT, knowing my weight in POUND than the bland metric system equivalents
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
It'll be one fewer thing that we can rib you lot about...
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
Witch! Witch ! He's a Witch!
How pathetic is it that U.S. woodworker hobbyists have largely "gone metric" in their measurements (because it's easier to do calculations and more precise to boot) while their government is still "considering it".
Answer: pretty pathetic.
There seem to be two main arguments, all of which (I'm reliably informed by my parents) were argued to death in Australia before our successful metrification starting in the 1970s.
1. Imperial is entrenched. It was in Australia as well; alas we bear the same burden you do with our British colonial heritage :). All our road signs, car dashboards, units for commerce etc were Imperial. We stuck things over signs, children were taught both systems, commerce migrated. With packaging in both units, the US is halfway there.
2. Imperial units make more sense. I can't speak personally for this, because I grew up using Metric. For the arguments that Celcius is less granular than Fahrenheit though, may I introduce the decimal point (that Americans so famously applied to their Metric currency while the Brits were still arguing over shillings). Most of these arguments appeal to familiarity, which are valid for the time, but will fade.
I'd say 2.1: All units are arbitrary. Indeed, all the more reason we all use the same ones, rather than having two systems.
Those said, I emphasise with unfamiliarity. Aussies laugh at me, but I've actually been learning Imperial measurements in my own time so I can chat with my American friends about weather, etc. If that sounds condescending I don't mean it to, it's genuinely hard. "26 degrees" means something to me, "79 degrees" is a step away from being useful. I also appreciate it's easy for me to say "move to Metric" given it's the system I use.
I'd argue though the potential benefits far outweigh the negatives though, as they did in Australia. Along with NZ, it's proof that the Metric system can be used in the unwieldy Anglosphere after all.
The Wikipedia article explains Australia's metrification (metrication?) process pretty well actually, including the myths that switching causes more road accidents, etc.
Cheers, ~ Ruben
unfortunately it's Lincoln Chaffee
On the front page of any site, other than to get conservatives excited about someone they can bash? Besides, the conservative majority here already knows that Chaffee is not one of them, they would have seen his name and jumped in to tell us what a terrible evil person he is without needing the lead-in in the summary.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Any idiot who is afraid of multiplying or dividing by 12 or 16 will happily go metric. That oft-cited idiotic notion (which he too recited) about the US somehow being backward because it has not gone metric lacks two simple data points:
1. Number of metric-using nations who put men on the moon.
2. Number of non-metric nations who put men on the moon.
We have computers and calculators that can easily do conversions, so the different systems are no real issue and no longer even a minor hassle to intelligent people. To people for whom pounds or quarts are difficult, no transition to metric will truly be helpful (even though they might THINK all math in that system is just decimal shifting). If you are bad at math, metric is a crutch that will not truly help you.
The real reason metric does not catch on in the US is that we're rather practical and metric units are too coarse; an inch and a foot are handy SIZES and metric has no units close to those sizes. An inch is simply BETTER than "two point five centimeters", and a foot is BETTER than a "thirty point four centimeters" or "zero point three oh four meters". Yeah, a "meter" is close enough to a "yard" but that's just not enough to beat the convenience of the physical sizes of an inch and a foot.
"A Pint's a Pound the World Around."
By Charles A. L. Totten.
International Institute for Preserving and Perfecting (Anglo-Saxon) Weights and Measures
They bid us change the ancient "names."
The "seasons" and the "times;"
And for our measures go abroad
To strange and distant climes.
But well abide by things long clear
And cling to things of yore.
For the Anglo-Saxon race shall rule
The earth from shore to shore.
Then down with every "metric" scheme
Taught by the foreign school.
We'll worship still our Father's God!
And keep our Father's "rule"!
A perfect inch. a perfect pint.
The Anglo's honest pound.
Shall hold their place upon the earth.
Till Time's last trump shall sound!
CHORUS:
Then swell the chorus heartily.
Let every Saxon sing:
"A pint's a pound the world around."
Till all the earth shall ring.
"A pint's a pound the world around"
For rich and poor the same;
Just measure and a perfect weight
Called by their ancient name!
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fullt...
A History of the Metric System Controversy in the United States. U.S. Metric Study Tenth Interim Report. National Bureau of Standards (DOC) , Washington, DC
REPORT NO NBs-SP-345-10 August 1971. 307p. Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 (Catalog No. 0 13.10:345-10, $2.25)
Cans and bottles of beer are in millilitres; I don't know what they call the size of a glass at a pub because I don't drink.
A 10oz glass is a little less than 300ml, 16oz (pint) a little less than 500ml, 24oz a little more than 700ml, 32oz (quart) a little less than 1L. The differences are quite minor.
And no, people will not "use whatever they are used to". They'll use what's on the package and all of the road signs.
In the US our packaging has included both systems since the 1970s. In the 1970s many of our roadsigns listed both miles and kilometers as well as we were about to switch to metric. We all learned the metric system in school at the time. The US Government Board that was promoting the switch was eliminated during budget cuts in the 1980s. Replacement roadsigns went back to miles only but our speedometers in cars still indicate both systems. Packing remained imperial (well its US variant, not the same as UK and Canada) and metric.
Things are **slowly** switching in a voluntary manner, basically industry involved in foreign trade and the sciences. The US military is largely metric.
Its wasn't much bother to use metric. Calculators were rarely needed. Very rough approximations worked for most circumstances, ex: 1 meter was slightly over 3 feet, a kilometer a little more than half a mile, a liter was slightly more than a quart, a kilogram a little more than 2 pounds. It was only temperature measurements that required something approaching a "formula" to roughly approximate, F -> C then subtract 32 and divide by 2.
The article states:
Though unfortunately it's Lincoln Chaffee
What's the problem?
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
Years 0-25: All signs replaced must print both measurements
We tried that once in the 70s. In some places people shot the signs down. Literally. With guns.
True. But now in the 2010s the signs are miles only and they are still being shot up alot.
Besides, shooter are now metric. In the 70s ammo was all 30'06, .308 and .223; now its 7.62mm and 5.56mm. Today's shooters are probably more tolerant of metric. :-)
it's been a long time the world has settled for a base 10, except computers, whre it's base 256.
Live with it.
aaaaaaa
Even if the US won a war for independance with the help of the french, i wonder why they should also free themselves from imperial units, that would be a call for another war of independance, US people can't just free themselves from mother land england.
I've been looking forward to metric time!
Why not decimal time?
Day -
Deciday - 2.4 hours
Centiday - 14.4 minutes
Milliday - 1.4 minutes
and so on.
US units of measures are already defined in terms of metric units; they just happen to be oddball multiples. So, in that sense, we are already using the metric system. International standards use many different choices of dimensions, some of which are simple numbers in US units, others that are simple numbers in metric. That's not going to change. Nor are US tools, devices, or domestic standards going to change, because that would be too expensive.
As far as I can tell "let's go metric" is mostly political signaling: it is supposed to label a candidate as international and scientific ("become internationalist"). What it means in practice is wasting a whole bunch of money on changing highway signs, supermarket scales, and gas and water meters, plus a huge amount of software development, all for no discernible benefit. Whether you measure gasoline in units of 1 l or units of 3.785411784 l (1 gallon, exactly) makes no difference.
What such suggestions should label a candidate as is "wasteful" and "ignorant".
The trouble is that you also come out with some strange ones.
An acre foot? Weight in pounds but no major units? Farenheit???
Fortunately, there is google to convert things and I am pretty good at mental arithmetic.
An acre foot is 325,851 and 2 fifths US "gallons" or 271,328.07 normal gallons. For those of us here on Earth, that is 1,233,481.84 litres. We laugh at "furlongs per hogshead" but this is pretty similar.
When old people here give their heights, they use feet and inches and I presume people in the US do too. How is that people in the US insist on things like saying their weight is 178 pounds or that item of equipment is 3,500 pounds? There are 14 pounds in a stone so that is 12 stone 10 and 2000 pounds in a "short" ton so that is 1.75 short tons. Why not drop larger units from distances and give all distances in furlongs then?
Water freezes at 0 and boils at 100. It's just simpler. With apropriate equipment and facilities, I can live between -50 and plus 50. I know the historical stories about the fallacies that 0F was the coldest you could get water and 100F was the temperature of the human body. Both of those are incorrect. If they were the only reason, there would be even less reason for people to use that I remember my parents explaining to my grandparents quite a few decades ago.
Using Celcius is probably the simplest change but it has the least pushing it as the sensible option.
I am 1.81 metres tall and a proper geeky 129 Kg. The weather is a balmy 22 degrees and the wind is only a couple of metres a second. I Have a litre sized water bottle on my desk. Those are pretty human sized units...
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
Drive faster: 115 instead of 70!
Run farther: 8 instead of 5!
Weigh less: 99 instead of 220!
Go metric!
1 mile = 5.28 kilofeet
That gets rid of the crappy gov US uses for a parilment system.
Admits the job market and US economy is also dysfunctional and offers to fix it.
Admits that the rapant aholery from both gov and business isn't helping the countery in anyway shape or form.
And offers to substantively help people that are in dire need of it.
I suspect it's not worth holding my breath to wait.
Way too many family plots and small farms are already determined by acres, or by length of road frontage. Having to redo all of that to metric for every property as it changes hands through sale or inheritance would be a nightmare.
I really doubt that. I've seen surveying documents using simple 3 digit precision decimal numbers of feet (1.234 feet) rather than feet plus inches and fractions of inches. Converting to meters would seem quite trivial and a one-time event.
Similarly in manufacturing I've seen simple 3 digit precision decimal numbers of inches. Fractions often being converted to a decimal 1/1,000th of an inch. Again, converting to millimeters would seem quite trivial and a one-time event for a legacy blueprint as its converted to a CAD document.
It really seems about a legacy personal preference, not technical issues.
Yes, pretty much everything in construction is still imperial, inches, feet, etc... However that is largely due to the fact that there is a huge amount of legacy non-compatible construction out there to build upon. You can't exactly charge over on a dime. Certain things are more metric than others, over a long time it will eventually happen.
Same goes for the height and weight. It is about common usage having momentum that takes a while to sort out. For example while I refer to myself in feet and inches as well, I have no idea what my father is talking about when he starts spouting about Fahrenheit... I'd need a calculator to convert it to C. Having said that... my oven is in Fahrenheit... so yes confusing.
However, it isn't so much that it is "forced" by government as some of the libby's in the US seem all afraid of. It isn't like Big Brother is going to come around collecting your 1/4 inch socket sets... However when you get your Driver's Licence it might have some weird number for your height like 180cm which isn't all that meaningful to you.
However that is something, perhaps one of the only things governments are good at, longer term things that over time make sense.
We are in a place where historians will likely refer to as the metric transitional period if at all.
National Rationals Association:
You can take my fractions from my cold dead hand!
Technically there is already such a thing as a metric ton.
In fact it is already in the urban usage you describe:
I don't give a metric fuckton about your imperial units...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...
Metric VS Imperial? How are we not discussing Slashdot unit equivalents (Other than to call Metric Rebel Scum!)?
Volume: Libraries of Congress
Length: Football Fields
Weight: Cowboy Neals
etc...
Forcing lay people to use a scientific to system like the metric one is like making them cook with Erlenmeyer flasks: http://apt46.net/2012/08/03/why-fahrenheit-is-better-than-celsius/
OK, when France switches to a metric calendar... Seriously, if we can tell time with a stupid 12/24 hour clock and dumb seconds/minutes/hours/days/weeks... why can't we deal with inches/feet/yards/fathoms/leagues/miles whatever.
The subject line says it all!
See subject "Forrest" & this -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comme...
Damn, next think you know you'll bring in gun control too!
US land area is 9,161,966 km^2, Canada's land area is 9,093,507 km^2.
So it's so significantly larger that it's smaller?
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Yes, the more we become like every one else, the easier it will be to assimilate us into the NWO.
Britain isn't switching roads and signs to metric mostly due to what It would cost (plus people like miles). Uk is a small country, the Usa is huge... why wasting peoples tax money on somnething so futile? I suppose the Usa will just wind up like the Uk.. half metric, half imperial.