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| 19 APR 2011 at 12:04am |
MarkGuild Master
Posts : 3803
Joined: 10 OCT 2002
Location: US, Georgia
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By karla (18 APR 2011 4:06pm)
A long time ago, there were discussions about changing the US to the metric system. I believe people's heads started exploding at the very thought of such a thing, so it was dropped.
Yeah, we tried to "go metric" (I think maybe Jimmy Carter was President?).
Some applications were adopted; ergo, the automobile industry changed over to metric. I remember working on my German-built '69 Buick Opel Kadette Rallye (Orange!) as a young teen and having to buy metric tools for it.
My Dad hated it (more expense for him because we already had some non-metric tools) but it was My Precious.
The metric tools came in handy later when American-made automobiles started using them, in the '60's or later.
As hard as Jimmy Carter worked to get the metric system in 1978 part of the U.S. culture, it was the Mommies and Daddies all across America who didn't want to give up their Tablespoons, Teaspoons, Pounds, Gallons, Quarts, Pints, Ounces, etc.
Actually anyone who used weights and measures on a daily basis. It was something else to learn.
President Gerald Ford re-introduced it, President Carter pushed it, and Ronald Reagan killed it.
Here's a summary of the history of the U.S. conversion to metric.
Please proofread your posts carefully to see if you any words out.
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| 19 APR 2011 at 8:05am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | The rest of us switched. You're all just being cissy.
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| 19 APR 2011 at 6:26pm |
BrianSpace Cadet
Posts : 117
Joined: 28 SEP 2010
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Caroline (18 APR 2011 6:18am)
Oh very handy. So a USA stick of butter has an USA measurement in cups. Brilliant. : We're metric down here.
Yes, and if you leave off the "in cups" in your text it defaults to ml. I figured that went without saying!
And of course you can specify whatever volumetric units you'd like. Did you know that "2 US sticks of butter = 0.00578245723 firkins"?
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| 19 APR 2011 at 6:34pm |
BrianSpace Cadet
Posts : 117
Joined: 28 SEP 2010
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Caroline (19 APR 2011 8:04am)
The rest of us switched. You're all just being cissy.
Hahaha, you don't have to point that out to us. We have to live with it every day!
Seriously, I was in elementary school back during that brief time when people thought that the switch to metric was actually going to happen, and they made sure that we all learned our centimeters and whatnot. They even put up a highway sign north of town that had both miles and km on it! It's now decades later and that highway sign is still there, but none have joined it.
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| 19 APR 2011 at 6:52pm |
FnordSchattenjger
Posts : 2752
Joined: 15 SEP 2008
Location: SE, Stockholm
Status : Offline | If we are going to use obscure units, I suggest that we stick to Barn-megaparsecs. One US cup=78,863 Barn-megaparsecs. It is a far easier unit to work with anyway (one barn-megaparsec ~3ml)
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| 19 APR 2011 at 8:32pm |
| Deleted User | As for being brought up on both systems, I'd have to say that experience is probably the closest I'll ever be with respect to calling myself bilingual.
In the areas of science and engineering SI units always rocked, but unfortunately our assignments always included equal amounts of both, just to be fair or so we were told.
Anyhow, whatever. I know that I will always be a happier person simply because I will always get more miles per gallon than kilometers per liter.
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| 19 APR 2011 at 8:43pm |
TravellerGuild Master
Posts : 4040
Joined: 3 JUL 2010
Location: US
Status : Offline | Metric is so much easier though. It's simply denominations of 10.
* * * Just call me Trav. * * *
“Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.” - Robert Bloch
"They are not reciprocally sublated--the one does not sublate the other externally--but each sublates itself in itself and is in its own self the opposite of itself" (Hegel, from The Doctrine of Being)..."
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| 19 APR 2011 at 11:06pm |
FnordSchattenjger
Posts : 2752
Joined: 15 SEP 2008
Location: SE, Stockholm
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Camaroboy1968 (19 APR 2011 8:32pm)
As for being brought up on both systems, I'd have to say that experience is probably the closest I'll ever be with respect to calling myself bilingual.
In the areas of science and engineering SI units always rocked, but unfortunately our assignments always included equal amounts of both, just to be fair or so we were told.
Anyhow, whatever. I know that I will always be a happier person simply because I will always get more miles per gallon than kilometers per liter.
Because certain countries refuse to stick to the norm, the rest of us are forced to work with both as well We have had assignments with mixed units, in order to get used to working with people from different countries. Converting units is not hard, but each extra unit that you introduce adds a few extra lines of code, and with each extra line of code the chance of doing something wrong increases. A simple typo can ruin everything.
And that happened in one particularly messy assignment. At that point, we almost decided to use beard seconds as our standard length unit in our report, and barn/shed/outhouse as our area units 1 beard second=5 ångström (or 5*10^-9 m), 1 barn=10^-28 m^2, while 1 outhouse=10^-6 barns & shed=10^-24 barns), as a form of revenge against our lecturer
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| 20 APR 2011 at 8:30am |
TravellerGuild Master
Posts : 4040
Joined: 3 JUL 2010
Location: US
Status : Offline | I thought Obama was all about change..- why doesn't he try again and see if it won't finally go through with a new generation who might see the sense if they have to keep converting units from other countries, now that we have the internet and our little global village...
(Of course, the internet is rife with automatic metric to non-metric converters, so maybe not... :
* * * Just call me Trav. * * *
“Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.” - Robert Bloch
"They are not reciprocally sublated--the one does not sublate the other externally--but each sublates itself in itself and is in its own self the opposite of itself" (Hegel, from The Doctrine of Being)..."
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| 20 APR 2011 at 12:37pm |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | Personally, I think all you 'drive on the wrong siders' should change to the left.... you know it makes sense. [smiley=angel_smiley.gif]
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| 20 APR 2011 at 5:05pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By Fnord (19 APR 2011 11:06pm)
Because certain countries refuse to stick to the norm, the rest of us are forced to work with both as well We have had assignments with mixed units, in order to get used to working with people from different countries. Converting units is not hard, but each extra unit that you introduce adds a few extra lines of code, and with each extra line of code the chance of doing something wrong increases. A simple typo can ruin everything.
And that happened in one particularly messy assignment. At that point, we almost decided to use beard seconds as our standard length unit in our report, and barn/shed/outhouse as our area units (1 beard second=5 ångström (or 5*10^-9 m), 1 barn=10^-28 m^2, while 1 outhouse=10^-6 barns & shed=10^-24 barns), as a form of revenge against our lecturer
OK, you had me going there until the end.
Well at least we haven't reached the point yet of giving Caroline or Trav a rating of milliHelens. [img]http://justadventure.com/yabb/Smilies/evil.gif[/img]
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| 20 APR 2011 at 8:49pm |
TravellerGuild Master
Posts : 4040
Joined: 3 JUL 2010
Location: US
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Camaroboy1968 (20 APR 2011 5:04pm)
OK, you had me going there until the end.
Well at least we haven't reached the point yet of giving Caroline or Trav a rating of milliHelens. [img]http://justadventure.com/yabb/Smilies/evil.gif[/img]
CB - a little word of advice: don't compare females with one another when they can hear you. You'll be tap-dancing on thin ice... - but wait, I see you enjoy doing that...
* * * Just call me Trav. * * *
“Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.” - Robert Bloch
"They are not reciprocally sublated--the one does not sublate the other externally--but each sublates itself in itself and is in its own self the opposite of itself" (Hegel, from The Doctrine of Being)..."
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| 21 APR 2011 at 1:26am |
CarolineJA+ Overseer
Posts : 16540
Joined: 28 JAN 2007
Location: AU
Status : Offline | Ahhh but this old chuck knows the best response to a whippersnapper's impudence is to pretend not to hear it.....
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| 21 APR 2011 at 2:56am |
InlandAZGuild Master
Posts : 5586
Joined: 4 MAY 2007
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By placeholder (19 APR 2011 8:42pm)
Metric is so much easier though. It's simply denominations of 10.
Binary works best for me
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| 21 APR 2011 at 4:24am |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By Caroline (21 APR 2011 1:26am)
Ahhh but this old chuck knows the best response to a whippersnapper's impudence is to pretend not to hear it.....
CB stressfully takes a needed break from OT. Blame it all on Wiki. Not guilty of the crime but guilty of the suggestion. [img]http://justadventure.com/yabb/Smilies/blush.gif [/img]
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| 25 OCT 2011 at 9:25am |
markornikovJourneyman
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Posts : 1303
Joined: 28 OCT 2011
Location: BE, Antwerp
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By placeholder (19 APR 2011 8:42pm)
Metric is so much easier though. It's simply denominations of 10.
Spoiler Alert[img]http://i.imgur.com/tZwKg.jpg[/img]
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| 25 OCT 2011 at 3:00pm |
TravellerGuild Master
Posts : 4040
Joined: 3 JUL 2010
Location: US
Status : Offline | Glad they included the back to front dates. That way of writing dates has always seemed back to front to me, and there they illustrate it clearly and graphically.
* * * Just call me Trav. * * *
“Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.” - Robert Bloch
"They are not reciprocally sublated--the one does not sublate the other externally--but each sublates itself in itself and is in its own self the opposite of itself" (Hegel, from The Doctrine of Being)..."
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| 25 OCT 2011 at 3:08pm |
markornikovJourneyman
Posts : 1303
Joined: 28 OCT 2011
Location: BE, Antwerp
Status : Offline | oh i can't count the times anymore i've been locked out of a site because I wrote my birthdate in the wrong order :
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