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You mean the kind that lost a third of a billion-dollar Mars orbiter due to an imperial/SI mix up?
Well, compared the the guys whose last Mars lander decided that it had landed when it was 20 km above the surface of Mars... Made quite a nice crater.
 
And now you understand why the US of A is one of three country on earth that doesn't use the metric system. The other two are bastions of scientific discovery and progress... Myanmar and Liberia.

And yes, it puzzles the rest of us too.
UK doesn't use metric system.
 
The UK is unique.

We are Metric, except we still use some imperial units.

We use mm, meters, grams, Kilograms, litres, millilitres. But we use miles on our roads. People will still use feet and inches.

How to upset both a European and an American, quote both in the same sentence (which I sometimes do :)). Its "6inches long, + or - a few millimetres".
Carpentry is still done in imperial units, however, everything is sold in metric units, so 6inch nails are 100mm, 3x2 is 75x50 mm (but with a slight oversize), etc.

Distance is in Miles on the roads, but fuel is sold in litres.

In my youth, I once asked for some 1" stainless steel bar a couple of feet long, from the offcuts bin. The retailer told me (pompously) they where a metric establishment, so I asked for 25mm bar, about 300-600mm long. I heard him out the back asking the warehouse man for the 25mm bar ..... I heard the warehouse man yell " any inch S.S. bar a couple of feet long in the offcuts bin" to his companion, still makes me smile.

Just remember the British are contrary. :)
 
The UK is unique.

We are Metric, except we still use some imperial units.

We use mm, meters, grams, Kilograms, litres, millilitres. But we use miles on our roads. People will still use feet and inches.

How to upset both a European and an American, quote both in the same sentence (which I sometimes do :)). Its "6inches long, + or - a few millimetres".
Carpentry is still done in imperial units, however, everything is sold in metric units, so 6inch nails are 100mm, 3x2 is 75x50 mm (but with a slight oversize), etc.

Distance is in Miles on the roads, but fuel is sold in litres.

In my youth, I once asked for some 1" stainless steel bar a couple of feet long, from the offcuts bin. The retailer told me (pompously) they where a metric establishment, so I asked for 25mm bar, about 300-600mm long. I heard him out the back asking the warehouse man for the 25mm bar ..... I heard the warehouse man yell " any inch S.S. bar a couple of feet long in the offcuts bin" to his companion, still makes me smile.

Just remember the British are contrary. :)
Of course you are:wink:
 
Just out of curiosity, what is the point you're trying to make with this comment? Some sort of slam against S.I. units? Or perhaps you forgot to include a smilie to indicate you intended humor?

At some level, I suppose it is impressive that we (USA) put a man on the moon despite the handicap of using imperial units.
It's impressive especially at that time no matter what.
Maybe a teensy little bit more so considering the rocket was designed by a team originally deeply rooted in the metric world, but parts made all over by many craftsmen rooted in the imperial system (and likely many more (originally) rooted in the metric system as well, I used to know one)... and despite (or because) everything being made to drawings on paper it appears that SI / Imperial mix-ups were successfully avoided then. Pretty amazing really.
 
Granted Celsius has the granularity of a semi tractor trailer.

Oh come on. At least Celsius is not tied to some dead guy's idea of "comfort". A 100 is for "hot"? 0 is "cold"? 50 is freaking freezing and 98 is pleasant -- as you, as a diver, should well know.
 
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