engdiver
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I have always felt that the rest of the world should convert to the English sytem. The USA is the world's only superpower and has been the leader in many technologies. There is nothing wrong with using it.
When does the world go metric...
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KOMPRESSOR
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Rick Murchison:
SOOOO-HOHO!!? It's an accident now, is it?
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engdiver:
What? I'm from the USA and I think the Metric system would be so much easier. All the multiples of 10 etc...
It would be much easier for few nations that don't use metric to use it than the whole world to change. I don't think it'd take much for the US to switch, just the people willing do it... Better not hold my breath
:yl2jump:vondo
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KOMPRESSOR:SOOOO-HOHO!!? It's an accident now, is it?
Yeah, the meter was picked to be some fraction of Earth's circumference. Or are you suggesting that the atmosphere was somehow adjusted?
Besides, isn't the true number (in SW) more like 10.5?
As an American, I too wish I'd learned to dive in metric. I switch when I'm not in the U.S. or Carribean and have considered switching here too, but the problem is talking to buddies.
Rick Murchison:In Alabama about twenty years ago, kilometer markers went up (at great expense) on all the major highways, to be at the front of the dictated switch just around the corner. There was such a hue and cry from the public that the kilo markers came back down (at great expense).
We really are reaching international markets, with more and more goods every day, so that one's a red herring.
Last time I was in England ('88) the markers were still in miles and the posted speed limits were in mph - has that changed?
The entire international aviation world uses feet for altitude and knots for speed. The entire nautical world uses knots for speed, fathoms (feetX6) for depth.
"The World" has quite a few holdouts other than the pesky USA.
Me, I just carry two sets of wrenches
With the happy accident that 10 meters is one atmosphere, there is no doubt that "diving math" is far easier in metric than in imperial.
On the other hand, computers are more accurate using base 2, so we really ought to junk both metric and imperial and go to a hex system, eh? (There are 10 kinds of people - those who understand binary, and those who don't
Rick
Rick, you are correct about reaching the world market in spite of whatever measurement system used. Money has a way of making people learn "how much" very quickly. Russia and China use meters for altitude and meters per second for wind. Some of our airplanes have charts and procedures for double and triple checking them. My airplane has a button that converts the altimeter system to meters with feet in the background. My main problem is one of perception. If it rains 12 cm, just how much is that in inches?
I am in the process of working on my DM and metric is easier for most of the math (I am a math idiot). I like metric for some things....my weight is a nicer number, my waist size is not.
'bout 4½ ... (4.724...)AggieDad:
Rick
Totally.KOMPRESSOR:SOOOO-HOHO!!? It's an accident now, is it?
Rick
engdiver:
Except that we, the superpower, have a humongous trade deficit. How is another metric-based country going to buy our products if it involves a component that isn't compatible with their metric system? For them, it's simple - buy from someone else.
Similar analogy to Detroit Big Three's philosophies decades earlier. I remember an executive in GM or Chrysler was quoted in the 80's as saying we can't sell our autos in Japan (or elsewhere in the world such as Australia, UK etc) because they drive on the other side of the road, "we don't make lefthand drive cars!" (Well, the lefthand drive Japanese were making righthand drive cars for the north-American market and our excuse was we couldn't make lefthand drive cars?) We gotta be more flexible in this "flat" world (as Tom Friedman puts it) or else our export markets get smaller and smaller...how much longer can we remain as the "only superpower"? (we're more like a paper tiger in reality)
Carribeandiver
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Benthic:
yea well, when everyone else starts sending us money and providing troop support instead of vice versa, we will gladly convert right on over.
and this has nothing to do with politics so get started about this party or that party. In my opinion the only true goal of each party is to make the other party look bad and whether it is good for America or not is not even a factor to consider.
engdiver:
Well....
First of all, America may be a leader in many technological and scientific fields but you'll invariably see that the leaders in your own scientific community use the metric system.
Secondly, being a superpower does not may one "right" anymore that being the school-yard bully makes one "right".
Third, the US headcount is only something around 5% of the world population, which means if there were 40 people in a room, only two of them would be American and of those two one probably won't care and one would be a world "thought leader" that already used the metric system in his/her work. I hardly think that the rest of the world be inclined to give much thought to who was "right" and nobody *at all* would be inclined to follow the apathetic one....
I don't care if you use it in America but don't kid yourself. You're isolated and it's not going to change.
R..
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