Why doesn't the USA adopt officially the metric unit?

[scubabeachboy]

the other funny thing about metrics is : no normalizing fractions.
My grand daughter hates it when I give her a math problem with mixxed fractions.
I always give it to her a math problem when we are waiting for dinner at a restaurant.
Keeps her quiet and busy the whole time we are waiting.
She loves long hand division, however, the mixxed fractions are a B***CH !
Hhahhahhahahhahhhhha!!!!

 

[DennisS]

OK, everyone:
What is the system for measuring gun powder,.......
Its not metric, or NAS, or Imperial,
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!
and: what is it based on!!!!!
no looking in the dictionary!

I just bought a pound of blackpowder for a muzzle loading pistol but I use grains to measure the load.

If you had an old Triumph motorcycle you couldn't use metric or inch wrenches, they were whitworth, whatever measurement that was.

 

[scubabeachboy]

Amnidupoise system,
I probably speled it wrong.
7000 grains of french red rye wheat picked from the center of an ear of wheat, then allowed to dry for one year equals 1 lb.
The grains are measure in lgs, however, the blackpowder is measured in volume.
Nice system,....Haaaaaa!!!!
So,.......a 241 grain hollow point bullet weight the same as 241 grains of red rye wheat.
correct?????

also medicine was distributed in the same manner in the old days.
Buy vulume not weight.

 

[Walter]

Oh Walter...

Check this out before shaking your head.

 

[Damselfish]

when I did structural engineering long ago our most commonly used unit was the "kip" - the "kilopound"! How's that for a unit.

 

[MeiLing]

I wonder how a shift to carpentry in metric would really work. I remember, a while back, my husband trying to build a rack that had several tiers to display dive gear in the dive shop he used to work in. My husband had a bit of learning in drafting and loves to draw up detailed little plans for things that usually never get made.

I walked into the shop on the day that they were building the whole thing out of 2 x 4's and those thin sheets of board stuff thats like a pressboard (the same type of stuff that they use to make those peg boards, the ones with all the holes in them). It was my husband, the shop owner and one or two other guys not real knowledgeable about carpentry and they couldn't figure out why the whole thing wasn't coming together. Measurements were off!

Well, I know precious little about carpentry but I've seen my Dad build enough decking and things to know that a 2 x 4 doesn't exactly measure 2" by 4". When I questioned them about whether or not they had taken that into account, they all looked at me I'd just landed from another planet! Took some convincing and making one of them actually measure one before they believed me!

Now, if they switched to metric in carpentry, what would a 2 x 4 really be since it doesn't really measure 2" by 4"?

 

[scubabeachboy]

Lisa:

oH,................YOU ARE FUNNY.
Everyone, everyone except you husband that is, know 2x4's are cut raw then dry.
We recently worked on an old house, some of the 2x4's were really 2"x4" with no knotty spots.
We were amazed!

 

[MeiLing]

I didn't know that was why that was so. And I think that they asked me why at the time and I certainly had no explanation.

However, I would have certainly expected that a bunch of guy with enough know-how to use the power tools to cut the dang wood would have known as much!

Scary when you think about! Tool man Tim times four, I guess!

 

[Don Wray]

Are you serious? Do you really think that George Bush could figure it out?

yes, I think he could....I don't see Harvard or PHD beside your name! The reason we don't use the metric system is the same reason France, Holland, Britian and several others aren't speaking German today....my Grandfather and others went to prevent that and are still over there!!!!! WE do what we want, not just do what others tell us to do!

 

[ReefHound]

In my business, I buy product overseas in cubic meters and millimeters and then sell it here in the US based on thousand square ft (MSF) and inches. I waste a lot of time doing the conversions and really wish there was just one standard and I don't really care which one it is.

I don't think the average American is too interested in having to learn a whole new system just so businesses can find it easier to export their American jobs and further "globalize" the economy.