[OT] Metric system.

[Zappo]

The problem that we have in this country with not understanding the metric system is that basically, nobody has any fundamental grasp of metric measurements. Everyone knows about how long an inch is, but they have to think about how long a centimeter is. I don't really understand how every other country managed to just switch all of a sudden without everyone being confused.

Switching money 9 months ago wasn't a big problem, despite what governments feared. And IIRC there is a northern country (can't remember which one... Sweden? Norway?) which switched from driving on the left side of the road to driving on the right side overnight without big troubles. People are more flexible than they themselves think. Besides, being able to survive without needing a pocket calculator and not having to memorize a hundred different units for measuring the same friggin' thing has a certain charm.

 

[rounser]

Any temperature scale in which you have to use a decimal point is seriously flawed for everyday use.

It might be, but then, we don't use a decimal point when using celcius in everyday use.

Here's a simple description for you:

40+ is damn hot
30 is hot
20 is fair weather
15 is cool
10 is cold
0 is damn cold

Simple enough to soothe your xenophobia?

 

[LostSoul]

40+ is damn hot
30 is hot
20 is fair weather
15 is cool
10 is cold
0 is damn cold

0 is damn cold? I guess you don't live in Canada.

Here's what I think:

15 is fair weather
10 is cool
0 is kinda cold
-10 is cold
-20 is really cold
-30 is damn cold

 

[rounser]

0 is damn cold? I guess you don't live in Canada.

Nope. Tasmania. I'll tell you this, though - from what I gather, the rest of Australia would be calling 15 cold (and putting jumpers/sweaters on), and 10 damn cold, so it does depend on where you come from.

 

[Drakmar]

Yup.. up here in Queensland.. anything under about 20 celcius is cool.. anything below 15 is cold.. below 10? damn cold.

You know.. over here.. .the only reason I know about that whole imperial schamozal is because of roleplaying games.

And.. I seriously doubt that America will change to metric anytime soon.. except in the Space Program. To many people.

 

[Bonedagger]

1000 cm = 10 m = 0,01 km

1000 Inches ~ 27.777778 Yards ~ 0.015783 Miles


1000 gram (g) = 1 kilogram (kg) = 0,001 metric ton
etc.

I to never understood why the imperial system still is so popular.

 

[Ravellion]

Yes. With a passion.

Given that where I live, the temperature outside ranges from about 0 F to 100 F, it's much better to use that than - 17.7 to 37.7 C. Any temperature scale in which you have to use a decimal point is seriously flawed for everyday use. Even if you don't, it's such a screwed up range. -20 or so to 40 or so?

I have never used a decimal point for temperature except in science class, in certain calculations on assessed tests. Hence, your argument is probably based more on cognitive dissonance than anything else, from what I can gather.

If you just think about the fact that 0 is the temperature where ice starts to melt, that means negative Celcius is not the weather you should be wearing a Tshirt in.

40 is a life threatening fever, or, airconditioning-stay-in-the-shadow kind of weather

20 is room temperature. Probably wear a thin jacket and a tshirt outside if there is a bit of a breeze. Just a Tshirt if your 'ard .

30 is definitely the point where you start wearing shorts.

10 is jeans and a sweater kind of weather.

This doesn't make sense how exactly? I would like to see someone make this kind of a list in Fahrenheit.

edit: You are aware that Celcius and Kelvin use the SAME SCALE now do you? Reducing your "science" argument to a worthless load of...

Rav

 

[ichabod]

1000 cm = 10 m = 0,01 km

1000 Inches ~ 27.777778 Yards ~ 0.015783 Miles


1000 gram (g) = 1 kilogram (kg) = 0,001 metric ton
etc.

I to never understood why the imperial system still is so popular.

What's a third of a meter? 33.333333333 cm

What's a third of a yard? 1 foot.

See, you guys who want to convert to metric have it all backwards. We don't need to convert our measurements to metric, we need to convert our counting system to base twelve!

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

40 is a life threatening fever, or, airconditioning-stay-in-the-shadow kind of weather

20 is room temperature. Probably wear a thin jacket and a tshirt outside if there is a bit of a breeze. Just a Tshirt if your 'ard .

30 is definitely the point where you start wearing shorts.

10 is jeans and a sweater kind of weather.

This doesn't make sense how exactly? I would like to see someone make this kind of a list in Fahrenheit.

100 is life threatening fever, or, airconditioning-stay-in-the-shadow kind of weather.

80 is definitely the point where you start wearing shorts.

60 is room temperature. Probably wear a thin jacket and a tshirt outside if there is a bit of a breeze. Just a Tshirt if you're 'ard.

40 is jeans and a sweater kind of weather.

20 is where you definitely start to at least wear a heavy jacket, if not the whole gloves-hat-scarf combo.

0 is where you really really want the gloves-hat-scarf combo, and start to wonder why the heck you went outside in the first place.

-20 is where you say ferkit and move to Florida.


I'll be the first to agree that base 10 is a good thing, but there's nothing more or less intuitive about one set of units over the other. Actually, metric units are even less intuitive. A foot is roughly the length of a man's foot. A meter was originally one ten-millionth of one-fourth of the circumference of the earth, and was later changed to the length that light travels in vacuum in a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second. Yeah, that's intuitive.

 

[Bonedagger]

What's a third of a meter? 33.333333333 cm

What's a third of a yard? 1 foot.

See, you guys who want to convert to metric have it all backwards. We don't need to convert our measurements to metric, we need to convert our counting system to base twelve!

It's ok as long as you only have to deal with yards and feets but that's about it as far as I can see.

1 Yard = 0.000568 Miles

So you antiquated folks shouldn't start growing two extra fingers just yet