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> Should The US Go Metric?, Join the rest of the indutrialized world
 
Should the US switch to the Metric System?
Yes, within 5 years [ 25 ]  [47.17%]
Yes, within 10 years [ 6 ]  [11.32%]
Not sure [ 3 ]  [5.66%]
No, never [ 16 ]  [30.19%]
No, not until it's studied further [ 3 ]  [5.66%]
Total Votes: 53
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TheCarolinaScotsman 
Posted on 28-Sep-2004, 01:12 PM
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QUOTE (oldraven @ 28-Sep-2004, 01:17 PM)

As I must have said a thousand times. Nothing is easier to figure out than counting to ten. wink.gif

Unless you go binary and only have to count to two. Of course I knew a blonde that had to take off her blouse to do that. rolleyes.gif


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Monarchs Own 
Posted on 28-Sep-2004, 01:30 PM
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Since I grew up with the metric system it's no problem for me at all. I actually like the metric better because everything is in 10 , 100 or 1000 steps.

So much easier. not those uneven numbers. For me go ahead better today than tomorrow.

You can't even buy eggs in a dozen - only in 10 at least in Germany. LOL

and our pounds are an even 500 gr and not like the american 454 gr. or so.

So much easier. Everything in round numbers LOL

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but every country needs to choose what it's best for their needs.


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susieq76 
Posted on 28-Sep-2004, 01:44 PM
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I agree with most of the posters. Although, as someone who is very bad in math, the transition would be scary it is scarier that my European friends can convert things and I can't. So I actually don't even know our system....smile.gif But it makes much more sense that the world all be under the same systems. And I think Mingkee is right on the temperature issue - to me, F actually makes more sense than C. But that is just my humble opinion. My boss has this quote she gave me that's great:

"There are 10 types of people in the world: those that understand binary, and everyone else."

Hee hee


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oldraven 
Posted on 28-Sep-2004, 02:29 PM
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Well, F and C are pretty much identical, just at different ratios. They are both perfectly linear, it's just 0 & 100 are closer together in F, and at different temps. The reason C makes sense to me is I can see how they derived it. 0 = the freezing point of water, 100 = the boiling point. How did they derive, F? Does anyone know? Really, does ANYONE know?


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Gordon 
Posted on 28-Sep-2004, 03:13 PM
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I believe we should use the metric system although, as a cook, I'd of course have to relearn everything since all recipes in the US are in our measurements and all conversions, etc. also. We've grown so used to 'our' way of doing things in the states, that we don't much think about it until we are faced with converting metrics to a US standard equivalent. Multiply by this, Divide by that. It would be so much easier to just adopt and be done with it.
Teaching would also be streamlined if we forget the US standard and go straight to metric except for those that will need to be taught to convert of course. They can look at it as 'We can do that' in the case of converting.

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talleyrand 
Posted on 28-Sep-2004, 03:23 PM
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For standard temperatures that humans deal with, C to F and back again is easy. F -> C Subtract 30 and divide by 2. C -> F multiply by 2 and add 30. It looses its precision when you start talking about cooking as such but for talking about the weather, it'll make you look like you think natively in the other system.

As an ex-engineering student, it seems like the first weeks of every course covered converting from english units to their SI equivalents and back again. But then again if we did away with it, it'd eliminate a portion of my Trivial Pursuit winning. How many inches are in a kilometer? Stones in a pound?


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oldraven 
Posted on 28-Sep-2004, 03:33 PM
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What's messed up is, the general populous here in Canada still use '&" for our hight, and lbs for our weight. Oh, and all of our Stoves (ranges) use F. 'Splain dat a me.
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Dugadelphia 
Posted on 28-Sep-2004, 03:48 PM
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QUOTE (oldraven @ 28-Sep-2004, 12:29 PM)
Well, F and C are pretty much identical, just at different ratios. They are both perfectly linear, it's just 0 & 100 are closer together in F, and at different temps. The reason C makes sense to me is I can see how they derived it. 0 = the freezing point of water, 100 = the boiling point. How did they derive, F? Does anyone know? Really, does ANYONE know?



Daniel Fahrenheit established three fixed points on his thermometer. Zero degrees was the temperature of an ice, water and salt mixture. When he omitted salt from the slurry, he reached his second fixed point when the water-ice combination stabilized at "the thirty-second degree." His third fixed point was "found as the ninety-sixth degree and the spirit expands to this degree when the thermometer is held in the mouth or under the armpit of a living man in good health."

After Fahrenheit died in 1736, scientists calibrated his model of thermometer using 212 degrees, the temperature at which water boils, as the upper fixed point. When the Fahrenheit thermometer was recalibrated, normal human body temperature registered 98.6 rather than 96.


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Herrerano 
Posted on 28-Sep-2004, 04:19 PM
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Panama uses an odd mix of both. Distances are in Kilometers, temperatures are in Celsius, beer is in ounces (volume) and gasoline is sold in U.S. Gallons. A persons wt. and ht are measured in kilogram and meters, but food may be in ounces and pounds or grams and kilograms. It doesn't seem to make much difference, in day to day living no one really cares and in cooking most measurements are relative to each other and therefore arbitrary if you stick to whatever base you are using.

My work is kinda sorta scientific in nature, but oddly, we use both. When you have to use them you learn them. For anything difficult or that is used less often I wrote out a trusty excel spreadsheet to do my conversions. tongue.gif And the things that are really important are almost always figured first in relative numbers (ie: molecular wts. and combining wts. and stuff) so there it makes no difference at all until we get to the point where we have to decide how much we want to make.

In short, both systems have their pluses, and if you have to use them, you learn them or starve. laugh.gif

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Keltic 
Posted on 28-Sep-2004, 09:19 PM
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There are pros and cons to both systems:

Under the metric system, you can drive faster - 100 instead of 60. The only problem is that everything moves further apart. Even though I drive faster, it still takes the same amount of time to get to Toronto.

In Canada, there isn't as much of an obesity problem since the metric system came in to effect. In Canada, a person who weighs 113 comes in at a hefty 250 in the U.S.

Anyways, the list goes on...


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Aragorn 
Posted on 29-Sep-2004, 09:23 AM
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I would say NO, and the reason is why??? Why should we change just to appease the rest of the world?? Yeah, I know it sounds a bit arrogant but just who started the measurement thing anyhow? This is a question because I really don't know. Is metric any better then Standard measurement? Is it any more accurate? I mean what would be our motivation to change? Just because the rest of the world is doing it is not justification enough. Hey, if the rest of the world jumps off the earth does not mean the US should too. The rest of the world can keep the metric system, I see no benefit.

just my opinion.


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oldraven 
Posted on 29-Sep-2004, 10:29 AM
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Wow. That sounded astoundingly stubborn, but whatever. Something I noticed a lot with the American view. 'We shouldn't change, because we don't have to. Wether it makes good sense is irrelevant'. Having the right to keep an outdated system doesn't mean it's the correct choice. (realise that I'm not trying to stir up .... stuff. This topic effects my daily life, far beyond that of most, so I'm strongly opinionated when it comes to this topic.)

The benefits of Metric are many. For one, yes, the rest of the world has switched. The US staying with standard measurement holds the rest of us back, especially to the north.

Constant converting is such a pain, and it directly effects my life and job. Not just converting between systems, but within itself. We all count in multiples of ten, but the outdated system of counting to twelve, simply to have to break it up into tens again, is foolery. A vicious circle. Fractions? Why? Decimals are more accurate, (ask any machinist), and are linear. 1.7656 will always be 1.7656, from the designers head to the fabricators hand. 1 49/64 just complicates it by forcing you to convert it to decimal in order to make the measurement usable, or put it in linear perspective. Or even converting to the nearest common fraction.

Now, when it comes to the general public, it doesn't have much bearing, which I realise is where most who are pro standard are coming from. But the truth is, only about 10% of the time are those people using standards of measurement. Industry and its proffesionals are the ones using measurement day in and day out, 24/7. If you want to say "I'm 5'-9", and 195lbs." then by all means go ahead. That's the way I do it. But when it comes to work, at any level of engineering and fabrication, metric is the system that adds up. Literally.

So, if the public doesn't like the idea of a switch to metric, fine. That doesn't force them to use the system. But I strongly believe that industrially, the nation should catch up and stop speaking Latin in an English world.
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Avonlea22 
Posted on 29-Sep-2004, 08:59 PM
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I like your reasonin, OR.

I feel the U.S. should go metric. To me, it just makes sense. The U.S. is supposedly a world leader, yet we use a system that's outdated and confusing to many. Go metric, I say!


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Gordon 
Posted on 01-Oct-2004, 04:13 PM
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QUOTE (oldraven @ 29-Sep-2004, 11:29 AM)
Wow. That sounded astoundingly stubborn, but whatever. Something I noticed a lot with the American view. 'We shouldn't change, because we don't have to. Wether it makes good sense is irrelevant'. Having the right to keep an outdated system doesn't mean it's the correct choice. (realise that I'm not trying to stir up .... stuff. This topic effects my daily life, far beyond that of most, so I'm strongly opinionated when it comes to this topic.)

The benefits of Metric are many. For one, yes, the rest of the world has switched. The US staying with standard measurement holds the rest of us back, especially to the north.

Constant converting is such a pain, and it directly effects my life and job. Not just converting between systems, but within itself. We all count in multiples of ten, but the outdated system of counting to twelve, simply to have to break it up into tens again, is foolery. A vicious circle. Fractions? Why? Decimals are more accurate, (ask any machinist), and are linear. 1.7656 will always be 1.7656, from the designers head to the fabricators hand. 1 49/64 just complicates it by forcing you to convert it to decimal in order to make the measurement usable, or put it in linear perspective. Or even converting to the nearest common fraction.

Now, when it comes to the general public, it doesn't have much bearing, which I realise is where most who are pro standard are coming from. But the truth is, only about 10% of the time are those people using standards of measurement. Industry and its proffesionals are the ones using measurement day in and day out, 24/7. If you want to say "I'm 5'-9", and 195lbs." then by all means go ahead. That's the way I do it. But when it comes to work, at any level of engineering and fabrication, metric is the system that adds up. Literally.

So, if the public doesn't like the idea of a switch to metric, fine. That doesn't force them to use the system. But I strongly believe that industrially, the nation should catch up and stop speaking Latin in an English world.

Total agreement here. It's a pain in the backside when you have to convert, especially when the conversions themselves can tend to be questionable. For example, in school they tell us 28.30 grams equals one ounce but if you use that to figure out a measurement in baking, the baked goods are spoiled since an ounce is actually 28.3495 grams. Baking is a precise science in itself. One missed measurement will throw off everything. And, they can't seem to agree on ounces with caviar either since they label a 30 gram container as 1 U.S. ounce....Go figure disgust.gif
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