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Anyone Dislike the Metric System?
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May 22, 2019 07:41:41   #
Guyserman Loc: Benton, AR
 
I'm for anything that will absolutely prevent a person from ever making a mistake again.

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May 22, 2019 07:43:26   #
Architect1776 Loc: In my mind
 
Nikonnorm wrote:
We have the metric system in Canada,but still use inches and feet for construction
because it is simpler.
Norm


In construction we use the foot dimension.
There is not a commonly used equivalent in the metric system. Currently it is centimeters so rather than a building being 40' long it's 1,219.2 cm.
You just get huge numbers.

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May 22, 2019 07:44:17   #
Dan Mc Loc: NM
 

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May 22, 2019 07:46:14   #
DaveMM Loc: Port Elizabeth, South Africa
 
I trained as an engineer in metric units. A few years later, in 1971, the country I live in changed from imperial to metric and insisted on having a complete switch. It was made illegal to use the old units in trade. All tools sold such as tape measures could only be metric, not with dual scales. We changed, everyone quickly got used to it, and I hate to have to use imperial measures. Job done, and most satisfactory.

The USA had decided not to change and does not have the ridiculous situation that England has of using the two systems in parallel. Although I think it would have been better in the long term to have changed, I respect its decision.

England, on the other hand, officially changed more than 50 years ago and most manufacturing is done metric measurements. Even after all that time, the rest of the country is in a crazy state with distances in miles, fuel in litres, wood lengths in 'metric feet' of 300 mm, people's mass in stones and pounds (I can still not get my head around that, one stone being 14 lbs. One year for the University boat race, TV showed the crews' masses in stone, pounds, ounces and fractions of an ounce. Try to add all those up in a hurry). Some people in England are still fighting to be allowed to dual price things in cost per pound and per kilogram. It is, in my opinion, chaos.

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May 22, 2019 07:47:59   #
B_meyer5.55NY
 
Coming to America I had to learn the SAE system when I was taught metric.
Don't we all have to immerse into the American culture to live here?
(except the immigrants from down south, in California and Texas)

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May 22, 2019 07:48:51   #
rond-photography Loc: Connecticut
 
At one time I would have been happy to convert to metric (maybe when I was in my 20's). It does make sense, on the surface. Everything is easily divisible, etc. There was a time when I converted fractions to decimals for addition!

However, every time I consider a construction project, I wonder, how the hell do you build anything? A 2X4 converts to 5 X 8 CM (and is not really those dimensions). A 4 X 8 sheet of plywood becomes a 1.2 X 2.4 M sheet. Yikes! How do you even say that? Do you convert the material to an actual size that works more as a unit. We currently build on a 2 foot module - most material requirements can easily be calculated if the dimensions of the project are divisible by 2. What module do they use in Europe?
Yikes! Do it after I die!

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May 22, 2019 07:51:06   #
johnst1001a Loc: West Chester, Ohio
 
cant teach 330 million people new tricks

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May 22, 2019 07:58:07   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
1963mca wrote:
It's not just SAE vs Metric. Two of my current British cars (ACs) and many of my previous ones (like my old MG-TC) , use Whitworth, for which I have a complete set of tools like open and ring spanners and sockets, so I have to maintain three sets.


Yes, I was waiting for someone to mention Whitworth. I still have lots of those tools from when I had a TC and a TD. From what I recall, Whitworth was a combination of a unique thread angle and something else for the head size. I think the size stamped on the wrench (spanner) referred to the diameter of the bolt, rather than the size of the hex head. I wonder if anything in current production uses them.

EDIT: I found this online. Very interesting.

"The widely used (except in the US) British Standard Pipe thread, as defined by the ISO 228 standard (formerly BS-2779), uses Whitworth standard thread form. Even in the United States, personal computer liquid cooling components use the G​1⁄4 thread from this series.

The Leica Thread-Mount used on rangefinder cameras and on many enlarging lenses is ​1 17⁄32 in by 26 turns-per-inch Whitworth, an artefact of this having been developed by a German company specializing in microscopes and thus equipped with tooling capable of handling threads in inches and in Whitworth.

The ​5⁄32 in Whitworth threads have been the standard Meccano thread for many years and it is still the thread in use by the French Meccano Company.

Stage lighting suspension bolts are most commonly ​3⁄8 in and ​1⁄2 in BSW. Companies that initially converted to metric threads have converted back, after complaints that the finer metric threads increased the time and difficulty of setup, which often takes place at the top of a ladder or scaffold.[citation needed]

Fixings for garden gates traditionally used Whitworth carriage bolts, and these are still the standard supplied in UK and Australia."

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May 22, 2019 07:59:37   #
Resqu2 Loc: SW Va
 
Same thing in the races I run, today I will do a 5k, 3.1 miles isn’t mentioned and tomorrow might be a 10K but when I run my half Marathon it’s always 13.1 miles and a full is always listed as 26.2 miles. When you go longer it goes back to 50k or 100k. Why are the two different?

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May 22, 2019 08:01:09   #
1Feathercrest Loc: NEPA
 
The metric system is the logical system of measurement. Relying on politicians for what should be self determination in autonomous behavior is illogical. Get the government OUT of choices of personal actions that are NOT constitutionally provided. Health care, schooling, etcetera are things that the individual should provide, not faceless bureaucrats. Drastically scale back slavery to a government and be a MAN as you are supposed to be.

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May 22, 2019 08:04:29   #
melismus Loc: Chesapeake Bay Country
 
In the 70s, some gas stations boldly made the switch, and almost went out of business because few people would buy gas by the liter. They all switched back.

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May 22, 2019 08:12:30   #
BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD
 
jmizera wrote:
We were well on the way to conversion in the late 1970s with a program initiated by Gerald Ford. It was essentially dismantled by Ronald Reagan in the early 80's. A shame, as it is a hindrance to trade, among many other things.


Hear! Hear!

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May 22, 2019 08:14:09   #
FrankR Loc: NYC
 
ELNikkor wrote:
and we also drive on the wrong side of the road...


If I’m not mistaken, most of the world drives on the same side we do.

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May 22, 2019 08:20:28   #
Jagnut07 Loc: South Carolina
 
Yes, I still have a set of Whitworth “spanners” in my toolkit.

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May 22, 2019 08:27:52   #
Architect1776 Loc: In my mind
 
B_meyer5.55NY wrote:
Coming to America I had to learn the SAE system when I was taught metric.
Don't we all have to immerse into the American culture to live here?
(except the immigrants from down south, in California and Texas)



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