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Countries which have not adopted the metric system
Posted: 20 Jun 2007, 21:03
by Caydr
Don't worry, USA citizens! It turns out, you're not alone!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... system.png
Posted: 20 Jun 2007, 21:07
by tombom
Liberia and Burma. One is a former American colony that had a long civil war, another is an oppressive military dictatorship who generally resent progress.
gj
Posted: 20 Jun 2007, 21:12
by Relative
Well you could say the UK hasn't fully converted. We still use the imperial system for speed and distance in an informal and non-scientific context.
Posted: 21 Jun 2007, 00:11
by Cabbage
I like it how it is in hte uk ^^
Technically were meant to be metric, but most people measure speed and distance in imperial ( i cant stand km). small distances i tend to use meters (asin a few cm or a couple of m, unless its someones height, then its ft)
metric all the way with weights and measures, unless you're ina pub, thens its pints.
Posted: 21 Jun 2007, 00:29
by SinbadEV
my weight and height are imperial... rest metric
Posted: 21 Jun 2007, 03:46
by Peet
SinbadEV wrote:my weight and height are imperial... rest metric
Ditto...guess us Kannuckistanese are weird like that. SI is general win though, Joules >>>> calories.
Posted: 21 Jun 2007, 09:28
by Felix the Cat
They're just systems of measurement.
There's no reason to prefer one over the other.
Systems of measurement are always artificial, and only make sense in terms of themselves.
In our current understanding of the universe, the only system of measurement that actually has external meaning would be based on the Planck length and the Planck time.
Posted: 21 Jun 2007, 09:32
by Ishach
Metric is alot easier to do maths with
Have fun with 30/32ths of an inch :/
Posted: 21 Jun 2007, 09:38
by Michilus_nimbus
Felix the Cat wrote:There's no reason to prefer one over the other.
Yes there is. The metric system is just plain easier to work with. That's a fact.
Posted: 21 Jun 2007, 09:40
by Neddie
Michilus_nimbus wrote:Felix the Cat wrote:There's no reason to prefer one over the other.
Yes there is. The metric system is just plain easier to work with. That's a fact.
Well, given our understanding of decimals and a Base 10 world, yes. Now, if we worked in Base 8 or Base 12...
Posted: 21 Jun 2007, 10:11
by Felix the Cat
Michilus_nimbus wrote:Felix the Cat wrote:There's no reason to prefer one over the other.
Yes there is. The metric system is just plain easier to work with. That's a fact.
It's not easier to work with if you are unfamiliar with it.
Posted: 21 Jun 2007, 10:45
by KingRaptor
Felix the Cat wrote:Michilus_nimbus wrote:Felix the Cat wrote:There's no reason to prefer one over the other.
Yes there is. The metric system is just plain easier to work with. That's a fact.
It's not easier to work with if you are unfamiliar with it.
It's harder for someone unfamiliar with Imperial to work with it than for someone unfamiliar with Metric to work with it.
Who wants to memorize completely arbitrary numbers?
Posted: 21 Jun 2007, 10:55
by Boirunner
Felix the Cat wrote:It's not easier to work with if you are unfamiliar with it.
This may be true for day-to-day calculations. For any physics or other calculations, however, using the decimal system makes things a lot easier.
Posted: 21 Jun 2007, 12:16
by hunterw
KingRaptor wrote:
Who wants to memorize completely arbitrary numbers?
everybody on earth...?
a meter is an arbitrary distance just like a foot or an inch.
felix said it best
Felix the Cat wrote:They're just systems of measurement.
There's no reason to prefer one over the other.
Systems of measurement are always artificial, and only make sense in terms of themselves.
In our current understanding of the universe, the only system of measurement that actually has external meaning would be based on the Planck length and the Planck time.
although there is a reason to prefer one over the other...
the difference is that the metric system's units is all based on powers of 10, whereas there are 12 inches in a foot, 5280 feet in a mile, 6080 feet in a nautical mile, 16 ounces in a pound, 128 ounces in a US gallon, etc etc etc.
so why do we use the old retarded system here?
well, for one when you are used to describing distances in certain units and everyone else is familiar with those same units it is hard/useless to use metrics. also, when converting to the metric system would cost billions upon billions of dollars its an incentive not to do it. it sucks really hard having to buy two different sets of sockets for your wrench though, just as it sucks to do physics calculations with them.
i am glad that at least we all agreed on some arbitrary unit for time. too bad it's measured in stupid units, 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, not to mention AM and PM retarded bullshit. day and year are the only units of time that really make sense.
Posted: 21 Jun 2007, 12:39
by Boirunner
hunterw wrote:day and year are the only units of time that really make sense.
Month too, because of the moon. So day, month and year all make perfect sense. And everything less than a second is metrical again. So it's only the second, minute and hour that are pretty arbitrary.
Posted: 21 Jun 2007, 12:49
by hunterw
u read the last lien of my post and replied to it :p
Posted: 21 Jun 2007, 12:58
by Boirunner
does that make you proud
Re: Countries which have not adopted the metric system
Posted: 21 Jun 2007, 13:38
by TradeMark
Haha. USA lives the stone age... or should i say middle-age?
I hate all those: inchs, feets, pounds, miles, 12 hours clock, etc. all those just makes me SICK.
too bad it's measured in stupid units, 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, not to mention AM and PM retarded bullshit. day and year are the only units of time that really make sense.
Time is just fine... if we changed the time to decimal units, like 100 seconds in minute, 100 minutes in a hour, etc. then we should also change the weeks and months. and months are based to moon, so it wont fit. And you gonna work for 8/10 days in a week? no... 5/7 is perfect.
But I agree with AM and PM, they are for noobs.
Posted: 21 Jun 2007, 14:51
by Tim Blokdijk
I learning all about "time" for work (I need to write a big planning tool) it's a REAL bitch (time) I mean time-zones, daylight saving time, software and hardware time, 2k38 problem, week of the year when weeks start at Sunday or Monday and a LOT of other gotcha's that make it all really complicated.
Re: Countries which have not adopted the metric system
Posted: 21 Jun 2007, 14:59
by quantum
TradeMark wrote:
I hate all those: inchs, feets, pounds, miles, 12 hours clock, etc. all those just makes me SICK.
The 12 hour clock is not so bad. 12 can be divided by 3 and 2. Convenient.
3x8 hour shifts instead of 3x6 hours, 66 minutes shifts.