• Britain's road signs are slowly turning metric
    259 replies, posted
the fact that schools don't teach both in the UK is the problem we are taught both in the US because our school systems aren't retarded
[QUOTE=dbk21894;46443535]the fact that schools don't teach both in the UK is the problem we are taught both in the US because our school systems aren't retarded[/QUOTE] There's no reason to teach imperial units to kids (beyond the rudimentary) when it's an outdated and convoluted system. It's a waste of time.
[QUOTE=FlakAttack;46439666]Just don't try to learn metric in Canada: Food and drink: kilograms and litres People: Pounds and Feet [B]Distance: Hours[/B] Yes, Canadians measure distance in time. If I had to take a guess as to how it started, I would wager confusion between the imperial and metric generations. That said many Canadians can name off exact conversions between the two so I have no idea what happened.[/QUOTE] This gets problematic because it's about 25KM to work, but it can take anywhere between 20 minutes and 1 hour 20 minutes to get there. But yeah, "It's about an hour's drive on the 401 in light traffic" is a valid form of distance, it's just time-based distance needs a traffic clarifier.
[QUOTE=dbk21894;46443535]we are taught both in the US because our school systems aren't retarded[/QUOTE] This has already been addressed multiple times. It's only true in some places and not in others.
[QUOTE=DaCommie1;46443560]This gets problematic because it's about 25KM to work, but it can take anywhere between 20 minutes and 1 hour 20 minutes to get there. But yeah, "It's about an hour's drive on the 401 in light traffic" is a valid form of distance, it's just time-based distance needs a traffic clarifier.[/QUOTE] It's like a country mile.
As a land surveyor, I really prefer metric... imperial confuses me. Meh, it's a mix of the two here.
[QUOTE=FlakAttack;46439666]Just don't try to learn metric in Canada: Food and drink: kilograms and litres People: Pounds and Feet Distance: Hours Yes, Canadians measure distance in time. If I had to take a guess as to how it started, I would wager confusion between the imperial and metric generations. That said many Canadians can name off exact conversions between the two so I have no idea what happened.[/QUOTE] It makes sense, I'm 40 minutes from the city where I currently live despite being physically closer than where i was living last year, which was 20 mins from the city. I live in Australia.
Around here, imperial is only used for poetics and vague as fuck approximations. Literally a conversation I had last week. [QUOTE=Friend with broken car]'Ey man, I'm stuck a few miles out in buttfuck nowhere, can I get a lift?" Hold on a sec, phone GPS says 12.5km outta town on the way to Bundaberg.[/QUOTE] The only reason people fully-metric countries use imperial words in everyday language is when the exact quantity is arbitrary and they wish to convey the scale in a way that rolls off the tongue. [editline]9th November 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=mokkan;46444169]It makes sense, I'm 40 minutes from the city where I currently live despite being physically closer than where i was living last year, which was 20 mins from the city. I live in Australia.[/QUOTE] Imagine if everything was measured like real-estate ads. "How big is your monitor?" "About three minutes from local shopping centres and seven minutes by bus to the CBD"
My desk is 1 bedroom 1 toilet if you count the empty dew bottles.
lol hypothetical situation: humans embark on an intersteller journey and the cosmic radiation mutates us all so everybody has eight fingers "We need to start phasing out the metric system because for some dumb fucking reason our ancestors decided they would measure everything in base 12"
[QUOTE=GiGaBiTe;46442277]It's hilarious that you're getting so worked up over another country using something different from you. It's like trying to argue why Japan has 3-4 different voltages of mains power distribution or why you drive on the wrong side of the road. I prefer imperial and see nothing wrong with using it. Metric has it's place but forcing it down everyone's throat because you don't like it is idiotic.[/QUOTE] EVERYTHING is wrong with Imperial and you should stop using it because it's awful
I only use Imperial for large units such as miles and gallons, cooking, and measuring height and weight. everything else is metric, like I'll buy a gallon of gas and pick up a 2 liter of soda
[QUOTE=Deng;46441251]Literally every other country in the world save for Burma and the USA converted. Why can't the USA? It can also be done over time, there's nothing you stopping from replacing signs with dual measurements slowly and only teaching metric to schoolchildren and removing imperial measurements from official government usage. After that, it's simply a matter of waiting.[/QUOTE] Did you even read the post you quoted? I already spelled out the main reasons it's a problem. But for shits and giggles I'll repeat myself. In a bulletpointed list, so you can easily follow along! * Replacing road signs costs a fortune. Most US states are as physically large as a typical European country. All of Europe could fit between the Eastern Seaboard and the Mississippi. On top of that public transit is almost unheard of if you don't regularly head into downtown areas of big cities. EVERYONE goes EVERYWHERE by car, which means there's roads EVERYWHERE. There's [i]way[/i] more roads in the US than there are in Europe, simple as that. The signs are cheap enough, but they cost a metric fuckton of money when you factor in how many of them you have to change. Also, using your little 'dual system' signs will slightly more than double the cost, 'cause you'll have to re-replace them [i]again[/i] after a couple years if you want anyone to actually transition over. Simply putting '70MPH' above '120KPH' is not going to get anyone converted, they'll just keep using the imperial measure and never even notice the metric one. * You also have to replace most people's speedometers. Some come with both measures on them, but not all. Most read in MPH only. Additionally, a lot of people are going to misread their speedo. They're so used to using the primary MPH scale that they're not even aware it reads in MPH. They're going to match it to the KPH speed and have MASSIVE crashes. Those have to be replaced as well, which costs an absolute fortune. Failing to replace them is going to make our roads about as deadly as Russia's, so you can't just go 'oh itt'l be fine don't worry about it', and you can't just toss out a mandate and expect the average joe to fork over for it out of pocket. This, too, has to be paid for by the state if you want it to actually happen. * Re-educating 350,000,000 people is not an easy task in its own right. Probably the most expensive and time consuming part of the whole process. And not all of them are going to take to it. Many of them will flat refuse to learn it. You can't [i]force[/i] someone to learn anything. The funniest part of it all is that we're taught basic metric measures in third or fourth grade anyway! It's part of the core curriculum in 99% of American elementary schools. We're already supposed to fucking know it, yet because it's never used it's forgotten by the time we reach high school. So hey, if you wanna fork over the billions of dollars it will cost to do it only to watch it fail miserably anyway then be my guest. Or you could do the sensible thing and not bitch about it because we use Metric when we're dealing with the rest of the world and what the average joe uses to measure the length of the hotdog he microwaved at three in the morning in front of a Seinfeld rerun can continue to not matter in even the slightest of ways.
[QUOTE=TestECull;46447399]Did you even read the post you quoted? I already spelled out the main reasons it's a problem. But for shits and giggles I'll repeat myself. In a bulletpointed list, so you can easily follow along! * Replacing road signs costs a fortune. Most US states are as physically large as a typical European country. All of Europe could fit between the Eastern Seaboard and the Mississippi. On top of that public transit is almost unheard of if you don't regularly head into downtown areas of big cities. EVERYONE goes EVERYWHERE by car, which means there's roads EVERYWHERE. There's [i]way[/i] more roads in the US than there are in Europe, simple as that. The signs are cheap enough, but they cost a metric fuckton of money when you factor in how many of them you have to change. Also, using your little 'dual system' signs will slightly more than double the cost, 'cause you'll have to re-replace them [i]again[/i] after a couple years if you want anyone to actually transition over. Simply putting '70MPH' above '120KPH' is not going to get anyone converted, they'll just keep using the imperial measure and never even notice the metric one. * You also have to replace most people's speedometers. Some come with both measures on them, but not all. Most read in MPH only. Additionally, a lot of people are going to misread their speedo. They're so used to using the primary MPH scale that they're not even aware it reads in MPH. They're going to match it to the KPH speed and have MASSIVE crashes. Those have to be replaced as well, which costs an absolute fortune. Failing to replace them is going to make our roads about as deadly as Russia's, so you can't just go 'oh itt'l be fine don't worry about it', and you can't just toss out a mandate and expect the average joe to fork over for it out of pocket. This, too, has to be paid for by the state if you want it to actually happen. * Re-educating 350,000,000 people is not an easy task in its own right. Probably the most expensive and time consuming part of the whole process. And not all of them are going to take to it. Many of them will flat refuse to learn it. You can't [i]force[/i] someone to learn anything. The funniest part of it all is that we're taught basic metric measures in third or fourth grade anyway! It's part of the core curriculum in 99% of American elementary schools. We're already supposed to fucking know it, yet because it's never used it's forgotten by the time we reach high school. So hey, if you wanna fork over the billions of dollars it will cost to do it only to watch it fail miserably anyway then be my guest. Or you could do the sensible thing and not bitch about it because we use Metric when we're dealing with the rest of the world and what the average joe uses to measure the length of the hotdog he microwaved at three in the morning in front of a Seinfeld rerun can continue to not matter in even the slightest of ways.[/QUOTE] Literally all of those points have already been addressed in the thread and are non-issues: * Roads signs are already being replaced regularly to avoid them deteriorating too much. It's only a matter of changing the stencil for new signs to include both imperial and metric so it's not really that much of an investment. Also, the point is not to "convert" reluctant people to metric. It's so those who already find the metric system more convenient (i.e. everybody who's not american and then some) can abstain from doing retarded conversions everytime they see a sign. Don't see where you got the "doubling costs" part from. *The signs show both measures, so I don't see how that's even remotely an issue. If people only have a MPH speedometer then they'll simply have to read the MPH limit. *The points above already show why that's not an issue, besides it's not like it's actually hard to learn metric, anyone half-willing can do so in half an hour tops. Someone who has a driving license should have the brainpower to learn it, and it's not like resources are lacking with the accessibility of information these days.
[QUOTE=TestECull;46447399]All of Europe could fit between the Eastern Seaboard and the Mississippi. On top of that public transit is almost unheard of if you don't regularly head into downtown areas of big cities. EVERYONE goes EVERYWHERE by car, which means there's roads EVERYWHERE. There's way more roads in the US than there are in Europe, simple as that.[/QUOTE] Literally WHAT? What the hell are you talking about? The USA isn't as massive and Europe isn't as small as you think it is. EU alone got more roads than the USA and Europe definitely doesn't fit between "the Eastern Seaboard and the Mississippi.". +the USA "only" has 316 million people, which isn't that relevant but whatever, get your stats right before you use them.
It really isn't a problem in the us, most engineers learn everything in metric anyways and most college level stuff is done in metric, its a matter of time someday that it will all be converted, its a law somewhere that cars in the us have to have metric and imperial spedos because if they went to Canada they have to be able to obey the speed So stop being a pain in our ass europe
[QUOTE=Sableye;46447776]It really isn't a problem in the us, most engineers learn everything in metric anyways and most college level stuff is done in metric, its a matter of time someday that it will all be converted, its a law somewhere that cars in the us have to have metric and imperial spedos because if they went to Canada they have to be able to obey the speed So stop being a pain in our ass europe[/QUOTE] I'm sure you meant "so stop being a pain in our ass rest of the world".
[QUOTE=TestECull;46447399]All of Europe could fit between the Eastern Seaboard and the Mississippi.[/QUOTE] [img]http://i.imgur.com/XHKuIgu.png[/img] I didn't realize the Mississippi river was somewhere along the coast of California.
[QUOTE=Sableye;46447776]It really isn't a problem in the us, most engineers learn everything in metric anyways and most college level stuff is done in metric, its a matter of time someday that it will all be converted, its a law somewhere that cars in the us have to have metric and imperial spedos because if they went to Canada they have to be able to obey the speed So stop being a pain in our ass europe[/QUOTE] as Ive said countless times, it doesn't matter that engineers in the US know metric because many of the tools they need to work with are in imperial measurements [editline]9th November 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=TestECull;46447399]All of Europe could fit between the Eastern Seaboard and the Mississippi. [/QUOTE] Way to perpetuate the "Americans don't know geography" stereotype, doofus :v:
[QUOTE=TestECull;46447399]All of Europe could fit between the Eastern Seaboard and the Mississippi.[/QUOTE] Holy shit, are you off base right here.
[QUOTE=TestECull;46447399]Most US states are as physically large as a typical European country. All of Europe could fit between the Eastern Seaboard and the Mississippi.[/QUOTE] Holy shit.
[QUOTE=Alice3173;46447805][img]http://i.imgur.com/XHKuIgu.png[/img] I didn't realize the Mississippi river was somewhere along the coast of California.[/QUOTE] [I]C'mon, everybody knows 9,161,923 sq km is way bigger than 9,938,000 sq km[/I] :v:
[QUOTE=Worre;46448413][I]C'mon, everybody knows 9,161,923 sq km is way bigger than 9,938,000 sq km[/I] :v:[/QUOTE] And a population of 318 million speaking primarily three languages is harder to teach than a population of 742 million speaking several dozen. :v:
[QUOTE=SGTNAPALM;46442825]Actually for cooking, imperial is oftentimes superior. Let's say you have a recipe, and it calls for 1 cup of flour or 2.37 deciliters. If the recipe uses metric, you have to sit there and measure it out precisely, and if you want a larger or smaller recipe you need to perform a bit of math on it to get what you need. Suppose, however, you do a recipe in imperial. Question: How big is a cup? Answer: It doesn't matter! For most baked goods, if you use any size cup the recipe will always work, because it's based on proportions rather than precise measurements. [editline]8th November 2014[/editline] Stephen Fry discussed this briefly on an episode of QI about how clever a system that actually is.[/QUOTE] Actually, as a chemist who cooks in the kitchen as well, I wish everything was measured in grams and ml.
[QUOTE=evilweazel;46442998]Imagine caring this much about how someone in a country an ocean away measures things[/QUOTE] Imagine that even small differences like measurements and time (daylight savings time anyone?) cost economies millions of dollars every year.
[QUOTE=Rossy167;46440188]Yep, and I really can't judge how large a 24 inch screen is but there's no finding a cm measurement.[/QUOTE] Stats here usually indicate a CM measurement as well, but pretty much all branding, main information and the like will always use inches for screens. Also disc drives - 3,5 and 2,5 I guess it's just due to these standards becoming common parlance. [editline]10th November 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=SGTNAPALM;46443101]I mean two and three quarters of anything. Usually in a book, though, you would see mixed numbers written like this [IMG]https://upload.wikimedia.org/math/b/a/b/bab57bc8a509af6503fcd5353a3d8c47.png[/IMG]. [editline]8th November 2014[/editline] Choosing to write 200:400 or 283.5:567 or 1000:2000 is correct, but not keeping it in simplest form seems... silly to me. A needless complication that serves nobody.[/QUOTE] two parts flour to one part water..... You don't actually need to list base sizes as long as you use ratios.
While we're at it, can we all at least agree MM/DD/YY is a really stupid way to write dates?
[QUOTE=maxumym;46450995]While we're at it, can we all at least agree MM/DD/YY is a really stupid way to write dates?[/QUOTE] tbh, I'm more accustomed to yyyy/mm/dd. mm/dd/yyyy doesnt make sense try it as dd/mm/yyyy if that still doesnt make sense you can as a last resort try yyyy/mm/dd
[QUOTE=maxumym;46450995]While we're at it, can we all at least agree MM/DD/YY is a really stupid way to write dates?[/QUOTE] [I]On 05/10/2015 we will be releasing...[/I] And then I have to do extra reading to figure out if it's 5th of October or 10th of May. [editline]10th November 2014[/editline] Also fuck people who use seasons as a release target for a product meant to shipped worldwide. It's confusing as fuck when I'm told "winter release" but I'm drenched in sweat while my balls melt in the heat. It's like nobody in the northern hemisphere understands that seasons are literally opposite down here. Christmas Eve here means opening every window, wearing a singlet, and turning down your graphics settings so you don't get dehydrated.
[QUOTE=Code3Response;46451009]tbh, I'm more accustomed to yyyy/mm/dd. mm/dd/yyyy doesnt make sense try it as dd/mm/yyyy if that still doesnt make sense you can as a last resort try yyyy/mm/dd[/QUOTE] With how most Americans speak mm/dd does make some sense though. Most people I've met say the month then the day. It'd still just be easier if everyone used a unified system of course. It's confusing as hell when I see something like 12/01/2197 on a website somewhere and have to try and figure out if they mean January or December.
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