Pirates may of caused the US to keep the Imperial units system - Sensationalist Headlines

Pretty sure a us president starting the switch to metic will be a ticket to terrible approval ratings and no chance at reelection.

[QUOTE=Murkrow;53013716]If metrification is brought up for an actual serious discussion these days, it'll immediately become a partisan issue. I kinda expect it to happen at some point in my lifetime, but not anytime soon.[/QUOTE] New life goal: start an interest group for switching to the metric system

[QUOTE=Splash Attack;53013719]Except for Burma and Liberia. To quote Archer: "Wow really?... Cause you never really think of those other two as having their shit together."[/QUOTE] That's not even the case anymore both countries have taken steps towards metrication.

[QUOTE=Ignhelper;53013695]Imperial units with the miles and shit, while I think are terrible, is nothing compared to the FUCKING TERRIBLE MEASUREMENT THAT IS CUPS WHAT THE FUCK IS A CUP? You have no idea how many fucking times I get annoyed when I want to do a recipe, and they go, oh ya, just add a cup of this, a cup of that. It doesn't help in baking, which is science, which requires precise measurements. A cup of flour =/= A cup of milk or water.[/QUOTE] That's not the imperial system, that's a baking system. A cup isn't actually supposed to be a standardized unit, though some have attempted to make it one. That whole thing came about with using a cup, one cup, for all measurements, so that it'd be the same no matter what. Grab a cup, this is now your base measurement, that was the idea behind that whole baking thing, it meant your ratio would always be the same. It's a subjective way of measuring not an objective. Somewhere down the line, someone tried to make a standardized cup. Imperioal is a bit wack though. There's a lot of math to memorize. Phasing out imperial is a big of a costly and time consuming challenge though. Lets just quietly change 1 mile to equal 1km, then work from there. No one will notice when their commute distance suddenly increases by 60%.

[QUOTE=Gunner th;53013876]That's not the imperial system, that's a baking system. A cup isn't actually supposed to be a standardized unit, though some have attempted to make it one. That whole thing came about with using a cup, one cup, for all measurements, so that it'd be the same no matter what. Grab a cup, this is now your base measurement, that was the idea behind that whole baking thing, it meant your ratio would always be the same. It's a subjective way of measuring not an objective. .[/QUOTE] uh, what the fuck :v: in new zealand a cup measures as 250mL of fluid.

[QUOTE=ScumBunny;53013091]So, what? Just give up? That doesn't sound like the America we all know and love. Come on you guys, you can do it! We believe in you![/QUOTE] We have other more pressing issues at hand. Also, the xenophobe in chief would never do that.

[QUOTE=Radley;53013056]The US gov knows that the metric system is far more easier to learn and use than the imperial system. Unfortunatley, the US has gone for so long with it that a total overhaul to metric is not simpley economically feasible at this moment. Roadsigns, packgaging, schoolbooks, measuring instruments. Etc. It would be a enormous undertaking and the US has other things to worry about at the moment.[/QUOTE] Honestly, I feel like most things within the US already have both the Imperial and Metric system on them. Our scientific tools use the metric system (at least all of the ones I used). Nearly all of food packaging I've seen include both imperial and metric. So really I don't see the main issue with converting over. I honestly feel like the biggest reason we don't change is because 'MURICA and we have to be different. People get really set into their ways and they don't want to conform to Europe.

[QUOTE=Zukriuchen;53013704]what on earth does the size of the country have to do with it?[/QUOTE] We're talking about a country where people get confused when they hear about tanks rolling into a country's location that has the same name as the location they're at, despite being thousands of miles away.

[QUOTE=ScumBunny;53013064]Come on. Even the Brits [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_Kingdom"]did it[/URL].[/QUOTE] they kinda half way did it. they don't drink half liters over there, they drink pints. they drive by miles an hour and weigh themselves in stone. if anything, having 2 conflicting systems of measurement in use among the population is worse than just having one that only your country uses. [editline]30th December 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=Rocâ„¢;53014243]We're talking about a country where people get confused when they hear about tanks rolling into a country's location that has the same name as the location they're at, despite being thousands of miles away.[/QUOTE] that's not exclusive to americans. I hear the same shit from brits every time someone brings up oxford, mississippi or leeds, alabama. [editline]30th December 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=Ignhelper;53013695]Imperial units with the miles and shit, while I think are terrible, is nothing compared to the FUCKING TERRIBLE MEASUREMENT THAT IS CUPS WHAT THE FUCK IS A CUP? You have no idea how many fucking times I get annoyed when I want to do a recipe, and they go, oh ya, just add a cup of this, a cup of that. It doesn't help in baking, which is science, which requires precise measurements. A cup of flour =/= A cup of milk or water.[/QUOTE] cups comes from a time when the most advanced cities in america had people shitting in buckets and throwing it out the window. we didn't have scales, we couldn't measure 240 grams of flour. we could measure 2 cups just fine though. measuring volume takes much less tricky machinery that we didn't need, couldn't afford, and didn't care to maintain. even today, a recipe asking for a cup of milk makes more sense than asking for 236 grams of the stuff. just fill your measuring tool to the 1 cup mark and toss it in the pot. no need to break out a scale for that.

[QUOTE=butre;53014976]they kinda half way did it. they don't drink half liters over there, they drink pints. they drive by miles an hour and weigh themselves in stone. if anything, having 2 conflicting systems of measurement in use among the population is worse than just having one that only your country uses.[/QUOTE] yeah, it's kinda silly to say we did it when we still measure our heights in feet and inches and all of the other stuff you listed it's a right mess over here and the only reason we manage is because we're born and raised in a right mess of a country, so you just come to expect shit to be fucked

[QUOTE=MrBunneh;53013945]uh, what the fuck :v: in new zealand a cup measures as 250mL of fluid.[/QUOTE] From New Zealand, can confirm Although in my house a cup measures as whichever mug or glass is within reach at the time I'm not allowed to bake now

[QUOTE=NightmareX91;53015097]yeah, it's kinda silly to say we did it when we still measure our heights in feet and inches and all of the other stuff you listed it's a right mess over here and the only reason we manage is because we're born and raised in a right mess of a country, so you just come to expect shit to be fucked[/QUOTE] can confirm that you don't even need to be born there, just live there a couple of years and you start to get used to shit being fucked. it's great.

Then again we were going to bring it back, but it still didn't happen. Everyone in science uses metric anyways, just let normal life be what everyone is used to.

[QUOTE=Riller;53013095]There's no conversion to be done for different values of metric, it's all just simply multiplying or dividing by 10 to scale it, whereas ounce to pound to (the silly non-metric)ton or whatever is all different values you gotta memorize.[/QUOTE] You have to remember how the units step up to eachother however, such as what steps are between milli and kilo. That's mostly what got re-taught, along with what each unit was for (i'm serious about this part too lol we got tested on what say, a liter measures.)

[QUOTE=Beastinlosers;53015362]Then again we were going to bring it back, but it still didn't happen. Everyone in science uses metric anyways, just let normal life be what everyone is used to.[/QUOTE] Scientists use metric, engineers use imperials.

[QUOTE=Sableye;53015413]Scientists use metric, engineers use imperials.[/QUOTE] honestly that is true. as a hobby machinist I've never heard anyone list off a measurement in microns, but every machinist in the world will understand thou and tenths

[QUOTE=thelurker1234;53015366]You have to remember how the units step up to eachother however, such as what steps are between milli and kilo. That's mostly what got re-taught, along with what each unit was for (i'm serious about this part too lol we got tested on what say, a liter measures.)[/QUOTE] I remember visiting Princeton high school back in my third year of high school, and they were doing conversions between l and ml and other stuff like that for physics homework. Then I went to a physics class where they were doing a "computer lab"... Which was basically just some game from the nineties including magnets. Suffice to say I wasn't exactly blown away by the class.

[QUOTE=Sableye;53015413]Scientists use metric, engineers use imperials.[/QUOTE] Inconsistently on both too. The intermingling of some people using metric and some people using imperial has caused some pretty large fuckups. For example it caused us to lose a $125m probe.

[QUOTE=butre;53015533]honestly that is true. as a hobby machinist I've never heard anyone list off a measurement in microns, but every machinist in the world will understand thou and tenths[/QUOTE] machinist thou and tenths are different even from an engineer's thou and tenths. Made that mistake once. [editline]30th December 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=thelurker1234;53015751]Inconsistently on both too. The intermingling of some people using metric and some people using imperial has caused some pretty large fuckups. For example it caused us to lose a $125m probe.[/QUOTE] Well i work between scientists using metric on one side, and production engineers who do the prints in all imperial on the other, and there's been more than a few times where they've come asking me if some number is in metric or imperial It really makes it difficult too when both get in the habit of leaving off the units. This was something that was grilled into me in college but people just get used to seeing a number and instantly know what it is, even though I have a mix of equipment that uses either or.

[QUOTE=L'Citizen;53013072]Britain is a little over half the size of the state of Texas. It'll be significantly harder to change all the measurements in the US.[/QUOTE] Why do Americans keep using their country's size as an excuse for their shit not making sense? No shit your country's big and contains lots of people. But you also have the economy to match and then some. What matters is the relative cost of the operation, not the absolute cost. Bigger countries, all things otherwise equal, actually have the advantage in that regard. Economy of scale means that it will cost relatively less the bigger you are. It costs significantly less per sign to print a thousand signs than it is to print a hundred. And if we're going to talk economics, then we should mention the economic cost and negative externalities of using imperial as well. It's a nightmare for international trade when you're using a measurement system and standards that are different to everyone else's. Same thing for scientific cooperation, let's not even talk about that space probe that was lost due to a conversion error... Let's face it, the reason your country won't make the switch to metric is that your population is used to their flawed system and are too lazy to be willing to make that change. It has nothing to do with economic considerations.

[QUOTE=_Axel;53015880]Why do Americans keep using their country's size as an excuse for their shit not making sense? No shit your country's big and contains lots of people. But you also have the economy to match and then some. What matters is the relative cost of the operation, not the absolute cost. Bigger countries, all things otherwise equal, actually have the advantage in that regard. Economy of scale means that it will cost relatively less the bigger you are. It costs significantly less per sign to print a thousand signs than it is to print a hundred. And if we're going to talk economics, then we should mention the economic cost and negative externalities of using imperial as well. It's a nightmare for international trade when you're using a measurement system and standards that are different to everyone else's. Same thing for scientific cooperation, let's not even talk about that space probe that was lost due to a conversion error... Let's face it, the reason your country won't make the switch to metric is that your population is used to their flawed system and are too lazy to be willing to make that change. It has nothing to do with economic considerations.[/QUOTE] I've already pointed out that the brits mostly failed at it when they tried. every country that's succeeded at adopting the metric system didn't already have standardized units of measurement.

[QUOTE=thelurker1234;53015366]You have to remember how the units step up to eachother however, such as what steps are between milli and kilo. That's mostly what got re-taught, along with what each unit was for (i'm serious about this part too lol we got tested on what say, a liter measures.)[/QUOTE] Learn fuckin' greek and latin already, you damn Americans. It's super easy. If it's latin, it steps down by the indicated amount. If it's greek, it steps up by that amount. millimetre <- centimetre <- decimetre <- Meter -> decametre -> hectometre -> kilometre Milli = Latin prefix for 1000 Centi = Latin prefix for 100 Deci = Latin prefix for 10 Deca = Greek prefix for 10 Hecto = Greek prefix for 100 Kilo = Greek prefix for 1000 [I]Super fucking simple stuff[/I], once you have the most basic of knowledge of how it works. It's the same system we use for years, for God's sake. Decade, century, millennium. Which is a dumber system, since decade comes from greek, but every other measure of years comes from latin. Metric is more consistent and intuitive. (Now, no one actually uses deca- and hecto very often, but the measurements exist, and they're given here as examples of [I]just how simple[/I] metric is if you get into it)

[QUOTE=butre;53017163]I've already pointed out that the brits mostly failed at it when they tried. every country that's succeeded at adopting the metric system didn't already have standardized units of measurement.[/QUOTE] uhhh, what about aussie and nz :v: we used the imperial system once too ya know now we're fully independent of it, to the point where most people I know can't convert between the two.

[QUOTE=_Axel;53015880]Why do Americans keep using their country's size as an excuse for their shit not making sense? No shit your country's big and contains lots of people. But you also have the economy to match and then some. What matters is the relative cost of the operation, not the absolute cost. Bigger countries, all things otherwise equal, actually have the advantage in that regard. Economy of scale means that it will cost relatively less the bigger you are. It costs significantly less per sign to print a thousand signs than it is to print a hundred. And if we're going to talk economics, then we should mention the economic cost and negative externalities of using imperial as well. It's a nightmare for international trade when you're using a measurement system and standards that are different to everyone else's. Same thing for scientific cooperation, let's not even talk about that space probe that was lost due to a conversion error... Let's face it, the reason your country won't make the switch to metric is that your population is used to their flawed system and are too lazy to be willing to make that change. It has nothing to do with economic considerations.[/QUOTE] We are working on it. The Metric Conversion Act of 1975 tried to have everything switch over to metric in under a decade, it went over about as well as you would expect. [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_States[/url] [quote]The public education component led to public awareness of the metric system, but the public response included resistance, apathy, and sometimes ridicule. In 1981 the USMB reported to Congress that it lacked the clear Congressional mandate necessary to bring about national conversion. Because of this ineffectiveness and an effort of the Reagan administration—particularly from Lyn Nofziger's efforts as a White House advisor to the Reagan administration, to reduce federal spending—the USMB was disbanded in the autumn of 1982.[/quote] However in recent decades the US public has been more open to it: [quote]On December 31, 2012, a petition was created on the White House's petitioning system, petitioning the White House to "Make the Metric system the standard in the United States, instead of the Imperial system." On January 10, 2013, this petition garnered over 25,000 signatures, exceeding the threshold needed to require the Obama Administration to officially respond to the petition. Patrick D. Gallagher, director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, provided the official response stating that [B]customary units were defined in the metric system, thus making the nation "bilingual"[/B] in terms of measurement systems.[/quote]

Oh, and the fuckin' metric system interchanges super smoothly between different [I]types[/I] of measurements too. You got a decimeter, right? Cube that bitch right up, and you got yourself a litre. Fill that sexy mother up with water, slam it on your scales, and that's a god damn fuckin' kilogram* right there. *given that the water is a certain temperature, since it expands and shrinks with heat, but you get the idea I won't lie, the metric system is the sexiest invention made by anyone, ever, and I [I]am[/I] at half-mast just goin' over how fucking great it is. It's [I]just that well thought-out. [/I]Every single measurement is appropriately named, easy to convert and instantly recognizable, even if you haven't encountered it before. Just count, and you got it. No memorization needed at all.

[QUOTE=butre;53017163]I've already pointed out that the brits mostly failed at it when they tried. every country that's succeeded at adopting the metric system didn't already have standardized units of measurement.[/QUOTE] Uh, what? What about having standards already makes it harder to make the change? If you're capable of making a system the standard, then you're capable of changing that standard as well. It's easier, if anything. Seriously, it's not that fucking hard. The metric system is much easier to learn than the imperial monstrosity. Shit, why the fuck is a country that celebrate their independence every year so adamant on keeping a system that's called "imperial" in the first place? It's laughable how the nation that considers itself the world leader can't achieve such a simple task because of the stubbornness of their people.

[QUOTE=_Axel;53017286]Uh, what? What about having standards already makes it harder to make the change? If you're capable of making a system the standard, then you're capable of changing that standard as well. It's easier, if anything. Seriously, it's not that fucking hard. The metric system is much easier to learn than the imperial monstrosity. Shit, why the fuck is a country that celebrate their independence every year so adamant on keeping a system that's called "imperial" in the first place? It's laughable how the nation that considers itself the world leader can't achieve such a simple task because of the stubbornness of their people.[/QUOTE] we don't use imperial measurements, the imperial measurement system is an offshoot of what we now call us customary or us standard

I mean, neither system is particularly difficult to learn, I don't see why it's unreasonable for people to know both.

[QUOTE=Sableye;53015825]machinist thou and tenths are different even from an engineer's thou and tenths. Made that mistake once.[/QUOTE] They are? Uh. Shit. How much of a difference are we talking? And how do I know which is which?

[QUOTE=Riller;53017205]Learn fuckin' greek and latin already, you damn Americans. It's super easy. If it's latin, it steps down by the indicated amount. If it's greek, it steps up by that amount. millimetre <- centimetre <- decimetre <- Meter -> decametre -> hectometre -> kilometre Milli = Latin prefix for 1000 Centi = Latin prefix for 100 Deci = Latin prefix for 10 Deca = Greek prefix for 10 Hecto = Greek prefix for 100 Kilo = Greek prefix for 1000 [I]Super fucking simple stuff[/I], once you have the most basic of knowledge of how it works. It's the same system we use for years, for God's sake. Decade, century, millennium. Which is a dumber system, since decade comes from greek, but every other measure of years comes from latin. Metric is more consistent and intuitive. (Now, no one actually uses deca- and hecto very often, but the measurements exist, and they're given here as examples of [I]just how simple[/I] metric is if you get into it)[/QUOTE] Micro, mega, giga, and tera are encountered quite often. Possibly nano too.