Thread: How many inches?

Bruce: Of course you did not step on my toes, I was just curious.

Reverend is a priest is a pastor?

Originally Posted by The_Pastor

*lol* But the metric system is SO easy to use:

And one minute = 100 seconds, right?

And there's a hundred Euro to the British Pound.

The only thing decimilisation did for the British was ensure that the standards in arithmetic dropped overnight and you can no longer purchase timber that fits pre decimilisation housing without extra time, trouble and cost.

It is true, it's easier to understand. But living with the change has been a pain in the backside.

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

And one minute = 100 seconds, right?

You mean that's not true (must go change my lecture notes...)

James.

The feds and cultural elites have been trying to get us to convert to the metric system since 1878 (US was one of 17 original signatories to the Convention du Metre), but we regularly tell them to f**k off.

Time does not have anything to do with the metric system.

But I have often wondered why time was not divided after the 10th principle as well.



Funny thing is, that when I see science programs from USA, they often calculate by the metric system.

And whats up with the whole AM/PM thing? Even your military uses the 24-hour system, because they thinks its more efficient.

Originally Posted by The_Pastor

But I have often wondered why time was not divided after the 10th principle as well.

It is... everyone uses the millisecond, nano second etc.
All denominations greater than a second are the same worldwide because we all live the same solar year.

So why not 100 seconds to the minute, a hundred minutes to the hour, and 8.64 hours to the day? 14 hour workweeks would be the norm, and when someone says, "wait just a minute" we wouldn't have to wait as long! Actually, I guess you'd have to wait longer...

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

And one minute = 100 seconds, right?

You mean that's not true (must go change my lecture notes...)

James.

Actually he means it IS true, note the equality sign. After all Lee is an engineer....

Originally Posted by shuredgefan

The feds and cultural elites have been trying to get us to convert to the metric system since 1878 (US was one of 17 original signatories to the Convention du Metre), but we regularly tell them to f**k off.

Indeed the metric system is the official system of the United States of America. However, as noted, the population of the great country seems to feel more loyalty to its original British Rulers than to whatever federal government and cultural elites are currently taxing it. In addition the US of A is known not only for its diversity, but also for the affinity to pragmatism and simplicity. Thus the Imperial units are a natural fit to the national mentality - they are easily divisible by such diverse numbers as 16, 8, 4, 2 and even 1. You can always buy a quart of milk, quarterpounder with cheese (royale somehow sounds too french), and if you need a small snack there's always the small 6oz steak (a.k.a. the 3/8 pounder), which at 170g can feed a mid-sized european family for a week.
However it must be noted that even with such simple system the puritan roots of this great nation are sometimes at odds with the tradition. This is most vividly demonstrated in the unit of Pint. Unfortunately this unit has been severely incapacitated and downsized to a caricature of the original. If you want a proper pint these days you must explicitly specify that you want the 'Imperial Pint'.
I hope that this clarifies the situation.

Originally Posted by The_Pastor

Funny thing is, that when I see science programs from USA, they often calculate by the metric system.

And whats up with the whole AM/PM thing? Even your military uses the 24-hour system, because they thinks its more efficient.

The more pragmatic elements of US society adopts the metric system when necessary.

All teaching in the hard sciences in the US is in SI units. I think it's been that way for about a 100 years.

The military has been using kilometers for distance since WWII as it's easier to copy foreign maps than it is to convert them. Army infantrymen and Marine riflemen probably have a better "feel" for how far a "k" is than most Europeans.