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Why we must go metric - cold turkey - now.

juergenwt

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Joined
Feb 2, 2008
Location
Wheaton, IL.
I found this in another forum and found it very interesting since it deals with everyday life, not just the technical world.
I sure hope the new administration has the will and backbone to make the change to metric a number one priority.
Starting with the new school year in 2009 we need a 100% change to metric to make sure we will not end up with another generation of our children unable to think in metric and having to resort to a life of converting from the imperial (US) system.
No 5 or 10 or 15 year plan giving every goofball and inchworm lover a chance to nickel and dime this plan to death. We already had since the 70's.
The children will not have a problem at all. The only problem lies with the parents, teachers and most of all the politicians.
This is the very first step the Obama administration must take before it can start even contemplating a rescue plan for our industry.
Just like we now have to force the US Auto industry to make changes in a very short time period, we will have to be very firm on our change to metric.
We are all changing our TV from analog to digital on one day. Who would have thought this would be possible?There where many attempts to drag it out for many more years.
By now just about everybody is familiar with the metric system and as the cheers proved when NASA recently announced it would be all metric - I would think we would all be relieved by a decision of our government to
join the rest of the world in going metric. Our recovery needs this change now - more than ever. No more dumbing down of the American public as is the case at present when the media takes all scientific data and converts it from metric to inches, gallons and pounds. Our industry deserves a system that makes it competitive with the rest of the world.
Note to all that say:" We know OUR system and we know little about the metric system" - You don't know OUR system - make a test, but you know more about the metric system than you think you know.(Money, Electric, Photo, Computers, Medicine and of course everyday math)

This makes for some very interesting reading:http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977525317&nav=Explore
 
Oh such an endless maze of torment those fractions are… one could get forever lost in the ascending and decending patterns of halving and doubling. How arcane!
Let us free the common man from this wizardry we expect of him(her), that they may be able to find the correct wrench once again in their toolbox... :rolleyes5:
 
The metric system isn't that great. Someone well versed in the imperial system can easily make any advantages of "speed" the metric system has look negligable.

It isn't hard to learn either system, and marginally more difficult to learn both, assuming someone starts with a tabula rasa.
 
In Canada we're metric, its what is taught in schools, and yet 99% of the drawings I get are imperial. Only 1 customer is usually metric because they're European owned and operated. Another customer that is also European owned still converts everything here before sending it to shops. which is why sometimes a shoulder is .197" long, some think" why not .200?" well, its 5mm.

If it cost too much for the USA to get it done in the 70's and backing out, I wonder what it would cost now? Knowing both would certainly be a start, I guess you can drive in MPH for a while longer :D
 
Just think of the superfluous expense in rebadging our roadways... Every mile marker post would need to be replaced, along with all the directional indicators and "distance to go" signage. That would be a huge waste of money which would only benefit a small group of people. Then you'd have the expense in not being able to use all the hardware we have on hand since everything would need to be metric - so there's more wasted money.

Switching from cups to ml would be a huge expense in the kitchen of every home and restaurant.

The whole conversion nonsense is really just some peoples lame excuse to point the finger at a non-issue. The US doesn't manufacture all that much anymore, so blaming the Imperial system for declined exports is outright silly. What we do export a dominating percentage of market share of is medical - and no one seems to care that we made those devices on Imperial machines.

The fact of the matter is, right now we have no problem with the Imperial System.
 
Just think of the superfluous expense in rebadging our roadways... Every mile marker post would need to be replaced, along with all the directional indicators and "distance to go" signage.


I guess that could be part of the infrastructure stimulus package... no wait, that money would be better spent actually fixing broken bridges, etc.

give it up jurgen. you can pry my imperial ruler from my cold, dead, hands, after you take my guns. hahaha.
 
I use both systems . After all it is just numbers pick one and with a book with a whole bunch of conversion factors using both is easy . The real question is why even bother converting ? We are using both systems already .

I usually end up fixing old machines here at work so imperial is used the most , but we are getting machines from all over the world for processes in the plant . Metric one day........ imperial the next go figure .
 
The sooner we convert to metric...the better. The rest of the world is leaving us behind...

Its nuts, I get my data in inches and *F only from Americans. To do any engineering calculations I change all of my units to metric. Do what I have to do, then convert back to inches... except when I deal w/ the rest of the world, then I do metric the whole way through.

Inches are so 1950's... sorry, I refuse to work w/ slugs in my calculations.
 
juergenwt --

Let me pick at nit one first: Humankind's widespread use of base-10 arithmetic is not a product (or byproduct) of some intrinsically-decimal Metric System, but instead predated The Metric System by centuries. The French academics who developed The Metric System chose decimal incrementation BECAUSE base-10 arithmetic was in nearly-universal use in their "modern world".

Then at a second nit: The SI practice of naming derived . . . I'll call them "pseudo-metric" units . . . to recognize and honor a scientist or mathematician sacrifices one of the principal principles of a true metric system, rational naming of derived units. What is a "joule"? Well, Google turns up the following: "A watt/second" at http://www.powersource.net/glossary-j.htm and "1 watt*second" at http://www.intl-lighttech.com/library/glossary . Hmm, unit of power divided by unit of time, or unit of power multiplied by unit of time . . . pick either one, it doesn't matter because The Metric System is inherently immune to unit-confusion errors.

Ok, enough of the nits. Let's look at the whole picture as I see it: The US's failure to go "hard metric" may have hurt our ability to compete with the rest of the world, but only trivially. There is a far bigger turd in our punchbowl. I'll call it "the entitlement mentality", which extends far beyond the bounds of the "entitlement programs" that certain political factions harp on. CEOs who take -- and think they DESERVE salaries and benefits a hundred, a thousand, tens-of-thousands of times what their average worker earns -- are one part of the problem, as are those who promote Little Johnny, who is dumber than a box of sticks (which is itself dumber than a box of rocks) and disruptive as all get-out in every classroom, to the next higher grade to preserve his self esteem and avoid damaging his psyche.

I suspect that our national return to competitiveness requires a universal understanding and heeding of the distinctions between "I want", "I deserve", and "I have earned" far more than it requires metrification.

John
 
Sorry, nobody is going to be "changing" me to metric. They told me during the Carter years that I would have to reprint my catalog soon, and I would no longer be selling 5/16", 1/4" or 3/8" stamps. I told them to piss off, and will continue to. If the day comes when I no longer can buy drill rod in those sizes, I will buy metric drill rod and advertise the sizes in thousanths of an INCH or nearest fraction.

Anybody is free to buy them or not. It's not government's place to decide how I do business. If we can't even declare english to be the national language, we can't tell people what kind of ruler to use....Joe
 
Metric, schmetric. Who cares about the units of measure? The things of value are the standards that are developed to commonize the parts we use.

Where are these standards for metric components, and who's will we use? The Europeans? The Japanese? This is an important question, as they are not the same!

What is the unit of measure for metric? MM, cm, or m? You can't have all three, or you lose the very advantages you extol over feet and inches.

And if a 10 based system is so great, are you going to rework the circle into 400 gradients? The day into 10 units, with 10 subunits, with 10 subsubunits?

What is this thing I see labeled kgf? Metrics have been as bastardized as as the imperial system.

If God had intended for us to use the metric system, Jesus would have had 10 disciples.
 
Anchorman, that's exactly my point. All that money would be spent on govt employees (generally not conducive to furthering our economy) and a few sign shops, yet none of it would change anyone else's lives for the better.

I also agree with the point about social passing of sub-standard students. If you need to take 3rd grade over till you can read, add, and subtract - I'm all for it!
 
I use both systems . After all it is just numbers pick one and with a book with a whole bunch of conversion factors using both is easy . The real question is why even bother converting ? We are using both systems already .

I usually end up fixing old machines here at work so imperial is used the most , but we are getting machines from all over the world for processes in the plant . Metric one day........ imperial the next go figure .

We too use both systems at work. SI is nice for some things, Imperial is nice for others. Only possible downside I see is the need to keep wrenches and sockets for both on hand, but that's such a minor problem compared to DIMWITS WHO REFUSE TO INCLUDE UNITS OF MEASURE WITH THEIR NUMBERS!

If people just did that little extra bit of work, including their measurements, this wouldn't be much of an issue.

Gene
 
What is the unit of measure for metric? MM, cm, or m? You can't have all three, or you lose the very advantages you extol over feet and inches.

This just shows you don't understand the Metric system...
I believe anyone that understands both systems will say Metric is much easier to learn and understand...and that's why the metric system is better...because it's easier.

For example...if i need a M6x1 tapped hole I use 5mm drill, that I order as a 5mm drill, and the bolt size will be 6mm. simple subtraction

If I need a #10-32 tapped hole I need a .159" hole that I order as a #21 and the bolt size is .190". Need addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and a drill chart!!!

And you say Inch system is easier???
 
Question is part Metric, part Imperial

I always use Metric in my work. When I encounter an Imperial unit, I have to convert it into Metric to think if it is right.

2 days ago, I was confused by Inch of a photograph.

I picked up a photograph which is said to be of 1 Inch to measure. Neither the length nor the width are of 25.4mm (1 inch). I was confused. Later, I was told the length of diagonal was 1 inch.

Time wasted.

In fact, it's easy to use Metric with several conversion tables.
 








 
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