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| Thread ID: 121113 | 2011-10-12 03:33:00 | National Sillimeter Month - Hah! | SurferJoe46 (51) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1237006 | 2011-10-14 19:59:00 | So-o-o- NOW it fits OK? :o |
WalOne (4202) | ||
| 1237007 | 2011-10-14 20:37:00 | When we changed to the metric system there was some consternation from older people who had dealt with the imperial system all their lives. The younger you were the easier it was to adapt to the new system. A lot of the new metric units were roughly comparable to the old imperial system. One hundred yards was similar to one hundred metres. A pint was roughly half a litre or a quart (two pints) was roughly a litre. If I was talking about distance to travel by car I might say 100 miles or 161 of them funny things (kilometres) down the road. Decimal currency was easy to adapt to because 10 shillings become one dollar or one Pound become 2 Dollars. The only real problem was converting pennies to cents because there was 12 pence in a shilling which equalled the new 10 cents. Under the new metric system arithmetic was a breeze. |
Bobh (5192) | ||
| 1237008 | 2011-10-14 21:09:00 | ^ I must agree - the decimal system is indeed easier for children (but then, so is wearing nappies). Sue Bradford must have been delighted. Some units were almost logical, others appeared to be change for it's own sake. Centigrade makes more sense than fahrenheit ever did, but then they decided it urgently had to become celsius (dangerous for babies?) PSI worked fairly well, but then it became pascals, such a pathetically weak unit that it took thousands of them to blow up a child's balloon. Clocks and compasses shared a weird system, but that was left floundering along in isolated confusion. The calendar could stand a bit of a shake-up but since our elected and appointed deciders of these things wouldn't know what day or time it was regardless of the means of counting it, change is probably unlikely any milli-year now. Arithmetic may have become a breeze, but beans could have done the same thing cheaper. ;) |
R2x1 (4628) | ||
| 1237009 | 2011-10-14 21:14:00 | Is there not a message in there ---- somewhere? The message is to move with the times and don't try to go back. He was going to have to move to the metric system at some stage so he would have been better off doing it then rather than delay it. |
mikebartnz (21) | ||
| 1237010 | 2011-10-14 21:52:00 | In finality - the US won't ever go full-on Metric I feel . First - there isn't time for it when other things are more important than making sure people can get things that fit for people living in foreign lands . Second - the retooling is so expensive and rife with miscalculations to convert to both standards for any/all employees, that the material rejection on final inspection would bankrupt the business in 24 hours . It's not just a recalcitrant view, it's pragmatic posturing and the fact that there are so many small one-off and jobber shops in the US supplying parts and materials to bigger companies that even though some of them would be very able to realign to the metric system, the interchangeability factor would prohibit it with the rest of the nation . There is a third factor too - belligerence to and about all things foreign . The trend of the US right now is back to isolationism, and that will hamper any standardization out of the norm I feel for a long long time . The US is calling it's chicks back home to weather out the global market, and in that time it will close it's doors to foreign interventions and ideas about how to run the country . Later ---- maybe . Not in the foreseeable future to me though . That and the fact that no-one is working and no-one gives a fig about other countries . Internal problems take the front seat and there's too many of them for a little Metric Conversion, no matter how warm and dry the politicos are in their mansions, passing out these edicts from time to time . It seems some politician makes these little forays into theoretical nonsense just to let the trench dwellers know that they - the rulers - are still alive and kicking . It all adds up . The whole US is in 'survivor-mode' right now and there are bigger fish to fry: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . eating, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . roof-keeping-over-one's-head, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . shoes on da childrens . Little things like that . How selfish! . |
SurferJoe46 (51) | ||
| 1237011 | 2011-10-14 21:57:00 | "...created several days work for nothing and several years later because of flooding Kelso ceased to be." Mikebartnz - I think SurferJoe is indulging a bit of William Shatner existentialism: |
BBCmicro (15761) | ||
| 1237012 | 2011-10-14 22:06:00 | "...created several days work for nothing and several years later because of flooding Kelso ceased to be." Mikebartnz - I think SurferJoe is indulging a bit of William Shatner existentialism: I realised that but just wanted to put him on the right track. |
mikebartnz (21) | ||
| 1237013 | 2011-10-14 22:49:00 | In finality - the US won't ever go full-on Metric I feel . First - there isn't time for it when other things are more important than making sure people can get things that fit for people living in foreign lands . . And there you have the reason why the US is on the decline . Even a market like the US needs to export to "people living in foreign lands" . If I have a choice between a product made in US that is made to and refers to non-metric (see, I avoided "imperial") measurements and a product made elsewhere that uses metric, whether it is computer hardware, computer software, or a widget for my workshop, then I'll go for the metric option every time . So multiply me by mega-millions - and you see the problem? |
Tony (4941) | ||
| 1237014 | 2011-10-14 23:00:00 | And there you have the reason why the US is on the decline. Even a market like the US needs to export to "people living in foreign lands". If I have a choice between a product made in US that is made to and refers to non-metric (see, I avoided "imperial") measurements and a product made elsewhere that uses metric, whether it is computer hardware, computer software, or a widget for my workshop, then I'll go for the metric option every time. So multiply me by mega-millions - and you see the problem? I thought they had exported all their manufacturing to China etc.:devil How they ever thought that was going to make the USA great I will never know. I'm the same way. Benjamin Moore paints hit this country in a big way a number of years ago and thought they could carry on using their gallons. You hardly hear a peep from them now. The reason it doesn't work is it doesn't make it easy for people to make an easy comparison for value for money. |
mikebartnz (21) | ||
| 1237015 | 2011-10-14 23:04:00 | 's a good thing lamb comes in pounds and ounces though. Um-mmm --- lamb. | SurferJoe46 (51) | ||
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