[kydsid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by El_Doug /img/forum/go_quote.gif probably nearly impossible to make the change now i remember hearing that they tried to initiate the change, starting with some speed limit signs somewhere remote. all it did was confuse the crap out of the locals, who ended up driving way too fast

That would have been during the late 60's early 70's with the building of I-19 from Tucson to Nogales. Although shortly after the speed limit signs went to mph. And unfortunately for nostalgia buffs who grew into being 90km from the border it is no longer the case. ADOT has over the last couple years replaced the metric signs with imperial during construction or other activities.

The sheer cost of the conversion would keep the US from undertaking the change. And I beg to differ that it is only three countries. Seems to me every sign I remember in jolly ol Englad was imperial. Course I suppose the EU has changed that too.


An interesting idea was posted in another forum I frequent in that one way for the US government to spend ourselves out of the recession would be to change to metric. I have to admit it would cost a lot of money and create a lot of jobs.

 

[wnmnkh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kydsid /img/forum/go_quote.gif An interesting idea was posted in another forum I frequent in that one way for the US government to spend ourselves out of the recession would be to change to metric. I have to admit it would cost a lot of money and create a lot of jobs.

That's really great idea!

 

[Emooze]

I think the imperial system at least needs to change if you don't completely get rid of it.

Converting mm into inches usually gives me decimal inches but no ruler I know of outside an architectural scale has lines in terms of tenths and not sixteenths or something.

And US automakers tried to convert to metric in the 90's. I remember working on my Buick and even now on my Jeep, most if not all the bolts are in mm

 

[xnothingpoetic]

I'm American and I voted yes. I voted yes because looking at how the imperial system was made isn't very scientific and makes no sense to keep using it.

I do believe however that it is easier to gauge the temperature in Fahrenheit.

 

[troymadison]

Wow I don't care.

 

[robm321]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xnothingpoetic /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm American and I voted yes. I voted yes because looking at how the imperial system was made isn't very scientific and makes no sense to keep using it. I do believe however that it is easier to gauge the temperature in Fahrenheit.

X2

 

[Al4x]

^
just cause you were were brought up with it

centigrade is much easier to me, 2 distinct [real world] reference points, 0 and 100

 

[skiflyer]

"The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it." - Abe Simpsons

 

[Sherwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soundboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Americans need to wake up and realize that we can no longer be stuck within our own shell.

What?

Of course they can!

The USA was stuck within their own shell 100 years ago, when they were far less influential on world customs than they are today. It is not hubristic to stick to traditions.

 

[Sherwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al4x /img/forum/go_quote.gif just cause you were were brought up with it

I disagree here. For commonly experienced atmospheric temperatures, the Fahrenheit scale has a greater degree of specificity. I may, in the course of a given year, personally experience temperatures between -20 and 110. That's 130 distinct degrees of variation used to describe my laymen experience, which is what most people have.

I'll readily admit that SI units are preferable to Imperial for scientific purposes, but those are already in use.

 

[Al4x]

i wouldnt be able to tell you if the temperature is 25/26 even in centigrade, i doubt most would

plus, you always got 25.x etc

 

[mbriant]

I forget exactly when Canada made the switch from Imperial to Metric, but it's been decades since, and even though metric makes much more sense, I still think in Imperial and have to roughly convert to metric in my head...especially temperatures for some reason. I voted yes because I think the U.S. should have to go through the same confusion as we did.

 

[Duggeh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by John E Woven /img/forum/go_quote.gif it's nobody's business to force anyone to use a specific standard.

Oh thats a dangerous proclamation. But the thread would get shut down if I pointed out the best examples.

 

[Sherwood]

Also, I think there are more pressing concerns in Burma, thank you. Nonstandardization is hardly the barrier to trade that, say, police forces burning protesters alive is.

 

[marvin]

Voted no. For the uses where it's necessary, people have switched. In other areas, unnecessary as the SI system isn't human friendly and inferior for daily use.

For length, the foot is far superior to the meter, and the inch is superior to the centimeter. No surprise since the foot is human scale based and the meter is an arbitrary distance cooked up by French crackpots with fancy titles.

For temperature, Celsius ain't even the metric unit. Kelvin is. And unless we want to start reporting temperatures in the two to three hundred range, the metric system ain't the way to go. The metric system is bad enough in this aspect that the BIPM has to approve a deviation for the use of the Celsius scale.

For mass/weight, metric wins out all the way. Pound/slug sucks.

For time, the metric system only officially recognizes the second. The hour and minute are again deviations recognized by the BIPM. The Imperial system wins out again. There was a pre-existing decimal time system that could have been picked up by the metric people, but it was pretty much a miserable failure and died a well deserved death.

So looking at the units, Imperial wins, 3-1.