USA going metric?

quneur said:
I'm all for it. Its much easier to use as it uses the deci system (base 10) not base 12 like 12" = 1'. I hate it when people can't read a tape measure so they are calling everything in inches and I have to convert it in my head. SAE sockets: its a pain converting size like is a 5/8" socket smaller/bigger than 11/16" socket? Bigger. Try it out only to find out still too small. Then find the next size and convert in head. . .
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Uh, 5/8 is 10/16, which is smaller than 11/16 . . . .
 
Back when I worked them, Boeing was inches, Airbus was metric. I refused to go to Airbus school cause I would end up spending several thousand bucks out of my pocket to work on them.

If NASA is going all metric, it will be easy, cause all that money they will spend is free, it is all tax money.
 
I'm all for it! I'm sick of going to the internet measurement converters.
 
Beemerguy53 said:
So I see where some fellow running for office wants the USA to go metric...well, here's what I have to say about that... :)
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I might be fine with the changes as long as the changes made to advertising--speed signs etx--milage signs and such--come ONLY from THAT politicians own pocket.

Im too old to learn something else--which if I recall? was tried once when I was younger--and was a failure.
 
Coldshooter said:
I once had a professor who was a bit pompous and always railed on about how science used metric and using any other system was a type of superstition. For the last day of class someone cut all the meter measuring sticks to 36 inches.
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He never caught you?:D

Id be ticked enough to do the same.;)
 
The real problem with allowing two measurement systems to be in simultaneous use is not that one is "better" than the other, but is instead the frequent need to convert between them, which creates an error-prone situation. As most of the rest of the world has already become "metrified," the US continues to be at a competitive disadvantage by not also going metric 100%. Most every American (especially those with engineering, scientific, or technical training or experience) already understands how the metric system works to at least some extent, and it just wouldn't be that difficult to simply require the phase-in of the full use of the metric system for all commercial and governmental transactions over a 10 to 20 year period.
 
I like what jag312 said about the hat size. How is it my shirt is a size 17, but my hat is a 7 1/8, but my head is much bigger around than my neck?
If we give in to the metric system, next time it will be giving up your dollars for euros. It's all an old world, PC, metrosexual, commie plot. When I look down, I have 2 feet, not 60 centimeters. I guess we'll have to change to their shoe sizes, too.
 
Yup, here is my S&W 640 Pro Series chambered in 9.0678mm Magnum.

The guy at Walmart couldn't find any ammo for it the last time I was there... He could only find 357 Magnum rounds.

Interstate 19 which runs south out of Tucson, AZ is marked with metric signs. It is creeping in...

Edmo

495991da-91bf-44f1-b3a2-1d986d593994_zps57d2e9aa.jpg
 
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We'd have to change a lot of our language. Could not use the phrase "the whole 9 yards." We'd have to say the whole 8.227 meters. Give a person a 2.54 centimeters and he'll take a 1.61 kilometers. Traffic will be milli-metering along at rush hour.
 
Edmo said:
Yup, here is my S&W 640 Pro Series chambered in 9.0678mm Magnum.

The guy at Walmart couldn't find any ammo for it the last time I was there... He could only find 357 Magnum rounds.

Interstate 19 which runs south out of Tucson, AZ is marked with metric signs. It is creeping in...

Edmo
Click to expand...

To a lot of the population south of I-10 metric is what they grew up with.
 
I think some of you guys take it too far with the US against them mentality. As if its unamerican. It's math for crying out loud. Its THE ONLY international language. You can look down and see two feet or 24 inches or 0.6096 meter or 0.0006096 kilometer or 144 pica or 0.00032895 UK nautical mile. All the same. Why is it bad to know it?
 
I was introduced to the metric system in my college engineering and math courses. In due course I became a construction engineer and had no real problem with metrics. Then I became a gunsmith and had no real problem there either. I became a pilot of private aircraft and flew in the USA, Canada and Mexico. I had no problem in either place. I can only say that I am ambidextrous in feet/inches/eights of an inch/hundredths of a foot, pounds/kilos, gallons/liters and a smattering of knowledge in whitworths. I am still a little shaky when it comes to fahrenheit/celsius. In Australia/New Zealand I never knew whether to put on a long sleeve shirt or just go outside in my T-Shirt. :-)
 
In engineering school almost everything was metric. It isn't 2nd nature though. If someone is 6ft tall, I know what that means. If someone is 183 cm, I have a harder time figuring out what that is.

100 degrees F? That's hot! 37 degrees C? Umm, not sure...

The math is definitely easier with metric though.

One place where english units are bad is with mass. A kilogram is a measure of mass (not weight). A pound is a measure of weight (or force). The common conversion is 1 kilogram is 2.2 pounds, which isn't entirely correct. 1 kilogram is 2.2 pounds-mass. There is also a unit called pound-force. 1 pound-mass = 1 pound force on earth. On a different body with different gravity, 1 pound-mass does not = 1 pound force.

example:

what does a 68 kg man mass on the moon? 68 kg.
what does a 150 lb man weight on the moon? 24.8 lb.
 
Arik said:
I think some of you guys take it too far with the US against them mentality. As if its unamerican. It's math for crying out loud. Its THE ONLY international language. You can look down and see two feet or 24 inches or 0.6096 meter or 0.0006096 kilometer or 144 pica or 0.00032895 UK nautical mile. All the same. Why is it bad to know it?
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There's nothing bad knowing.

Math is a constant.

Music is the universal language. But, It's fractional. Mostly.
 
With the metric system we can drive 130 and gas is 80 cents. Are you jealous? All my schooling was in "english" or sae units. Conversion took place afterward. All my children were educated in metric and scratch their heads when dad talks in inches and pounds. National conversion was painful and expensive since it was done in both english and french. Google "the Gimli Glider" to read about a mega metric snafu. Certainly not uncommon to have many dual sets of tools.
 
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