Lincoln Chafee: The US should convert to metric units

[scombrid]

Convert??? The world should see how right the Fahrenheit system is! Lets look at how we experience the various scales:

0F -- very cold. 100F -- very hot.

0C -- cold. 100C -- dead.

0K -- dead. 100K -- dead.

0R -- dead. 100R -- dead.

What's more useful??

I find the one scaled to the boiling and freezing points of water at STP to be most useful.

 

[barbos]

I got used to pounds and miles, less so to feet. There is yard which is roughly 1 meter, and inch which 2.5 cm, these seems OK, but feet is only 3 times smaller than yard and therefore is pretty useless. But what I find is the most atrocious is Fahrenheit scale, it's absolutely stupid and I have not got any sense of it, I have to convert it to Celsius every time.
Also the thing I find amusing is these pop science astrophysics documentaries, they always convert distances to miles and temperature to Fahrenheit and I know damn well that they are not using imperial system themselves, they do it only for TV. At least they use tons and not pounds

 

[dismal]

I got used to pounds and miles, less so to feet. There is yard which is roughly 1 meter, and inch which 2.5 cm, these seems OK, but feet is only 3 times smaller than yard and therefore is pretty useless. But what I find is the most atrocious is Fahrenheit scale, it's absolutely stupid and I have not got any sense of it, I have to convert it to Celsius every time.
Also the thing I find amusing is these pop science astrophysics documentaries, they always convert distances to miles and temperature to Fahrenheit and I know damn well that they are not using imperial system themselves, they do it only for TV. At least they use tons and not pounds

Well, imagine forcing a whole country to suffer this in reverse with approximately zero benefit for most people as a carrot and you see the True Genius of Chaffee's proposal.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Fahrenheit makes sense once you study it a little. It is calibrated so that the low end 0 degrees is the temperature required for people in Minnesota to go outside in short sleeve shirts. The upper end, 100 degrees are the number of degrees of the interior angles in a triangle, if you are rounding down by one hundreds.

One less thing know is that it is also calibrated so that 6 degrees is the number of maximum times you need to connect any scientist to Sir Francis Bacon.

 

[barbos]

I got used to pounds and miles, less so to feet. There is yard which is roughly 1 meter, and inch which 2.5 cm, these seems OK, but feet is only 3 times smaller than yard and therefore is pretty useless. But what I find is the most atrocious is Fahrenheit scale, it's absolutely stupid and I have not got any sense of it, I have to convert it to Celsius every time.
Also the thing I find amusing is these pop science astrophysics documentaries, they always convert distances to miles and temperature to Fahrenheit and I know damn well that they are not using imperial system themselves, they do it only for TV. At least they use tons and not pounds

Well, imagine forcing a whole country to suffer this in reverse with approximately zero benefit for most people as a carrot and you see the True Genius of Chaffee's proposal.

Nobody will suffer from getting rid of Fahrenheit scale.
And considering that americans already know and use metric system, whereas I had not known imperial at all, I don't see much suffering in switching to metric.

 

[coloradoatheist]

Well, imagine forcing a whole country to suffer this in reverse with approximately zero benefit for most people as a carrot and you see the True Genius of Chaffee's proposal.

Nobody will suffer from getting rid of Fahrenheit scale.
And considering that americans already know and use metric system, whereas I had not known imperial at all, I don't see much suffering in switching to metric.

Except most people don't know the metric system well enough. We use our screwed up system and it would take a while for it to sink in. It would be okay, but would be an adjustment for a while.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Nobody will suffer from getting rid of Fahrenheit scale.
And considering that americans already know and use metric system, whereas I had not known imperial at all, I don't see much suffering in switching to metric.

Except most people don't know the metric system well enough. We use our screwed up system and it would take a while for it to sink in. It would be okay, but would be an adjustment for a while.

I don't really know the English system when it comes to fluid volumes. Meters -> yards (easy, oh god... what is a cm? We'll it's 1/100 of a meter. The benefit of metric is you don't have to fucking learn it!), km -> miles (things will be further away, but we'll travel faster), liters -> quart, pint... who the heck knows or cares. Liters are simple! Celsius -> Fahrenheit (no one knows how to spell Fahrenheit, so that shouldn't be a big deal). The hardest part will be transitioning from the 7 day week to the 10 day week.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Nobody will suffer from getting rid of Fahrenheit scale.
And considering that americans already know and use metric system, whereas I had not known imperial at all, I don't see much suffering in switching to metric.

Except most people don't know the metric system well enough. We use our screwed up system and it would take a while for it to sink in. It would be okay, but would be an adjustment for a while.

How long did it take the UK to adopt to decimalized money?
I'd guess moving from a 'Who the fuck came up with that' system to a more rational one would be easy enough.

I mean, by the end of boot camp, everyone knows if a 1400 knock-off-work time is a good deal or a bone job without having to do math in their head. Most people would probably adapt quickly to liters if they have to buy gas that way, and whatever other measurements they use constantly.

Then the banks and insurance agents would print up handy conversion charts, wallet sized and carrying all the basic conversions you need.

 

[barbos]

1 cc of water is 1 gram
1 liter of water is 1 kg
1 cubic meter if water is 1 ton
gold is roughly 19 times more dense than water so 1 cc of gold is ~19 grams
and 1 m^3 is 19 tons


1 gallon of water, can you tell how many pounds is that?
and gallon is probably not based on unit of length, am i right?

Imperial system is fucking retarded

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Except most people don't know the metric system well enough. We use our screwed up system and it would take a while for it to sink in. It would be okay, but would be an adjustment for a while.

How long did it take the UK to adopt to decimalized money?
I'd guess moving from a 'Who the fuck came up with that' system to a more rational one would be easy enough.

I mean, by the end of boot camp, everyone knows if a 1400 knock-off-work time is a good deal or a bone job without having to do math in their head. Most people would probably adapt quickly to liters if they have to buy gas that way, and whatever other measurements they use constantly.

Then the banks and insurance agents would print up handy conversion charts, wallet sized and carrying all the basic conversions you need.

Well, in their defense, people have to walk around with a tip chart that lists what 10% of a bill is. If Americans can't handle that, maybe they just wouldn't be able to handle metric. But if we can't handle metric, how the heck can we handle the English system?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

1 cc of water is 1 gram
1 liter of water is 1 kg
1 cubic meter if water is 1 ton
gold is roughly 19 times more dense than water so 1 cc of gold is ~19 grams
and 1 m^3 is 19 tons


1 galon of water, can you tell how many pounds is that?
Imperial system is stupid.

About 8 pounds. 1 cf of water is 62.4 pounds and there are roughly 8 gallons per cubic foot. But those are numbers I need to know for work, so I'm an outlier.

 

[RavenSky]

Except most people don't know the metric system well enough. We use our screwed up system and it would take a while for it to sink in. It would be okay, but would be an adjustment for a while.

How long did it take the UK to adopt to decimalized money?
I'd guess moving from a 'Who the fuck came up with that' system to a more rational one would be easy enough.

I mean, by the end of boot camp, everyone knows if a 1400 knock-off-work time is a good deal or a bone job without having to do math in their head. Most people would probably adapt quickly to liters if they have to buy gas that way, and whatever other measurements they use constantly.

Then the banks and insurance agents would print up handy conversion charts, wallet sized and carrying all the basic conversions you need.

If we would just switch, we wouldn't really even need conversion charts. Does anyone care how many ounces are in the 2-liter bottle of coca-cola?

 

[Keith&Co.]

If we would just switch, we wouldn't really even need conversion charts. Does anyone care how many ounces are in the 2-liter bottle of coca-cola?

I'm constantly having to check the little chart on the fridge when cooking, to know if I use half or an entire jar of something.

 

[Jayjay]

how about this change - dates should be written [day of month]-[month of year]-[year of century], which i believe is how it's done in europe. i do this habitually, and i don't really care if others don't understand, though i'd write the date out if it were critical. really, what does 15-06-15 mean? my locker combination? how about 33:04-15-06-15? 4:33 am? yep, and military time, too, dammit.

There is no single standard in Europe for that either.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

If we would just switch, we wouldn't really even need conversion charts. Does anyone care how many ounces are in the 2-liter bottle of coca-cola?

I'm constantly having to check the little chart on the fridge when cooking, to know if I use half or an entire jar of something.

Don't forget kids, a Tbsp and tsp are two different things and 3 tsp = 1 Tbsp... or is it 3 Tbsp is 1 tsp? Well, the T is capitalized, so that must be of some significance. Hmm... better just add the entire box of baking soda just to be safe. Hmm, that's odd, why is there dough puffing out of the oven?

The only decent thing is butter. 1 stick of butter is 1/2 cup.

 

[barbos]

how about this change - dates should be written [day of month]-[month of year]-[year of century], which i believe is how it's done in europe. i do this habitually, and i don't really care if others don't understand, though i'd write the date out if it were critical. really, what does 15-06-15 mean? my locker combination? how about 33:04-15-06-15? 4:33 am? yep, and military time, too, dammit.

There is no single standard in Europe for that either.

I think it depends on language, in russian you say 15's May, so day of the months goes first unfortunately.
That would be OK if they always put year number last but they don't.

 

[Keith&Co.]

But those are numbers I need to know for work, so I'm an outlier.

I don't think so. I mean, yes, you're able to answer that particular trivia question but that's something you use regularly.

Several positions on the submarine are aware of the weight of water in terms of running a certain pump for a minute moves X gallons which means adding or subtracting Y pounds of seawater from the ship's weight. If the system switches, the people would quickly learn what they need to do their jobs or frequent chores, and take great pride in complaining about not understanding measurements they don't need regularly.

People that would slug you if you suggested they cannot read cheerfully brag that they would fail basic math skills already, so they'll wear their metrics-illiteracy with pride and joke that they need to ask the 4 year old how many centimeters tall is daddy.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

But those are numbers I need to know for work, so I'm an outlier.

I don't think so. I mean, yes, you're able to answer that particular trivia question but that's something you use regularly.

Several positions on the submarine are aware of the weight of water in terms of running a certain pump for a minute moves X gallons which means adding or subtracting Y pounds of seawater from the ship's weight. If the system switches, the people would quickly learn what they need to do their jobs or frequent chores, and take great pride in complaining about not understanding measurements they don't need regularly.

If it switched, it'd be a bit easier as the metric unit weight is roughly 10 kg/m^3.

People that would slug you if you suggested they cannot read cheerfully brag that they would fail basic math skills already, so they'll wear their metrics-illiteracy with pride and joke that they need to ask the 4 year old how many centimeters tall is daddy.

As I said, if Americans aren't smart enough for Metric, how in the heck are they handling English?!

 

[dismal]

Well, imagine forcing a whole country to suffer this in reverse with approximately zero benefit for most people as a carrot and you see the True Genius of Chaffee's proposal.

Nobody will suffer from getting rid of Fahrenheit scale.
And considering that americans already know and use metric system, whereas I had not known imperial at all, I don't see much suffering in switching to metric.

Half of Americans can not name the Vice President. They are not remotely calibrated to the metric system in their everyday lives.

And, the point you did not address is they will see no material benefit from switching.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Nobody will suffer from getting rid of Fahrenheit scale.
And considering that americans already know and use metric system, whereas I had not known imperial at all, I don't see much suffering in switching to metric.

Half of Americans can not name the Vice President. They are not remotely calibrated to the metric system in their everyday lives.

And, the point you did not address is they will see no material benefit from switching.

What do you mean they won't see a material benefit? Instead of spending five dollars and only getting a single gallon of milk, under the metric system, the same cost will get them almost four liters! That's a tremendous improvement.