Lincoln Chafee: The US should convert to metric units

[bilby]

Part of the reasons that this whole unit of measure thing has not been resolved is that modern computers and computation devices are easily outfitted with algorithms to make these units fit into engineering calculations and the actual human labor in that type of calculation has almost vanished. I believe if we were still back in the days of slide rules, things would be different. We really should all be on one system world wide, but the changeover has actually become less important over time.

It would seem to be a higher priority for the whole world to speak one language.

They do. It's English.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

They wouldn't slug you. They'd pound you. Get your units straight.

No, 'slug' is the metric. My speech patterns are influenced by my service, and the service has gone metric. I can't begin to count the number of times i've been professionally assessed to be in a 'metric shit-ton of trouble.'

So what is that? 2000 pounds?

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A pint, a pound the world around.

Thus a gallon is 8 pounds.

Actually, a gallon weights 8.34 pounds, which means 3 gallons of water weighs 25 pounds, not 24. This would become a serious error when dealing with large quantities of water. There is no natural relationship between a gallon of water and it's weight or mass and any true calculation requires the units to be decimalized. Decimalization is just shoehorning English units into a metric system, so some sort of correct answer can be obtained.

Somewhere in my collection, I have an Engineer's tape(a steel tape measure) which is marked in increments of a 1/10th of a foot and 1/100th of a foot.

And you still have to correct the lengths reported based on the temperature. Oi!

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I'm going to assume you are also trying to make a joke?

100 degrees celsius = boiling point at sea level

This sub-thread started because Derec wrote "seal level" rather than "sea level".

Bilby interpreted it as talking about boiling seals (the animals) but I didn't feel the grammar worked and instead interpreted it as boiling levels (tools) meant for measuring seals.

More evidence that libertarians, in general, should stay away from comedy.

 

[Nexus]

More evidence that libertarians, in general, should stay away from comedy.

I imagine the entire back and forth is what rudimentary AI's will sound like when they first try comedy. In total it was almost funny in a deep meta way due to the confusion.

 

[lpetrich]

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.

dismal, what gives you that idea?

I thought that you believed in free trade and globalization.

 

[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.

dismal, what gives you that idea?

I thought that you believed in free trade and globalization.

Free trade, yes, I don't know exactly what "globalization" is. In your mind. Not sure what this has to do with the topic either.

Will you be attempting to argue trade is not free without the metric system being crammed down on us by government?

 

[beero1000]

Why can't we all just recognize that the systems of units are isomorphic, and just get better at arithmetic?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

A pint, a pound the world around.

Thus a gallon is 8 pounds.

This can be derived from the devilishly complex English system conversion that one fluid ounce of water weighs 1 ounce.

Or close enough anyway.

I was quoting a mnemonic I learned long, long ago.

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A pint, a pound the world around.

Thus a gallon is 8 pounds.

Actually, a gallon weights 8.34 pounds, which means 3 gallons of water weighs 25 pounds, not 24. This would become a serious error when dealing with large quantities of water. There is no natural relationship between a gallon of water and it's weight or mass and any true calculation requires the units to be decimalized. Decimalization is just shoehorning English units into a metric system, so some sort of correct answer can be obtained.

Somewhere in my collection, I have an Engineer's tape(a steel tape measure) which is marked in increments of a 1/10th of a foot and 1/100th of a foot.

It's close enough for typical usage. The engineer can't use rough rules like that.

 

[tantric]

as an aside, in Steven Brust's fantasy series 'The Khaavren Romances' the author uses a hash of Imperial and metric measurements - Dragaerans are seven feet tall, but the city is hundreds of kilometers away. the Dragaerans are basically elves, tall, immortal, weird, and his use of mixed units is meant to convey the self-indulgent complexity of their society and not at all a comment on the real world.

btw, i LOVE those books, i savor every multipage sentence like you might roll a fine whiskey around your mouth. Tazendra is made of win - a dedicated warrior, a powerful sorceress, dumb as a stump...

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

It's close enough for typical usage. The engineer can't use rough rules like that.

Oh, but scientists can?!

 

[dismal]

It's close enough for typical usage. The engineer can't use rough rules like that.

Oh, but scientists can?!

Back when I took science in engineering school the weight of a volume of something depended on its temperature and pressure.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

It's close enough for typical usage. The engineer can't use rough rules like that.

Oh, but scientists can?!

I was talking about common usage.

How much does that gallon of milk weigh? Calling it 8 pounds is close enough.

 

[bilby]

Oh, but scientists can?!

I was talking about common usage.

How much does that gallon of milk weigh? Calling it 8 pounds is close enough.

A litre of milk has a mass of a kilogram. No eights, nor any other numbers, were harmed in the making of this comment.

 

[beero1000]

I was talking about common usage.

How much does that gallon of milk weigh? Calling it 8 pounds is close enough.

A litre of milk has a mass of a kilogram. No eights, nor any other numbers, were harmed in the making of this comment.

To within a few percent, anyway...

 

[bilby]

A litre of milk has a mass of a kilogram. No eights, nor any other numbers, were harmed in the making of this comment.

To within a few percent, anyway...

The mass of a gallon of milk is 25% greater than eight pounds, so let's not quibble about a few percent.

 

[bilby]

A Newton is approximately the weight of an apple. How much simpler and more down-home approximately quaint could anyone want their system of measurements to get than that?

 

[beero1000]

To within a few percent, anyway...

The mass of a gallon of milk is 25% greater than eight pounds, so let's not quibble about a few percent.

I'd recheck my calculations if I were you. I get that it's closer to 7% greater than 8lbs per gallon, vs 3% greater than 1 kg per liter. Not that it really matters...

 

[bilby]

The mass of a gallon of milk is 25% greater than eight pounds, so let's not quibble about a few percent.

I'd recheck my calculations if I were you. I get that it's closer to 7% greater than 8lbs per gallon, vs 3% greater than 1 kg per liter. Not that it really matters...

1 gallon = 8 pints; 1 pint = 20 fl.oz., 1lb = 16oz. that's within cooee of 25% more than 8lb per gallon.

 

[Archimedes]

Oh, but scientists can?!

I was talking about common usage.

How much does that gallon of milk weigh? Calling it 8 pounds is close enough.

If you're American. A pint is 20 fl oz here, not 16, making a farce of the statement that "a pints a pound, the whole world round"

A pint here is 568ml and a pound is 454g. A pint of water is thus 20% off from being a pound.

 

[beero1000]

I'd recheck my calculations if I were you. I get that it's closer to 7% greater than 8lbs per gallon, vs 3% greater than 1 kg per liter. Not that it really matters...

1 gallon = 8 pints; 1 pint = 20 fl.oz., 1lb = 16oz. that's within cooee of 25% more than 8lb per gallon.

That mnemonic refers to the US measurement, not the Imperial one.

 

[bilby]

1 gallon = 8 pints; 1 pint = 20 fl.oz., 1lb = 16oz. that's within cooee of 25% more than 8lb per gallon.

That mnemonic specifically refers to the US measurement, not the Imperial one.

That mnemonic specifically refers to the whole world.