US switching to metric system?

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

You do know that the same folks who brought you the metric system also wanted you to use a decimal timekeeping system, don't you? With 10-day weeks, 10-hour days, hours having 100 minutes, and so on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French...lican_Calendar Why aren't people who think the metric system is so great also pushing this?

It would have been great if it had been adopted worldwide, but it wasn't and will probably never happen, unless we want to get rid of another relic from the past; time zones. But UTC fixes that good enough for now.

We need at least one chaotical system to remind us why it is important to keep these matters well organized. At least this one is used globally.

[user removed]

Here is one relic from the past you will definitely have trouble getting rid of. I remember Kruschev ranting we will bury you. He's buried, I'm still around, even Pop at 94 is still around.

The US was in a unique position post WW2, all that mass production, all those tools and machinery. Now we got a Europe feller telling us to toss it all out. Ever price a 40 foot metal lathe lately. I'll give ya a hint, don't buy one from China. The 75 year old ones made here are still better even with 3/4 century of wear and tear.

We have tools bought half a century ago that are still better than the new crap and I know they will outlast me and you and probably a couple more generations.

Working with both sizes through 9 presidents so far. Only Ike and Harry were Pres, during my lifetime, before I started working for a living with tools.

regards
mech

[RedDevil]

Those tools are still around because they were high quality.
They would still be around today if they were all metric sized, too.

I inherited some tools from my grandfather, which are almost a century old.
They are heavy and clumsy, but indestructable.
And metric. (Save for a set of Imperial socket wrenches)

You can buy crap tools nowadays especially sized for whatever system of measurement you want.
They are crappy because people want to fill their toolbox on the cheap.
There is no relation to the metric system.

Nobody is telling you that you must dump the system.
At least, not me. I did not vote in this poll.
You can only make that decision for yourselves.
But when it comes to the reasons why you would do it, the benefits that they would yield, the difficulty of making the change, etcetera then we can give you firsthand experience.

Will the US learn from the experience of others?
Or will they remain the only country not to use the metric system?
My guess is that it won't happen in my lifetime.
Ah well.

[user removed]

Better yet, just use your cpu to convert the measurements.

regards
mech

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

Better yet, just use your cpu to convert the measurements.

regards
mech

My head wonders why it should not be used for such a simple task as that...

[freebeard]

A dog has to do calculus in it's head to swim across a creek and hit a spot on the other side.

jamesqf --

Originally Posted by myself @ permalink #159

Get back to me when the Metric countries go decimal for time instead of a base 60 system.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

But the faster you go, the slower time flows for you. Ask Einstein.

Time remains constant for the traveler. It only goes slower for the traveler relative to those not traveling. In other words, no matter how fast you travel, time will always act and feel the same to you.

Gravity too affects the relativity of time, as the movie Interstellar illustrates.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

It would have been great if it had been adopted worldwide, but it wasn't and will probably never happen, unless we want to get rid of another relic from the past; time zones. But UTC fixes that good enough for now.

Hardly. The problems with "metric" time are just those with the rest of the metric system, but written larger. The bottom line is that it divorces people from the natural world. (And especially in the case of time, was intended to do that, so that the revolutionaries could build their new society.) Bad enough that we don't start the year at the solstice, and have "months" which have no relation to the phase of the moon.

[RedDevil]

Nothing wrong with days and years, but the other time units are artificial.
If we are to have artificial measures anyway we could better have them easy to work with.

Oh yes, the month and week were based on the moon. I am aware of the phases of the moon. But when I need to know the time or date I don't look at the moon, right?
The current month and week format lost touch with the physical phenomenons they were based on.

I don't say we should not use them.
The reason to use them is that they are the de facto standard around the world now, not their skewed relation to natural phenomenon.

But I hear you. Revolutionaries are bad! Long live the French nobility!
The protagonists of decimal time were (unlike the supporters of other elements of the metric system) no members of the nobility, though they made a career for themselves in science and bureaucracy.
I find it hard to find fault in their motives.
Ah well.

[freebeard]

But when I need to know the time or date I don't look at the moon, right?

When I was in high school, I worked with farmers who, if you asked them what time it was, would look thoughtfully at the sun and then mentally add 5 minutes to what their watch said last time they looked at it.