The Metric system eats babies.

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Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:36 am

Being schooled in the 60's/70's I'm happy with either system. For anything 'scientific' I use metric, car related (fuel & distance) is imperial & for cooking 'that looks about right'.

If the temperature is above freezing I think in farenheit but use centigrade if below freezing.

If anyone tries to sell me stuff by the litre/kilo I ask what that is in real measurements, just to annoy the Eurocrats.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Quote:

A puppy is a juvenile dog. Some puppies may weigh 1–3 lb (0.45–1.4 kg)***

Would you rather say "My puppy weighs one pound" or "My puppy weighs forty five hundredths of a kilogram"

***Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppy

419Eater is my life Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 441

I'd say it depends on your puppy.

It may well weigh 450g, nothing wrong with that.

It may also weigh something close to a metric pound (if all puppies weigh exactly one pound, then the European puppies must be slightly bigger than the US ones- not trying to suggest any connection to human weight, of course! Very Happy

)

Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 1:11 pm

Arbitrary rollercoaster vs. logical smooth sailing? I think I know which one I'd prefer to use. Wink

Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 4:55 pm

This is much too anti-diversity for me. I respect both the metric and imperial units and believe everyone has the right to choose, mix and measure the way they want.

Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:03 pm

According to the scales outside the mall, I'm 6'4", or 1.93m or 193.04cm.

They got my age wrong too

Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:08 pm

In case you haven't noticed, American manufacturers started quietly converting to metric specifications back in the 80s. This was done out of necessity remain competitive in international markets.

The metric system is efficient, accurate, and makes sense. For these reasons, there is no hope that the metric system will ever be fully adopted in the USA. Wink

Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:43 pm

Pastor Frank,
I believe last time I lit a The Metric System is for Euro-Nerds" fire, you had my back, so I'll jump in for you.

The metric system is for Euro-nerds.
I guess the stubborn nerdiness with which you guys cling to your zany measurements explains why you use such a ridiculous offsides system in soccer... er... football... er... 0.3048 meter ball...

Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:50 pm

I'm at that age where my eyesight is starting to go. Millimeters! Rolling Eyes

They make them so small these days. I prefer inches because I can see the blighters. Wink

Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:02 pm

Raised using metric. So I guess its pretty obvious what is better for me.
Seriouly all those " and ', oz., lbs have been always confusing me.

Whats wrong with litres, kilos, metres and stuff?

Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:07 pm

I've heard that some quiche eaters from France have proposed a new metric calendar. It will contain 10 months instead of 12, each month will have only 10 days and each day will now be 100 hours long to make up the difference. They say that the longer day will increase worker productivity. And you won't have to remember which months have how many days anymore. This new system is clearly simpler, easier to understand, and much more efficient than the current ancient mish-mosh of a calendar, designed by early Americans no doubt. I for one am looking forward to it.

Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:14 pm

@ Mortal, Nothing... as long as you know what it means! Very Happy

I remember several decades (is that metric) ago when one cigarette company made their product a "silly millimeter longer" than the other brands.

I didn't smoke, so I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing in a cigarette. Maybe that is what started the dust up so many years ago! Confused

Quote:

(This company introduced a "100 millimeter" long cigarette. Shortly after, Chesterfield cigarettes company did a parody of the B&H ad campaign and introduced a cigarette called "Chesterfield 101's" with the catchphrase "a silly millimeter longer." Many confuse the two campaigns and wrongly attribute the "silly millimeter" phase to the Benson and Hedges campaign.)

Source: http://www.tvacres.com/adslogans_b.htm

Note: Don't look up the urban dictionary definition of the above phrase... Shocked

Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:22 pm

David Bone wrote:

I've heard that some quiche eaters from France have proposed a new metric calendar. It will contain 10 months instead of 12, each month will have only 10 days and each day will now be 100 hours long to make up the difference. They say that the longer day will increase worker productivity. And you won't have to remember which months have how many days anymore. This new system is clearly simpler, easier to understand, and much more efficient than the current ancient mish-mosh of a calendar, designed by early Americans no doubt. I for one am looking forward to it.

Sounds like the concept of metric time, which was mentioned on a Simpsons episode (don't make me look up which one)

Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:26 pm

To be honest I really like this concept of time
http://www.swatch.com/zz_en/internettime.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time

Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:33 pm

Quote:

While Swatch still offers the concept on its website, it no longer markets beat watches.

Does this mean we are adrift with no means to measure time??? Shocked

Woo Hoo!!! Now there is no due date on my bills...

Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:37 pm

And what about angular measurements? I believe that the notion of 360 degrees to the circle is so archaic (invented by Ben Franklin) that it should be immediately outlawed. From here on all circles will have 100 degrees in them.

For that matter, circles are way too hard to draw. From now on, all circles will consist of four straight sides of equal length. That makes them much easier to measure, not to mention cut out with a circular saw. Then we can reset the value of pi to 10.0. Think of the computational savings there alone.

Then we can tackle metric language reform. There will only be 10 letters in the alphabet. The Nigerians are lite year ahed o us der, u no?

Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:44 pm

ParaNoid wrote:

Quote:

While Swatch still offers the concept on its website, it no longer markets beat watches.

Does this mean we are adrift with no means to measure time??? Shocked

Woo Hoo!!! Now there is no due date on my bills...

Hehe yeah.
Now good night it's getting late (its almost @900!) Very Happy

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 3:12 pm

Quote:

And what about angular measurements? I believe that the notion of 360 degrees to the circle is so archaic (invented by Ben Franklin) that it should be immediately outlawed. From here on all circles will have 100 degrees in them.

You are obviously American, and have no knowledge of anything outside of the USA

Quote:

From this source :http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/59075.html
In 1936, a tablet was excavated some 200 miles from Babylon. Here one
should make the interjection that the Sumerians were first to make one of
man's greatest inventions, namely, writing; through written communication,
knowledge could be passed from one person to others, and from one
generation to the next and future ones. They impressed their cuneiform
(wedge-shaped) script on soft clay tablets with a stylus, and the tablets
were then hardened in the sun. The mentioned tablet, whose translation
was partially published only in 1950, is devoted to various geometrical
figures, and states that the ratio of the perimeter of a regular hexagon
to the circumference of the circumscribed circle equals a number which in
modern notation is given by 57/60 + 36/(60^2) (the Babylonians used the
sexagesimal system, i.e., their base was 60 rather than 10).

The Babylonians knew, of course, that the perimeter of a hexagon is
exactly equal to six times the radius of the circumscribed circle, in fact
that was evidently the reason why they chose to divide the circle into 360
degrees (and we are still burdened with that figure to this day). The
tablet, therefore, gives ... Pi = 25/8 = 3.125.

So that's who gave us the 360 degrees in the circle. See, assignment of
degree-measure to angles is somewhat arbitrary. Some choices are more
natural than others, though, and when you're working in base 60, 6x60 is a
pretty natural choice.

As a sidenote, the actual ratio that the Babylonians talk about is
6r/(2r*Pi) = 3/Pi, which is about 0.95493. They say it's 24/25 = .96.
And you might ask why we chose Pi as the letter to represent the
number 3.141592..., rather than some other Greek letter like
Alpha or Omega. Well, it's Pi as in Perimeter - the letter Pi
in Greek is like our letter P.

If your intention here is to post contentious arguments, and cause dissension, sorry, you tenure here will be short and brief

Your other posts in the forums reflect a wish to raise your baiting skills which I support, but in this thread I cannot support your assertions.

Take care
bait safely

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 4:09 pm

I didn't find David's post to be contentious, but rather humorous.

Maybe it's me. I can't get all worked up about something like the metric system, it has it's advantages. The better drugs are all in metric.

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 4:36 pm

what ever happened to the 'it's about this long" measuring system, why does everything need to be so damn accurate anyway?

I put my hand on a hot sump plug the other day, it burnt my finger tips, so im guessing it was exactly "flucking hot" so i went a ran my hand under a cold tap, my fingers went numb so the temperature of the water was obviously "damn cold" then when i refilled the oil in the engine, I poured in exactly "enough to be full"

I find this method of measurement to be far more precise.

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 4:36 pm

So some people say 2 feet, some people say 60 centimetres. As long as we're all talking about the same thing (apart from where it really does matter eg in sciences, which have Kelvins) does it really matter?

An inch is as good as 2.5cm to some people. Smile

BTW:

Quote:

all circles will consist of four straight sides cut out with a circular saw

Spot the deliberate mistake. Wink

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 4:52 pm

"If your intention here is to post contentious arguments, and cause dissension, sorry, you tenure here will be short and brief "

Say what? No, actually my intention was merely to provide a bit of Monty Python-esque satire. Don't tell me you actually thought that I really believe that Ben Franklin invented the 360 degree circle? Gosh, I would have thought you'd have given me at least a bit of credit in the IQ department.

Oh wait, I get it - you're baiting me again, right? Nyuk nyuk nyuk - good one, eh?

But you're right about one thing, my tenure here is indeed short-lived, as in right now:

"If you no longer wish to watch this topic you can either click the "Stop watching this topic link" found at the bottom of the topic above, or by clicking the following link:

http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=185794&unwatch=topic"

>click<

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:10 pm

luckey wrote:

The better drugs are all in metric.

Dunno, beer is sold in pints and grass comes in ounces. It must be so us oldies don't get confused.

However, whats with petrol being sold in litres and all car roadtests giving us figures in miles per gallon? At least in the UK.

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 6:36 pm

^That's done for safety purposes. The drugs that come in metric are all compatible with each other, as are the imperial drugs. The two systems should never be mixed.

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 8:16 pm

grass was always a screwy one, you could buy little gram bags, or if you were stocking up you could buy an ounce. So which is it, metric or imperial? Guess thats what happens when you do your weighing up after smoking half an ounce, or 14.174 gram bags

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