The Metric System

[ManlyBanisters]

Base 10 clocks and calendars would be easier, too, so why have no countries adopted those?

That's a good question. The 24 hour clock fits roughly with the human circadian rhythm* but why no one has ever thought to break (or succeeded in breaking) that same period in to 10 base units I don't know. There used to be 10 months in the year, til July and August got slotted in. Why not go back to that?

I suppose the 1 year / 365(.25) days it has a lot to do with the earth orbiting the sun over a period of 365.25 rotations of the earth - but I'm sure something could be figured out for that.

I'd prefer it.

* Well - for a majority of humans anyway.

 

[Catchoftheday]

Base 10 clocks and calendars would be easier, too, so why have no countries adopted those?

As far as I know there aren't any, maybe you would like to devise one for us :biggrin1:

 

[TurkeyWithaSunburn]

OK just for fun metric time and calendars

Someone already posted it but here is Base10 time.
A Guide To Metric Time

base10 calendar
4000 The Fifth Milemium - Raenbo Calendar
each month has 5 weeks each has 6 days

 

[kalipygian]

That's a good question. The 24 hour clock fits roughly with the human circadian rhythm* but why no one has ever thought to break (or succeeded in breaking) that same period in to 10 base units I don't know. There used to be 10 months in the year, til July and August got slotted in. Why not go back to that?

I suppose the 1 year / 365(.25) days it has a lot to do with the earth orbiting the sun over a period of 365.25 rotations of the earth - but I'm sure something could be figured out for that.

I'd prefer it.

* Well - for a majority of humans anyway.

Those two months were always there, they were just renamed, from Quintilus, fifth month,and sextilus, sixth month, to honor the first two emperors. The intercalary was where Januarius and Februarius are, March was the first month. It is so confusing to have 'seventh month' 'Septembris' be the name of what is now the ninth, etc.

Some people seem to be using the term 'imperial' as a general term for the traditional measurement units, it came into use when Britain and the then Empire in the time of William IV increased the liquid measure so that a pint of water would weigh a pound avoirdupois exactly. Their gallon went from 231 cubic inches to 277.42 cubic inches. The US did not adopt the change, we still use the older and smaller Winchester wine gallon. It is odd to see someone using the term to refer to feet and inches in the US.

Some decimalization, surveyors use feet divided into tenths, not inches. It is easier when using a calculator to use a tape measure with the inches in decimal divisions, rather than fractions, and forget feet.

Our system of circular measure comes from the Babylonians, who used base 60.

 

[ManlyBanisters]

Those two months were always there, they were just renamed, from Quintilus, fifth month,and sextilus, sixth month, to honor the first two emperors. The intercalary was where Januarius and Februarius are, March was the first month. It is so confusing to have 'seventh month' 'Septembris' be the name of what is now the ninth, etc.

Thanks Kal, I always assumed because July and August were the new names to honour Julius and Augustus that they were the new months too, not a rename. Learning stuff is goooood, m'kay :smile:

 

[B_dxjnorto]

Estados Unidenses are insular by nature. We have a big ocean on both sides of us. A cold nation on top and a poor nation on the bottom. Why should we care what anybody else does? (Maybe denses means something?)

 

[HazelGod]

I suppose the 1 year / 365(.25) days it has a lot to do with the earth orbiting the sun over a period of 365.25 rotations of the earth - but I'm sure something could be figured out for that.

Probably more to do with the periods of the moon (which, like the word month derives from the Latin menses), and that there are roughly twelve of them in each of our orbits around Sol. Base-12 calendaring makes the most sense...you don't choose a model and try to force reality to conform to it, you build the model that most sensibly describes the reality.

 

[DC_DEEP]

Hazel and Manly, I understand that, I was merely illustrating that while the metric system is more convenient for some applications (and in some ways, simplified by the use of Base10 divisions), it isn't necessarily more "intelligent" as the OP would have us believe.

The SI basic units and derived units are perfectly adapted for the natural sciences, because they were based on certain scientific phenomena, to describe those phenomena. Since these units are used almost universally in science, many people erroneously believe that the units are more "scientific," and therefore, more "accurate" or "precise." In reality, SI units are neither more precise nor more accurate than any other system. And accuracy and precision are nothing like synonyms. In science, they mean very different things.

The OP must have had some other agenda in mind, and used the metric system as a cover. It's obvious what he thinks of the USA, and every person living here. His thinly veiled attack on Americans failed miserably, though.

 

[mista geechee]

Hey... we had the metric system in our money 200 years ago...

When the heck will the british empire adopt a decimal monetary system?

Here's why I prefer standard over metric.

Engineering.


a base 10 measurement system is only evenly divisible by 2 and 5.

And dividing it by 3, or 6, or 9 results in infinite decimals...



A base 12 measure, however, can be evenly divided by 2, 3, 4, 6.

Further.... A circle has 360 degrees... that is a multiple of 12. ( the reason we have 24 hours in a day- also a multiple of 12)

Base 12 measure makes such things as gearing systems far easier to actually design and fabricate.

The question is not why 3 countries DON'T use the metric system... the question is why the idiots who sought to replace standard with something more sensible picked a base 10 system... ( cause they had 10 fingers? that's a good reason!)

They should have picked base 12.

Standard measure makes more visceral sense than the entirely arbitrary units of the metric system.

A yard is a man's stride... a foot, the length of his foot, an inch the width of his thumb... ( hence the term- rule of thumb)
A cup what you can hold in your cupped hand, an ounce is a sip....

And Fahrenheit makes far more sense than basing our temperature scale on the arbitrary freezing a boiling points of water... which we, as human beings, have no real relation to.
No human can tell the difference between 80 and 100 degrees celsius...

The Fahrenheit scale, however, set zero at the coldest day of the year and 100 at the hottest day of the year in the German town Fahrenheit lived in.


Therefore, the Fahrenheit scale is based upon HUMAN experience of temperature, rather than a lab experiment.

Man is the measure of all things... it makes sense that we use measures that relate to our experience.

yes yes fucking yes. phil never to late wit a heave dose of commom sense.

besides, why is such a big fucking deal to the rest of the world?

i think im gonna start a thread where i grill aussie's for calling their dogs "dingo's" instead of wild dogs. cuz ya know, thats a big deal. and it really pisss me off that they dont call them the same thing we call them

im gonna start a thread grilling the english for calling their officers "bobby's" instead of cops. i mean my god, its such a big deal. and i cant stand it. and its wrong because its different.

hopefully those of you with some sense detected the sarcasm there

 

[ManlyBanisters]

* Picks up mista geechee's rattle and hands it back*

I guess I didn't see the OP as that much of an attack, just a question - but re-reading it does seem to be rather loaded.

Of course there is the odd infamous incident where metric and imperial being used side by side has caused problems - but I wouldn't suggest that the metric system is 'more intelligent' than imperial. That makes about as much sense as saying the euro is 'more intelligent' than the Yen. Ridiculous. In fact you'd have an easier time arguing that imperial is more intelligent than a base 10 system because you have to remember more things and work in more than one base.

 

[SteveHd]

... His thinly veiled attack on Americans failed miserably, though.

Thinly veiled indeed but I don't agree it "failed miserably". I'd call it somewhat successful.

 

[deleted257218]

The milk in my fridge is measured first in litres and only second in pints! I don't recall seeing it otherwise for looong time. Yes, all other drinks I can think of are only in litres. It's nostalgia I guess.

Maybe in supermarkets, but the milkman who delivers to my house delivers 2 pints of milk

 

[DC_DEEP]

Thinly veiled indeed but I don't agree it "failed miserably". I'd call it somewhat successful.

Really? Because he voiced his opinion?

"The rest of the world does it" really means nothing. Peer pressure? Just because everyone else is doing it, that doesn't mean it's right, does it? Don't make me cite examples!

 

[dong20]

Maybe in supermarkets, but the milkman who delivers to my house delivers 2 pints of milk

The old glass bottles wow, I've not seen one of those for ages. I remember buying Orange Juice in them too. I just checked at it seems doorstep delivery is still an option even for me.:smile:

 

[ManlyBanisters]

Doorstep delivery... well - I have a cow or two wander past my house the odd morning but the only thing that's been left behind is better for putting on my roses than on my cereal

 

[dong20]

Of course there is the odd infamous incident where metric and imperial being used side by side has caused problems - but I wouldn't suggest that the metric system is 'more intelligent' than imperial. That makes about as much sense as saying the euro is 'more intelligent' than the Yen. Ridiculous. In fact you'd have an easier time arguing that imperial is more intelligent than a base 10 system because you have to remember more things and work in more than one base.

I agree, but I think the truth is a little more human than the relative merits of each system. On that issue, I may address some of Phil's ... err ... facts later. But the UK faced and is still facing the very same resistance. It's perfectly understandable, but it's no more logical than US resistance and surely no less deeply felt by many.

For all the blather about why Imperial is better, or vice versa the posters who have been the most honest are those reacting angrily as if they're somehow under 'attack'. It's a needless reaction given the subject but it comes closer to the true reason; broadly speaking people don't like change, and many Americans (as they have demonstrated) don't react well when their comfort zone is threatened - 'top' dogs don't see a need to learn new tricks.

Come on peeps, for many of you it's as simple as not wanting to give up a system you're comfortable with - there's no shame in that but at least have the spine to admit it, instead of creating all these convoluted 'reasons' why imperial is 'better' - it's simply not. The UK has been there and done that - it's not so bad once you re-adjust, really very painless. Besides, there's no need to give up your 'cups', just shift the emphasis - I do it all the time.

I say this tongue in cheek for the most part, because I really couldn't give a tinker's cuss what system the US uses - my only gripe being that much of the reasoning against it (besides the cost) is IMO and with all due respect, bollocks. :tongue:

 

[B_Artful Dodger]

I'm an American Citizen now...but I was born in Switzerland!

Why the hell did u let being Swiss go to become American?? The Swiss rock! :biggrin1:

 

[D_Thoraxis_Biggulp]

Swiss Cheese > American Cheese, as well.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

I wouldn't suggest that the metric system is 'more intelligent' than imperial. That makes about as much sense as saying the euro is 'more intelligent' than the Yen. Ridiculous. In fact you'd have an easier time arguing that imperial is more intelligent than a base 10 system because you have to remember more things and work in more than one base.

Well, the 'imperial' system (using 'imperial' loosely) may take more intelligence to use, but that's only because it's unintelligently designed.
As a design, surely the metric system is indeed more intelligent.

 

[dong20]

Doorstep delivery... well - I have a cow or two wander past my house the odd morning but the only thing that's been left behind is better for putting on my roses than on my cereal

I can't remember the last time I saw a milk float. Or a cow come the think of it - no wait yes I can. In Africa last year - a sad (yet interesting) tale of emergency detours into the bush to dodge police checkpoints, considerable mooing and much gore.

I'd forgotten all about that - actually some of it's on video which seemed vaguely amusing at the time, but with hindsight would have made excellent evidence! :redface: