why can't i grasp metrics?

[Jovial]

i know the conversions. but i can't convert metrics to metrics. like, i know an inch is 2.54cm. my quiz question was "what is one inch in mm?" i put .254

dammit

I bet if the quiz question was "How many mm is a 10 inch cock?" you would have gotten it. :tongue:

But seriously, just think about your answer after you write it down. Do you know that a millimeter is quite small? Have you ever measured anything ever using a ruler in millimeters? So .254mm is about a quarter of a millimeter. How could that be an inch?

When will the Metric system turn a day into 10 hours and a year into 10 months?

Decimal time - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[pym]

Why not? If they throw it in your face then throw it right back. I don't do the when in Rome thing where it concerns my country. I will admit our mistakes, missteps, and outright crimes but I won't condemn unfairly and will defend the good things. I've been in some unenviable positions in Ireland (of all places) defending the US against some people who heard I was an American and decided it was open season.

I will defend my ground to the TEETH here on my own soil. But when i travel, i am dealing with customers whose buisness is indespensible. Argueing with them is not a wise move. And besides, i always manage to have great travels and ingratiate myself upon locals far more sucessfully by embracing there culture for the moment. Life is not an un-ending series of debate/challenges for me. As often as not...i do not want to discuss politics or religion or any # of the subjects that a person learns to recognize with age as sure fire trouble. I am armed with so much more to discuss.....everywhere i go, people love to talk about music. And that's my hobby!

 

[MarkLondon]

When will the Metric system turn a day into 10 hours and a year into 10 months?

Hmm, they did try! Almost. 12 months of 30 days divided into 3 weeks. Plus some leap-days. But yes, 10 hours in a day, 100 minutes in an hour and 100 seconds in a minute.

French Republican Calendar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[2322]

I just emailed a professor whose specialty is in the history of weights and measures about why the stone is no longer (if it ever was) used in the US as a measure of weight. I'm hoping he might be able to shed some light on this interesting question as I can't find any explanation.

I will let everyone know if and when I receive an answer.

 

[2322]

Agreed that it is not correct to use the term imperial for customary measurement in the US.

A US liquid gallon is 231 cubic inches, 3.785 liters, the Imperial gallon is 277.42 cubic inches, 4.546 liters.

Britain and the empire used to use the gallon we still use, it was increased in size in the 19th c to make a pint of water weigh a pound avourdupois.

All US measures are defined by international metric standards, since the 19thc.

(and this is the third time I recall this discussion here, the discussion will only be over when people in the US give up using the customary measure)

Apparently the gallon the US uses was a standard British measure once referred to as the Queen Anne wine gallon. Wine was imported to the US using these gallon containers and they were in such wide use that the container was the most familiar to American households. Again, in 1824, the Brits got rid of all the different gallons and settled upon one definition of gallon. America didn't bother to read the memo. This is why the US gallon is smaller.

 

[Rikter8]

What about the amount of cost reduction in our manufacturing for commonization among global business units?

The metric system is pretty much the standard now just because it's much easier to communicate in a fast-growing global economy, at least in the engineering world.

There's alot of money to be saved by commonization.
When you look at a print, the standard is in millimeters, unless otherwise specified. It's now "Common sense" by nearly every business I have dealt with.

It would be one thing if it was just us, on our side of the pond. But it isn't anymore.

This is a global society. A global society needs certain common grounds.

 

[deleted3782]

I love metrics. I can convert temps pretty easily now without thinking about it, and I have a good grasp of kph's. The meter thing is still hard (though I know the length of my wang in metric) and weight/volume remains a mystery to me.

I wonder why Myanmar and Liberia are the only others to have held on to Imperial?

 

[2322]

If money and commerce were the point of life and more important than the people who engage in it, then yeah Rikter, I'd say you're right. There are many things in life more important than money and not being reduced to some common denominator in the name of a buck is one of them.

 

[2322]

The US has been on the metric standard since the 1800s but the political backlash of actually forcing people to adopt it is so great that there are no enforcement provisions in the laws.

 

[Jovial]

OK, I propose that on LPSG that all penis measurements be given in centimeters from now on. Instant ban for violating this policy.

 

[Mem]

I wonder why Myanmar and Liberia are the only others to have held on to Imperial?

Stubborn like us.

 

[prepstudinsc]

OK, I propose that on LPSG that all penis measurements be given in centimeters from now on. Instant ban for violating this policy.

I am 24 cm.

 

[ManlyBanisters]

We in the US don't know everything, we in the US don't always have the best ideas, we in the US need to learn to be a little more humble sometimes and stop the xenophobia.
(and if you don't like it, you can suck my 25cm dick! :tongue

I am 24 cm.

Having an off day today, are we love? :wink::tongue:

 

[Catchoftheday]

I think the reason Americans don't like metric is because they can't spell the words. Litre Metre :wink:

 

[vince]

The reason Yanks are more sensitive is because the insults are not infrequently followed by attempts at physical harm.

Oh come on... I've traveled all over the place and lived in Turkey for seven years and I know lots of Americans here and in Europe and haven't met anyone or even heard any stories about Americans getting beaten. It might happen but it's not like it's commonplace or anything. I'm sure we could go digging and find some stories about innocent tourists getting whacked, but we'd find the same happens in the USA.

The insults we trade are teasing among friends anyways. The Yanks are just more likely to get huffy about it is all I'm saying.

My dick is 0.111 fathoms long

 

[Hellboy0]

Look. I was educated as an Engineer so I'm not an idiot. But I just can't 'see' or estimate sizes, volumes or weights in metric. It really shits me, too, cuz I should be able to.

I chalk it up to the same problem folks have when learning a second language: I gotta stop translating all the time and just get into thinking in the new language. Or in this case, just ignore the English system for awhile until it all makes sense.

I'm hopeless when buying clothes here in Australia. We got things sized from all over the planet so I get European size, US sizes, even UK sizes. I tend to solicit HEAPS of help from the shop keepers... the cuter ones, especially.

 

[ruggero]

psst it's MATHEMATICS (plural) so the abbreviation is Maths ( plural = with an 'S') once you've mastered that concept you might move on to metrification.

 

[ManlyBanisters]

Oh, don't be such a fucking snob. 'Maths' v 'math' is not a right or wrong thing - it's a dialectical difference and has no bearing on the conversation.

 

[Hellboy0]

Oh, don't be such a fucking snob. 'Maths' v 'math' is not a right or wrong thing - it's a dialectical difference and has no bearing on the conversation.

:biggrin1: I love these conversations.

 

[vince]

Look. I was educated as an Engineer so I'm not an idiot. But I just can't 'see' or estimate sizes, volumes or weights in metric. It really shits me, too, cuz I should be able to.

I chalk it up to the same problem folks have when learning a second language: I gotta stop translating all the time and just get into thinking in the new language. Or in this case, just ignore the English system for awhile until it all makes sense.

I'm hopeless when buying clothes here in Australia. We got things sized from all over the planet so I get European size, US sizes, even UK sizes. I tend to solicit HEAPS of help from the shop keepers... the cuter ones, especially.

It's just a matter of using it everyday over time. You're right about the stop translating bit. I still do it, but not so much. On long road trips I convert distances back and forth in my head, estimating the time to arrival and miles per gallon vs Litres per 100 kilometres. It passes the time.

I don't understand why we state fuel economy in Litres per 100 kilometres. K's per litre is so much more sensible.

I know what you mean about the clothing sizes! It's a pain and I cant make sense of all the systems. Often the clothes will have US, UK Euro, and Japanese size codes together on the tags.