Metric system dumbs us down.

[Dave22q]

Going metric was a great idea but the idiots who tried to impose it here forgot human nature. I had lots of fun building a couple of metric bridges in Florida. Much of my time was spent translating metric back to American for real people who last saw a classroom 10, 20 or 30 years earlier. The rest was in ripping work out and redoing because somebody blew a measurement. Change is a lot harder then you might expect.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Smokeys Kitchen

The skit from the Canadian comedy person was great!

Here is a tidbit on how we came to have certain measurements or standards and what implications they have had going forward. Kind of a long post; maybe better in the joke thread; and I apologize if it's been put up before. And no, I did not validate this, but its pretty funny and kind of makes sense. (note the accompanying photos did not come through on the copy)..


Who Knew? All makes sense in the end as you will clearly see

Railroad tracks.

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.
Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates designed the US railroads.

Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used. Why did 'they' use that gauge then?

Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?
Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England , because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads?

Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.
And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels.

Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore, the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. In other words, bureaucracies live forever.
So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process, and wonder, 'What horse's ass came up with this?' , you may be exactly right.
Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.)

It's been noted the Romans used to drive on the left. So all of Europe drove on the left until Napoleon Bonaparte invaded them, and dictated that everyone must now drive on the right - just to be contrary. (He never got to Britain, so they stayed to the left.)

So for a lot of the world, not only the width of the road, but the side you drive on was dictated by a horse's arse.

[JPA Cate]

Jason,

If you learned in school that "a mile" is 5,280 ft, then learning that a nautical mile is 6,000 ft. is easy. It is really strange how some arithmetical things are easier to know than others.

Ann

[Wotname]

6 pages and most of you don't even know what you are talking about. The metric system does not dumb you down. Let's start with a simple observation about the unit of length. When you think metric, I note most of you confuse this with a measuring gadget. I believe that until USA folk understand this and change, you will never ever be allowed into the metric world.

The metric unit of length is the metre; it isn't a meter - that is instrument that measures something. Similarly the unit of volume is the litre.

So carry on as much as you like but until you have mastered the metre, you are living in a fantasy land.

[Mirage35]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

True. But why is wine denoted as 750 ml in Canada and the USA? We don’t see a lot of use of the “cl” unit. Seems we prefer “ml”. Anyone know why?

As for “pints”, I usually ask for a pint of beer when I go to a pub. Of course in many places in Canada and USA the “pint” they serve often bears little resemblance to a real pint.

Skipping a couple of pages, so I apologize if there are already more intelligent comments.

What I learned was "engineering" units, and they seem to be what's in common use in Canada at least. Those are in jumps of a thousand, so litres-millilitres, meters-kilometers, grams-kilograms, and so on. I see centi- and deci- in Europe, but not here.

This is the kind of thing engineers do to simplify their lives so that they can head off sooner to the pub for a pint .

[Mirage35]

Originally Posted by StuM

Assuming that's a 42 US gallon oil barrel, I'd just multiply the feet by the miles and multiply the result by 9692.


(1 ft = .3048 metres, 1 mile = 1609.34 m, 1 barrel = 159 litres
1 ft-mile of pipe = .3048 * 1609.34 * pi = 1541 cubic metres =1,541,000 litres
1,541,000/159 = 9,691.8 barrels )

Yeah, well, one of the things I learned is that there are at least three different definitions of "barrel" in common use in the oil industry.

Edit: Just got caught up - Deblen beat me to it.

[Van Der Beek]

The English system has it's place.

The French system has it's place.

I will agree with the Metric system "dumbing" us down a bit thou.

[PPLepew]

OK, here's a challenge:

I give you a cylinder or barrel, 37" tall, 15" diameter, a piece of paper, a pencil and a basic calculator (mult, div, plus, minus, Pi). No conversion tables or assumed water density. You have to tell me how much it weighs when filled with water.

A European kid does this in no time with a metric ruler.

[Ozifrog]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

I find the imperial system easier. Think about it. It's basically base 8 - octal - like computers use.

Example: Cup, pint, half-gallon, quart, gallon. Easy.

Funny thing about Canada. All through the Maritimes last year I paid for slips and line by the foot, and when getting directions it was always in miles. One place even asked how many gallons of fuel I needed, even though the pump read liters. Only thing that messed me up was trying to buy deli meats in grams. Wonder what would have happened if I asked for a half-pound?

Oh dear ... my friend you are sorely mistaken. Here is an example... How much does a pint or a quart of water weigh. Exactly very precisely. A liter of water well dang.... it weighs exactly one kilo and 1000 liters exactly a tonne which is exactly 1 cubic meter. It's SO much easier. May take a little brain elasticity to get a feeling for it but I'm sure you could.
PS what's between 1/8th and 3/16th? .... what's between 3mm and 5mm? Lead has a specific gravity of 12 so a litre weighs 22 kgs. Now that wasn't to hard was it.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Ozifrog

Oh dear ... my friend you are sorely mistaken......... Lead has a specific gravity of 12 so a litre weighs 22 kgs. Now that wasn't to hard was it.

Yep, sorely mistaken

Try - Lead has a specific gravity of 12 so a litre weighs 12 kgs

Now that wasn't to hard was it.

[IdoraKeeper]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

There we are just being obstinate in general not against any measurement system. The dollar bill is not an even number of metric or standard units of measurement nor are any of the coins.

Example: Dollar Bill - Width. 6.14 inches ≈ 156.1 mm. Height. 2.61 inches ≈ 66.3 mm

If you are referring to the numeric value of bills and coins, you are confusing the decimal (base 10) numbering system with metric units of measurement.

Its completely correct to say standard sheet of plywood (4x8' in USA) is 10.01110 meters on the long side if using binary numbers. While decimal is certainly more convenient, there is no requirement that metric measurements be in decimal numbering. Our currency is a function not of the metric system but of decimal system.

Eh? What you talking about? We still have Pence in the USA. You think we're backward and foolish?

[Jason Flare]

It's so easy it's dumbing you down.

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by PPLepew

OK, here's a challenge:

I give you a cylinder or barrel, 37" tall, 15" diameter, a piece of paper, a pencil and a basic calculator (mult, div, plus, minus, Pi). No conversion tables or assumed water density. You have to tell me how much it weighs when filled with water.

A European kid does this in no time with a metric ruler.

Oh come on... everyone knows that a unit of volume equal to 6548 11/25 cubic inch is equal to a fnurf, and a fnurf of water is about 107Kg !

[markpierce]

A meter is a long yard.

A kilometer is 6/10ths of a mile

A liter is a large quart.

Highly doubt those of British blood will give up the pint (half a quart)!

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by markpierce

A meter is a long yard.



A kilometer is 6/10ths of a mile



A liter is a large quart.



Highly doubt those of British blood will give up the pint (half a quart)!

Sometimes a Pint is the only unit of measure that makes sense.. either side of the pond!

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