Well Nasa is full of egg heads. We all know smart people have no common sense, which could have been used to save all that money! And of course it isn't broken. Hey, the baby boomer generation are almost all out. The next generation is almost fully embedded in the societal ranks to help bring some changes to the country. We just need the government to get rid of the old timers and put the next generation in so it can actually happen. Change won't happen until they are gone, no matter how hard anyone tries.

Like I said, I use both and don't care which stays because I'm competent enough to use both. The metric system still won't be adopted in America for decades. I'd be willing to wager the next number system used here will be a completely new one. A change could revitalize he economy of the US with all the work it would create changing everything. Billions would need to be spent to make it happen...wait, that's how to fix the economy! I think we've just stumbled into something brilliant! >> ^gwiz665:

Like I said before: only in America.
Miscalculations are prevalent when both systems are in place, exactly because of the way you describe - you just punch in the numbers and change the units - you just cost nasa $175 mil, because it wasn't clear which was used.
"If it ain't broken, don't fix it" Sure, but it's fucking broken!
We need the old generation that cling to this to die out, so new people can come along and bring a whole new wave of rebirth to your country - because if it continues this way, it won't exist for long!
>> ^Sigh:
The only reason metric was adopted in Europe was so everyone could count on their fingers and toes.
To the actual topic, what's the difference with how computers are in almost every aspect of life. Calculations done by hand are a thing of the past. The only thing people are interested in is the answer. If a scientist is working in his lab and something comes out in feet and inches, he uses that. If its in meters, he uses that. You think he cares what his measurements units are? No. He cares about the results. Saying miscalculations are more prevalent in computers using non-metric systems would be as dumb as this argument.
If computers didn't run our lives metric would make sense. I'm an engineer, base 10 systems exist everywhere around us and I use it everyday. Why did feet and inches survive? Computers. If I have something measured in inches, I put the inches into the computer and change the units. Does it make it harder for me to hit enter to get my answer? Not at all.
If armageddon comes and sends us back to the stone age maybe metric will be used everywhere. It's not about stubbornness. It's about a lack of caring. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Since everyone in the US mainly uses it, they won't change it. If they did change it, aside from making new tape measures and thermometers, it wouldn't make a difference. Life would go on. You think people are going to buy new tape measures and thermometers just because some frog says so? Think again.
From another applied standpoint, buildings, roads and almost all construction is based off the Imperial system. Sheetrock is 4 feet, studs in a wall are made to fit this. Ceiling, 2x4s and roof supports are all made based on this system. That's another change of an entire industry of materials.
Practical application does not outweigh financial investment. At least not in today's world.

Like I said before: only in America.

Miscalculations are prevalent when both systems are in place, exactly because of the way you describe - you just punch in the numbers and change the units - you just cost nasa $175 mil, because it wasn't clear which was used.

"If it ain't broken, don't fix it" Sure, but it's fucking broken!

We need the old generation that cling to this to die out, so new people can come along and bring a whole new wave of rebirth to your country - because if it continues this way, it won't exist for long!

>> ^Sigh:

The only reason metric was adopted in Europe was so everyone could count on their fingers and toes.
To the actual topic, what's the difference with how computers are in almost every aspect of life. Calculations done by hand are a thing of the past. The only thing people are interested in is the answer. If a scientist is working in his lab and something comes out in feet and inches, he uses that. If its in meters, he uses that. You think he cares what his measurements units are? No. He cares about the results. Saying miscalculations are more prevalent in computers using non-metric systems would be as dumb as this argument.
If computers didn't run our lives metric would make sense. I'm an engineer, base 10 systems exist everywhere around us and I use it everyday. Why did feet and inches survive? Computers. If I have something measured in inches, I put the inches into the computer and change the units. Does it make it harder for me to hit enter to get my answer? Not at all.
If armageddon comes and sends us back to the stone age maybe metric will be used everywhere. It's not about stubbornness. It's about a lack of caring. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Since everyone in the US mainly uses it, they won't change it. If they did change it, aside from making new tape measures and thermometers, it wouldn't make a difference. Life would go on. You think people are going to buy new tape measures and thermometers just because some frog says so? Think again.
From another applied standpoint, buildings, roads and almost all construction is based off the Imperial system. Sheetrock is 4 feet, studs in a wall are made to fit this. Ceiling, 2x4s and roof supports are all made based on this system. That's another change of an entire industry of materials.
Practical application does not outweigh financial investment. At least not in today's world.

The only reason metric was adopted in Europe was so everyone could count on their fingers and toes.

To the actual topic, what's the difference with how computers are in almost every aspect of life. Calculations done by hand are a thing of the past. The only thing people are interested in is the answer. If a scientist is working in his lab and something comes out in feet and inches, he uses that. If its in meters, he uses that. You think he cares what his measurements units are? No. He cares about the results. Saying miscalculations are more prevalent in computers using non-metric systems would be as dumb as this argument.

If computers didn't run our lives metric would make sense. I'm an engineer, base 10 systems exist everywhere around us and I use it everyday. Why did feet and inches survive? Computers. If I have something measured in inches, I put the inches into the computer and change the units. Does it make it harder for me to hit enter to get my answer? Not at all.

If armageddon comes and sends us back to the stone age maybe metric will be used everywhere. It's not about stubbornness. It's about a lack of caring. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Since everyone in the US mainly uses it, they won't change it. If they did change it, aside from making new tape measures and thermometers, it wouldn't make a difference. Life would go on. You think people are going to buy new tape measures and thermometers just because some frog says so? Think again.

From another applied standpoint, buildings, roads and almost all construction is based off the Imperial system. Sheetrock is 4 feet, studs in a wall are made to fit this. Ceiling, 2x4s and roof supports are all made based on this system. That's another change of an entire industry of materials.

Practical application does not outweigh financial investment. At least not in today's world.

@NetRunner
The only reason we should stay with seconds, minutes and hours, days and nights, months and years, is convenience. The clock is, as far as I know, universally accepted so changing it to something arbitrarily would be silly. People have tried changing it (remember Beat? ) but people like their 12h clocks too much. I'm not in favor of changing that either, because switching from one arbitrary system to another for the sole reason of homogenizing seems silly to me.

AM/PM is not a huge deal for me either, I just don't like it.

Imperial vs. metric system is a big deal though. There are concrete disadvantages to using two different systems alongside each other (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_system#Conversion_and_calculation_errors ). Now, I would accept a compromise of a third measurement system that was based on something a little more universal (planck scale?) which would probably make everyone unhappy, but of the two existing systems Metric is far more adopted and makes quite a bit more sense internally. Yes, it's also pretty arbitrary - 1 meters is something like 1 degree-second on the earths equator or something like that, can't remember how it was made) but internally it's easy to calculate.

People are being stubborn and pig-headed for no good reason, and not just in the US. In Denmark lots of people vote against the Euro for the sole reason that it "makes it hard to figure out what something costs". Familiarity is sadly a powerful force.

For the youngest country in the world, you sure are pretty bound in traditions. You'd think as the new kid on the block, you would want to stay hip and fresh. You started out so well and, with notable exceptions, it's just gone downhill from there.

I'll support your metric revolution as soon as you get on it.

@gwiz665 well, explain to me why we should stick with seconds, minutes, and hours?

I mean, 1 minute = 60 seconds, 1 hour = 60 minutes, and 1 day = 24 hours. Why not come up with a metric second, so that 1 minute = 100 seconds, 1 hour = 100 minutes, and 1 day = 10 hours?

While we're at it, why not change the calendar to have 10 months, and move the leap day to the last day of the year? Religious tradition?

I'm not arguing that the Imperial units make more sense (they clearly do not), but they're no less viable as an effective unit of measure -- it's not as if the length of a foot changes from time to time based on some idiosyncratic process.

I'd be all for us switching over to metrics, but I suspect it'd face massive resistance if we ever tried to officially move to the metric system.

We're weird about these kinds of things. Which is to say a huge portion of our population is massively xenophobic and anti-european, deeply paranoid about government, and deeply attached to an odd sense of traditionalism (i.e. we're sticking to the British Imperial units the British don't use anymore because the Founding Fathers used them, and that's the American way!).

The rest of us don't really see why metrics would be worth fighting all that for.

I'm hoping we can cure our populace of those sorts of motivations, or at least marginalize those ways of thinking, but I don't expect that to happen any time soon.

*shakes fist*
Ounce makes no sense
Pounds make no sense
Miles make no sense
AM/PM is stupid
Fahrenheit makes no sense - 32F is the freezing point, wtf?

It is colloquially adopted everywhere EXCEPT certain third world countries and the US... goddamit, get with the program!


>> ^NetRunner:

>> ^gwiz665:
Americans should change it, like they should change to the metric system and a 24h clock.
No thanks.
When it's 30 degrees outside, it's cold, not hot.
It's never 13 o'clock. Never.
A woman with 36-24-36 measurements is hot, not a circus midget.
Someone who weighs 100 something is petite, not huge.
Never mind automotive stuff, mph to kph, converting horsepower to kilowatts, torque from foot-pounds to newton-meters, miles per gallon to kilometers per liter (or worse, the crazy liters per 100km thing some countries use).
Metrics are fine for engineering, but I just don't see it being adopted colloquially anytime soon.

>> ^gwiz665:

Americans should change it, like they should change to the metric system and a 24h clock.

No thanks.

When it's 30 degrees outside, it's cold, not hot.

It's never 13 o'clock. Never.

A woman with 36-24-36 measurements is hot, not a circus midget.

Someone who weighs 100 something is petite, not huge.

Never mind automotive stuff, mph to kph, converting horsepower to kilowatts, torque from foot-pounds to newton-meters, miles per gallon to kilometers per liter (or worse, the crazy liters per 100km thing some countries use).

Metrics are fine for engineering, but I just don't see it being adopted colloquially anytime soon.

Americans should change it, like they should change to the metric system and a 24h clock. Dammit, this is why you can't have nice things!

I play football at 13:30 by the centimeters and that's the way I likes it!!

>> ^jubuttib:

>> ^Avokineok:
shot at a target at 61 m/s (which is about 150 Mph?) (Americans should start using the metric system.. )

More like 136 mph. I don't think that sequence shows slightly less deformation, I think that's vastly less. Makes me doubt this video actually.

indeed, these picture sequences show, what i would expect, a more realistic ball deformation. golf balls don't feel soft and bouncy enough to flatten out like in the video.

>> ^Avokineok:

shot at a target at 61 m/s (which is about 150 Mph?) (Americans should start using the metric system.. )


More like 136 mph. I don't think that sequence shows slightly less deformation, I think that's vastly less. Makes me doubt this video actually.

I looked at a scientific study and it actually seems to be a real vid..!

In the picture below a golf ball was shot at a target at 61 m/s (which is about 150 Mph?) (Americans should start using the metric system.. )

http://www.springerlink.com/content/936p5m7481450164/MediaObjects/11340_2008_9156_Fig2_HTML.gif

The deformation seems slightly less than in this video, but still it deform a lot..

>> ^therealblankman:
>> ^choggie:
Fuck man...If it wasn't so friggin cold I'd rethink expatriation to the sub-tropics

Cold? What the hell you talking about? It's the middle of February, we're hosting the Winter Olympics, but there isn't even enough snow on the friggin' mountains to make a Margarita, let alone down here in the city where it's sunny and 15 degrees- 59 for you Metric-system handicapped 'mericans.
I was golfing yesterday, my skin warmed by the sun, surrounded by beautiful Cherry blossoms and watching gorgeous long-legged tennis players sweat and grunt through a match.
Cold he says. Cheez, what's a brother want.


A Vancouverite's definition of cold is when you can't go outside in your underwear to chase off the street kid trying to break into your Jetta.

>> ^choggie:
Fuck man...If it wasn't so friggin cold I'd rethink expatriation to the sub-tropics


Cold? What the hell you talking about? It's the middle of February, we're hosting the Winter Olympics, but there isn't even enough snow on the friggin' mountains to make a Margarita, let alone down here in the city where it's sunny and 15 degrees- 59 for you Metric-system handicapped 'mericans.

I was golfing yesterday, my skin warmed by the sun, surrounded by beautiful Cherry blossoms and watching gorgeous long-legged tennis players sweat and grunt through a match.

Cold he says. Cheez, what's a brother want.

i agree, and i would prefer the dd/mm/yy format. (not because thats the one i use but because imho its the most logical - or even better yyyy/mm/dd - hh*:mm:ss *0-24

same for the metric system btw.

In reply to this comment by MrFisk:
That's rich!

In reply to this comment by Fusionaut:
Be careful Americans... pretty soon you'll be using the metric system!