I kinda wish they would... and I live here. It would just be easier I think, and makes more sense.
Agreed. I decided to work with metric anyways ;). It's always kind of funny when I tell people that it's hot when it's 30 degrees and that the time is 16h15 (I realize that 24 clocks aren't really a metric thing, but they make more sense than this AM/PM nonsense and so far as I know they are more prevalent in metric countries.) and they have no idea what I'm talking about. It can lead to some pretty funny discussions.
Because we're stubborn and have a persistent "not invented here" phobia. :P
- Oshyan
I agree with Old Blaggard on the 24 hour clock. makes alot more sense, and is quite easy to get used to. I "converted" over to that format a few years ago (atleast on the clocks I own that support it).
I would love do go to a metric system, though I think the reason is because of all the machinery would have to be switched to the metric system as well. So that means every thing that you see with the imperial system on it would have to be switched and the thing that makes it would.
Quote from: Oshyan on August 24, 2007, 01:22:24 PM
Because we're stubborn and have a persistent "not invented here" phobia. :P
- Oshyan
ahahaha ;D
I don't see what is so difficult twelve midnight (00.00) to 12 Midday (12.00) is morning, 12 midday (12.00) to half past 6 (18.30) is afternoon half past 6 (18.30) to 9 (19.00) is evening and 9 (19.00) to midnight (00.00) is night.
Regards to you.
Cyber-Angel
what does AM stand for, I know PM is like post-meridian (sp?)
Ante-meridian. Not the "anti" that means "opposite" but the "ante" that means before.
I think it is safe to say that our whole infrastructure is built upon the use of imperial measurement. I would assume that it will be hard to just "switch over". Take for instance our home improvement stores. The simple task of switching measurement systems would take years. Not only does the store have to switch (which is the easy part) but now all of its customers also have to understand the conversions from their old parts to the new system. It would be an undertaking.
Witht aht being said I also would like the US to go to a metric system ;).
We need a compromise: The Universal Unit System (or UUS in acronym form) would be both widely accepted and at the same time highly confusing to convert units. It has a little of both.
I like working with metric values a lot better, but I also think that switch would be too drastic and hard to implement. The only way that it could be done would be to phase it in, starting with tools or some such aspect of life that could be changed with relative ease and eventually progress toward an entirely metric system.
It would definitely be a long-term process, a generational thing at least (so over a 10-20 year period). It would have to be led by the government, top-down, but it could work, it is possible...
- Oshyan
The two systems could be used simultaneously. This is how the Euro was introduced to the Germans. Every price tag was in Deutsche Mark (DM) and Euro (€). I think now after several years has everyone got used to it.
So when a politician comes along and announces he will change to the metric system, well he has my vote! :D
Quote from: RealUser on August 25, 2007, 05:08:49 AM
The two systems could be used simultaneously. This is how the Euro was introduced to the Germans. Every price tag was in Deutsche Mark (DM) and Euro (€). I think now after several years has everyone got used to it.
Yes, exactly.
- Oshyan
Well, we use non-metrics, too. When buying adapters for my hose, water system,, everything is 1/2", 3/4" and so on.
Quote from: Oshyan on August 24, 2007, 11:29:54 PM
It would have to be led by the government, top-down, but it could work, it is possible...
i dunno. i may be showing my age, but this was tried once back in the carter administration (mid-late '70's). gov't fiat, everything must change. after a couple of years it just died on the vine. pfft!
resistance to change is a human trait, not a national one imho. coupled with the defined powers of the federal gov't and each of the 50 states and you've got a laughable failure.
Yeah, I know it was tried. I don't know why it failed though. My guess is it just wasn't mandated strongly enough. There have been plenty of other government-mandated upgrades/changes (high definition TV is but the latest). It's certainly possible...
- Oshyan
mmm hey aren't europeans still buying pints of beer at the pub?
pints aren't metric....
There is also just the fact the America is pretty big and we would have to replace about half the road signs. let along the mile marks for highways.
@n810 ... only the silly Britains do that.
@Will ... this is how to get rid of unemployment for some period.
^ ;D
Brilliant!
Quote from: BPauba on August 25, 2007, 11:50:00 AM
So when a politician comes along and announces he will change to the metric system, well he has my vote! :D
But he/she would also lose the votes of millions of "home town style" contractors. ;D
Moodflow .. you are supposed to be miles away on holidays! Still sitting in the yard and having pints?
Pints!? Bloody hell. ;D
Quote from: Volker Harun on August 28, 2007, 10:53:55 AM
Moodflow .. you are supposed to be miles away on holidays! Still sitting in the yard and having pints?
lol
Quote from: Volker Harun on August 28, 2007, 10:53:55 AM
Moodflow .. you are supposed to be miles away on holidays! Still sitting in the yard and having pints?
Heheh, actually at home relaxing on the deck 8) Too bad there is no surf or I'd be out in the water!
Still have a chance to check the forums now and then, but since my home office is being used by guests, I can't do any TG2 work.
Ohh, and about the pint: Since I'm a "lightweight", a pint would put me under! Even my wife can drink more than me...so I just have a few sips now and then. Cheap date I guess.
When I used to drink - and this is now more than 10 years ago - you were not allowed to leave without having 4 to 5 half litres of brewed stuff.
Well, I guess that's Germany for you ;).
Quote from: Volker Harun on August 29, 2007, 10:54:12 AM
When I used to drink - and this is now more than 10 years ago - you were not allowed to leave without having 4 to 5 half litres of brewed stuff.
A simple 6 PK of Corona has always been sufficient, any more and I feel it the next day ;D
A little wine is sufficient. Or rum. Or Italian liquor. Or beer.
Quote from: Volker Harun on August 29, 2007, 10:54:12 AM
When I used to drink - and this is now more than 10 years ago - you were not allowed to leave without having 4 to 5 half litres of brewed stuff.
With that amount - I'd be dead!
What the? Volker is from Germany? I thought he was from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!! ;D
LOL ;D
The thing with the Germans and their excessive consumption of alcohol (predominantly beer) - I think it's a clichée that we're drinking so much more than anybody else.
Yes, we do like to drink beer, but all of us still like to get back home upright.
I have plenty opportunities of hosting guest from the US, and we always take them out in the evening, to beer gardens most of the time. Except those that do not drink anyhting at all, we're having a roughly equal amount of drinks.
The only difference I believe is, that the germans have made going out for a beer or five a cultural habit. In Bavaria especially (south of germany), you don't even have to take a pal with you for conversation - it's totally fine to sit down with complete strangers, and the most interesting conversations can derive from that. I love that!
Cheers,
Frank
FrankB, this is wonderful to know and makes sense. I wonder sometimes if Americans like to be different and that is the only reason we make so much about so little. On the other hand, there appears to be a moral misinterpretation leading us to extremism, in my opinion, and when this happens it tends to breed ill behavior. For example, the Prohibition years or dependency upon crude oil.
On the other hand, when Americans go for something really good, we go all the way.
We used to have imperial in the UK. It was before I remember but metric is way better. I would absolutely hate to have to work with imperial. However we use both. Road signs are in miles. The trouble comes when you have to calculate things then metric is much easier to work with.
When I drive into Mexico (which uses the metric system), for distances, I'll take the distance shown on the sign, and then look at my speedometer. Miles on top and KM on bottom, so super easy converter using that method.
Not to hijack my own thread, but other things I've pondered:
Why telephone keypads don't match calculator keypads.
And why some countries drive on opposite sides of the road. A good friend of mine who lives in London says that its really not as hard as you'd think to switch over. But I think if I drove in England, I'd be afraid I'd forget, and cause an accident!
For knights in England, the threat came on the road, on the continent the threat was sitting in the bushes. The swordhand's side was to choose ... just an intuitive guess.
You just posted before me Volker, so I changed my message. Similar content.
One thing is certain, Napoleon forced right hand drive on the roads in every country that France conquered. He was left handed but I don't know if that had any bearing on it. Then some other countries changed over as well but some countries stuck to left hand drive.
Yea looks like they finally given up on trying to convert us ;D
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6988521.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6988521.stm)
Happy day
Richard
Just as well. It's all a commie plot. I mean come on. What is so logical about a system that requires you to multiply inches by 2.54? And so you end up with how many of these 'centipedes' or whatever per foot? What's the point in that?
;) ;D
Our system is good as is, using both. Convicting fruit and veg market stall holders for only using imperial is insanity and changing all our road signs is more insanity. However metric makes much more sense in other ways. Apart from anything else, if some people are making products, especially mechanically engineered things, in metric and others imperial then that's mad and not good for trade.
Well I'm glad they've stopped trying to pressurise us brits. Speaking as a guy who grew up while there was all this tossing and turning between the two ways of measuring things I cannot now use either metric or imperial. They both confuse me :( Also, the pint was invented by Jesus Harold Christ in London, 1337. It was decided to be the perfect size drink to make you comfortably merry (when drank at a reasonable pace, or 'downed' as our booze-culture would call it).
Is THAT what the 'H' stands for!? I've always wondered...
;D
I use both for measuring, partly depending on the distance... but I guess that's because my feet are 1 foot and my arm span is 2m ;) I wonder if my cubit is 50cm?
I grew up during the conversion process so I can quite happily switch between the two but kids today seem to find it confusing learning about a system that is not widely in use, pretty much because they don't need to use the old measurements in their day to day life.
We got a speed limit increase along the way (30mph went to 60km/h in local streets) and it's taken years to bring it back to 50km/h after compiling lots of statistics that the additional 10km/h contributed to a lot of serious injuries/deaths of pedestrians.