Why does the US not use the metric system as its official system of measurement?
>>8099032
special snowflake syndrome
>>8099032
1. Because the cost to change is more than the benefits.
2. Only ones who care are high schoolers who can't into basic conversions.
>>8099032
>Why does the US not use the metric system as its official system of measurement?
What do you mean by "official system of measurement"?
You do know the U.S. Government defines 1 inch as exactly 2.54 cm, right?
And don't forget that nearly every nation on Earth uses a mix of SI, and traditional non-metric units.
Ask a Britbong how much they weigh, and you'll have to Google "stone".
>official measurement
except it does
>>8099085
>using britbongs as an example
wew
It was more important for Jimmy Carter to lower the speed limit to 55mph instead of changing the national measurement system.
>>8099085
You don't really saw much of the world
>>8099125
>>using britbongs as an example
>wew
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_units_of_measurement
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_weights_and_measures
You might not like the Chinese or Indians either, but between them, that's 1/3 of the human race.
Almost everybody but France uses a mix of SI and non-SI units.
Just like America.
>>8099032
why?
this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider
>>8099167
>It was more important for Jimmy Carter to lower the speed limit to 55mph instead of changing the national measurement system.
whynotboth,jpg
If he had done both at the same time, he'd have been lowering the national speed limit to 88kph.
That sounds faster than 55mph, just like "I have a 18cm cock" sounds better than 7 inches.
>>8099180
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider
please stop, that doesn't really help
>>8099032
It does
Weeks, months and years are not Si either.
>>8099032
Why should it? Imperial is just as good as metric.
>>8099281
Obvious sarcasm is obvious, but...
The traditional "eurodates triangle" is pure bullshit.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601
dd/mm/yyyy is completely backwards.
Also, KELVIN is the SI temperature scale NOT Celsius.
>>8099032
stubbornness and a superioity complex
>>8099032
US using metric should be their mandatory part in TTIP
>>8099060
>the cost to change is more than the benefits
Cost: educate people and manufacture new measurement tools
Benefit: enter the 21st century and increase science literacy
>>8099032
Huge amount of industrial capacity all tooled to burger units that would have to be converted over - except we'd also have to keep manufacturing burger-unit parts and tools, because all the existing infrastructure and machinery using them wouldn't just magically vanish and would still need to be maintained, operated, and used with other parts.
Metric is objectively better than Burgerunits, but it's also not *that* much better - like with calendar reform, the benefit is fairly marginal and it's just not worth the inconvenience of switching over.
>>8099286
>Also, KELVIN is the SI temperature scale NOT Celsius.
But when is the last time you saw a Kelvin thermometer?
>>8099314
>Benefit: enter the 21st century and increase science literacy
Metric's just not that much better. Any increase in "science literacy" from being able to write a "k" next to the unit instead of "thousand" and being able to easily inter-convert miles and feet would be marginal, at best. (Generally speaking, units aren't mixed in actual usage - needing to convert feet, miles, and inches doesn't occur often, nor pounds and ounces. You pick a unit and stick with decimal fractions of it.)
>>8099060
>benefits
Planes not crashing bc fuel crew cantin2conversion
>>8099368
Isn't this possibly counteracted by adding literally 20 seconds to the pre-engine start and pre-takeoff checklist?
>talk about cost/benefit fuckup.
>>8099368
If you added up every single error caused by metric/burger fuckups, it would still be less trouble than switching to metric is worth.
>>8099368
That's actually pretty funny, because what caused that particular error was the brief confusion during the period where Canada was switching over to metric. It was Air Canada's first plane to use metric measurements, and they hadn't gotten used to it yet.
Air traffic runs on nautical miles, feet and knots. There will be no change.
>>8099179
Here in Finland we use exclusively SI
>>8099368
this
>>8101446
and this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter#Cause_of_failure
>>8099314
We'd have to change every single signpost in the country. It's a big country.
>>8101455
> engineers can't read a spec sheet
yeah shit happens when your device expects 3.3V and you plug in 5V as well.
>>8101473
Canada and Australia managed to do it.
The truth is the US are just lazy fucks.
>>8099286
Kelvin and Celsius is the same unit. The only difference is where 0 is.
Fuck off, non americans. You can't stop Big Uncle Sam from flaunting its own measurements. Stay mad.
>>8101485
> The truth is the US are just lazy fucks.
exactly. we can't even get rid of the penny or first past the post voting system.
>>8099032
The only reason why America can even defend their shitty units is because they are literally the last once to use arbirtrary stupid measuerment systems.
Americans are too ignorant to realize how the world looked like before the metric system came along where EVERYONE had their own way of measuring things.
Converting to metric isn't about convenience or cost efficiency. It should be an international duty.
Or look at Germany where every single county or even every single city used to have their own units of measurement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsolete_German_units_of_measurement
>>8101502
And you believe shit like furloughs and stones is cared about here? Keep your outdated measurements to yourself.
>mfw someone asked me how many liquid oz were in a gallon
Lots of misinformation in this thread. Scientists are clearly not big on history.
In the US, in many places the industrial system (specifically, large industrial machines) were largely produced over a hundred years ago. There are boilers, lathes, and other industrial equipment/machines that were made in America before they were made anywhere else, a long ass time ago that are still being used and maintained. When America was inventing the industrial model in the northeast US (followed by Europeans initially mainly the British and Germans), there was no such thing as SI units. We had our units and we naturally used them. It's not like we planned on being different, we just had the misfortune of being first. International standards came much later.
Fun fact the base 12 numbering system used for feet and inches was actually initially developed in ancient Mesopotamia.
As these large equipment get older and break they are replaced with younger models, most of which have both metric and imperial units. Eventually we will switch over to standard units. I recently got my degree and everything was taught using the metric system, even our scientists understand its benefits. It's literally only old industrialists that insist on using it. Mainly because, as others have stated, it would be too expensive to change.
>>8101500
>implying there is anything meaningfully wrong with FPTP
Lazy all the way to the moon. You're right about the penny though, that's going to have to be killed, and even most Americans have a vague idea that "it's one of those things they'll have to do, eventually.", and more importantly, aren't upset about it because it doesn't inconvenience them in their daily lives as an overhaul of all measurements would.
>>8101506
I don't think you've understood what the above poster is saying. He dislikes arbitrary ancient measurements, and he's happy that they've been extinguished. He's quite happy that you don't care about rods, furloughs etc etc, and he agreew with you. But more than this, he wants to tyrannically impose his own will on all countries "for the greater good", a typically leftist authoritarian personality. Of course has a point about the benefits of standardization, but his justifying rhetoric is bogus.
>>8101673
I will just add one completely unscientific, aesthetic point to this: /centimeters are too damn small/. It is in some definite sense /meaningful/ and /useful/ to have a small-measurement about the size of a knuckle, and a large-measurement about the size of a man's foot. You've always got them in front of you just to spitball anything. Even a cubit is a more wieldy notion than a meter. As for the liter as-divorced from lengths, I have no overt complaints.
I AM NOT A CRACK-POT.
>>8099032
Remember when DVDs came and some people said nobody would use them since they already had a bunch of VHS tapes and perfectly good VHS players?
>>8101800
pretty much a good analogy to the pi v.s. tau debate.
>>8099085
>And don't forget that nearly every nation on Earth uses a mix of SI, and traditional non-metric units.
Are you retarded? Name one country other than britbongistan or some third world shit hole that uses non metric
>>8099060
kys
The same reason they vote for Trump
>>8101396
Everything in Europe except Russia and Britain is France to Americans, can't you socialists get that through your skulls?
>>8099032
>And don't forget that nearly every nation on Earth uses a mix of SI, and traditional non-metric units.
Wow, is it 1500's already? Get your 'facts' straight. There are only 3 countries in the world which DON'T use the metric system.
>>8099032
because no matter what measurement system you use, IT"S STILL FUCKING ARBITRARY YOU DUMB CUNT RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
