Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
There are a lot of money involved in a switch such as this, and right now, I feel that there are more pressing issues to attend to.
While Metric might be 'better' in a standardized or scientific sense, the Imperial system is much more 'descriptive'. They are not mutually exclusive.
True, the money spent on metrication will jump start our economy again. Besides getting out of the slump, this is the perfect time to switch especially when science is not a field Americans have been interested in recently. The decline in scientific advancement from the U.S. could end with the future knowing the language of science before entering the science lab. The Colonial system is a barrier to understanding science!
Liberals wonder why creationism is also as popular as evolution. I'll just point out that most people understand metric like ounces. (The fluid oz and the solid oz are not well used. The fluid oz is superseded by the compound system--pints, quarts, gallon--and the solid oz is superseded by fractions. Just look at the grocery store scale; it's divided into 1/4 lb, 1/2 lb, and 3/4 lb. Do you know how many fl oz are in a pint? A: 16 fl oz.) Now you wonder why most people have a hard time understanding science?
About the pressing issue, is switching from analog TV to digital TV a pressing issue? Billions of dollars have been spent to change the way we watch TV. Has that been a waste so far since the economy is in shambles (no one can really afford that energy-hogging flat panel TV) and there is a war still going on?
Actually I'm not free to use it to my hearts content. Everything by default comes in Colonial. I can't get temperatures in Celsius except when I'm watching ABC 13. The scales are switchable and the measuring cups have a lot of lines just to accommodate Colonial. If this was English vs. Spanish, there would be a brawl by now.
Oh please, can't you figure out in your head how to get from Fahrenheit to Celsius? It's not that hard. And why do you have to do it anyway? Aren't you bright enough to figure out that anything below 32F is freezing?
Quote:
Originally Posted by KerrTown
The fact that we use miles is a safety issue. People from Mexico City and other parts of Mexico and Canada (Calgary comes to mind) are moving to Houston and their cars are in km/h only. I almost rear-ended one car from Mexico City after leaving the Galleria because he was going slow. The signs only show the Colonial speed limit and the laws are based on Colonial measures. The only metric speed limit signs in Houston are at the airports and the Medical Center/Museum District and they are black/white signs and not rounded numbers. I doubt that one can accurately measure 64 km/h in an analog speedometer. (It boggles the mind why they in isolated districts. How does one drive a foreign car get from the airport to the Museum District without guessing the speed limit in km/h?) Why are we ruled by the King's foot? I thought this was a republic(..or so I thought!)?
Sorry, if someone from another country is driving in the US, it's up to that person to change to our system and not the other way around. Again, it's not that hard to figure out how many kilometers equal one mile. If you're not bright enough to figure it out in your head, then you probably have no business driving a car in the first place.
Now I guess you'll say that we should also have all of our road signs in Spanish to accommodate all those drivers from Mexico.
How about we drive on the other side of the road to accommodate British drivers over here.
Honestly, we do things differently than the rest of the world. There's no urgent reason to switch to Metric or change anything we do. Should every country use the Euro? Should we switch to pounds? No. It'll make things easier. But really there's no point. When you travel to a foreign country you have to figure those things out. Us changing to the metric system won't make converting money or figuring out the rules of the road in other countries easier.
I work for a logistics company and I have to deal a lot with the rest of the world. how often has cargo not been loaded because somebody messed up the kg-weight with the lbs-weight on the shipping documents etc...
USA should convert to the metric!! PLZZZZZZZZZZZ I hate Imperial system, it doesn't make sence....
it makes plenty of sence if you were raised and educated with it. why should we change something that everyone knows and likes? i see no need for this. people always try to change things that are perfectly fine. why? just let it be.
The imperial system is so stupid and counter-intuitive. God, I hate it. Def change to the metric system!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
