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Old 07-14-2014, 12:35 PM
 
43,011 posts, read 107,831,238 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Moby Hick View Post
I bet all the runners know.
Yep. All swimmers know what meters are too.
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Old 07-14-2014, 02:53 PM
 
1,445 posts, read 1,967,333 times
Reputation: 1190
The US is the only major country in the world that doesn't use the metric system. We were all set to convert in the early eighties when that idiot Reagan cancelled the program.
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Old 07-14-2014, 08:42 PM
 
5,894 posts, read 6,860,895 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneW View Post
The US is the only major country in the world that doesn't use the metric system. We were all set to convert in the early eighties when that idiot Reagan cancelled the program.
It was heavily lobbied against by manufacturers who rightfully concluded that the cost of changing the entirety of the United States's engineering and industrial production data set from the FPS to metric system would be staggering without much upside benefit from doing so (foreign manufacturers on the other hand would benefit greatly).

And of course not every major country has embraced every metric unit of measurement.
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Old 07-14-2014, 08:50 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
7,541 posts, read 10,230,060 times
Reputation: 3510
Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneW View Post
The US is the only major country in the world that doesn't use the metric system. We were all set to convert in the early eighties when that idiot Reagan cancelled the program.
The United States uses the metric system all of the time.

And not just in the world of science.


Our booze in sold in liter bottles, our cigarettes are measured in millimeters and our cocaine is peddled by the key (kilogram).
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Old 07-15-2014, 12:22 PM
 
Location: South Hills
632 posts, read 850,922 times
Reputation: 432
I remember in the 70's WTAE had a locally produced morning show called AM Pittsburgh.
The two hosts, Al McDowell and Lynn Hinds, would walk you through the calculation of how
to convert the current temperature to metric at the end of the weather forecast every day.
(Degrees C x 9/5 +32 = Degrees F).

All to prepare us for the big Shift to Metric that never came.
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Old 07-15-2014, 01:03 PM
 
Location: Washington, DC
273 posts, read 347,433 times
Reputation: 240
I just need to know how to say "8 inches" in metric. ;->
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Old 07-16-2014, 11:28 AM
 
Location: South Hills
632 posts, read 850,922 times
Reputation: 432
Quote:
Originally Posted by GeneW View Post
The US is the only major country in the world that doesn't use the metric system. We were all set to convert in the early eighties when that idiot Reagan cancelled the program.
After massive pushback from the American public which quickly decided it did not want this.
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Old 07-16-2014, 11:57 AM
 
65 posts, read 87,508 times
Reputation: 58
Quote:
Originally Posted by UKyank View Post
It was heavily lobbied against by manufacturers who rightfully concluded that the cost of changing the entirety of the United States's engineering and industrial production data set from the FPS to metric system would be staggering without much upside benefit from doing so (foreign manufacturers on the other hand would benefit greatly).

And of course not every major country has embraced every metric unit of measurement.

PennDOT spent a lot of money to due the conversion, then switched back.
Observer-Reporter - Google News Archive Search

The costs were quite expensive and if every thing in the US switched to full metric, it would be very very expensive. Simple things like your height and weight, everywhere it is recorded would have to be changed. The mile markers on the highway and many signs (as often exit numbers and mile markers are related) would be switched. And EVERY speed limit sign would be changed. In reality the units and conversions we deal with most of the time are quite simple, inches to feet to miles, etc. We shouldn't spend a whole lot of money just to be like "everybody" else. Most math and science related fields use whatever units work best for them and that's perfectly fine.
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Old 07-16-2014, 12:44 PM
 
1,445 posts, read 1,967,333 times
Reputation: 1190
If we'd done it thirty years ago, we'd be long past the transition by now and most of the country would barely remember the idiotic system we use now.
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