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I have a full set of Metric and Inch system mechanics tools, drills and taps, including separate adjustable wrenches. I am happy to not have to include Wentworth as well.
I did have a confusing incident while driving in Canada. I usually take expressway exit ramps faster than posted so when I drove on to a ramp posted for 40 I sailed into it at about 50 mph. About a third of the way through I realized the sign was posted in KPH and I was going about 70 of those. Not a major problem but the tires squealed a bit at the abuse.
The house I'm staying in was built using English units, and whenever replacements were needed, metric replacements were done instead an the house hasn't fallen apart
This doesn't have anything to with structural soundness, it has to do with the huge amount of work and waste. If we were going to try and round out a sheet material to metric that closely matches standard measurement we'd have to go with 2.5m*1.25m, this is slightly larger than 4'*8'.
Let's say you were replacing the sheeting on your roof on a 2000 sq ft. home. That is going to require about 60 sheets of material. If they werte sized in metric like that every one of them is going to have to be cut on at least one side down to a standard measurement. In addition to all this extra work you're running saw needlessly, dulling blades and you have pile of strips on the ground a few inches wide that are now refuse. This same scenario would play out for nearly every structure in this country.
All this for what purpose? You end up with the standard sized sheet of material anyway.
This doesn't have anything to with structural soundness, it has to do with the huge amount of work and waste. If we were going to try and round out a sheet material to metric that closely matches standard measurement we'd have to go with 2.5m*1.25m, this is slightly larger than 4'*8'.
Let's say you were replacing the sheeting on your roof on a 2000 sq ft. home. That is going to require about 60 sheets of material. If they werte sized in metric like that every one of them is going to have to be cut on at least one side down to a standard measurement. In addition to all this extra work you're running saw needlessly, dulling blades and you have pile of strips on the ground a few inches wide that are now refuse. This same scenario would play out for nearly every structure in this country.
All this for what purpose? You end up with the standard sized sheet of material anyway.
And so what? New construction will be done in metric, and old buildings retrofitted wherever practical. You're creating a tempest in a teapot. Every country that has gone even fully metric hasn't had the doom and gloom you're predicting. Your cost concerns are simply not justified. Anybody can throw out numbers out there to say we can't do this, but not a single country in the world has gone bankrupt because of metrification. Hell there were people predicting the end of Britain when they were debating decimalizing the British pound when for centuries it was pounds, shillings, pence, and even more fractional units.
My organization designs and builds and operates scientific instrumentation which is used for satellites, aircraft, balloons and the like. It is really awkward internally when our scientists (who obviously use metric) are working with our engineers and production folks (who for some unknown reason still insist on using imperial units). It is even more embarrassing when we are working with colleagues from the civilized world. For example, I was delivering some instruments that we were going to be integrated into an airborne platform for the French space agency, CNES. Their engineers needed to open the instrument to make some connections, and asked me what size fasteners were used on the housing. The conversation went as follows:
Me: The bolts holding the cover on are 'number 8'.
Francois: You mean 8mm?
Me: No, #8.
Francois: You mean 0.8 inches?
Me: No, #8.
Francois: You crazy Americans, it must be 1/8th of an inch.
Me: Nope, they are just #8.
Francois: *****! I give up.
Me: I will FedEx you a tool to use.
It is in insane that we still use these archaic systems.
Don't even get me started on pipe sizes that have no bearing on any physical measurement.
May God give him strength and power and let's once it for all convert to the Metric system like 99% of the world and get rid of the archaic U.S./Imperial system that does not make any sense in the 21st Century no matter if people are not "used" to it but will in short amount of time because it it so simply based on multiple of 10. Include degrees Fahrenheit switch as well!
Benefits of switching over to the metric system like Canada and Australia did in the 1970s when America was suppose to do the same would outweigh the cost of replacing new signs. With globalization, not using the metric system costs us plenty of money for converting into nonsense "body" language units! Hawaii has a proposed bill that would be the first state switching over to the Metric system by next few years' as well, hopefully it will pass as it makes economic sense!
Heck yes, let's go metric. Lets convert the time measurement first. We don't need a system of measurement that uses 60 seconds to a minute, 60 minutes to an hour, 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, 4 weeks in a month, sometimes 30 days in a month, 12 months in a year . The decades and century's have already gone metric, we just need to convert the others.
Americans are much less likely now to convert to the metric system, than in the 1970s when the movement was much further along. These days, there is much less need for it than back then when calculations, conversions, etc were still mostly done by manual means.
we tried the ''switch over'' to the metric system in the 70's and 80's...it worked only in a few areas
as a mechanic I now have TWICE the amount of tools as previously needed...
some things just don't work...others do
temp..F uses smaller(more accurate) numbers... its easier to use F as to C
milage... miles is better than kilometers...unless you like larger numbers..... somepeople might like to see the speed limit posted at 120kph.... seems faster than saying 75mph.....and its more glorifying to say you ran a 10k, than to say you only did 6.2 miles
tool sizes.... metric is ok... usually easy to convert a 1/2" to a 13mm...but its slightly off
liquids.... well as to a 3 litter compared to a gallon...its ok..... but when you are having large volumes like 55 gal drums... easier to us gallons....
gas..just imagine the cost to convert all the pumps....and what will happen....will cost the consumer.... you will see $3 litters...even though a litter is 1/3 the size of a gallon...... also remember our '''gas tax''' its federally currently at 18+ cents PER GALLON
what's next ...suggesting we switch to the Euro...just because others do it.....way to be followers instead of leaders
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