Twenty-First Century Metric America (buy, systems, computer)

[BeholdersEye]

That does not make any sense, and you are referring to the corrupted market system at work. How much does your car mechanic make anyway? I am sure he would rather put food in his family mouths than on your so called 'profitable' tools for only work purposes. But then you are showing the true republican view of things. The rich get richer, keep the poor, more poor.

[dspguy]

People don't like change and that is the problem. But consider the following:

Years ago, eBay while in its infancy wanted to change their theme color from red to blue. They knew (thanks to people that study these things) that a drastic change to the UI would drive away customers. So, over the course of four months, they slowly changed the RGB values by 1-2 daily until the page was blue. People never noticed.

Good news is, we are already half there.

When you go the supermarket, you see that your gallon of milk is really 3.78 liters. And that the 16 oz can of soup is really 454g. Of course, these other units are typed second and are usually a little smaller.

In my opinion, if we started always listing the metric value next to the English/Imperial everywhere applicable, such as the weather channels showing °C and updating road signs to show 90km/h... and slowly make the print for the metric bigger, we might get the metric system into many aspects of our life.

[scarmig]

Originally Posted by BeholdersEye

That does not make any sense,

Sure it does. It makes perfect sense to the tool maker. Or were you not aware there are multiple sides to any trade transaction?

and you are referring to the corrupted market system at work.

How is it corrupted? One car maker decides to make cars with imperial measurements. Another with metric. That is their choice.

Each mechanic can choose if he wants to work on Imperial or metric cars, and buys the tools to match. That is his choice.

Each car owner can choose whether or not to buy an Imperial car, or a metric car. That is his choice.

Each car owner can choose what mechanic he goes to, and whether or not the cost of the tools is enough of an impact that it is worth seeking a metric or imperial only mechanic. That is his choice.

At all stages, everyone is free to support the measurement system they prefer. No one is forced to do anything.

But you call that "corruption". :roll:

How much does your car mechanic make anyway? I am sure he would rather put food in his family mouths than on your so called 'profitable' tools for only work purposes.

Considering I just got off the phone with him, and work with him closely, I can tell with no uncertainty that the number of cars available for him to work on (and thus improve his business) is worth spending the money on both sets of tools. Because of this,he does not have to turn away business.

As the market continues to move towards the metric system, he will not have to replace as many Imperial tools.

Moderator cut: see comment

[scarmig]

Moderator cut: orphaned

you should be presenting logical arguments why the government should arbitrarily demand a standard instead of allowing the market to evolve one. You should present a cogent rational why it would benefit everyone to be on the same standard. You should also be willing to set up a compromise whereby the standard is recommended, but manufacturers can use exceptions if they find reason to do so.

This would make your argument more palatable to your audience.

Moderator cut: national politics are off-topic here

[Bydand]

Yet another fool who thinks our measurement system is mandated by the Gov't. Somebody needs to go back and actually research some things before posting garbage (pssst, that would be you BeholdersEye).

We have the choice to use whatever system we want, and so do the Manufacturers. Majority still want the system we have, so that is what is more common.

[BeholdersEye]

Apparently neither of you ever heard of National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology under the Department of Commerce. Welcome to the Department of Commerce which regulates all measurements in American Commerce. You can be taken to court if you screw with your measurements in your sales in USA. Be then there is a lot of stupid Americans, it is no wonder we are slipping in every department.

[BeholdersEye]

We had twenty years to 'fix' the Y2K Bug. No one did a damn thing to fix it until the last 6 months before 2000. Why? The CEOs kept saying it was not 'cost effective' to fit it before that. Do you know how much it finally cost American companies in the last 6 months? Six Hundred Billion dollars, which could have been avoided all together with simple computer and software updates in the twenty years upto that date. No one does it voluntarily until they are forced to.

The so called Metric American parts/cars came about only because those parts/cars where made overseas then assembled here. Metric American parts were not made here.

[Bowie]

Some posts above were deleted. Here's a reminder from the Terms of Service for the thread:

Be civil, no personal attacks, flaming, or insults. We may attack ideas (politely) but we do not attack the speaker of the idea. Be careful with your words, there is a point where being direct crosses a line into blunt, in-your-face hostility. Please, report bad posts instead of engaging in flame wars on the boards. Insulting another member or a moderator will not be tolerated anywhere on this website. This includes Direct Messages and Reputation Comments.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by BeholdersEye

Apparently neither of you ever heard of National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology under the Department of Commerce. Welcome to the Department of Commerce which regulates all measurements in American Commerce. You can be taken to court if you screw with your measurements in your sales in USA. Be then there is a lot of stupid Americans, it is no wonder we are slipping in every department.

Yet another one who calls Americans "stupid" Is this you again NorthNJ, Suryoyo, Mattias, NJ_201 and however many other names you have been on here under?

look again, before you call anybody else stupid to be sure you are not making yourself look that way. In commerce the US uses the Metric system and was one of the first to adopt it's usage (1866), it was one of the original signers of the "Treaty of the Meter" back in 1875 which established the International Bureau of Weights and Measures and administers the International System of Units, which is the official version of the metric system. What they DIDN'T do is make it manditory for the general population believing in our right to choose which system we want to use.

Good job showing your total lack of knowledge of the system of measurement you are such an advocate of. If you would really look at the things you post you would see that the US Gov't does NOT mandate the use of our system of measurement, but instead gives us as a whole the right to use what we want as civilians.

The links you posted are NOT saying that it is mandatory to use the US system of measurement, but that the system be standardize. There is a big difference. Yes you can be fined or go to jail if you "mess" with the measurements used in commerce, just like every other developed nation in the world. All that means is that if you are buying a pound, ounce, gram, kilogram of an item it had better be the accepted standardized unit. You cannot claim that your ounce is different than the standardized ounce. Look up what the US used as the definition for foot and pound, then get off this stupid line of arguing you are following. Your arguments don't hold water. We as a nation are free to use whatever form of measurement we want in our everyday lives as long as they are standardized.

[Tek_Freek]

Originally Posted by BeholdersEye

We had twenty years to 'fix' the Y2K Bug. No one did a damn thing to fix it until the last 6 months before 2000. Why? The CEOs kept saying it was not 'cost effective' to fit it before that. Do you know how much it finally cost American companies in the last 6 months? Six Hundred Billion dollars, which could have been avoided all together with simple computer and software updates in the twenty years upto that date. No one does it voluntarily until they are forced to.

The so called Metric American parts/cars came about only because those parts/cars where made overseas then assembled here. Metric American parts were not made here.

And the end result of all that paranoia? Nada, nothing, zilch, squat, absolutely nothing.

My old Windows 98 machine runs just fine as it did before the Y2K scare without any updates from the Y2K "end of the world" era.

It wasn't a case of Y2K wreaking havoc on all the world's businesses. It was a case of all the computer companies making a killing by scaring the bejeeses out of them and the businesses buying into it.

Kinda like the Metric Conversion. The world isn't coming to an end just because a bunch of Chicken Little's run around saying it is.

And I love the two tool set argument. Did you know that my Imperial set works just fine on metric? I have yet to find a metric bolt or nut my imperial set won't loosen or tighten. Oh, and that includes my "imperial" crescent and monkey wrenches, pliers, and vise grips.

Chicken Little, go away.