Why do you think the Metric System didn't catch on in the USA
- Thread starter B00Mer
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I'm not sure how many times it has to be said but the metric system didn't catch on in the U.S.A. because it's a stupid system and not very functional. After 40 years how many people think of their weight in kgs or their height in cms? As I pointed out in an earlier post the metre is no more a valid unit of length than is the the yard, the foot or the furlong. Standard distance between fence posts is 161/2 ft. how much is that in metric? 5.029 metres! Get the picture?
Well, over seven billion of us use the Metric system exclusively.
Perhaps it is North Americans that are a stupid and dysfunctional.
BTW, every measurement unit in the metric system is based on a natural phenomenon. There is nothing arbitrary about it. A meter is the chord of 1/10,000,000 of the distance from the equator to the North Pole. The rest of the metric system derives from that measure of the earth's circumference ... a gram is one cubic centimeter of pure water at the standard temperature and atmospheric pressure.
Wrong, it started out that way, but it has since been determined, that, THAT is not correct, as I pointed out earlier!
It would have helped progress too much, the (insert proper name) want things to go according to their wants rather than the wants of the majority. Fast when they want, slow when they want.
I see that Blackleaf (by his avatar) has been to the new rocket sled ride at the Water Park and Crematorium in Alberta. Come get your swampland while you can. So far there is no line up.
I see that Blackleaf (by his avatar) has been to the new rocket sled ride at the Water Park and Crematorium in Alberta. Come get your swampland while you can. So far there is no line up.
When Senior changed us over to the metric system it served his purpose, he overthrew the Clark government over raising the tax on the price of fuel which were measured in gallons, which needed to be done, Senior promised in that election that he would never raise tax on the price of fuel even by $0.01/per gallon. He won a majority government then he got the metric system run through parliament against the wishes of the majority of the taxpayers, he set the price per litre, before anyone could realize it he doubled the tax on the price per gallon that Clark was originally asking for. So it actually benefitted the Gov. of the day more than to help the citizens.
That's how I remember it
Nope, VERY FEW use it exclusively as you'll find out when making purchases at the lumber yard.
It's not that it was wrong, just that 18th-century technology was not accurate enough to detect that the Earth is a bit egg-shaped. The corrections were minor and they required high tech. No one has yet bothered to correct the Roman soldier's gait that the "mile" (mille ... thousand paces) is based on. I challenge you to walk an exact mile using a thousand paces.
Actually, I'm pretty sure it was 2000 paces (1000 on each foot)
That would be a Doublemillie.
I'd like to see the length of their paces when my Pictish ancestors were chasing them. [...pace-pace-plop...pace-pace-plop...]
How many countries in the world are comprised of "united states"?
The United States of Brazil.
There's another good example.
From that post I would judge that you don't know how to use either system. Obviously a system based on multiples of ten is far easier to use that one based on whatever measurement they could pull out of their backsides. Here's two problems for you:
How many square meters in a square kilometer?
How many square feet in a square mile?
I'll leave it to you to tell me which one you had to use a calculator for.
Actually, I'm pretty sure it was 2000 paces (1000 on each foot)
No it was 1000 paces. The word mile is derived from the Latin: mille passus Ithousand paces.) That actually makes sense, unlike the English mile which seems to have been pretty much made up.
Actually the largest amount of tax on gasoline is taken by the provinces. The federal tax is 10 cents per liter in every part of Canada. Provincial taxes vary from 33 cents a liter in Newfoundland to 13 cents a liter in PEI. In Nunvut, the NWT, and Yukon the tax is kept low. And then there are taxes applied by cities like Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.
BTW I do not remember any promise by Trudeau regarding gasoline, but it was over 40 years ago.
Guess what?
Metric Moon
January 8, 2007: If you think in pounds and miles instead of kilograms and kilometers, you're in the minority. Only the United States, Liberia, and Burma still primarily use English units -- the rest of the world is metric. And now the Moon will be metric too.
NASA has decided to use metric units for all operations on the lunar surface when it returns to the Moon. The Vision for Space Exploration calls for returning astronauts to the Moon by 2020 and eventually setting up a manned lunar outpost.
https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2007/08jan_metricmoon
Isn't it interesting that the metric Russian space program has pretty much outdone the US since the Apollo Missions? Now, I'm not saying that metric is the reason, but it certainly is easier to work with.
You should pick up the pace then.. :lol:
5 Paces to Meters = 3.81, 200 Paces to Meters = 152.4
NASA Finally Goes Metric
As a surveyor for my working life I was fairly proficient in both systems as we used the Imperial for the first ten or twelve years of my employment before changing over to metric. Believe it or not the Imperial values are easier to memorise. Like 43560 square ft. in an acre or 4840 square yds. - no problem or 2.47 acres in a hectare. You don't forget those figures once you learn them. Same thing with a square mile........640 acres. An acre is roughly 209 feet square.
One bright bugger figured we should switch over to metric time but couldn't get it to work too good.
How would keeping our traditional measures that we've used for centuries rather than adopting alien, scientific French measures that don't have a basis in ordinary everyday life be such a thing?
The Romans divided their mile into 5,000 feet but the greater importance of furlongs in pre-modern England meant that the statute mile was made equivalent to 8 furlongs or 5,280 feet in 1593. This form of the mile then spread to the British-colonised nations who continue to employ the mile.