Metric system.

Metric system. [+ favourites]

I feel that the goverment has keep us back long enough. While the rest of the world is using metric we are still stuck using our wacky system of measurement. Im sure that some of you have come to realize that metric is better becouse it is simplier. Using base 10 is must easier beoucse you only use increments of ten instead of all the diffrent things we use. It takes longer to teach our method then it does metric. Also if the whole world used metric then we woulndt have conversion errors. A few years back one of our spacecrafts that was a joint mision had issues becouse of bad conversions. So switching to metric would help us. So im beging you to send letters to your congress person and ask them to have the US swich to metric.

"Fear nothing for fear is the mind killer."

Metric system is just plain easier than the imperial. Here in Canada we have to use both because Americans come up asking what a gram is.

"I love to see people struggling for their purpose in life..."

exactally, you wouldnt have to do that if our stupid goverment switched. Feel sorry for you guys having to put up with Americans asking what a gram is. Side note, the CBC did a good job showing the olympics Hoorah for Canada.

"Fear nothing for fear is the mind killer."

the hubble telescope is a great example. the americans gave their measurements for the lens, but didnt give the units. the germans made the lens to the specs. but unfortunately the americans meant inches and the germans used centimetres.

but england uses some imperial units still, in england, you drive in miles per hour, and most people know their height and weight in feet inches and stone. but its no problem, because we use imperial where it matters.

"So Schrodinger's Cat is not only neither dead nor alive, but might also be sexually aroused by elbows and peanut butter?"

Still even though imperial works, everyone using one thing means you always know what they are talking about plus no messy coversion things.

"Fear nothing for fear is the mind killer."

Why it hasn't changed yet ? Standardization.
I assure you, having worked on the field for some time now, that changing the naming standards for tube diameters, fittings, nuts and the like would cost unbelievably more than you could probably imagine.
Imperial system is the de facto standard in some fields. The only way to change it would be to keep using both systems for at least a couple decades.
I don't like it, I don't think it's worth keeping, but it would take a great amount of time to make the change for a purely industrial perspective.
Not that it's impossible or anything. People are just massively lazy in some things.
It's just a matter of time, though. A century, tops.

""For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.""

I aggre entirelly it would take some time but in the end it would be worth it. In theroy it will take at least a few decades to get the US to want to switch then another oh almost century to completlly switch over everything all the computer systems, signs, everything. Personally I would like to see the US at least begin the change before dieing. With help we can make this a reality. I will try to have a rough draft of a letter that I will post that you can print out and sign if you want that will be asking congress to consider the switch. I will try to have that draft online within the next few months since school and life take up most of my free time.

"Fear nothing for fear is the mind killer."

Here is the final draft of my paper that I wrote for my speaking class on converting to metric. I hope that it will enlighten you. Just to warn you its over two pages long. here is the first page

Does anyone here know how tall they are in inches? Now how about your height in meters? Around the world people would be able to answer the second question in an instant, but not the first, because they use the metric system. The United States is the last industrialized country that has yet to switch to metric. Instead, we use a system called English units which is based off of Anglo-Saxon measurements used back in the early 1000’s. It is a base 12 system making it very complicated to find multiples of inches and feet. Metric, on the other hand, is a base ten system that makes multiplying between millimeter, centimeters and meters very simple. Why should I care, is most likely what you are thinking. Well, considering that you need to calculate distances throughout your life, even every day when you go to and from school. Here in the States you have to calculate how many miles you have to drive or walk. A mile is defined as 5,280 feet. This is a very big number that is hard to divide by 12 to figure out inches or by 3 to figure out yards. Now imagine that instead of having to deal with a large complex number you only have to deal with kilometers. These are easily divisible by units of ten to find simple amounts of distance. For example you have kilometers then you have mega meters. The difference between these two is a factor of ten. The problem is that we are still using English units for measurement and they can be confusing. We have had major and expensive issues in the past due to bad conversions between our units and metric. Back in 1998 we lost a Mars probe when engineers mixed up metric force (Newtons) and English units (pounds). This problem could have been avoided had we been using Metric. The Hubble telescope lens had to be corrected because of a mix up between our two units. As we know this was a very expensive repair. Gene Fawcette was quoted back in 1971 as saying “NASA writes all its reports in metric but its hardware was built in the other system. Can we afford the costly change-over of our tools? Can we afford NOT to”?

"Fear nothing for fear is the mind killer."

Second. it may look like two pages but a tiny part runs onto the third so I just threw it in with the one for the post.

We are making some progress in our metrification. Back in 1886, Congress passed the law allowing companies to use metric in trade and commerce. Then later, in 1960, all federal agencies made it mandatory to use metric in order to know what European or Asian agencies are telling us.
There is very little danger switching because all we would really need to do is change signs, maps, and other direction finding objects. This is a gigantic task that would span decades in changing everything over. Even if it takes that much time in the end, the added bonus of switching is that you would never have to convert miles to kilometers or visa versa ever again. The only real dangerous outcome of switching would be that we may have serious issues that would require us to switch back. There may be issues converting equipment or building everything according to the new standards. This however can not be a problem because we would have the rest of the world to show us how and let them be the leaders in innovation. Our law makers would claim that it would be too expensive and not very time effective to switch. Others would claim that we already have a system that works so why switch. It would be a hard process to change everything, but it can be done. We are still in the dark about measuring, there is light though. Instead of having to consult our calculators to find the distance to someone’s house or a business when we can’t rely on our mileage markers we can simply do everything in our head. We waste precious time and energy figuring out these distances but we will no longer if we switch.
With the United States using metric we would be one step closer to world unification and peace by letting us communicate on a basic level. I urge you to spread the information about metric that you have learned. Write to your congress man or women and ask them to propose a bill that will make us switch. This can be done and should be done to unify the world in even a small way to give us a better way of understanding each others perceptions about the world and how to measure it.

"Fear nothing for fear is the mind killer."

ok folks as promised the letter I would write. I have sent this to my states senators, I ask that you consider doing the same.

Dear ,

I am writing to inform you that the United States does not have to continue using our current system of measurement. As you may well know the rest of the world except for a few other countries have switched to the metric system. Through research I have come to belive that it is time for our country to take a step in a better direction. I ask you to please put forth a propostion for a bill that would begin metrification. This may seem like an expensive change but I will say this, it will cost more in the long run for our president to countinue our occupation of Iraq and the war on terrorism then it will for our nation to shift to the metric system.

Sincerlly,

"Fear nothing for fear is the mind killer."