|
On October 15 2012 22:30 nebula. wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2012 22:29 Rannasha wrote:On October 15 2012 22:22 nebula. wrote:
explain to me how, in any way, the Imperial system is better. Itäs impossible It isn't. The only arguments for the imperial system that people give are: - "I'm used to it" / "I was raised with it" / "I can tell how big something is from its imperial measurement because I have much experience with it" - "Common objects in field X (usually engineering) are measured in imperial units out of tradition" Both arguments are basically providing a conservative viewpoint where the way of least resistance, keeping things the way they are, is preferred over a solution that would ultimately be better in the long run. If everyone changed to metric today, the current generation of Americans (and couple of other nations that still use imperial) would be confused for a bit, but one or two generations from now, it'd all be fine and everyone would have a system of measurement that makes sense. what common objects in engineering or any kind of science are measured in imperial units out of tradition? :p
I am an engineer and exclusively use Imperial units because that is the system of measurements irrigators historically used so it is the system all of our state records that we rely on are in.
If we were forced to switch to metric, it would mean the revision of millions of unique state records, which quite frankly no one has the time or money to change.
I don't know why Europeans get their panties in a twist about it...it doesn't affect them at all.
|
Zurich15365 Posts
On October 15 2012 22:13 netherh wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2012 20:47 zatic wrote:On October 15 2012 20:37 netherh wrote:On October 15 2012 20:19 zatic wrote:
Oh speaking of natural, why does an ounce of water not weigh one ounce? I want to know, seriously. Is there another liquid that does weigh an ounce? One ounce of water does weigh one ounce. One "fluid ounce" of water does not weigh the same as one ounce, because "fluid ounces" measure volume, not weight. Note, however, that using the imperial system, 1 fluid ounce of water does weigh 1 ounce (because the volume system was based on the weight system for water). Nope. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouncehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_ounce28.41g != 28.35g Anyone else? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_ounceIn 1824, the British Parliament defined the imperial gallon as the volume of ten avoirdupois pounds of water. The gallon was divided into four quarts or eight pints. Each pint was divided into four gills or twenty fluid ounces, that is, five ounces for each gill. Thus, the mass of an imperial fluid ounce of water is one avoirdupois ounce (28.4 g). The US ounce is based on the earlier definition of one gallon equalling 231 cubic inches. Anyone else?
That's all great but why is it not the same now? Did they measure incorrectly? Was it changed at some point? 28.41g versus 28.35g is a pretty obvious difference.
|
On October 15 2012 15:45 jdseemoreglass wrote:
Compiled reasons why the Metric system (*cough gay*) sucks and why Imperial is better.
1) When I measure, I measure like a man. Not like some girly European socialist. "Ooh, let's have some crumpets and walk a kilometer holding hands!" Pfff.
2) Kids love Fruit By The Foot. You want to give kids Fruit By The Meter? We already have an obesity epidemic you insensitive pricks.
3) Would you rather have your circumcised dick measured in manly inches or centimeters? That's what I thought.
4) Would you rather say you drank a fucking GALLON of Red Bull or 3.78 liters of English tea? Pfff again Europeans...
5) One meter is equal to the distance that light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. WHAT IN THE ROYAL FUCK? An inch is about the length of your thumb, and a foot is about, you guessed it, your foot. You can put away your particle accelerator now.
6) One degree Celsius is equal to the fraction of 1/273.16 “of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water.” .... I... just... No. Fuck you celsius. Fuck you.
7) "Cause I would walk 500 kilometers and I would walk 500 more, just to be the man who walked 1000 kilometers to end up at your door." Hey, that's catchy!
8) I know what pounds per inch means. It makes sense. Who knows what the fuck a "Pascal" or a "Newton per meter" is? Enjoy having your tires blow out while you try to figure it out. That's tyres for people with small dicks.
9) Hey, Metric lovers. When are you gonna switch to a base-10 clock to measure time? Hypocrits.
10) Edit: Actually, no. Fuck number ten.
11) How many apostles did Jesus have again? 10? Even God uses Imperial.
12) "OMG it's SO hot, it's 38.4 degrees outside!" Again, fuck you celsius.
USA, Liberia, Myanmar 1-0 Rest of the world. FUCK YEAH
|
On October 15 2012 22:30 nebula. wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2012 22:29 Rannasha wrote:On October 15 2012 22:22 nebula. wrote:
explain to me how, in any way, the Imperial system is better. Itäs impossible It isn't. The only arguments for the imperial system that people give are: - "I'm used to it" / "I was raised with it" / "I can tell how big something is from its imperial measurement because I have much experience with it" - "Common objects in field X (usually engineering) are measured in imperial units out of tradition" Both arguments are basically providing a conservative viewpoint where the way of least resistance, keeping things the way they are, is preferred over a solution that would ultimately be better in the long run. If everyone changed to metric today, the current generation of Americans (and couple of other nations that still use imperial) would be confused for a bit, but one or two generations from now, it'd all be fine and everyone would have a system of measurement that makes sense. what common objects in engineering or any kind of science are measured in imperial units out of tradition? :p
Ah, I didn't mean the scientific engineering, more the practical part of it, where things like screws and such are still measured in inches instead of mm.
|
On October 15 2012 22:46 zatic wrote:
That's all great but why is it not the same now? Did they measure incorrectly? Was it changed at some point? 28.41g versus 28.35g is a pretty obvious difference.
There are and have been many, many different weights, all called an ounce. Which two are you choosing to compare here?
|
United States24768 Posts
On October 15 2012 19:37 Prog455 wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2012 12:29 micronesia wrote:On October 15 2012 12:06 NeMeSiS3 wrote:On October 15 2012 12:04 micronesia wrote:On October 15 2012 12:01 GT350 wrote:
What irritates me is how NASA and other established institutions use 128,097 feet/24 miles during the Felix Baumgartner's record skydiving.
Why? I learned that metric is efficient and universal from grade school. But why are institutions still using other forms, especially the hideous imperial unit of measurement? People know how big a foot or a mile is (in fact, even an alien wouldn't have much trouble understanding feet.... can't say the same for meters XD) but they don't know how big a meter or a km is. Obviously this is an oversimplification, but that's generally what it is. I would argue your opinion is wrong. You are equating because of your specific knowledge that an alien would be able to easily understand imperial. Imperial is an absolutely astoundingly awful system of measurement. You can't possibly argue that an alien would find moving up by 10's harder than "Well this is 12, that is 24 and here is 1000 and well 4 make a x and 5 make a z" . I don't see why you think I made such a claim. All I meant was a 'foot' is somewhat self explanatory... it's roughly the length of a human foot. A 'meter' by itself doesn't mean anything as recognizable. I'm not saying feet are better than meters lol... you all need to calm down. Why is this such a touchy subject? Do we need to add it to the list with religion and the like? The thing is that your statement is grossly inaccurate as 1 foot is 30.48 cm long. If you were to gather 50 men and 50 women from your workplace, school, etc. i hardly doubt that you would find more than a few people among those 100, who has a foot that is 30.48 cm +/- 5mm. The average US woman uses a size 9 shoe, which is approximately equal to a foot length of 25.3 cm (or 10 inches). This makes for a 15.3% difference between the average female foot length and the measure 1 foot. In other words: If an average american woman was to measure 10 feet (3.04 meter), based on the length of her own feet, she would 20.4 inches (51.8 cm) off. This means that if you were to measure 3 meters based on your foot size, you would be closer to 4 meters than 3 meters. I think the reason that this is somewhat of a touchy subject, is because of the fact that americans from time to time tend to claim that the american way of doing things is the best, even though it is obviously not. And that is pretty much the case when it comes to measurement systems. Even though the metric system is by far the most convenient, and most widespread, americans still claim that the "standard" system is the best. Needless to say this is not the case for all americans. sources: http://www.i18nguy.com/l10n/shoes.htmlhttp://www.statisticbrain.com/shoe-size-averages/
How is my statement grossly inaccurate. I didn't say "a foot is exactly the length of one foot, and everyone's foot is exactly the same length so this is great!" I said "an alien wouldn't have much trouble understanding feet.... can't say the same for meters." A foot is roughly the length of a human foot. If an alien didn't know what a meter was, I couldn't just say "a meter is roughly the length of a meter!"
|
On October 15 2012 22:57 micronesia wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2012 19:37 Prog455 wrote:On October 15 2012 12:29 micronesia wrote:On October 15 2012 12:06 NeMeSiS3 wrote:On October 15 2012 12:04 micronesia wrote:On October 15 2012 12:01 GT350 wrote:
What irritates me is how NASA and other established institutions use 128,097 feet/24 miles during the Felix Baumgartner's record skydiving.
Why? I learned that metric is efficient and universal from grade school. But why are institutions still using other forms, especially the hideous imperial unit of measurement? People know how big a foot or a mile is (in fact, even an alien wouldn't have much trouble understanding feet.... can't say the same for meters XD) but they don't know how big a meter or a km is. Obviously this is an oversimplification, but that's generally what it is. I would argue your opinion is wrong. You are equating because of your specific knowledge that an alien would be able to easily understand imperial. Imperial is an absolutely astoundingly awful system of measurement. You can't possibly argue that an alien would find moving up by 10's harder than "Well this is 12, that is 24 and here is 1000 and well 4 make a x and 5 make a z" . I don't see why you think I made such a claim. All I meant was a 'foot' is somewhat self explanatory... it's roughly the length of a human foot. A 'meter' by itself doesn't mean anything as recognizable. I'm not saying feet are better than meters lol... you all need to calm down. Why is this such a touchy subject? Do we need to add it to the list with religion and the like? The thing is that your statement is grossly inaccurate as 1 foot is 30.48 cm long. If you were to gather 50 men and 50 women from your workplace, school, etc. i hardly doubt that you would find more than a few people among those 100, who has a foot that is 30.48 cm +/- 5mm. The average US woman uses a size 9 shoe, which is approximately equal to a foot length of 25.3 cm (or 10 inches). This makes for a 15.3% difference between the average female foot length and the measure 1 foot. In other words: If an average american woman was to measure 10 feet (3.04 meter), based on the length of her own feet, she would 20.4 inches (51.8 cm) off. This means that if you were to measure 3 meters based on your foot size, you would be closer to 4 meters than 3 meters. I think the reason that this is somewhat of a touchy subject, is because of the fact that americans from time to time tend to claim that the american way of doing things is the best, even though it is obviously not. And that is pretty much the case when it comes to measurement systems. Even though the metric system is by far the most convenient, and most widespread, americans still claim that the "standard" system is the best. Needless to say this is not the case for all americans. sources: http://www.i18nguy.com/l10n/shoes.htmlhttp://www.statisticbrain.com/shoe-size-averages/ How is my statement grossly inaccurate. I didn't say "a foot is exactly the length of one foot, and everyone's foot is exactly the same length so this is great!" I said "an alien wouldn't have much trouble understanding feet.... can't say the same for meters." A foot is roughly the length of a human foot. If an alien didn't know what a meter was, I couldn't just say "a meter is roughly the length of a meter!"
"The International Prototype Kilogram is kept in the custody of the International Bureau for Weights and Measures (BIPM) who hold it on behalf of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM). After the International Prototype Kilogram had been found to vary in mass over time, the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) recommended in 2005 that the kilogram be redefined in terms of a fundamental constant of nature. At its 2011 meeting, the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) agreed in principle that the kilogram should be redefined in terms of the Planck constant, but deferred a final decision until its next meeting, scheduled for 2014."
slightly off topic i know but its just an example of metric measurements making a lot more sense than imperial ;p an alien could both see the stone, and they would no doubt understand the plank constant, else they wouldnt be in space. but showing them the foot from which we get the value of a foot would be difficult.
|
United States24768 Posts
On October 15 2012 22:59 turdburgler wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2012 22:57 micronesia wrote:On October 15 2012 19:37 Prog455 wrote:On October 15 2012 12:29 micronesia wrote:On October 15 2012 12:06 NeMeSiS3 wrote:On October 15 2012 12:04 micronesia wrote:On October 15 2012 12:01 GT350 wrote:
What irritates me is how NASA and other established institutions use 128,097 feet/24 miles during the Felix Baumgartner's record skydiving.
Why? I learned that metric is efficient and universal from grade school. But why are institutions still using other forms, especially the hideous imperial unit of measurement? People know how big a foot or a mile is (in fact, even an alien wouldn't have much trouble understanding feet.... can't say the same for meters XD) but they don't know how big a meter or a km is. Obviously this is an oversimplification, but that's generally what it is. I would argue your opinion is wrong. You are equating because of your specific knowledge that an alien would be able to easily understand imperial. Imperial is an absolutely astoundingly awful system of measurement. You can't possibly argue that an alien would find moving up by 10's harder than "Well this is 12, that is 24 and here is 1000 and well 4 make a x and 5 make a z" . I don't see why you think I made such a claim. All I meant was a 'foot' is somewhat self explanatory... it's roughly the length of a human foot. A 'meter' by itself doesn't mean anything as recognizable. I'm not saying feet are better than meters lol... you all need to calm down. Why is this such a touchy subject? Do we need to add it to the list with religion and the like? The thing is that your statement is grossly inaccurate as 1 foot is 30.48 cm long. If you were to gather 50 men and 50 women from your workplace, school, etc. i hardly doubt that you would find more than a few people among those 100, who has a foot that is 30.48 cm +/- 5mm. The average US woman uses a size 9 shoe, which is approximately equal to a foot length of 25.3 cm (or 10 inches). This makes for a 15.3% difference between the average female foot length and the measure 1 foot. In other words: If an average american woman was to measure 10 feet (3.04 meter), based on the length of her own feet, she would 20.4 inches (51.8 cm) off. This means that if you were to measure 3 meters based on your foot size, you would be closer to 4 meters than 3 meters. I think the reason that this is somewhat of a touchy subject, is because of the fact that americans from time to time tend to claim that the american way of doing things is the best, even though it is obviously not. And that is pretty much the case when it comes to measurement systems. Even though the metric system is by far the most convenient, and most widespread, americans still claim that the "standard" system is the best. Needless to say this is not the case for all americans. sources: http://www.i18nguy.com/l10n/shoes.htmlhttp://www.statisticbrain.com/shoe-size-averages/ How is my statement grossly inaccurate. I didn't say "a foot is exactly the length of one foot, and everyone's foot is exactly the same length so this is great!" I said "an alien wouldn't have much trouble understanding feet.... can't say the same for meters." A foot is roughly the length of a human foot. If an alien didn't know what a meter was, I couldn't just say "a meter is roughly the length of a meter!" i dont know about the metre(or meter) but in terms of being able to "show" an alien our measurements - there is a stone in france which weighs exactly 1 kilogram, it is the basis of that measurement, we could physically show the alien this stone. we would struggle to find someone with a foot exactly 1 foot long.
Oh if you had time to prepare an alien and bring them to a special place, then I'm sure you could easily inspire almost any unit of measurement. In fact, given enough time for a prepared explanation you could probably do the same.
But if a random person met a random alien a foot would be much easier to convey than a meter (even without pointing at their feet). Of course this discussion is kinda silly since we will have more important things to worry about if we meed aliens, like long distance charges).
|
you are most worried about the cost of phone calls to E.T. ?
|
100 meter fields would totally reduce the scoring in Football. We can't have that.
|
On October 15 2012 22:57 micronesia wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2012 19:37 Prog455 wrote:On October 15 2012 12:29 micronesia wrote:On October 15 2012 12:06 NeMeSiS3 wrote:On October 15 2012 12:04 micronesia wrote:On October 15 2012 12:01 GT350 wrote:
What irritates me is how NASA and other established institutions use 128,097 feet/24 miles during the Felix Baumgartner's record skydiving.
Why? I learned that metric is efficient and universal from grade school. But why are institutions still using other forms, especially the hideous imperial unit of measurement? People know how big a foot or a mile is (in fact, even an alien wouldn't have much trouble understanding feet.... can't say the same for meters XD) but they don't know how big a meter or a km is. Obviously this is an oversimplification, but that's generally what it is. I would argue your opinion is wrong. You are equating because of your specific knowledge that an alien would be able to easily understand imperial. Imperial is an absolutely astoundingly awful system of measurement. You can't possibly argue that an alien would find moving up by 10's harder than "Well this is 12, that is 24 and here is 1000 and well 4 make a x and 5 make a z" . I don't see why you think I made such a claim. All I meant was a 'foot' is somewhat self explanatory... it's roughly the length of a human foot. A 'meter' by itself doesn't mean anything as recognizable. I'm not saying feet are better than meters lol... you all need to calm down. Why is this such a touchy subject? Do we need to add it to the list with religion and the like? The thing is that your statement is grossly inaccurate as 1 foot is 30.48 cm long. If you were to gather 50 men and 50 women from your workplace, school, etc. i hardly doubt that you would find more than a few people among those 100, who has a foot that is 30.48 cm +/- 5mm. The average US woman uses a size 9 shoe, which is approximately equal to a foot length of 25.3 cm (or 10 inches). This makes for a 15.3% difference between the average female foot length and the measure 1 foot. In other words: If an average american woman was to measure 10 feet (3.04 meter), based on the length of her own feet, she would 20.4 inches (51.8 cm) off. This means that if you were to measure 3 meters based on your foot size, you would be closer to 4 meters than 3 meters. I think the reason that this is somewhat of a touchy subject, is because of the fact that americans from time to time tend to claim that the american way of doing things is the best, even though it is obviously not. And that is pretty much the case when it comes to measurement systems. Even though the metric system is by far the most convenient, and most widespread, americans still claim that the "standard" system is the best. Needless to say this is not the case for all americans. sources: http://www.i18nguy.com/l10n/shoes.htmlhttp://www.statisticbrain.com/shoe-size-averages/ How is my statement grossly inaccurate. I didn't say "a foot is exactly the length of one foot, and everyone's foot is exactly the same length so this is great!" I said "an alien wouldn't have much trouble understanding feet.... can't say the same for meters." A foot is roughly the length of a human foot. If an alien didn't know what a meter was, I couldn't just say "a meter is roughly the length of a meter!"
I was taught in kindergarten that a meter is roughly the lenght of one step. Obviously talking about adults so as a kid you had to do more like 1,5 or 2 steps!
|
Zurich15365 Posts
On October 15 2012 22:54 netherh wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2012 22:46 zatic wrote:
That's all great but why is it not the same now? Did they measure incorrectly? Was it changed at some point? 28.41g versus 28.35g is a pretty obvious difference. There are and have been many, many different weights, all called an ounce. Which two are you choosing to compare here?
The ml value from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_ounce
to the g values from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ounce
It doesn't matter which kind of ounce, non of them match up.
|
United States24768 Posts
On October 15 2012 23:10 Toadesstern wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2012 22:57 micronesia wrote:On October 15 2012 19:37 Prog455 wrote:On October 15 2012 12:29 micronesia wrote:On October 15 2012 12:06 NeMeSiS3 wrote:On October 15 2012 12:04 micronesia wrote:On October 15 2012 12:01 GT350 wrote:
What irritates me is how NASA and other established institutions use 128,097 feet/24 miles during the Felix Baumgartner's record skydiving.
Why? I learned that metric is efficient and universal from grade school. But why are institutions still using other forms, especially the hideous imperial unit of measurement? People know how big a foot or a mile is (in fact, even an alien wouldn't have much trouble understanding feet.... can't say the same for meters XD) but they don't know how big a meter or a km is. Obviously this is an oversimplification, but that's generally what it is. I would argue your opinion is wrong. You are equating because of your specific knowledge that an alien would be able to easily understand imperial. Imperial is an absolutely astoundingly awful system of measurement. You can't possibly argue that an alien would find moving up by 10's harder than "Well this is 12, that is 24 and here is 1000 and well 4 make a x and 5 make a z" . I don't see why you think I made such a claim. All I meant was a 'foot' is somewhat self explanatory... it's roughly the length of a human foot. A 'meter' by itself doesn't mean anything as recognizable. I'm not saying feet are better than meters lol... you all need to calm down. Why is this such a touchy subject? Do we need to add it to the list with religion and the like? The thing is that your statement is grossly inaccurate as 1 foot is 30.48 cm long. If you were to gather 50 men and 50 women from your workplace, school, etc. i hardly doubt that you would find more than a few people among those 100, who has a foot that is 30.48 cm +/- 5mm. The average US woman uses a size 9 shoe, which is approximately equal to a foot length of 25.3 cm (or 10 inches). This makes for a 15.3% difference between the average female foot length and the measure 1 foot. In other words: If an average american woman was to measure 10 feet (3.04 meter), based on the length of her own feet, she would 20.4 inches (51.8 cm) off. This means that if you were to measure 3 meters based on your foot size, you would be closer to 4 meters than 3 meters. I think the reason that this is somewhat of a touchy subject, is because of the fact that americans from time to time tend to claim that the american way of doing things is the best, even though it is obviously not. And that is pretty much the case when it comes to measurement systems. Even though the metric system is by far the most convenient, and most widespread, americans still claim that the "standard" system is the best. Needless to say this is not the case for all americans. sources: http://www.i18nguy.com/l10n/shoes.htmlhttp://www.statisticbrain.com/shoe-size-averages/ How is my statement grossly inaccurate. I didn't say "a foot is exactly the length of one foot, and everyone's foot is exactly the same length so this is great!" I said "an alien wouldn't have much trouble understanding feet.... can't say the same for meters." A foot is roughly the length of a human foot. If an alien didn't know what a meter was, I couldn't just say "a meter is roughly the length of a meter!" I was taught in kindergarten that a meter is roughly the lenght of one step. Obviously talking about adults so as a kid you had to do more like 1,5 or 2 steps!
Yea, for something reasonably small like a meter there are a punch of things you can come up with. In addition to a large adult's stride, it could be the height of a second grader (or whichever grade on average matches up to a meter the best), the distance from the center of an adult's chest to the tip of their finger (obviously rough), the height of a nice chair, etc. You can do this with any unit that is useful for everyday things. It's a little bit harder for a micron or a lightyear.
|
On October 15 2012 23:11 zatic wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2012 22:54 netherh wrote:On October 15 2012 22:46 zatic wrote:
That's all great but why is it not the same now? Did they measure incorrectly? Was it changed at some point? 28.41g versus 28.35g is a pretty obvious difference. There are and have been many, many different weights, all called an ounce. Which two are you choosing to compare here? The ml value from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_ounceto the g values from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OunceIt doesn't matter which kind of ounce, non of them match up.
If I recall correctly it is because they're under different conditions (hence fluid ounce vs ounce) just like how there are separate versions of a Tonne (except that is generally due to different system) this is due to different conditions.
Not entirely sure, that's just what I kind of recall from an eng. class.
|
On October 15 2012 23:10 Toadesstern wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2012 22:57 micronesia wrote:On October 15 2012 19:37 Prog455 wrote:On October 15 2012 12:29 micronesia wrote:On October 15 2012 12:06 NeMeSiS3 wrote:On October 15 2012 12:04 micronesia wrote:On October 15 2012 12:01 GT350 wrote:
What irritates me is how NASA and other established institutions use 128,097 feet/24 miles during the Felix Baumgartner's record skydiving.
Why? I learned that metric is efficient and universal from grade school. But why are institutions still using other forms, especially the hideous imperial unit of measurement? People know how big a foot or a mile is (in fact, even an alien wouldn't have much trouble understanding feet.... can't say the same for meters XD) but they don't know how big a meter or a km is. Obviously this is an oversimplification, but that's generally what it is. I would argue your opinion is wrong. You are equating because of your specific knowledge that an alien would be able to easily understand imperial. Imperial is an absolutely astoundingly awful system of measurement. You can't possibly argue that an alien would find moving up by 10's harder than "Well this is 12, that is 24 and here is 1000 and well 4 make a x and 5 make a z" . I don't see why you think I made such a claim. All I meant was a 'foot' is somewhat self explanatory... it's roughly the length of a human foot. A 'meter' by itself doesn't mean anything as recognizable. I'm not saying feet are better than meters lol... you all need to calm down. Why is this such a touchy subject? Do we need to add it to the list with religion and the like? The thing is that your statement is grossly inaccurate as 1 foot is 30.48 cm long. If you were to gather 50 men and 50 women from your workplace, school, etc. i hardly doubt that you would find more than a few people among those 100, who has a foot that is 30.48 cm +/- 5mm. The average US woman uses a size 9 shoe, which is approximately equal to a foot length of 25.3 cm (or 10 inches). This makes for a 15.3% difference between the average female foot length and the measure 1 foot. In other words: If an average american woman was to measure 10 feet (3.04 meter), based on the length of her own feet, she would 20.4 inches (51.8 cm) off. This means that if you were to measure 3 meters based on your foot size, you would be closer to 4 meters than 3 meters. I think the reason that this is somewhat of a touchy subject, is because of the fact that americans from time to time tend to claim that the american way of doing things is the best, even though it is obviously not. And that is pretty much the case when it comes to measurement systems. Even though the metric system is by far the most convenient, and most widespread, americans still claim that the "standard" system is the best. Needless to say this is not the case for all americans. sources: http://www.i18nguy.com/l10n/shoes.htmlhttp://www.statisticbrain.com/shoe-size-averages/ How is my statement grossly inaccurate. I didn't say "a foot is exactly the length of one foot, and everyone's foot is exactly the same length so this is great!" I said "an alien wouldn't have much trouble understanding feet.... can't say the same for meters." A foot is roughly the length of a human foot. If an alien didn't know what a meter was, I couldn't just say "a meter is roughly the length of a meter!" I was taught in kindergarten that a meter is roughly the lenght of one step. Obviously talking about adults so as a kid you had to do more like 1,5 or 2 steps!
Yeah, colloquial comparisons work relatively well if exact measurements aren't necessary. (Obviously, a yard is roughly the length of one step too!)
|
On October 15 2012 15:45 jdseemoreglass wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2012 15:16 DeCoder wrote:
Actually that "the rest of the world vs USA" argument is inaccurate.
Along with the USA, the imperial system is used in
- Liberia
- Myanmar
I wonder who's going to be the last to change over?
Compiled reasons why the Metric system (*cough gay*) sucks and why Imperial is better. 1) When I measure, I measure like a man. Not like some girly European socialist. "Ooh, let's have some crumpets and walk a kilometer holding hands!" Pfff. 2) Kids love Fruit By The Foot. You want to give kids Fruit By The Meter? We already have an obesity epidemic you insensitive pricks. 3) Would you rather have your circumcised dick measured in manly inches or centimeters? That's what I thought. 4) Would you rather say you drank a fucking GALLON of Red Bull or 3.78 liters of English tea? Pfff again Europeans... 5) One meter is equal to the distance that light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. WHAT IN THE ROYAL FUCK? An inch is about the length of your thumb, and a foot is about, you guessed it, your foot. You can put away your particle accelerator now. 6) One degree Celsius is equal to the fraction of 1/273.16 “of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water.” .... I... just... No. Fuck you celsius. Fuck you. 7) "Cause I would walk 500 kilometers and I would walk 500 more, just to be the man who walked 1000 kilometers to end up at your door." Hey, that's catchy! 8) I know what pounds per inch means. It makes sense. Who knows what the fuck a "Pascal" or a "Newton per meter" is? Enjoy having your tires blow out while you try to figure it out. That's tyres for people with small dicks. 9) Hey, Metric lovers. When are you gonna switch to a base-10 clock to measure time? Hypocrits. 10) Edit: Actually, no. Fuck number ten. 11) How many apostles did Jesus have again? 10? Even God uses Imperial. 12) "OMG it's SO hot, it's 38.4 degrees outside!" Again, fuck you celsius. USA, Liberia, Myanmar 1-0 Rest of the world.
Murrica!
this is 50% funny, 50% reason why rest of world laughs about americans.
|
On October 15 2012 23:05 BluePanther wrote:
100 meter fields would totally reduce the scoring in Football. We can't have that.
Just remove the 5 yard meter buffer for illegal contact on receivers, touch them and you get flagged. Rule changes are trending that way anyway.
|
Regarding Natural units, even that is unstable. All constants in physics are slowly being taken down one by one.
|
On October 15 2012 23:17 Babba wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2012 15:45 jdseemoreglass wrote:On October 15 2012 15:16 DeCoder wrote:
Actually that "the rest of the world vs USA" argument is inaccurate.
Along with the USA, the imperial system is used in
- Liberia
- Myanmar
I wonder who's going to be the last to change over?
Compiled reasons why the Metric system (*cough gay*) sucks and why Imperial is better. 1) When I measure, I measure like a man. Not like some girly European socialist. "Ooh, let's have some crumpets and walk a kilometer holding hands!" Pfff. 2) Kids love Fruit By The Foot. You want to give kids Fruit By The Meter? We already have an obesity epidemic you insensitive pricks. 3) Would you rather have your circumcised dick measured in manly inches or centimeters? That's what I thought. 4) Would you rather say you drank a fucking GALLON of Red Bull or 3.78 liters of English tea? Pfff again Europeans... 5) One meter is equal to the distance that light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. WHAT IN THE ROYAL FUCK? An inch is about the length of your thumb, and a foot is about, you guessed it, your foot. You can put away your particle accelerator now. 6) One degree Celsius is equal to the fraction of 1/273.16 “of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water.” .... I... just... No. Fuck you celsius. Fuck you. 7) "Cause I would walk 500 kilometers and I would walk 500 more, just to be the man who walked 1000 kilometers to end up at your door." Hey, that's catchy! 8) I know what pounds per inch means. It makes sense. Who knows what the fuck a "Pascal" or a "Newton per meter" is? Enjoy having your tires blow out while you try to figure it out. That's tyres for people with small dicks. 9) Hey, Metric lovers. When are you gonna switch to a base-10 clock to measure time? Hypocrits. 10) Edit: Actually, no. Fuck number ten. 11) How many apostles did Jesus have again? 10? Even God uses Imperial. 12) "OMG it's SO hot, it's 38.4 degrees outside!" Again, fuck you celsius. USA, Liberia, Myanmar 1-0 Rest of the world. Murrica! this is 50% funny, 50% reason why rest of world laughs about americans.
I think 50% of you didn't realize he wasn't serious o.O
|
On October 15 2012 23:18 S:klogW wrote:
Regarding Natural units, even that is unstable. All constants in physics are slowly being taken down one by one.
all of my wat
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
