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On October 16 2012 02:52 Daumen wrote:Show nested quote +On December 09 2011 13:32 Keyboard Warrior wrote:
Advantages of Standard
1. Standard goes more naturally with fractions - quarter of a pint, half foot, etc. Technically, you don't say half meter but rather 50 centimeters or 500 millimeters.
2. Standard units are more practical and convenient. No one goes to the grocery to buy 400ml drink, instead, they buy it in 12 ounces. No one buys 5 meters of wood, instead, they buy it is 1x1x12, all in feet.
To me these are not true °_° I would presume only people who are used to the Imperial system think that way because they never hear about 1 Liter Milk Packages. I dont even understand why it is more convenient to say 12 ounces than to say 400ml ;o or more Practical. Also we(at least in germany) very well say "half a meter" or "half a liter" and whatever. --- I've found this picture; + Show Spoiler +Is this accurate/true?
Yes it is accurate. I don't even know what all the fuss is about though. If you're born in the US you're going to use Imperial because it's just easier, simple as that. And it's not like we don't have metric units written on everything as well.
And any professional in engineering, medicine, science, etc will know when to use which units.
As far as everyday life, it's just too much of a hassle. It would take several years and a lot of money to accomplish virtually nothing.
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On October 15 2012 23:37 Cirqueenflex wrote:
while we're at it, why would anyone put the date as MM:DD:YY(YY)? It does not make the slightest sense to me. DD:MM:YY(YY) is way more convenient, as it orders the numbers in frequency of change. Even YY(YY):MM:DD would make more sense to me compared to what a lot of people use -.-
MM:DD:YY(YY) can make sense if one thinks in about it by index size:
MM: Max 12
DD: Max 31
YY(YY): Infinite
Not the best way of ordering, but it works.
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It's our fucking culture and we will not assimilate! -angry face-
I remember someone in gradeschool asking one of our math teachers why oh so long ago. His answer was that using Imperial would make us work harder, ingrain fractions, yada yada and eventually we'd know both anyway.
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I back up the foot is a natural measurement argument. More importantly, what I stated in the sky jumping thread, a mile was defined in Roman times as a typical paces. This is fairly practical for navigating/orienteering in the wilderness, where it's impractical to carry measuring equipment, but counting paces is far more accurate than using intuition.
I don't know if a leg is a meter, but it's far less practical to use your leg to measure something, unless you can detach it so you can mark off multiple leg lengths. Wikipedia says cubits (18") are approximately your elbow to the tip of your middle finger and the span of your hand (spread out, tip of thumb to pinky) is half a cubit. If you want to measure something, say to see if furniture will fit, it's a useful way to measure something.
Even if it's off because somebody is shorter or taller, it's still in the same ballpark, and usually your dimensions won't change so you can convert a 10" foot to a 12" foot if need be.
Tablespoons are just the normal spoon (not the really big one, but the normal size one). I top it off with sugar, that's a table spoon. Unfortunately I don't know how many tablespoons are in an ounce.
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i use metric cause thats what my physics teacher used but now my calc teacher keeps using imperial and its annoying the heck out of me and i just wish we could standardize everything. i will say this though imperial makes more sense than Fahrenheit.
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Sweden33719 Posts
On October 16 2012 06:40 Battleship789 wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2012 23:37 Cirqueenflex wrote:
while we're at it, why would anyone put the date as MM:DD:YY(YY)? It does not make the slightest sense to me. DD:MM:YY(YY) is way more convenient, as it orders the numbers in frequency of change. Even YY(YY):MM:DD would make more sense to me compared to what a lot of people use -.- MM:DD:YY(YY) can make sense if one thinks in about it by index size: MM: Max 12 DD: Max 31 YY(YY): Infinite Not the best way of ordering, but it works.
I thought it was because you write it how you would say it...
01/01/2001
January 1st, 2001
As opposde to
The 1st of January, 2001.
I guess.
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On October 16 2012 06:40 Battleship789 wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2012 23:37 Cirqueenflex wrote:
while we're at it, why would anyone put the date as MM:DD:YY(YY)? It does not make the slightest sense to me. DD:MM:YY(YY) is way more convenient, as it orders the numbers in frequency of change. Even YY(YY):MM:DD would make more sense to me compared to what a lot of people use -.- MM:DD:YY(YY) can make sense if one thinks in about it by index size: MM: Max 12 DD: Max 31 YY(YY): Infinite Not the best way of ordering, but it works.
No. No one ever thinks of this justification.
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On October 16 2012 16:06 Liquid`Jinro wrote:Show nested quote +On October 16 2012 06:40 Battleship789 wrote:On October 15 2012 23:37 Cirqueenflex wrote:
while we're at it, why would anyone put the date as MM:DD:YY(YY)? It does not make the slightest sense to me. DD:MM:YY(YY) is way more convenient, as it orders the numbers in frequency of change. Even YY(YY):MM:DD would make more sense to me compared to what a lot of people use -.- MM:DD:YY(YY) can make sense if one thinks in about it by index size: MM: Max 12 DD: Max 31 YY(YY): Infinite Not the best way of ordering, but it works. I thought it was because you write it how you would say it... 01/01/2001 January 1st, 2001 As opposde to The 1st of January, 2001. I guess.
In the UK I think you would say "Today's date is Tuesday the sixteenth of October, two-thousand and twelve".
In the US I think they say "Today's date is Tuesday, October sixteenth, two-thousand twelve".
But I am not entirely sure about the US pronunciation, I think some Americans would omit the "the" in "October the sixteenth" to make it simply "October sixteenth". The year could be pronounced "twenty twelve" in either instance.
MM:DD:YY is confusing for me. In the United Kingdom we use DD:MM:YY
So it can be confusing for me to see a date on a US-centric site like 10/11/2012. 10th November? 11th October?
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On October 16 2012 03:03 Seiferz wrote:Show nested quote +On October 16 2012 02:52 Daumen wrote:On December 09 2011 13:32 Keyboard Warrior wrote:
Advantages of Standard
1. Standard goes more naturally with fractions - quarter of a pint, half foot, etc. Technically, you don't say half meter but rather 50 centimeters or 500 millimeters.
2. Standard units are more practical and convenient. No one goes to the grocery to buy 400ml drink, instead, they buy it in 12 ounces. No one buys 5 meters of wood, instead, they buy it is 1x1x12, all in feet.
To me these are not true °_° I would presume only people who are used to the Imperial system think that way because they never hear about 1 Liter Milk Packages. I dont even understand why it is more convenient to say 12 ounces than to say 400ml ;o or more Practical. Also we(at least in germany) very well say "half a meter" or "half a liter" and whatever. --- I've found this picture; + Show Spoiler +Is this accurate/true? And it's not like we don't have metric units written on everything as well.
Uh no you don't, regarding my Safeway example with some cashew nuts priced in $/oz and some others priced in $/lb, it would have solved all my problems if both had also their price in $/kg written on the label, but none of them did. Anyway now that I know that 1lb = 16oz I won't have this problem again but although manageable that's hardly convenient.
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On October 16 2012 16:06 Liquid`Jinro wrote:Show nested quote +On October 16 2012 06:40 Battleship789 wrote:On October 15 2012 23:37 Cirqueenflex wrote:
while we're at it, why would anyone put the date as MM:DD:YY(YY)? It does not make the slightest sense to me. DD:MM:YY(YY) is way more convenient, as it orders the numbers in frequency of change. Even YY(YY):MM:DD would make more sense to me compared to what a lot of people use -.- MM:DD:YY(YY) can make sense if one thinks in about it by index size: MM: Max 12 DD: Max 31 YY(YY): Infinite Not the best way of ordering, but it works. I thought it was because you write it how you would say it... 01/01/2001 January 1st, 2001 As opposde to The 1st of January, 2001. I guess.
I generally write the date 2012-10-15
Helps me indext my files on my directories cleanly and imo I like it better.
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Fortunately I am a student, I never know which day it is, just the time of the day, may be... :D
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On October 16 2012 17:29 Le Cheque Zo wrote:Show nested quote +On October 16 2012 06:40 Battleship789 wrote:On October 15 2012 23:37 Cirqueenflex wrote:
while we're at it, why would anyone put the date as MM:DD:YY(YY)? It does not make the slightest sense to me. DD:MM:YY(YY) is way more convenient, as it orders the numbers in frequency of change. Even YY(YY):MM:DD would make more sense to me compared to what a lot of people use -.- MM:DD:YY(YY) can make sense if one thinks in about it by index size: MM: Max 12 DD: Max 31 YY(YY): Infinite Not the best way of ordering, but it works. No. No one ever thinks of this justification.
lol well you're clearly wrong, seeing as how he does.
I've thought of it like that as well (especially since other people are arguing the other way for their own unit size consistency, so why not maximum quantity consistency? it's all arbitrary anyway).
But I'd consider the most important argument (for either side) to be: "It's more efficient to write it for me in my way, because of X (e.g. because I speak it in this way)." Drop the consistency argument- it's too abstract for the layman; they won't care.
So since I always say "October 16th, 2012", I would write it as 10/16/12. And I find speaking in that way to be most efficient and easiest, so I do that (and by proxy, write that).
If someone else prefers to say "The 16th of October, 2012" (or if a non-English speaker's translation is 16 October 2012), then they'll write it as DMY. And that's super cool for them too  But don't get your panties in a bunch when plenty of us say and write it as MDY.
I find that matching what you say with what you write is far easier, quicker, and so generally most efficient and appealing to most people. Laymen aren't going to care as much about the logical consistency of unit sizes, or anything like that. However, if they say month then day then year, then it would be the most inconsistent (and difficult) for them to write it in reverse (and vice-versa).
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These crazy Americans, with their different ways of doing things and their crazy accents, and their stupid PHONETIC spelling, and their freedom and their "aluminum" and their imperial measurements.
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On October 16 2012 06:40 Battleship789 wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2012 23:37 Cirqueenflex wrote:
while we're at it, why would anyone put the date as MM:DD:YY(YY)? It does not make the slightest sense to me. DD:MM:YY(YY) is way more convenient, as it orders the numbers in frequency of change. Even YY(YY):MM:DD would make more sense to me compared to what a lot of people use -.- MM:DD:YY(YY) can make sense if one thinks in about it by index size: MM: Max 12 DD: Max 31 YY(YY): Infinite Not the best way of ordering, but it works.
![[image loading]](http://www.tehowners.com/info/Science/Math/Metric%20vs%20Imperial.jpg)
well..
edit: replied to the wrong person, lol. ><
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Germany1023 Posts
On October 16 2012 03:03 Seiferz wrote:Show nested quote +On October 16 2012 02:52 Daumen wrote:On December 09 2011 13:32 Keyboard Warrior wrote:
Advantages of Standard
1. Standard goes more naturally with fractions - quarter of a pint, half foot, etc. Technically, you don't say half meter but rather 50 centimeters or 500 millimeters.
2. Standard units are more practical and convenient. No one goes to the grocery to buy 400ml drink, instead, they buy it in 12 ounces. No one buys 5 meters of wood, instead, they buy it is 1x1x12, all in feet.
To me these are not true °_° I would presume only people who are used to the Imperial system think that way because they never hear about 1 Liter Milk Packages. I dont even understand why it is more convenient to say 12 ounces than to say 400ml ;o or more Practical. Also we(at least in germany) very well say "half a meter" or "half a liter" and whatever. --- I've found this picture; + Show Spoiler +Is this accurate/true? Yes it is accurate. I don't even know what all the fuss is about though. If you're born in the US you're going to use Imperial because it's just easier, simple as that. And it's not like we don't have metric units written on everything as well. And any professional in engineering, medicine, science, etc will know when to use which units. As far as everyday life, it's just too much of a hassle. It would take several years and a lot of money to accomplish virtually nothing.
It's just the normal inferiority complex some europeans tend to have ( most will even deny they do, lol).
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As a US/swiss dual citizen...
In what way is imperial superior? It's not like every scientist already uses it, metric is also better for computer calculations (although some base2 would be even better). Metric is super easy as floating point.
mm = 10^-3m
km = 10^3m
etc.
Floating point is really really annoying with imperial.
Yes, changing everything to metric will take time, but it is going to happen sooner or later. If you do it slowly and gradually (for example just have everyone also put metric measure on their products by, say, 2015) the price will be easy to pay.
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On October 16 2012 21:15 Pantythief wrote:Show nested quote +On October 16 2012 06:40 Battleship789 wrote:On October 15 2012 23:37 Cirqueenflex wrote:
while we're at it, why would anyone put the date as MM:DD:YY(YY)? It does not make the slightest sense to me. DD:MM:YY(YY) is way more convenient, as it orders the numbers in frequency of change. Even YY(YY):MM:DD would make more sense to me compared to what a lot of people use -.- MM:DD:YY(YY) can make sense if one thinks in about it by index size: MM: Max 12 DD: Max 31 YY(YY): Infinite Not the best way of ordering, but it works. well.. edit: replied to the wrong person, lol. ><
Your picture has nothing to do with DMY vs. MDY. Your picture is Imperial vs. Metric. And seeing as how your edit was a very long time ago, I assume that this was indeed the new, correct person you wanted to reply to o.O
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![[image loading]](http://memefolder.com/thumb/884.jpg)
But to be honest, that's something I really don't care about.
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Its just the stupid americans who cant accept the most logical system and the reason is quite simple: because the french started it!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_System_of_Units
Cooking in american kitchens involves some prefabricated "spoons" and "cups" of which no one knows the volume ...
User was warned for this post
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Actually, the volume of cups and spoons is well defined. It's still stupid, but it's defined.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://tij1o.wikispaces.com/file/view/map_of_countries_that_dont_.png/88846061/map_of_countries_that_dont_.png)
