[Closed] Why haven't we adopted kms instead of miles yet???

Litre of fuel, but consumption of said fuel in miles per gallon..
Everything on roads in miles

CO2 emissions measured and taxed in g/km.
[url= http://carfueldata.direct.gov.uk/search-by-fuel-economy.aspx ]Metric fuel consumption[/url] is in l/100km

I wasn't even taught old at school

Likewise emsz and I'm considerably older than you. Kids are not taught imperial. Haven't been for decades. But are still expected to use it.

10s are sooooo much easier.

only when you add them up, not when you divide them. Feet and inches you can half and half and half. Metric gets into awkward fractions instead

Halfing 10mm in metric you get 5, then 2.5, then 1.25 then 0.625. My tape measure isn't marked in 0.625 increments so it all gets a bit guess work, whereas imperial scales are in fractions to start with.

Then my (American) girlfriend will step in and tell me measurements in cups. That one throws me, what sized cup?!

I don't know I haven't met her but I'm prepared to guess - is it DD?

You're right bra sizes should be measured in litres as well. Alphabetical is nonsense.

I don't know I haven't met her but I'm prepared to guess - is it DD?

Walked into that I guess! Just in case anyone doesn't actually know what i mean:
[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_(unit) ]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_(unit)[/url]

Runners, do you really do everything in KM. I do a 10k run, not a 6.21 mile run. however, I do a 10 mile run and not a 16.09km run!

claiming metric is unworkably confusing

Being able to handle metric and imperial systems makes you better at mental arithmetic! Metric is easier for engineering calculations, whilst imperial units are more intuitive to human sized entities

I think for those of us middle aged it is hard as we do some things in both

I have little idea what my height is in cms and if someone told me theirs I would be clueless.
Apart from that I am fine with either system though metric makes sense when you need to calcualte stuff like say density, pressure etc

CUP - it does not really matter as it keeps the ratio the same though there is a standard size - I like that system for bakling tbh as it is much easier to recall cups than actual weights.

That one throws me, what sized cup?!

It's a standard size. Half a US pint or 237ml. American kitchens have a set of measuring cups as standard equippment, my Mrs was quite baffled when I said we needed some kitchen scales.

Interesting...
I buy milk in litres not pints.
When I worked in a cycle shop in the 90s, roadbikes were still measured in inches, so the cm thing is quite recent. A lot of mtbs are now small / med / large, doing away with numerical systems altogether and (I suppose) making sizing easier to understand for everybody.

I don't like inconsistencies - I think it's the OCD kicking in! 😉

I don't like inconsistancies

giggle

Because saying I was only doing 112 officer sounds a lot worse than I was only doing 70.

Too slow JoB - swift edit was already underway... 😛

Being able to handle metric and imperial systems makes you better at mental arithmetic! Metric is easier for engineering calculations, whilst imperial units are more intuitive to human sized entities

I'm quite happy working in either. It just kind of happens although maybe I need to find an aspect of it to get wound up about...

my mazda has a fuel consumption display only in litres per 100 mile, giving a great mix of metric and imperial.

I can see why someone in an office in Japan may have thought that was a good idea (measure fuel in litres and distance in miles).

> 10s are sooooo much easier.
only when you add them up, not when you divide them.

I don't find dividing by ten very hard 😕

Halfing 10mm in metric you get 5, then 2.5, then 1.25 then 0.625. My tape measure isn't marked in 0.625 increments so it all gets a bit guess work

Oh I see what you mean. I'm surprised your tape measure has increments at 0.0246062992 inches. 😉

I'd suggest that if you are trying to accurately measure sub-millimetre distances to 3 decimal places with a tape measure then you're already well on the path to FAIL anyway. 😀

Bombing along the Autobahn at 200 sounds impressive though.

Drac - Moderator
1600 meters in a mile about 1750 yds in a mile.

tsk, "George III said with a smile, 1760 yards in a mile."

Thank god I live in Spain, the only thing I miss is pints of beer, but then you can easily get over that by ordering another.

Adding up food products in dozens is quite easy on your hands when you know how. The practical methods of using different systems don't really make one better than the other.

Although you've got ten digits, if you take your thumb and press it against the three pads of each finger in turn whilst counting, you get a dozen, and you can count upto six dozen effectively (five on your other hand by extending digits, then a plus twelve)

I made a fun little story up that IT guys will get off the bat:

[i]The annual combined science conference was being held on a water world in the centre of the Federation of Planets. The hosts were a squid like humanoid creature. When the open mic session was called for last minute entries a disgraced local academic stepped forward to boos. He stood at the podium until his audience had quietened down and then slowly and quietly spoke, "I have been working on my own these last few seasons on the meaning of life and I have theorised a formula that helps to understand why we are here and what our Gods mean to us." The room was in uproar and he once again waited until they had quieted down, before simply stating, "Twelve times twenty equals two hundred." He stepped down from the podium and walked out of the room, leaving them scrabbling to figure it out.[/i]

When I'm on the road bike I think in miles, but on the mountain bike I think in km. I think it's because I get nowhere fast on a mountain bike, so any help to make it look like I've gone further is great 🙂

Halfing 10mm in metric you get 5, then 2.5, then 1.25 then 0.625. My tape measure isn't marked in 0.625 increments so it all gets a bit guess work, whereas imperial scales are in fractions to start with

That's better for those who were taught to understand fractions, but it's amazing (and saddening) how many people don't. 10mm is 3/8 inch give or take. I guarantee that loads of people will not know or understand that half of that is 3/16. Even friends I was at school with (I'm 37) surprise me with their lack of understanding of fractions.

Kilometers are rubbish:
If this song was called 4.97 klometers high it wouldn't scan at all:

I can see for kilometers? Nonsense.

And A LOT of people are not going to be happy renaming this bloke:
[img] [/img]
We'd have to redesign the sleeves and everything.

It's not just the UK. The Canadians use a mixture of Imperial and Metric too. On a river trip, it was described in miles but water levels were measured in metres.

I'm going to use that one PP, with your permission

Yeah, crack on, that'll baffle someone I hope!

I'm trying to think of a few more. Brain is dead though. Off on holiday this pm. Packing, sorting. It kills the brain. 🙂

Bicyle gearing measured in gear inches? Do they do that on the continent?

Aye, those Proclaimer lads would have been struggling 🙂

But I would walk 804.67200 kilometres
And I would walk 804.67200 more
Just to be the man who walked a 1609.344 kilometres
To fall down at your door

It's a common problem, I'm a machinist and the amount of drawings I have to work with that contain metric and imperial dim's is a right pita. Metric all the way please! 8)

Bicyle gearing measured in gear inches? Do they do that on the continent?

IIRC they have some foreign much called gear development which is in metres.

Bicyle gearing measured in gear inches? Do they do that on the continent?

even if they do it's based on a nominal 27" wheel. but normally using metric 700c wheels. so we're out from the start!

It's a common problem, I'm a machinist and the amount of drawings I have to work with that contain metric and imperial dim's is a right pita.

The lead screws on my lathe are 0.1" pitch (despite the dials claiming it's 2.5mm), so I'm forever having to get the calculator out.

It's a bit of an arse really. Being taught both ways is silly, measuring everything in one, then ordering in another, it's not what the efficient Germans would do!

When I fly gliders, after driving 50 miles to get to the airfield, we measure airspeed in knots, height in feet and distance in km's. I then put water in the wings in litres, but order my beer afterwards in pints. Unless it's a rum in which case it's cl's. I have no idea why!

american cups in cooking is a pain. Loads of on line recipes have them, especially for yummy things like pancakes and cupcakes...There's a recipe site called the pink whisk, and I spend half my time converting the amounts.

PP, it's just daft 😆 why not stick to one amount? like ermmmm, 10? 😀

mrdestructo, I was watching a programme once where they said that arabic people (I think) can count up to 100 on their fingers....

Don't get me started on dress sizes....grrrrrrr.

PS guys: bra sizes are based on volume so 30D is the same as 32C and 34B and so on...just in case you were guessing...

That's better for those who were taught to understand fractions, but it's amazing (and saddening) how many people don't.

The thing is, using metric does not preclude using fractions anyway.

It is perfectly reasonable to say "Five and a half centimetres" for instance.

mrdestructo, I was watching a programme once where they said that arabic people (I think) can count up to 100 on their fingers....

<geek> Count on your fingers in binary and you can count to 1024 😀

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_binary

</geek>

The best mixed mixed unit I have heard of was told to me by one of my former colleagues who had briefly been an astronomer (before moving to IT). He said they used to measure the temperature of space in 'British Thermal Units per cubic Mega Parsec'.

mrdestructo, I was watching a programme once where they said that arabic people (I think) can count up to 100 on their fingers....

what is special about arab fingers? 🙂

Distance & Speed = Miles (Per Hour)
Weight = usually decimal
Measurement = probably 50/50 between imperial and metric. A 8 X 4 sheet of material is much easier to say than 2440 X 1220
(Don't get me started on measurements of wood which is a bastardised rounding of converted imperial sizes :roll:)
Volume = either or

It's just another way in which the UK insists on being different (despite it costing us) like driving on the other side of the road compared to the majority of the world.

It's the other way around actually.

The US drive on the right just to be contrary; when our lot landed over there, they wanted to be different from the UK. The other countries who drive on the right have done so to be in line with the US.

I have been asked how much concrete to fill "2 by 3 meters and about a foot thick" though....

I'm glad it's not just me. Being born in the early 70s, I often use both in the same sentence. "Oh, that's three inches and 5mm."

Bloke crashed a plane near me because its tanks held 'n' American gallons and he'd used the wrong conversion rate when filling it with Imperial ones. Ran out of fuel.

That's backwards too, surely? If he'd filled up with UK gallons he'd have too much fuel?

Don't get me started on measurements of wood which is a bastardised rounding of converted imperial sizes

Isn't wood measured before it dries out and shrinks? Or something.

[i]That's backwards too, surely? If he'd filled up with UK gallons he'd have too much fuel? [/i]

It was us gallons to litres, it turns out;

[url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/3199429.stm ]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/3199429.stm[/url]

Forget the the plane, what about the [url= http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/orbiter/ ]Mars Climate Orbiter[/url]?

In 1999 a 125 million dollar satellite probe smashed straight into Mars because the contractors mixed up metric and imperial measurements. 😯

"A NASA review board found that the problem was in the software controlling the orbiter's thrusters. The software calculated the force the thrusters needed to exert in pounds of force. A separate piece of software took in the data assuming it was in the metric unit: newtons."

-- http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/11/1110mars-climate-observer-report/

I use KM's. All OS maps are in KM's, so makes sense to set bike computers up in KM...

+1

The Canadians use a mixture of Imperial and Metric too.

Those on the [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider ]Gimli Glider[/url] found out how 'interesting' the confusion between imperial and metric can get.

It's just another way in which the UK insists on being different (despite it costing us) like driving on the other side of the road compared to the majority of the world.

How does driving on the 'other side of the road' cost us compared to the rest of the world?

Yes some cars on the continent/US are cheaper than they are over here but usually this is driven by local taxation regulations or differing regulations relating to vehicle construction quality.

It could be argued that, driving on the same side of the road as one of the biggest car producing countries (Japan) and one of the biggest emerging economies (India) is a good thing.

Love this from the Gimli Glider page: [i]"the cockpit warning system sounded again, this time with a long "bong" that no one present could recall having heard before."[/i]

To paraphrase [url= http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115759/quotes?qt=qt0352487 ]Broken Arrow[/url]: "I don't know what's scarier, losing all the engines, or that it happens so often there's actually a bong for it."

Isn't this the kind of thing that dogged the Concorde and Eurobus engineers ? That, and the constant smell of garlic.

But seriously I have held the line for years living in the UK, always talking in meters, kgs etc. It's mostly do-able, except for driving, but anyways I prefer to express driving in time units e.g. Fort William is 3 hours away.

And on that note, when will somebody metricise time ?? This whole 60 mins/12 hours thing is ridiculous !

Time is actually one of the few non-metric things that makes a degree of sense. 60 has lots of divisors (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30), making it a really good choice for something you want to divide up easily. And we can't really do much about the number of days in a year. At least it all goes metric when you get to seconds.

It's a common problem, I'm a machinist and the amount of drawings I have to work with that contain metric and imperial dim's is a right pita.

not to mention sheet thicknesses in SWG where the number get higher as the material get thinner 😕
always found it oddly satisfying though that 1.6mm = 1/16" = 16swg give or take a gnats..........

Does imperial have anything smaller than an inch?

It's all very well using fractions of an inch, but that gets a bit long winded when you get to micrometres or nanometres.

Does anyone use microinches? (aka "imperial bawhair")