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  #61  
Old 05-25-2020, 04:43 PM
FLRon FLRon is offline
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True story: I used to work as a machinist in the early 70’s, and as a sheet metal worker in the mid 70’s to late 80’s. In both of those fields I used tenths, hundredths, and thousandths on a daily basis.

Fast coward to 1989 and I was just starting a new career at Honda. My first few weeks were spent in extensive training learning things very foreign to me, including the metric system. One day I found myself in a classroom surrounded by other new hires, while the Japanese instructor taught us the basics of the metric system. I really struggled with this new system, in fact I was the only one that did struggle.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that the housewives and white collar workers in my group picked up this new system very quickly. Growing frustrated, my Japanese instructor looked at me and sympathetically said that perhaps it would have been easier for me if I had never learned the decimal system.

I had to admit he was right. I couldn’t seem to help myself, but whenever someone would read a measurement in microns, my brain immediately tried to translate that into a decimal I could understand. Fortunately, I did begin to grasp this new way of measuring things, and after a while it came naturally to me.
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  #62  
Old 05-25-2020, 05:03 PM
Gordon Currie Gordon Currie is offline
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Originally Posted by loco gringo View Post
There are two types of countries, those that have put a man on the moon and those that use the metric system.

Kidding. Kind of.
So China and Russia/USSR did not use the metric system?

You learn something new every day
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  #63  
Old 05-25-2020, 06:15 PM
frankmcr frankmcr is offline
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Originally Posted by Gordon Currie View Post
So China and Russia/USSR did not use the metric system?

You learn something new every day
China and Russia have put a man on the moon?
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  #64  
Old 05-25-2020, 06:23 PM
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TomB'sox TomB'sox is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gordon Currie View Post
So China and Russia/USSR did not use the metric system?

You learn something new every day
Kind of confused with this post, I must have missed something over the last 40 years???

BTW I think the world should use one system also, I for one will gladly wait for the rest of the world to leave the metric system behind. I am in no hurry.
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  #65  
Old 05-25-2020, 06:43 PM
Brucebubs Brucebubs is offline
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Originally Posted by TomB'sox View Post

BTW I think the world should use one system also, I for one will gladly wait for the rest of the world to leave the metric system behind. I am in no hurry.
I reckon the odds of that happening must be about the same as you guys handing back to the British.
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  #66  
Old 05-25-2020, 07:53 PM
Brucebubs Brucebubs is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FLRon View Post
True story: I used to work as a machinist in the early 70’s, and as a sheet metal worker in the mid 70’s to late 80’s. In both of those fields I used tenths, hundredths, and thousandths on a daily basis.

Fast coward to 1989 and I was just starting a new career at Honda. My first few weeks were spent in extensive training learning things very foreign to me, including the metric system. One day I found myself in a classroom surrounded by other new hires, while the Japanese instructor taught us the basics of the metric system. I really struggled with this new system, in fact I was the only one that did struggle.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that the housewives and white collar workers in my group picked up this new system very quickly. Growing frustrated, my Japanese instructor looked at me and sympathetically said that perhaps it would have been easier for me if I had never learned the decimal system.

I had to admit he was right. I couldn’t seem to help myself, but whenever someone would read a measurement in microns, my brain immediately tried to translate that into a decimal I could understand. Fortunately, I did begin to grasp this new way of measuring things, and after a while it came naturally to me.
There once was a man named FLRon
Who struggled to grasp the micron
Those first days were hectic
As he learned to think metric
Now FLRon's brain has naturally caught on
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Last edited by Brucebubs; 05-25-2020 at 08:19 PM.
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  #67  
Old 05-25-2020, 08:29 PM
PHJim PHJim is offline
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Originally Posted by Ozzy the dog View Post
This is exactly why the US achieved getting to the moon.

The American astronauts only had is 238,900 miles but the rest of the world would have had to go 384,400 Km. It's obviously nearer to the US than anywhere else.

As Brucebubs says, I too find it ironic that the US has been using the metric system for the currency for over 200 years - does this make them the first to use this system?
Probably one of the reasons we get Americans coming to Southern Ontario with winter coats in the summer is that they see that when it's 72° in Niagara Falls, NY, it's only 22° in Niagara Falls, ON.
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  #68  
Old 05-25-2020, 09:06 PM
leeplaysblues leeplaysblues is offline
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Even putting aside the logic of using metric for length, area and mass one cannot make a case for still using Fahrenheit.

In Celsius, water freezes (turns solid) at 0deg. and boils (turns gas) at 100deg. (Yes I know, only at sea level or 0 altitude)

Makes a lot more sense and easier to understand than the Fahrenheit scale that based on??????

Also, in metric the units of measurement are related and somewhat interchangeable in calculations, 1 cubic cm = 1 millilitre, 1 litre water = 1 kg.

So logical and easy to use and calculate.

How many ounces or cups of water does 1 cubic yard hold????
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  #69  
Old 05-25-2020, 09:16 PM
frankmcr frankmcr is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by leeplaysblues View Post

How many ounces or cups of water does 1 cubic yard hold????
1.17 fathoms.
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  #70  
Old 05-25-2020, 09:33 PM
Brucebubs Brucebubs is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frankmcr View Post
1.17 fathoms.
Isn't that a 'league'? ... or am I thinking 'furlong'?
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  #71  
Old 05-25-2020, 11:13 PM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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The British Thermal Unit (BTU), widely used in thermodynamics, is the amount of heat needed to raise one pound of water at maximum density through one degree Fahrenheit, equivalent to 1.055 × 10^3 joules.

Using Celsius makes sense but there are good reasons to keep using Fahrenheit, as well, and thermodynamics is only of them. Maybe there is somebody out there using joules for thermodynamics but I have no idea who. All the calculations I have done over the years for power plants and air conditioning systems have been based on BTU data.

It's easy enough to convert between °C and °F. In most cases you just press a switch on a digital thermometer. I can't think of anyone I know who has trouble remembering that water at sea level boils at 212°F and freezes at 32°F. I believe that in Denver water boils at about 202°F (94.4°C).

What's wrong with using both temperature systems as we are now doing and allow users to decide what they are comfortable with?

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  #72  
Old 05-26-2020, 12:06 AM
TJE" TJE" is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brucebubs View Post
I reckon the odds of that happening must be about the same as you guys handing back to the British.
Historically I think it was a gentleman called Napolean Bonaparte who attempted to impose the logical French metric system on the whole of the known world - sadly defeated by the British who then were still using the irrational Imperial system.

The British empire has a lot of legacies..
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  #73  
Old 05-26-2020, 03:27 AM
Ozzy the dog Ozzy the dog is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by leeplaysblues View Post
Even putting aside the logic of using metric for length, area and mass one cannot make a case for still using Fahrenheit.

In Celsius, water freezes (turns solid) at 0deg. and boils (turns gas) at 100deg. (Yes I know, only at sea level or 0 altitude)

Makes a lot more sense and easier to understand than the Fahrenheit scale that based on??????

Also, in metric the units of measurement are related and somewhat interchangeable in calculations, 1 cubic cm = 1 millilitre, 1 litre water = 1 kg.

So logical and easy to use and calculate.

How many ounces or cups of water does 1 cubic yard hold????

Spot on. Whenever I'm baking bread I weigh the water on digital scales and get much more accurate results.

In answer to your question of how may cups of water does 1 cubic yard hold - well that really depends on how big Picasso's back yard was when he painted it.
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  #74  
Old 05-26-2020, 04:39 AM
Murphy Slaw Murphy Slaw is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Glennwillow View Post
What's wrong with using both temperature systems as we are now doing and allow users to decide what they are comfortable with?

- Glenn
Well, nothing is wrong with that Glenn. Nothing at all.

Some people are just busy bodies and want to tell other people what to do....

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  #75  
Old 05-26-2020, 05:31 AM
Gitfiddlemann Gitfiddlemann is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Glennwillow View Post
Using Celsius makes sense but there are good reasons to keep using Fahrenheit, as well, and thermodynamics is only of them. Maybe there is somebody out there using joules for thermodynamics but I have no idea who. All the calculations I have done over the years for power plants and air conditioning systems have been based on BTU data.

It's easy enough to convert between °C and °F. In most cases you just press a switch on a digital thermometer. I can't think of anyone I know who has trouble remembering that water at sea level boils at 212°F and freezes at 32°F. I believe that in Denver water boils at about 202°F (94.4°C).

What's wrong with using both temperature systems as we are now doing and allow users to decide what they are comfortable with?

- Glenn
Good point Glenn!
I'll add one more good reason to hang on to Fahrenheit:
People care a lot more about air temperature in their daily lives, than water temperature.
No one needs to think that water freezes at 0 and boils at 100. They see ice or an ice cube, or they see water start to bubble. The visual is the more effective cue than the F or C numbers.
But scientifically, Fahrenheit is actually more precise than Celsius as far as air temperature goes in our every day lives as humans. Our earthly range revolves on average around -20 to 110 F. A range of about 130 degrees.
In Celsius, that equates to -28 to 43, i.e. a range of only 71 degrees!
So there you go. People here in the US understand the differences between a 72 degree day and an 85 degree day. The range means a lot to how we perceive things. And that matters a lot in our daily lives.
The Celsius crowd doesn't have as many numbers to play with....

So, maybe it's the US that has it right all along holding on to the Fahrenheit scale!
(Never mind the construction industry and all our 2 x 4s )

As Glenn said, what's wrong with using both?
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