The metric system sucks
in [Math]
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From: jmfbahciv on 7 Feb 2010 08:51 Andrew Usher wrote: > On Feb 6, 7:05 am, jmfbahciv <jmfbahciv(a)aol> wrote: > >> If you have a business which wants to sell widgets to >> people in countries who use metric, you should manufacture >> your products using screws and bolts and things which >> are metric. > > Not necessarily. The user of a machine usually doesn't care what units > it's built to internally, only what it does. This point is made in > that great book I referenced: "The metric fallacy". > What happens when things break and you need the machine right now? /BAH
From: jmfbahciv on 7 Feb 2010 08:54 Andrew Usher wrote: > On Feb 6, 7:12 am, jmfbahciv <jmfbahciv(a)aol> wrote: > >>> Yes, but balances are almost obsolete. When measuring force as modern >>> scales do, the full correction is needed. >> Where did you get the notion that balance scales are obsolete? >> Do you really believe that computers replace them? > > I said almost obsolete. Computerised scales replace them in most uses > today - yes, even in chemistry labs. > How do you check them? /BAH
From: Bart Goddard on 7 Feb 2010 09:24 jmfbahciv <jmfbahciv(a)aol> wrote in news:hkmfcf11h2e(a)news6.newsguy.com: >> Hypothetically. But note two things: The US doesn't sell >> widgets, it buys widgets. So your "if-then" is vacuously >> true. Second, other countries sell stuff to the US >> all the time with parts that don't fit our official >> measuring system. Hmmm..... There's still a gap >> in your philosophy. >> > ARe you really claiming that the US doesn't export anything? No, I didn't say "anything", I said "widgets". The US exports plenty of things, mostly jobs and patents. Jobs and patents aren't really things one uses a measuring system on. B. -- Cheerfully resisting change since 1959.
From: Paul Ciszek on 7 Feb 2010 09:32 In article <307d9f52-e674-403a-ad41-29b831fa1d6d(a)r19g2000yqb.googlegroups.com>, Andrew Usher <k_over_hbarc(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >On Feb 6, 9:46�am, nos...(a)nospam.com (Paul Ciszek) wrote: > >> Sure do. �A resistance measured in ohms multiplied by a capacitance >> measured in Farads gives you an RC time constant in seconds. �For >> the rail gun afficianados, the energy stored in a capacitor measured >> in Joules is one half the capacitance in Farads times the square of >> the voltage measured in Volts. �Yes, the rail-gun fans I know do >> talk about energy in Joules. �I have even used spot-welders where >> the intensity of the pulse was given in Joules. > >Well, I guess you can. But just because you can calculate with >barbarous units doesn't make them superior - after all, you'd never >allow that for English units, would you? So, how would *you* choose a resistor and a capacitor to produce a desired time constant, without using ohms and Farads? -- Please reply to: | "Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is pciszek at panix dot com | indistinguishable from malice." Autoreply is disabled |
From: Mike Dworetsky on 7 Feb 2010 12:26
Ken S. Tucker wrote: > On Feb 7, 2:27 am, Michael Press <rub...(a)pacbell.net> wrote: >> In article >> <cb00defa-3550-47a8-8d3a-82fb8f1ac...(a)j31g2000yqa.googlegroups.com>, >> "Ken S. Tucker" <dynam...(a)vianet.on.ca> wrote: >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>> On Feb 4, 7:22 pm, Michael Press <rub...(a)pacbell.net> wrote: >>>> In article >>>> <69011e79-866e-43f3-b01f-bca8a8428...(a)19g2000yql.googlegroups.com>, >>>> "Ken S. Tucker" <dynam...(a)vianet.on.ca> wrote: >> >>>>> Yeah, 0F is cold and 100F is hot. >>>>> (there are 180 degrees between 32F and 212F, that's how >>>>> temperature was unitized, later Celius plagurized the degree, >>>>> and screwed it all up. >> >>>> 100 deg F was supposed to be human body temperature. >> >>>> Wait until the clock goes metric. >> >>>> The USA gallon aka Queen Anne gallon aka wine gallon >>>> started life as a cylinder 7 inch in diameter by 6 inch high. >>>> So why is it exactly 231 inch^3? >> >>>> A mile is a thousand double paces. >> >>>> Canoe voyagers measure portages in rods. >> >>> When we were kids we'd measure time in smokes, like >>> how long does it take to walk from here to there, oh maybe >>> 2 or 3 smokes. Smokes being the number of cig's consumed >>> in the hike. Some of the kids smoked cigars that burned >>> longer, so we went to the standard cigarette. >>> Strange, we'd convey the length by how many smokes you'll >>> need to walk that distance. >> >> Kool. >> >> I should mention that a rod is a trifle longer than a >> canoe, offering a ready to hand measuring rod for the >> length of a portage. > > Had a friend visit, who argued Imperial was retarded, so > I dropped the subject, because he was a guest, only MeTric > for him. > About 15 minutes later I admired how tall he was and asked > him how tall he was and without hesitation he says 6 foot 4. > Wife and I look at each other, smiled, the dope didn't know > he just lost the argument, he's a nice guy but works for the > govmonks so he's a bit fucked up, mentally. > What's 6 foot 4 in mm's? > Ken 2m 10cm. I'll leave you to work out the mm. -- Mike Dworetsky (Remove pants sp*mbl*ck to reply) |