Should America go metric?

[IxilaFA]

Not more than what the US spends on war every day. Priorities.

Because national defense isn't really an issue, right?

[Calimon-ZJ]

Because national defense isn't really an issue, right?

Defense against what exactly?

[IxilaFA]

Defense against what exactly?

I thought talking to me was like talking to a wall? Why are you even responding?

[Doktor Faustus]

Caliber. I never knew caliber had anything to do with inches.

.45 = 0.45 inches in diameter, etc.

[Calimon-ZJ]

I thought talking to me was like talking to a wall? Why are you even responding?

Because this is a different topic. Don`t make big general claims if you have absolutely nothing to back it up with.

[IxilaFA]

Because this is a different topic. Don`t make big general claims if you have absolutely nothing to back it up with.

Are you implying that building our country's defenses and keeping up a well-trained military is not important to a successful nation?

[Kakokun]

Are you implying that building our country's defenses and keeping up a well-trained military is not important to a successful nation?

I'd argue a good education system and proper health care is more important.

[Deleted]

Hell no. I love the biased graphs btw. I think of all the songs that have miles in them, have them replaced with kilometers (I would walk a thousand kilometers to see you!) and think how silly it sounds.

Metric just has a very scientific sound to me, that it sounds out of place in regular conversations.

I keep wondering why some of you call this "biased". It's not a political discussion, there's nothign to be biased about.
Especially ridiculous when your entire argument is based around changing a word in songs. Goes to show that the resistance against metric conversion is nothing but stubborn refusal with no basis in reason or logic.

Also, in sweden, we have something called "mil" after kilometer. 10 kilometers is 1 mil. I'm quite sure that's part of the metric system.

[IxilaFA]

I'd argue a good education system and proper health care is more important.

That wasn't the initial argument though. I'm not really here to argue the values of education and health care versus military spending. I do think it's ridiculous to suggest cutting military spending to fund a cultural shift in whether we use inches or centimeters.

[Kakokun]

That wasn't the initial argument though. I'm not really here to argue the values of education and health care versus military spending. I do think it's ridiculous to suggest cutting military spending to fund a cultural shift in whether we use inches or centimeters.

Well my argument is that in this day and age a bloated military budget is actually not that important to a successful nation.

[Deleted]

I am all for metric (from France) however kelvin would make much more sense than celcius :<. That being said their units do scale so it's not that far off =].

[Deleted]

I'd argue a good education system and proper health care is more important.

The greater importance of some things doesn't equals to other things shouldn't or couldn't be done as well. The equal function and success of many parts of the system of society is what makes a working nation, not one thing over another. Just felt I needed to point that out.

---------- Post added 2012-12-21 at 06:55 PM ----------

That wasn't the initial argument though. I'm not really here to argue the values of education and health care versus military spending. I do think it's ridiculous to suggest cutting military spending to fund a cultural shift in whether we use inches or centimeters.

Simply because the American public is still so much against higher taxes. People need to realize that doing things costs money. But getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan would mean the US would get a lot more money for other things.

[IxilaFA]

Well my argument is that in this day and age a bloated military budget is actually not that important to a successful nation.

That really depends on perspective. I grew up in a town where 60% of the town made it's living through the government contractors that created system for the military to use. Many modern day conventions were invented because of original military purposes, GPS being a major one. Now these things may have been invented anyways, of course, but I wouldn't say that military spending is that much of a waste of money.

But like I said, that wasn't my point. I was just wondering if people sincerely think we should cut national defense spending in order to implement the Metric system.

Simply because the American public is still so much against higher taxes. People need to realize that doing things costs money. But getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan would mean the US would get a lot more money for other things.

In our current economic situation I'd be in favor of pulling out of Afghanistan and Iraq just so we can stop spending that money period.

[Kakokun]

That really depends on perspective. I grew up in a town where 60% of the town made it's living through the government contractors that created system for the military to use. Many modern day conventions were invented because of original military purposes, GPS being a major one. Now these things may have been invented anyways, of course, but I wouldn't say that military spending is that much of a waste of money.

But like I said, that wasn't my point. I was just wondering if people sincerely think we should cut national defense spending in order to implement the Metric system.

Well how much would actually have to be changed in order to implement the metric system?

[IxilaFA]

Well how much would actually have to be changed in order to implement the metric system?

Street signs, speedometers (I think most modern cars have both, but some like my own don't) which would cost money to the user themselves, gas stations, grocery stores, etc would all have to adjust to the change. I'm sure public awareness campaigns would have to be undertaken since not everyone keeps abreast on changes going on around them and might get confused by the changes.

[Kakokun]

Street signs, speedometers (I think most modern cars have both, but some like my own don't) which would cost money to the user themselves, gas stations, grocery stores, etc would all have to adjust to the change. I'm sure public awareness campaigns would have to be undertaken since not everyone keeps abreast on changes going on around them and might get confused by the changes.

So pretty much everything except those jobs that deal with things that uses the metric system.

I guess you could try a "we have to move money from this budget to this other budget so while we're doing that lets move more money into the other budget and fix other stuff" but I guess that's quite unlikely.

[Deleted]

Street signs, speedometers (I think most modern cars have both, but some like my own don't) which would cost money to the user themselves, gas stations, grocery stores, etc would all have to adjust to the change. I'm sure public awareness campaigns would have to be undertaken since not everyone keeps abreast on changes going on around them and might get confused by the changes.

thing is most people are already educated in the metric system (well they should be) and you dont actually need everything in metric. The UK is a metric country but still uses miles/mph for vehicles certain measurements are still done or referred to in imperial depending on the age of the person or what your dealing with. Like a quarter inch vs 6.35ml.

thing that usa has that pisses me off the most.. month - day -year WTF is all that bout? it reallly makes no damned sense! Handing my passport as ID in Vegas and the retard going... this is fake there is no 30th month.. /FACEPALM!

[Elegiac]

1) It's not metric, it's SI.

2) Yes, the US should convert to SI. Point of fact, I would hazard a lot more money is wasted on doing conversions for products currently than would be spent metricating.

[IxilaFA]

thing is most people are already educated in the metric system (well they should be) and you dont actually need everything in metric. The UK is a metric country but still uses miles/mph for vehicles certain measurements are still done or referred to in imperial depending on the age of the person or what your dealing with. Like a quarter inch vs 6.35ml.

thing that usa has that pisses me off the most.. month - day -year WTF is all that bout? it reallly makes no damned sense! Handing my passport as ID in Vegas and the retard going... this is fake there is no 30th month.. /FACEPALM!

Well that's just stupidity. I would think anyone would do a double take and realize what's going on with the passport.

As for your suggestion, if they want to do it that's fine, but I don't really see how it would really change anything. Any sector that needs Metric already uses it, and every other sector / the common public won't give two fucks as long as they know the distance to work and how tall you need to ride a roller coaster.

BTW, just curious, how do roller coasters in other countries give height requirements? Most over here say like, 42 inches which is 3 and a half feet. So is that 1 meter and 15 centimeters (or whatever it translates to)? Or is it just 315 centimeters? Etc.

[Elegiac]

Well that's just stupidity. I would think anyone would do a double take and realize what's going on with the passport.

As for your suggestion, if they want to do it that's fine, but I don't really see how it would really change anything. Any sector that needs Metric already uses it, and every other sector / the common public won't give two fucks as long as they know the distance to work and how tall you need to ride a roller coaster.

BTW, just curious, how do roller coasters in other countries give height requirements? Most over here say like, 42 inches which is 3 and a half feet. So is that 1 meter and 15 centimeters (or whatever it translates to)? Or is it just 315 centimeters? Etc.

Either or. Technically metres is more correct given that it is an SI base unit.