From: cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net
In article ,
Simon Clubley wrote:
>I really wish we would complete the process of moving to metric as well. :-(
>We are currently in some half-way situation that feels like it is currently
>static and unmoving.
>
>For example, metres/kilometres are a hell of a lot nicer and easier
>to work with than the miles/yards/feet stuff.
>
>Direct personal experience here as OS maps have been metric for decades
>and the standard hiking maps (1:25000) are easy to work with provided
>you know how to read a map (which I do).
I learned land navigation using metric units in the US Marines,
using the NATO grid system (not lat/long). I agree that it is
better in all respects. And certainly, for any sort of
scientific or engineering work, one should just use metric.
That said, for intuitive distances and so forth, for example if
someone says to me, "how far is it from here to X" or "about how
much does this weigh?" I find imperial units easier to think
about, but this is simply because I am used to them.
Officially, the US is a metric country; we switched back in the
70s. Of course, most working scientists and many engineers here
use it professionally. But it's never been _implemented_ on a
large scale for day-to-day use, and I suspect if you tried now,
the MAGA crowd would throw another temper tantrum. They're
still holding onto cursive for similar, antiquated reasons.
- Dan C.
(I do think that Farenheit is frankly a better scale for human
temperatures: 0 is really cold, 100 is really hot, the
differences between degress are small enough that they're
meaningful without fractions. Compare to Celsius, where at 0,
water is getting icy and 100 you're dead.)
--- SoupGate-DOS v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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