Current Events > Imperial system for height, metric system for everything else

(+) Yeah! (+)

I can understand Fahrenheit for temperature and pounds for weight.

But feets and inches for height is absolutely idiotic.

Metric is just so much more intuitive and goes well with kilograms.

Ideal weight is usually height in centimeters - 100 for men.
80kg for 180cm etc.

imperial sucks ass
nobody got time for that shit

reincarnator07 posted...

Is this a parody? Why would you measure ingredients by volume rather than literally how much ingredient there is with mass? In addition, relying on cups limits you to measurements that fit neatly into said cups. In either case, you need another piece of equipment, but one lets you do so much more than the other

Because all you do is scoop it into a cup instead of endlessly farting around with a scale that you don't need.

metric system is weird i prefer imperial

sfcalimari posted...

Because all you do is scoop it into a cup instead of endlessly farting around with a scale that you don't need.

I mean if you're just throwing stuff around then sure, but that simply doesn't work for anything requiring any precision. It's not like it's difficult to use a scale either, you literally just put the ingredients onto it until you have the right weight. It's only endless if you suck at measuring stuff, a problem that'll also get in the way of cups.

6ft >>>>>>>>>>>>> 182.88cm

Fahrenheit for temperature

I think most would agree this is objectively better.

Bleuets posted...

Fahrenheit for temperature

I think most would agree this is objectively better.

You're likely to only find Americans that think that's true.

Bleuets posted...

Fahrenheit for temperature

I think most would agree this is objectively better.

Oh really?

Try telling that to the 192 countries of the planet that use Celsius some of whom have been doing that for over 200 years.

Try telling that to the US Scientific community, The National Weather Service and NASA who all use the metric and Celsius systems.

I think you will find that only stuck in midval times Yankeeland thinks that true.

We use metric for literally everything in Denmark. Including human height (in cm) and human weight (in kg).

Zakawer3 posted...

We use metric for literally everything in Denmark. Including human height (in cm) and human weight (in kg).

My old blender does have the "Cups" thing listed on it (machine broke still got the glass container), but the only thing that uses inches (Tommer) ive seen are display sizes

...but noone uses metric for those, so its just a funny design choice ig.

CassandraCroft posted...

Oh really?

Try telling that to the 192 countries of the planet that use Celsius some of whom have been doing that for over 200 years.

Try telling that to the US Scientific community, The National Weather Service and NASA who all use the metric and Celsius systems.

I think you will find that only stuck in midval times Yankeeland thinks that true.

Here's the attention you've been begging for.

Also saying you have a 100+ degree fever is way more meaningful than saying you have a 38 degree fever

Damn_Underscore posted...

Also saying you have a 100+ degree fever is way more meaningful than saying you have a 38 degree fever

To you it's more meaningful but to me it isn't.

Measuring speed in km/h is pretty dumb.
60~70km/h may sound like youre going fast but youre barely even moving at that point

measuring distance in meters also makes no sense either visually. You can roughly measure feet by eyeballing it, and kilometers isnt applicable in that sense.

Homeless_Waifu posted...

Measuring speed in km/h is pretty dumb.
60~70km/h may sound like youre going fast but youre barely even moving at that point

measuring distance in meters also makes no sense either visually. You can roughly measure feet by eyeballing it, and kilometers isnt applicable in that sense.

Get a life, 2/10 attempt.

imperial system good for everyday use

metric system good for scientific use

Homeless_Waifu posted...

Measuring speed in km/h is pretty dumb.
60~70km/h may sound like youre going fast but youre barely even moving at that point

The numbers are irrelevant, it's what they represent. I guarantee that you'd have the same internal understanding of the numbers if you spent some time driving in a country that used metric.

measuring distance in meters also makes no sense either visually. You can roughly measure feet by eyeballing it, and kilometers isnt applicable in that sense.

You can just eyeball in metric too... I'm better at doing so in imperial because I played a lot of Warhammer when I was younger and guess range weapons were still a thing, but if we measured in metric then I'd probably be way better at that instead. Eyeballing distances is a skill that needs practice no matter the system you use.

Homeless_Waifu posted...

Measuring speed in km/h is pretty dumb.
60~70km/h may sound like youre going fast but youre barely even moving at that point

measuring distance in meters also makes no sense either visually. You can roughly measure feet by eyeballing it, and kilometers isnt applicable in that sense.

Nah. It's much easier to measure and eyeball great distances in metric.

Revisited posted...

if it's in the 10s it's very cold, if it's in the 20s it's nice and cool, if it's in the 30s it's considerably warm

Uhhh, the fuck? 10s is nice, 20s is kinda hot, 30s is awful.

CassandraCroft posted...

Let me show you something:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d166af62.jpg

Oh look the ENTIRE world except for one backwards country use Celsius instead of the outdated Fahrenheit!

Even the US scientific community and the National Weather Service use Celsius.

Look at the US for sticking to an ancient antiquated temperature scale.

Just how the fuck is 212F better than 100C for the boiling point of water. No it isn't. Going in increments of ten is better than the crap Fahrenheut uses. Is it any wonder Anders Celsius invented a better scale when he saw just how crap Fahrenheit's was.

ngl this is how I actually feel about Imperial in general sometimes. Just get to the fucking point and cut out the middleman, tired of this bs unnecessary converting.

Americans really don't think hard about how much more work we do calculating measurements despite the irony we're lazy as fuck!

And no to: Kelvin is superior to both!

Just no.

Jagr_68 posted...

ngl this is how I actually feel about Imperial in general sometimes. Just get to the fucking point and cut out the middleman, tired of this bs unnecessary converting.

Americans really don't think hard about how much more work we do calculating measurements despite the irony we're lazy as fuck!

On top of that, Imperial units are defined by their relation to metric anyway. The definition of an inch is 25.4mm, for example. Anyone still using imperial is using metric with extra steps.

Notti posted...

And no to: Kelvin is superior to both!

Just no.

Kelvin is metric.

It depends on how important you feel having a range of 0-100 for imperial.

F
0 = very cold
100 = very hot

MPH
100 = very fast

That logic doesn't work too well for kg vs lbs, but
100 = light (for a person, or somewhat heavy if lifting an object)
200 = heavy
300 = very heavy

Notti posted...

And no to: Kelvin is superior to both!

Just no.

Rankine >>> all

Sansoldier posted...

It depends on how important you feel having a range of 0-100 for imperial.

F
0 = very cold
100 = very hot

MPH
100 = very fast

That logic doesn't work too well for kg vs lbs, but
100 = light (for a person, or somewhat heavy if lifting an object)
200 = heavy
300 = very heavy

Problem is all of those require context to fit neatly into a 1-100 scale. 100f is a toasty day, but you'd complain if your coffee was that "hot" and that's barely enough to warm your food in the oven.. 0f is very cold, but literal freezing temp is 32f and most would still consider that pretty darn cold.

Onto speed, 50mph is insanely fast in a residential area while being on the low end for a motorway. 100mph is already out of the range of speed limits for cars, but would be pretty normal for trains and not even close to high speed rail while being impossibly slow for aircraft.

Neither system fits neatly into a 1-100 scale, nor do they need to.

Jagr_68 posted...

ngl this is how I actually feel about Imperial in general sometimes. Just get to the fucking point and cut out the middleman, tired of this bs unnecessary converting.

Americans really don't think hard about how much more work we do calculating measurements despite the irony we're lazy as fuck!

You would think so, however being stubborn trumps being lazy, and America is definitely stubborn if nothing else, almost prideful about it

Metric for everything.

Who ever wanted to divide by 12 in their head, lol.

Revisited posted...

You would think so, however being stubborn trumps being lazy, and America is definitely stubborn if nothing else, almost prideful about it

Why should everybody convert to Metric?

Why can't America just be America and use our existing "US Customary Units"?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_customary_units

Do you think Aliens will be using the Metric System once we meet them and compare standards?

If we have a "UFP (United Federation of Planets)" like system, do you think you can convince countless alien races to give up their local "Units of Measure" to the "Metric System"?

That's highly unlikely, especially if a species has their own system or several systems that has been in use longer than humanity has been alive.

It's okay to have "Diversity" in measuring systems.

Not everybody has to be "Assimilated" into one system.

The US has already officially aligned with the "Metric System" and derive all our modern incarnations of "US Customary Units" relative to the existing "Metric System".

The majority of U.S. customary units were redefined in terms of the meter and kilogram with the Mendenhall Order of 1893 and, in practice, for many years before.[3] These definitions were refined by the international yard and pound agreement of 1959.

That should be "Good Enough".

Kamen_Rider_Blade posted...

Why can't America just be America and use our existing "US Customary Units"?

You can. Use whatever you want. Just don't expect anybody to respect you for it. You're basically the odd one out. If you don't understand what others are saying it's your own fault.

Kamen_Rider_Blade posted...

WhyDo you think Aliens will be using the Metric System once we meet them and compare standards?

Actually, yes. SI units are based on science. Any alien civilisation capable of interstellar travel will have a great understanding of science. SI wasn't just made up. Things like the speed of light, the Planck constant, the elementary charge, the Boltzmann constant and the Avogadro constant are fixed and constant everywhere in the universe. It will make sense to derive your units from those.

Example, the second, symbol s, is the SI unit of time. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the caesium frequency, Cs, the unperturbed ground-state hyperfine transition frequency of the caesium 133 atom, to be 9192631770 when expressed in the unit Hz, which is equal to s1.

SuperVegitoFAN posted...

Active sun exposure increases the temperature felt too, the higher it is in the sky the stronger it is. 25C with sun is warmer than 25C without sun, and 25C with sun in september is colder than 25C with sun in July (northern hemisphere)

Temperature is always measured in the shade, usually at a height of 1m for uniformity. Standing on the sun will always feel hotter as you are now feeling radiant heat as opposed to ambient heat. It's the same as standing in front of a heater will feel hotter than standing in the same room as the heater.

Of course there are external factors that can change how the temperature feels. Wind will usually, though not always, make it feel cooler. Standing under a tin roof or laserlite (polycarbonate) roofing will increase the ambient temperature.

blistr posted...

Temperature is always measured in the shade, usually at a height of 1m for uniformity. Standing on the sun will always feel hotter as you are now feeling radiant heat as opposed to ambient heat. It's the same as standing in front of a heater will feel hotter than standing in the same room as the heater.

Of course there are external factors that can change how the temperature feels. Wind will usually, though not always, make it feel cooler. Standing under a tin roof or laserlite (polycarbonate) roofing will increase the ambient temperature.

Right but beyond that, the higher the sun is in the sky (between 0 and 90 degrees) the stronger that radiant heat is. I think its something about the rays being more focused at higher angles. As in this is why the tropics are warm and the poles cold... or atleast part of it.

Kelvin for temperature

Metric for everything but temperature.
The extra decimal from Celsius is a pain in the ass.

divot1338 posted...

Kelvin for temperature

Just adjust the scale for temperatures that are more likely to happen on earth. maybe subtract 273.15 from the K temperature

Revisited posted...

Celsius for temperature of course.

Wrong. Fahrenheit is a much better scale of human comfort.

Imperial for miles, speed. Fahrenheit for temps (weather).

Everything else metric, especially volumes and extremely small distances.

DarkDoc posted...

You can. Use whatever you want. Just don't expect anybody to respect you for it. You're basically the odd one out. If you don't understand what others are saying it's your own fault.

Many of us still know how to use Metric, it's not an issue.

We just prefer US Customary, since that's what we're used to and will continue to do so.

DarkDoc posted...

Actually, yes. SI units are based on science. Any alien civilisation capable of interstellar travel will have a great understanding of science. SI wasn't just made up. Things like the speed of light, the Planck constant, the elementary charge, the Boltzmann constant and the Avogadro constant are fixed and constant everywhere in the universe. It will make sense to derive your units from those.

But what if they don't derive units from them?

They have their own form of derivation based off different things?

Example, the second, symbol s, is the SI unit of time. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the caesium frequency, Cs, the unperturbed ground-state hyperfine transition frequency of the caesium 133 atom, to be 9192631770 when expressed in the unit Hz, which is equal to s1.

What if aliens used a different frequency and a different definition of time?

1 Hz to us might not be the same 1 Hz to them or whatever is equivalent to 1 Hz in their units.

Kamen_Rider_Blade posted...

What if aliens used a different frequency and a different definition of time?

1 Hz to us might not be the same 1 Hz to them or whatever is equivalent to 1 Hz in their units.

Aliens may divide time differently to us, but our definition of a second is universal. It's based upon something that will always provide the same result, no matter where in the universe you measure it.

This was by design too, all base SI units are based on constants to ensure accuracy. For example, if a second is 1/86400 of a day, the length of a second will change because Earth's rotation isn't constant.

I'm 5'9

reincarnator07 posted...

Aliens may divide time differently to us, but our definition of a second is universal. It's based upon something that will always provide the same result, no matter where in the universe you measure it.

This was by design too, all base SI units are based on constants to ensure accuracy. For example, if a second is 1/86400 of a day, the length of a second will change because Earth's rotation isn't constant.

And what if Aliens find different constants in the universe to measure against derive their units?

Ones that we haven't discovered or even considered?

Or even base their units on measurements on things that we don't consider "Constant"?

What we've discovered via science might not the be the end all be all at the moment.

We're constantly discovering new things over time.

If they are able to travel the stars, they might know more about science than we do and use completely different ways of measure that are different/better than what we do.

when I'm asked my height, I tell the truth if I'm saying it in metric (1.89 meters) but if I'm saying it in imperial, I lie and say I'm 5'11" even though I'm slightly taller than 6'2"

BucketCat posted...

when I'm asked my height, I tell the truth if I'm saying it in metric (1.89 meters) but if I'm saying it in imperial, I lie and say I'm 5'11" even though I'm slightly taller than 6'2"

Why even bother lying?

Why not just admit that you're 18.9 Decimeters tall?

BucketCat posted...

when I'm asked my height, I tell the truth if I'm saying it in metric (1.89 meters) but if I'm saying it in imperial, I lie and say I'm 5'11" even though I'm slightly taller than 6'2"

Bruh why are you lying your height down, that just makes things worse for everyone. >_>

SecretBase posted...

Bruh why are you lying your height down, that just makes things worse for everyone. >_>

ok, it's only around one friend who always lies and says he's 6'1" when he's actually around 5'10"-5'11"ish

lmao

Kamen_Rider_Blade posted...

We just prefer US Customary, since that's what we're used to and will continue to do so.

"US Customary"? Is that what they call it these days? I always found it funny that Americans thought they were using the old imperial system, but actually they weren't (ie an American pint isn't even the same as an old English pint).

Either way, this is gonna hold you back. It's one of the reasons the USA is losing its way in science.

Remember the fall of the Roman empire was partly caused by their number system holding them back.

Kamen_Rider_Blade posted...

But what if they don't derive units from them?

All of those constants are universal. The speed of light is the speed of light. Same for all those other constants. As I said, nobody decided how much each measurement should be. Everything is calculated based on fundamentals. That's the whole point of the system. It's not based on one person or one object, it's not based on where you are or the time period you live in.

Kamen_Rider_Blade posted...

They have their own form of derivation based off different things?

There are base SI units. Everything else is derived from those (eg speed is distance over time, and density is mass over volume). You can't derive things any other way.

Kamen_Rider_Blade posted...

What if aliens used a different frequency and a different definition of time?

Because the second is derived in a standard way using chemical elements.

Kamen_Rider_Blade posted...

1 Hz to us might not be the same 1 Hz to them or whatever is equivalent to 1 Hz in their units.

1 Hz is 1 cycle per second. Lol.

Kamen_Rider_Blade posted...

And what if Aliens find different constants in the universe to measure against derive their units?

I really think you're struggling with the term "universal constant".

Like, they're physical and fundamental. A temperature of absolute zero is the same for all aliens, no matter where they are and no matter how they think.

Kamen_Rider_Blade posted...

Ones that we haven't discovered or even considered?

Ok, I'm gonna slowly edge out of the room.

DarkDoc posted...

"US Customary"? Is that what they call it these days? I always found it funny that Americans thought they were using the old imperial system, but actually they weren't (ie an American pint isn't even the same as an old English pint).

That's always been the official name for it.
Just many people are ill informed about it.

Either way, this is gonna hold you back. It's one of the reasons the USA is losing its way in science.

We literally can use metric if needed. It's not an issue.

Remember the fall of the Roman empire was partly caused by their number system holding them back.

Our # System is the same as yours.
Our US Customary is referenced around the Metric System.
You can literally go look it up.

All of those constants are universal. The speed of light is the speed of light. Same for all those other constants. As I said, nobody decided how much each measurement should be. Everything is calculated based on fundamentals. That's the whole point of the system. It's not based on one person or one object, it's not based on where you are or the time period you live in.

And I'm saying that everything your current SI standard is based around was arbitrarily chosen based on the maximum accuracy they could get at that time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesium_standard

Caesium atomic clocks are one of the most accurate time and frequency standards, and serve as the primary standard for the definition of the second in the International System of Units (SI) (the modern form of the metric system). By definition, radiation produced by the transition between the two hyperfine ground states of caesium (in the absence of external influences such as the Earth's magnetic field) has a frequency, Cs, of exactly 9192631770 Hz. That value was chosen so that the caesium second equalled, to the limit of human measuring ability in 1960 when it was adopted, the existing standard ephemeris second based on the Earth's orbit around the Sun.[2] Because no other measurement involving time had been as precise, the effect of the change was less than the experimental uncertainty of all existing measurements.

It's based on the accuracy of humanity to measure Caesium-133 precisely in 1960.

Obviously, we have more accruate atomic clocks since then.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_clock

Accuracy
The accuracy of atomic clocks has improved continuously since the first prototype in the 1950s. The first generation of atomic clocks were based on measuring caesium, rubidium, and hydrogen atoms. In a time period from 1959 to 1998, NIST developed a series of seven caesium-133 microwave clocks named NBS-1 to NBS-6 and NIST-7 after the agency changed its name from the National Bureau of Standards to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.[9] The first clock had an accuracy of 1011, and the last clock had an accuracy of 1015. The clocks were the first to use a caesium fountain, which was introduced by Jerrod Zacharias, and laser cooling of atoms, which was demonstrated by Dave Wineland and his colleagues in 1978.
The next step in atomic clock advances involves going from accuracies of 1015 to accuracies of 1018 and even 1019.[a] The goal is to redefine the second when clocks become so accurate that they will not lose or gain more than a second in the age of the universe.[b] To do so, scientists must demonstrate the accuracy of clocks that use strontium and ytterbium and optical lattice technology. Such clocks are also called optical clocks where the energy level transitions used are in the optical regime (giving rise to even higher oscillation frequency), which thus, have much higher accuracy as compared to traditional atomic clocks.[61]
The goal of an atomic clock with 1016 accuracy was first reached at the United Kingdom's National Physical Laboratory's NPL-CsF2 caesium fountain clock[62][63][64] and the United States' NIST-F2.[65][66] The increase in precision from NIST-F1 to NIST-F2 is due to advances in liquid nitrogen cooling technology for atoms.[67]
The performance of primary and secondary frequency standards contributing to International Atomic Time (TAI) is evaluated. The evaluation reports of individual (mainly primary) clocks are published online by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM).

There are base SI units. Everything else is derived from those (eg speed is distance over time, and density is mass over volume). You can't derive things any other way.

And the fundamental time basis that derives from that is based on a arbitrary picked accuuracy in time.
We've improved Atomic Clock accuracy by ALOT since then.

The scientists who work on these super accurate clocks have even moved past Caesium.

Because the second is derived in a standard way using chemical elements.

But your Chemical Element choice was arbitrarily decided by committee long before you & I were born.

1 Hz is 1 cycle per second. Lol.

You're missing the point, the definition of 1-second might not be the same between species and different measurement systems.

Hell, they may not even use Base-10 numbers.

I really think you're struggling with the term "universal constant".
Like, they're physical and fundamental. A temperature of absolute zero is the same for all aliens, no matter where they are and no matter how they think.

That's the lowest we can measure, at the moment.

Scientists Are Trying to Create a Temperature Below Absolute Zero
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/scientists-are-trying-to-create-a-temperature-below-absolute-zero-4837559/

What we know about the limits of science, is just that, it's limited by the knowledge we have and the accuracy that we can measure down to.

It's not the end all, and scientists are trying to go beyond current known limits.

Ok, I'm gonna slowly edge out of the room.

You do that.

Imperial works just fine for its uses.

If you are too stupid to figure it out, just use a converter to metric units. Its not hard.