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Connecticut Educator Hooked on Metrics
AP - Science ^ | May 13, 11:45 PM ET | SHELLEY K. WONG

Posted on 05/15/2006 10:41:02 AM PDT by Junior

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To: Junior
"Maynard argues metrics is simpler because it's based on powers of 10...."

Maybe so, but it can't be divided by 3.

It makes no difference to me personally, but have you ever considered the overwhelmingly gargantuan task it would be to convert the legal description of every miniscule plot of land in America to the metric system? Our entire country has been surveyed based upon a 5280 foot mile.

Think about it!

101 posted on 05/15/2006 11:53:39 AM PDT by nightdriver
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To: Junior
Brent Maynard says he weighs 74 kilograms

This article doesn't even get 10 words in before it makes the first mistake. Weight in the metric system is measured in newtons. Mass is measured in kilograms. Mass and weight are not the same thing.

Odds are the reporter screwed it up.

102 posted on 05/15/2006 11:53:48 AM PDT by Right Wing Assault ("..this administration is planning a 'Right Wing Assault' on values and ideals.." - John Kerry)
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To: nightdriver

"Our entire country has been surveyed based upon a 5280 foot mile."

Are you sure none of it was surveyed in Statute miles (whatever they are?) Or Nautical miles? At least there's only one variety of metre, and one kind of hectare.


103 posted on 05/15/2006 11:55:40 AM PDT by -YYZ-
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA

I've often wondered if some of the standard measurements would eventually port over to metric. I can see metric gallons, and I'm told there is a metric mile (1500 meters).


104 posted on 05/15/2006 11:56:30 AM PDT by Junior (Identical fecal matter, alternate diurnal period)
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To: FastCoyote

Obviously I am not an engineer or I imagine the metric system would be very important to me. I was mad when they started using metrics for car engine sizes.


105 posted on 05/15/2006 11:57:11 AM PDT by mlc9852
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To: Dead Dog
In reality metrics are the domain of The Hate America, Let's let the French Control Everything left.

I'll have to disagree with you there. I don't see everything "International" as a conspiracy against the U.S.

106 posted on 05/15/2006 11:59:14 AM PDT by Junior (Identical fecal matter, alternate diurnal period)
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To: -YYZ-
Are you sure none of it was surveyed in Statute miles (whatever they are?) Or Nautical miles?

There's only two kinds of miles today. The regular one and the nautical one. The regular one is aka "statute mile" because:

In 1592, Parliament settled the question in England by defining the statute mile to be 8 furlongs, 80 chains, 320 rods, 1760 yards or 5280 feet. The statute mile is exactly 1609.344 meters.

SD

107 posted on 05/15/2006 12:02:41 PM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: SoothingDave
There were 12 Apostles. ;-)

But a baker's dozen is 13.

This is beginning to sound like a bad spy movie.

108 posted on 05/15/2006 12:04:12 PM PDT by Junior (Identical fecal matter, alternate diurnal period)
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To: camle

The extra mile or extra kilometer?


109 posted on 05/15/2006 12:05:50 PM PDT by 7thson (I've got a seat at the big conference table! I'm gonna paint my logo on it!)
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To: SoothingDave
The metric bureaucrats have had to do a few strategic retreats. They tried fining grocery stores for using Imperial measures -- now, pounds and ounces can also be listed on the price sticker. We can inflate our tires in psi, as well as kilopascals (whatever they are). I've gotten used to most things metric -- but not the change from "miles per gallon" to "litres per 100 km". I want to know how far I can go on the gas I have in my tank -- not how much I need to drive 100 km.

The other thing is the meter. It started off being 1 ten millionth of the distance from a pole to the equator. A handy thing for long distance trekkers to know, I'm sure. Now it's something like the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. If I'm ever in space, with a good enough stop watch, I'll be sure to check that out.
110 posted on 05/15/2006 12:06:02 PM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: Right Wing Assault

I dunno. When my wife is buying stuff over the internet the weights are given in grams and not Newtons.


111 posted on 05/15/2006 12:06:32 PM PDT by Junior (Identical fecal matter, alternate diurnal period)
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To: SoothingDave

We'd be in for a peck of trouble if we tried changing such a wonderfully functional system.


112 posted on 05/15/2006 12:07:42 PM PDT by Mr. Lucky
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To: Junior

No, the masses are given in grams (or kilograms), by definition. In a zero-G environment things weigh nothing, but their masses do not change.


113 posted on 05/15/2006 12:11:50 PM PDT by -YYZ-
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To: Right Wing Assault

I always wondered how we got more commies...


114 posted on 05/15/2006 12:14:19 PM PDT by rattrap
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To: Junior

The great thing about America is we use both systems as we see fit.


115 posted on 05/15/2006 12:16:11 PM PDT by Moonman62 (Federal creed: If it moves tax it. If it keeps moving regulate it. If it stops moving subsidize it)
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA
The other thing is the meter. It started off being 1 ten millionth of the distance from a pole to the equator. A handy thing for long distance trekkers to know, I'm sure. Now it's something like the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. If I'm ever in space, with a good enough stop watch, I'll be sure to check that out.

Originally, the meter was designed to be one ten-millionth of a quadrant, the distance between the Equator and the North Pole. (The Earth is difficult to measure, and a small error was made in correcting for the flattening caused by the Earth's rotation. As a result, the meter is too short by about 0.013%. That's not bad for a measurement made in the 1790's.) For a long time, the meter was precisely defined as the length of an actual object, a bar kept at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris. In recent years, however, the SI base units (with one exception) have been redefined in abstract terms so they can be reproduced to any desired level of accuracy in a well-equipped laboratory. The 17th General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1983 defined the meter as that distance that makes the speed of light in a vacuum equal to exactly 299 792 458 meters per second.

These things are about precision and repeatability, not about practicality. Having a literal measuring stick for the meter locked away in a Bureau of Weights and Measures is rather primitive. Materials change with age. A bar of a metal will grow and contract with temperature. It will corrode, etc.

SD

116 posted on 05/15/2006 12:17:05 PM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: -YYZ-
Don't go half way, why use Celsius when we can use Kalvin's. 294 degrees K outside where I am.
117 posted on 05/15/2006 12:17:45 PM PDT by RHINO369 (Politicians are not born; they are excreted.)
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To: Junior
He's even special ordered his truck with an odometer that reads distance in kilometers

You can't make this stuff up.

Personally, I got a kick out of the midwesterners who used to use the metric highway signs for target practice.

118 posted on 05/15/2006 12:19:08 PM PDT by Aquinasfan (When you find "Sola Scriptura" in the Bible, let me know)
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To: -YYZ-
No, the masses are given in grams (or kilograms), by definition. In a zero-G environment things weigh nothing, but their masses do not change.

And if the things are not being weighed at sea level, some one is getting ripped off. Maybe not perceptively, but in theory.

SD

119 posted on 05/15/2006 12:19:16 PM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: nightdriver
"It makes no difference to me personally, but have you ever considered the overwhelmingly gargantuan task it would be to convert the legal description of every miniscule plot of land in America to the metric system? Our entire country has been surveyed based upon a 5280 foot mile.

Think about it!"

I know almost nothing about computer programming and I could write a small program that did exactly that, and I could write it in 15 minutes.
120 posted on 05/15/2006 12:19:29 PM PDT by RHINO369 (Politicians are not born; they are excreted.)
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