Good Morning fellow survival and gear junkies.

I have a confession to make, being one of the resident weirdos this should come as no surprise to any of you, but:

I love the metric system.


I was just reading an article in Time Magazine comparing the 72 Dolphins with the 2007 Patriots and noticed that they included the weights in kilograms as well as pounds.

I was excited to see metric data involved in our second most hallowed sport.

Given that:

1) The EU is going to ban metric and standard labeling on products sold in Europe in 2010 I think(including our products being sold overseas from what I understand). So I'm suspecting that many of our products are going to be metric only labeled to remain competative.

2) The only three nations in the world that still use standard are us, Burma, and Liberia.

3) Several of my favorite shows (Survivorman!!!) use reference to metric measurements for temp, etc.

How many of us have started using metric measurements in our calculations for our emergency preparedness/ hiking camping/ everyday usage?


I have switched my weatherbug read out on my computer to celsius to get used to thinking in those terms and am looking for a metric tape measure for work around the house, this years backpack trip I am going to make a metric one (calculating my pack weight, etc in grams/kilos rather than pounds).

See, to me, the metric system makes a LITTLE sense. I mean, not the distances (a meter? what the..? It uses a distance arbitrarily set at a fraction of said distance originally). But temperature (water freeze, water boil as the "endpoints) does make sense. Time is kind of screwy too, using radioisotope frequencies... but, yeah, whatever. Have to use something as the benchmark. Weight and volume are too interbred for my taste, but it makes conversion in one's head easier (1 liter of water is 1 kilogram)

I dunno, I guess it helped in science class, with the math. But there's too many fractions in everyday life for it to be practical. Really, why does a meter have to be used, when most things are fractions of a meter? Use a smaller measure as your standard unit.

Despite a college science major, a graduate science degree and a lot of science in high school, I still can't convert temperatures. But why'd the world have to change, instead of adopting the system used for centuries?

I began using the metric system in science class, and later during a career in archaeology, and I have over the years been looking for metric woodworking tools so I can use it around the house. It is the best thing since sliced bread (actually, I believe it precedes sliced bread....)

I don't have a good feel for the Celsius, but that will change as soon as I have to use it.

I don't understand your point about fractions. English measurement is rife with fractions, but they are non=existent in the metric system. In normal usage, you rarely need to measure anything beyond the nearest millimeter.

Luckily I was in school here when the metric system was introduced so I have no problems using metric or standard measurements and can convert or switch to each other on the fly and not get millimeters and 1/16's mixed up etc.

Yeah, if you break down inches, we get to sixteenths of an inch. But that's rare. Whereas with metric, everything is so bloody anal: 1.62 meters tall. 38.4 centigrade. 35 kilometers per hour.

Uh... 5'6. OK, so I'm off a quarter inch. Big deal.
101. Ok, yeah, it might really be 101.3, but only digital thermometers get that precise. 25mph... I don't have a good point on that one.

But unless you're in a scientific field (or maybe some construction jobs), it's too uptight. real life is good enough with rough estimates.

I was in Grade 8 when the metric system was introduced in Canada so I can work in Imperial and Metric.

It is odd but Canadians almost always use both systems.

Personal height and weight are usually referred to in Imperial, but temperature and distances are referred to in metric.

I still do contruction in Imperial because dimensional lumber is cut in the old standard sizes (e.g. 4' x 8' plywood).

There really are few fractions in the metric system. If something is smaller than a meter then you measure it in centimeters or millimeters if it is really small.

Water freezes at 0*c, boils at 100*c and a litre weighs one kilogram.

It is an odd system at first (like everything else that is new) but after a while it makes a lot of sense.

Mike

I'm with you on that one.

replacing a piece of trim that's 3' 3/16" wide and minus 1/4" for blade width....

That makes my brain hurt.

now its 15cm wide, minus 4mm for the blade and my piece is 14.6cm wide, now that's math I can wrap my brain around. (man, I hope I got that right because I'm going to look real stoopid if I'm wrong)



I don't try to convert back and forth.
< 0 = damned cold
0 - 10*C = Cold (ok, I'm from Louisiana)
10 - 20*C = Cool
20 - 30*C = Warm
> 30 = hot
> 40 = damned hot.

The way I think about it was when I learned Fahrenheit I had nothing to compare it to, and when the weatherman reports tomorrows forecast its always in terms of "highs in the low 70's, low's in the mid 30's"...

Hi samhain

http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/index.html

a good website for explaining the System International SI or the Le Système international d'unités. (you can blame those French and Scottish Physicists I'm afraid)


The Celcuis temperature isn't strictly within the SI fundemental units but is derived from them. Thermodynamic temperature is measured in degrees Kelvin (K).

length meter = m
mass kilogram = kg
time second = s
electric current ampere = A
thermodynamic temperature = Kelvin K
amount of substance mole = mol
luminous intensity candela = cd

So from just these basic units of fundemental measurement even he mostcomplex physical measurement quantities such as electromagnetic inductance or thermal conductivity can be derived.

The problem with working with imperial measurements is that they soon become difficult to use when describing complex physical measurements. Fahrenheit temperature scale for example isn't related to any physical quantity and is almost arbitrary. The one description I like the best to describe how the scale works is;

'A seventh version maintains that the coldest temperature he could achieve in the lab was designated with 0 degrees, and the melting point of butter was 100 degrees'



well this is easy the answer is 2' 11 15/16", its just that most folks have forgotten how to do fractional arithmetic because of the use of calculators. But then again most people don't know how many rods are in a furlong or how many pecks are in a bushel. Making measurements of physical quantities such as electromagnetic inductance using imperial measurements soon turns into a nightmare.

14.6cm = 146mm is spot on BTW.



This ban isn't going to happen anytime soon in the UK for reasons of national politics I'm afraid.

I like the metric system. It seems to me to be more logical to let the physical constants and reality to set the basic units. Unfortunately after the French revolution, when they were standardizing the metric system, they screwed up the meter because they used the wrong figure for the diameter of the earth wrong. D'oh.

Still, the metric system makes more sense.

Unfortunately I grew up with the imperial system and I still 'feel' the imperial system in my gut. I know what 63F feels like. Tell me 17C and I have to think it through. I would never walk out the door and declare: 'It feels like 17C to me'.

I can estimate in inches by eye or using my hands. I seldom miss it by more than an eighth. Tell me 120 mm and I have to mentally convert to imperial and then estimate.

I always thought so too until I learned binary.