Metric 4 US!!

[ParadigmShifter]

That would be too easy wouldn't it. They need excuses for friendly fire and it could come in handy someday.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Perhaps it's a situation similar to mine: I measure it once, and a foot is 12 inches. I measure it twice, and it's still 12 inches. I cut the wood, and go to fit it, and now a foot is suddenly 13.5 inches. :headexplodes:

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Do we really need to know about your wood measuring activities?

 

[LucyDuke]

It could be worse. 29 knuts to a sickle and 17 sickles to a galleon!

That's always bugged me. It's just too contrived.

It's something like 1.2 miles. But my point is: why do we need a normal mile AND a nautical mile? If there's a special relationship between the circumference of the Earth and a nautical mile, why don't we just make that the regular mile, and get rid of the other one, and just have a "mile" equal what used to be a nautical mile?

That wouldn't be confusing enough, obviously. It's sailors' secrets.

 

[Mango]

That's always bugged me. It's just too contrived.

It's a parody. It has to be.

 

[LucyDuke]

It's a parody. It has to be.

Oh, of course. But good parodies are always subtle. That one's overdoing it.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Well, 29 and 17 are both prime numbers and they have some nice properties when applied to measurememts. Not as nice as powers of 3 when it comes to weighing things on scales though.

 

[Steph]

Yeah, Knots are speed. Aviators use Knots, measure altitude in feet, and get distances in km

No, the most commonly use unit for distance in aviation is the Nautical miles.
But there is a good reason for that

 

[Lotus49]

NM (nautical miles) are indeed a measure of distance, as well as speed (knots). Take it from me, a professional military aviation-type guy. Statute miles are used very seldom in avaition (not just military) to express the value of visibility for example. Otherwise in aviation, it's nautical miles this... nautical miles that, in terms of charts, publications, airspace, speed, navigation, etc.

As for the main topic, I guess it depends on what you do for a living. I'm an American, and I'm just as familiar with the metric system, as the imperial (plus others). In the U.S. government, Federal administrations, and military - we're on the ball. Ye foreigners ought not underestimate our proficiency in these matters. But as for the rest of the country - they use whatever works for them / whatever they feel like.

 

[History_Buff]

No, the most commonly use unit for distance in aviation is the Nautical miles.
But there is a good reason for that

A guy I work with flies, he said he'll often see distances in km. He's no proffesional though.

It's something like 1.2 miles. But my point is: why do we need a normal mile AND a nautical mile? If there's a special relationship between the circumference of the Earth and a nautical mile, why don't we just make that the regular mile, and get rid of the other one, and just have a "mile" equal what used to be a nautical mile?

Historically, a nautical mile was 1 minute of arc along the surface of the earth along a meridian. It was easy to figure out from charts, and hence it's popularity. However, because the earth's curvature changes as you move towards the poles, they standardized the value to something close to the average.

As for why you still have to put up with statute miles, I can't see any reason either.

 

[Steph]

A guy I work with flies, he said he'll often see distances in km. He's no proffesional though.

I am a professional, working on software fo aeronautics. I work with pilots, air traffic controller and procedure designers.
We all use Nautical Miles.

But when you fly, and you see the onboard TV with flight information, the distances, for the passengers, are displayed in miles and kilometers

 

[History_Buff]

Well, I'll take your word for it. And I do realize those little maps on the inflight TV's are not exactly precise locational information

 

[nihilistic]

Interestingly, the kilogram is in the process of being redefined:

http://science.slashdot.org/science/07/06/15/0541230.shtml
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/making-an-exact-difference/2007/06/14/1181414466901.html

 

[Yuri2356]

Interestingly, the kilogram is in the process of being redefined:

http://science.slashdot.org/science/07/06/15/0541230.shtml
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/making-an-exact-difference/2007/06/14/1181414466901.html

Spiffy. Good to see the system continuing to devellop.

 

[Mirc]

Great!

 

[Macha]

Why bother. It's like UTC comparedt to GMT (which i didn't know there was a difference until recently)

 

[Emperor2]

As an American nationalist (not ultra nationalist, I am not a fascist), it pains me to say this, but I support the US using the metric system.
:suicide: