Going metric
 

I'm starting think we're never going to convert here in merka.

But maybe if they taught this in school instead of the conversion crap.

Teaching conversion makes you think you're going to have to do conversions all the time if we go metric. Those of you in metric countries - how often do you convert from Imperial or customary to metric?

nice!

I'm going to keep it.

Oh, good, when I saw the title I thought it was a thread about implementing Six Sigma or ISO9000 or something like that.

I really wish we would change to full metric. I just makes so much more sense.

Well you have to admit, the current arrangement does provide convenient excuses for rocket scientist when they crash space probes into other planets.

I've lived in countries that are fully metric, and it's very easy to adjust to it. With one exception. It was hard to get an intuitive feel about temperature. Do I need to wear a sweater if it's 20 degrees celsius? I know 30 is hot and 0 is freezing, but how bad is 20? Jacket, sweater, long sleeves? I never got used to it. Ordering cold cuts in grams was easy. Distances were easy. Liters are easy.

But I prefer Farenheit for weather reports.

I can do meters, and centimeters and millimeters. Kilometers and kilos are fuzzy. Liters are ok. Centigrade is . . . not happening

mks vs. cgs -- FIGHT!

The only time I have to convert is if I'm using one of Mum's old cookbooks, many of which are in imperial measurements, but I don't even have to do that anymore because Dazza got me a scale which does both imperial and metric weights, so I just put it on whatever setting I need.

I think metric is much easier than imperial. Everything is so easy to work out. They go hand in hand with percentages because everything is divisible by 10.

My favourite bit about metric is the cross-relations, as in:

1 cubic centimetre = 1 millilitre
1,000 cubic centimtres (10 x 10 x 10cm) = 1 litre
1 litre of water = 1 kilogram

so, one cubic metre = 1,000 litres = 1,000 kilograms (if its water).

And the metre was orginally defined as one ten millionth of the distance from the equator to the north pole along the Paris meridian, so the Earth is appx 40,000 km in circumference.

This makes all sorts of conversions and estimations easier.

And Lord knows it's easier on the doctors to shout, "5 ceecees, stat!" rather than "5 emml... 5 emils... Oh nevermind, he's dead anyway."

and if you were the patient, would you want to hear "two and a half teaspoons of ephedrine, stat!"?

The only thing I don't like about metric is that there's no good way to express small flow rates. Metric flow rates are in cubic meters per second. Imperial flow rates are cubic feet per second.

They have begun to do away with cc's in medicine. The move started about 2 years ago. It is now not ok to chart "cc's" on any records.

Replaced with?