Why don't Americans have proper units?

[touchingcloth]

Some chat about metric versus imperial units started in one of the recent weight loss threads[nb]We are Mumsnet now. Embrace it, vvhores.[/nb]

Sad people aren't using stone as a weight measurement on here. Pounds and kilos seem to be the order of the day.

This reminded me of some thoughts I had while reading about Apollo 11 really, namely how mad for switching between metric and imperial units the Americans are, even in contexts where you'd think that any sort of ambiguity might turn deadly.

Look at this nonsense:





Why complicate the lives of people trying to land on the moon by having them do the mental arithmetic to turn miles into feet and kilometres?





Assuming the amount of surface material you collect changes how much fuel you need to use to lift off from the surface, why risk flip-flopping between systems?

I hate Americans and everything they stand for, for this units madness much more so than the shambles of Kabul.

[bgmnts]

I used to use stone but most scales don't really use stone anymore do they? Just easier to use pounds rather than calculate the stonage. I know it's just dividing by 14 but still too much work.

[Dex Sawash]

Fucking love kpa, use it to measure how far I have walked

[Dex Sawash]

Spoiler alert

kilometers per annum

[close]

[Dex Sawash]

Its funny because famously, americans don't walk much

[El Unicornio, mang]

I tend to use American units, not gonna lie. Also, people who give their height in cm are literally psychopaths.

[Attila]

I just roll around like Violet Beauragard. (That was in response to Dex)

[bgmnts]

I tend to use American units, not gonna lie. Also, people who give their height in cm are literally psychopaths.

Does any country measure knob size in metric? Or clothe measurements? It's always inches.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Does any country measure knob size in metric? Or clothe measurements? It's always inches.

Mon pénis mesure quinze centimètres!

[touchingcloth]

Ronalado medida o seu knob na métrica rsrsrs kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

[JesusAndYourBush]

One thing that's weird is the vague measurements in American recipes.  Two sticks of butter and three teacups of lard.  What the fuck is that?

[El Unicornio, mang]

I've always been confused by the British "a knob of butter". How big is a knob?

[idunnosomename]

drifting to the right by a hogshead Houston

[JesusAndYourBush]

In 1999 a space probe smashed into Mars instead of going into orbit around it because one team was using feet and inches and the other was using metric.

[Thursday]

I've always been confused by the British "a knob of butter". How big is a knob?

MINE'S 10 INCHES HAHAHAHAHA

[El Unicornio, mang]

MINE'S 10 INCHES HAHAHAHAHA

Think you're getting your inches and millimetres mixed up there mate ROFL

[bgmnts]

Mine's four inches flaccid but 8cm hard. Work that one out.

[salr]

I think Vin Diesel and the Rock are good American units. / Purple Aki couldn't get a Visa  ! ! !!

[Buelligan]

One thing that's weird is the vague measurements in American recipes.  Two sticks of butter and three teacups of lard.  What the fuck is that?

A healthy breakfast.

[Sebastian Cobb]

One thing that's weird is the vague measurements in American recipes.  Two sticks of butter and three teacups of lard.  What the fuck is that?

I don't mind the cup thing but the one that riles me up is when they do things that are already in obvious discrete units, like onions and cloves of garlic in cups or teaspoons forcing us to work backwards. Over-zealous optimisation imo.

[Wonderful Butternut]

In 1999 a space probe smashed into Mars instead of going into orbit around it because one team was using feet and inches and the other was using metric.

Also this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider#Miscalculation_during_fueling

Whoopsie daisy.

[Buelligan]

I don't mind the cup thing but the one that riles me up is when they do things that are already in obvious discrete units, like onions and cloves of garlic in cups or teaspoons forcing us to work backwards. Over-zealous optimisation imo.

I hate all that cup and stick shit.  Fluid ounces and FUCK OFF.

I accept it but inwardly I rage.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I'm sure there was another mars probe that crashed in the mid 2010's that was a metric imperial cock-up between Europe and America.

The company I was working for at the time (Logica) had something to do with it but I'm struggling to find the right thing on google.

[dissolute ocelot]

NASA is slowly coming round to rationality:

Although NASA has ostensibly used the metric system since about 1990, English units linger on in much of the U.S. aerospace industry. In practice, this has meant that many missions continue to use English units, and some missions end up using both English and metric units.

Another webpage says:

As is the case in the UK with road signage, the use of metric units in the USA is often hidden from public view. The Apollo Guidance Computer is a good example of this. The computer display readouts were in units of feet, feet per second, and nautical miles – units that the Apollo astronauts, who had mostly trained as jet pilots, would have been accustomed to using. Internally, however, the computer's software used SI units for all powered-flight navigation and guidance calculations, and values such as altitude and altitude rate were only converted to imperial units when they needed to be shown on the computer's display.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I think I've seen some systems neither working in proper metric or imperial either, instead choosing compromise sizes like the 'metric foot':
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_2848#:~:text=A%20metric%20foot%20is%20a,shorter%20than%20an%20imperial%20foot.

This is fine for a lot of paper calculations but is yet another thing you've got to figure out how to convert if you're building a system that can display in either based on locale settings.

[touchingcloth]

Another webpage says:

As is the case in the UK with road signage, the use of metric units in the USA is often hidden from public view.

Er, what?

[Zetetic]

https://ukma.org.uk/the-case-for-change/problems-arising-from-two-systems/road-contractors/ is the link in the original piece.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Er, what?

I think it means scientists and engineers in white coats with lots of pencils in their top pockets use metric units in sums but the general public doesn't.

[Zetetic]

[Sebastian Cobb]

Ha as if workies actually measure where they're placing temporary signage rather than leaving it where it lands.