The three countries that don't use the metric system

[KillerCharlie]

I for one am glad we in the UK just use the metric system.

Anyway I'm off to the pub for a pint, it's a bit of a walk, about 2 miles. Mind you I could do with losing a few pounds anyway.

Don't you mean a few stones?

 

[WelshBloke]

Don't you mean a few stones?

You calling me a fatty

 

[0roo0roo]

it has no relation to how people live their daily lives. the whole metric thing doesn't make any difference, folks aren't doing chemistry at home..and even if they were cooking meth they could switch to the metric system in a moment it takes no effort. people know what a gallon feels and looks like, what 70 degrees f feels like hell you might even say f temperatures make more sense, the scale is generally 0-100 for most people's normal experience of real world temperatures, in other words farenheit is a human scale. the degrees make sense for our experience, not chemistry. whereas metric.. 100degree f = 37degree c, wtf is 37 degrees, it just doesn't work as well. a cool day being 70 degrees f makes more sense than 21 degrees c.

 

[WelshBloke]

it has no relation to how people live their daily lives. the whole metric thing doesn't make any difference, folks aren't doing chemistry at home..and even if they were cooking meth they could switch to the metric system in a moment it takes no effort. people know what a gallon feels and looks like, what 70 degrees f feels like hell you might even say f temperatures make more sense, the scale is generally 0-100 for most people's normal experience of real world temperatures, in other words farenheit is a human scale. the degrees make sense for our experience, not chemistry. whereas metric.. 100degree f = 37degree c, wtf is 37 degrees, it just doesn't work as well. a cool day being 70 degrees f makes more sense than 21 degrees c.

I agree that it dosnt matter which system you use as long as you understand it but the bolded is just daft. 70F makes more sense to you because you are used to it, I have no idea what it feels like. I know its a bit under body temperature but thats it. 21C makes sense to me, as I'm used to it.

 

[0roo0roo]

I agree that it dosnt matter which system you use as long as you understand it but the bolded is just daft. 70F makes more sense to you because you are used to it, I have no idea what it feels like. I know its a bit under body temperature but thats it. 21C makes sense to me, as I'm used to it.

its not that it makes more sense to me, it makes more sense on a human scale of experience. if you were designing a scale for human experience you certainly wouldn't choose the number 37" to be a hot day.

 

[erikistired]

you still have bad teeth brit boy.

 

[WelshBloke]

its not that it makes more sense to me, it makes more sense on a human scale of experience. if you were designing a scale for human experience you certainly wouldn't choose the number 37" to be a hot day.

Why not? One arbitrary number at an arbitrary point is as good as any other.

 

[BoomerD]

You wouldn't know how many ounces are in a cup either.

WTF? Of course I do...8 oz per cup, 16 oz. per pint, 32 oz per quart.

 

[0roo0roo]

Why not? One arbitrary number at an arbitrary point is as good as any other.

well clearly not, or else you'd rate womens looks from 1-4 rather than 1-10. that girl is a perfect 4!!

nope

 

[HAL9000]

Yeah, but I think you "slipped" there. Not that you're not great at what you do, but...might have blown your cover.


:hmm:

What? Do you think I'm a spy?

it has no relation to how people live their daily lives. the whole metric thing doesn't make any difference, folks aren't doing chemistry at home..and even if they were cooking meth they could switch to the metric system in a moment it takes no effort. people know what a gallon feels and looks like, what 70 degrees f feels like hell you might even say f temperatures make more sense, the scale is generally 0-100 for most people's normal experience of real world temperatures, in other words farenheit is a human scale. the degrees make sense for our experience, not chemistry. whereas metric.. 100degree f = 37degree c, wtf is 37 degrees, it just doesn't work as well. a cool day being 70 degrees f makes more sense than 21 degrees c.

I disagree, I know that the boiling point of water is 100 degrees, and the melting point of ice is 0 degrees there fore 100 is hot 0 is cold, 70f sounds hot.

 

[WelshBloke]

well clearly not, or else you'd rate womens looks from 1-4 rather than 1-10. that girl is a perfect 4!!

nope

Boobies have a law of their own. :awe:

 

[MotionMan]

its not that it makes more sense to me, it makes more sense on a human scale of experience. if you were designing a scale for human experience you certainly wouldn't choose the number 37" to be a hot day.

LOL. I do not know Celsius, but, nonetheless, I find that statement to be incredibly self-centered and ignorant.

I am sure I metric friends would disagree with that statement to no end.

MotionMan

 

[HAL9000]

its not that it makes more sense to me, it makes more sense on a human scale of experience. if you were designing a scale for human experience you certainly wouldn't choose the number 37" to be a hot day.

Well it's a brilliant thing that temperature is not a "scale of human experience" then isn't it?

 

[Cogman]

Well it's a brilliant thing that temperature is not a "scale of human experience" then isn't it?

Celsius is just as arbitrary as Ferinheight in measuring temperature. Why use water as the base? Why not steal, mercury, oxygen, or carbon as the base measurement. Why not define it to be the difference in temperature cased by 1000J in hydrogen (the most abundant element). Or even the temperature change caused by 1000J dissipated into 1 Liter of water.

To argue that celcius is more logical than ferinheight is silly. Base units are arbitrary in their origins.

 

[MotionMan]

Celsius is just as arbitrary as Ferinheight in measuring temperature. Why use water as the base? Why not steal, mercury, oxygen, or carbon as the base measurement. Why not define it to be the difference in temperature cased by 1000J in hydrogen (the most abundant element). Or even the temperature change caused by 1000J dissipated into 1 Liter of water.

To argue that celcius is more logical than ferinheight is silly. Base units are arbitrary in the origins.

Yeah, using water as a base for measurement makes no sense at all.



MotionMan

 

[Cogman]

Yeah, using water as a base for measurement makes no sense at all.



MotionMan

Honestly, it doesn't. It is arbitrary. Provide me with some good solid logic for using the boiling point of water to create a scale.

And why should water boil at 100, why not 1000, or 10? And why not sea water? (which is far more common than fresh water.) or even some hybrid of 100g salt per 1 liter of water.

And why should this measurement be taken at sea level atmosphere, Why not 1000 ft? 2000 ft? or below sea level.

Get the picture? Tons of arbitrary decisions go into the creation of a base unit.

 

[MotionMan]

Honestly, it doesn't. It is arbitrary. Provide me with some good solid logic for using the boiling point of water to create a scale.

And why should water boil at 100, why not 1000, or 10? And why not sea water? (which is far more common than fresh water.) or even some hybrid of 100g salt per 1 liter of water.

And why should this measurement be taken at sea level atmosphere, Why not 1000 ft? 2000 ft? or below sea level.

Get the picture? Tons of arbitrary decisions go into the creation of a base unit.

Fresh water is the base of life. Makes sense to use that as a base for the measurement of temperature.

Using a scale that goes to 10 is not accurate enough. Going to 1000 is to hard to measure accurately.

Until fairly recently in human existence, most people lived at sea level.

It all makes perfect sense.

MotionMan

 

[HAL9000]

Celsius is just as arbitrary as Ferinheight in measuring temperature. Why use water as the base? Why not steal, mercury, oxygen, or carbon as the base measurement. Why not define it to be the difference in temperature cased by 1000J in hydrogen (the most abundant element). Or even the temperature change caused by 1000J dissipated into 1 Liter of water.

To argue that celcius is more logical than ferinheight is silly. Base units are arbitrary in their origins.

Probably because the majority of the earth is covered in water, we drink it, and it falls from the sky. Aside from that...

 

[WelshBloke]

Honestly, it doesn't. It is arbitrary. Provide me with some good solid logic for using the boiling point of water to create a scale.

And why should water boil at 100, why not 1000, or 10? And why not sea water? (which is far more common than fresh water.) or even some hybrid of 100g salt per 1 liter of water.

And why should this measurement be taken at sea level atmosphere, Why not 1000 ft? 2000 ft? or below sea level.

Get the picture? Tons of arbitrary decisions go into the creation of a base unit.

I kind of agree with you, they are arbitrary decisions... but...

Waters very common and has two limits (boiling and freezing) that are easily identified and easily reached without a lab.
Pure water is used not salt water is used to make the results consistent (its easier to get pure water than a given concentration on saline)
Likewise sea level.

The scale being up to 100 or 1000 is irrelevant.

It does make sense. It doesn't make the scale any more natural to use if your used to something else however.

 

[0roo0roo]

Yeah, using water as a base for measurement makes no sense at all.



MotionMan

for science yes, for daily use human weather experience measure? no. boiling point has no relevance to your experience of the temperature of the environment on a daily basis. just from a usability design stand point you woulnd't choose celcius for such use.

 

[MotionMan]

for science yes, for daily use human weather experience measure? no. boiling point has no relevance to your experience of the temperature of the environment on a daily basis. just from a usability design stand point you woulnd't choose celcius for such use.

When celsius was invented, knowing about boiling and freezing water was VERY important.

MotionMan

 

[Cogman]

Fresh water is the base of life. Makes sense to use that as a base for the measurement of temperature.

Using a scale that goes to 10 is not accurate enough. Going to 1000 is to hard to measure accurately.

Until fairly recently in human existence, most people lived at sea level.

It all makes perfect sense.

MotionMan

1000 is not hard to measure accurately. Also, 10 wouldn't restrict us from using 10.1 or 10.23 in our measurements of temperature. The base unit has nothing to do with the accuracy of measurement.

Carbon is far more abundant in life than fresh water is. In fact, carbon is the basis of all life. Why not use it instead?

When the Celsius scale was created, humans were not all living at sea level. Even then, sea level is arbitrary. Why should where people live determine the basis of a scale? That is being arbitrary.

To make perfect sense doesn't mean that something isn't arbitrary. Just because you can see why someone did something doesn't change the fact that it is arbitrary. What system did they use to make those choices? Did they go around an count the population to make sure that most people were living at sea level?

 

[WelshBloke]

for science yes, for daily use human weather experience measure? no. boiling point has no relevance to your experience of the temperature of the environment on a daily basis. just from a usability design stand point you woulnd't choose celcius for such use.

The idea was that you could calibrate your own thermometer easily yourself.

 

[rcpratt]

I haven't read this whole stupid neckbeard thread, but America is stupid. The funny thing is that they teach pretty much exclusively in metric in American universities (at least mine) and now that I'm in industry we're back to using fucktarded units again. Stupid.

 

[Cogman]

I kind of agree with you, they are arbitrary decisions... but...

Waters very common and has two limits (boiling and freezing) that are easily identified and easily reached without a lab.
Pure water is used not salt water is used to make the results consistent (its easier to get pure water than a given concentration on saline)
Likewise sea level.

The scale being up to 100 or 1000 is irrelevant.

It does make sense. It doesn't make the scale any more natural to use if your used to something else however.

Thank you, and that is sort of my point. Someone somewhere made the decision that a Celsius degree should be based off of water. That is just as arbitrary as someone somewhere saying that water should use two different materials to base a temperature unit.

Since nobody really uses sub-units in reference to temperature (you never hear of kilo-Celsius degrees) the use of Celsius over Fahrenheit is itself an arbitrary decision (you could just as easily use kilo-Fahrenheit degrees).