Why do some people insist on using Farenheit?

[edmundoab]

Originally posted by: NewBlackDak
Using quarter of 25 cents instead of 20 cents? WTF
One quarter is 1/4 of something. 100 cents = $1. 25/100 = 1/4. 20 cents would be a fifth. That makes perfect sense.

As someone else said, It's a matter of what you can relate it to.
My height
6 ft
72 inches
2 yards
~1.83 m
1828.8 mm
182.88cm


Which do you prefer? Even people in the same place may prefer something different. I know what a yard is(too many years of football). If someone uses that unit of of measure I instantly know how long something is. Most people don't. I can guess a measurement almost spot on for yards. The way I do feet is make my yard gues, and multiply it by 3. Most people do that just the opposite.

20 cents is easier to count. For example. if a change of 80 cents is needed. All you need is 20 X 4 to make 80 cents in a super market.

What can 25 cents do? 25 x 3 = 75 + 1 nickle = 80
I had trouble adapting to this when I first came to America.

Even the Scientific SI units used globally are not totally in common with American's SI unit

 

[edmundoab]

Originally posted by: sisooktom
Attention all non Americans: We use what we call the "Standard" measurement system here in the US. We realize it's not what the rest of the world uses. We realize the metric system makes a lot more sense in some ways. We stick with our system because it's familiar and because the cost of switching to the metric system would be billions of dollars. We aren't asking you to use our system. So get over it

How about the so called American English?
aren't most of the original americans from England/ Europe?
Cookie instead of Biscuit ?
Center instead of Centre ?
Aluminum instead of Aluminium ?
Carmel instead of Caramel ?



* PLUS if america can spend billions of dollars to bomb IRAQ and kill more people , whats wrong with spending the same amount of money changing the metric system for compatibility? * Sorry if I brought out this sensitive issue. I know its none related.

Of course the arrogance of "we aren't asking you to use our system" does make more enemies around the world. Not trying to pack an argument , just my point of view.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: edmundoab

Originally posted by: NewBlackDak
Using quarter of 25 cents instead of 20 cents? WTF
One quarter is 1/4 of something. 100 cents = $1. 25/100 = 1/4. 20 cents would be a fifth. That makes perfect sense.

As someone else said, It's a matter of what you can relate it to.
My height
6 ft
72 inches
2 yards
~1.83 m
1828.8 mm
182.88cm


Which do you prefer? Even people in the same place may prefer something different. I know what a yard is(too many years of football). If someone uses that unit of of measure I instantly know how long something is. Most people don't. I can guess a measurement almost spot on for yards. The way I do feet is make my yard gues, and multiply it by 3. Most people do that just the opposite.

20 cents is easier to count. For example. if a change of 80 cents is needed. All you need is 20 X 4 to make 80 cents in a super market.

What can 25 cents do? 25 x 3 = 75 + 1 nickle = 80
I had trouble adapting to this when I first came to America.

Even the Scientific SI units used globally are not totally in common with American's SI unit

If you need 80c(cents) your example holds up, but if you need 75c you're screwed!

A quarter is 25c, 20c doesn't make mathematical sense nor does it make more practical sense.

 

[TourDe]

...if you speak only one language, enjoy sitting in a stadium watching fat men batting at an average of below 30% accuracy, then you use Farenheit.



Ok just kidding, but it's just an unit. Who cares what you use? It's not very hard to convert between the two you know.

 

[JeremiahTheGreat]

It is only a matter of time before you convert.. and convert you shall!! MuahahahahahahahahHAHAhha

 

[edmundoab]

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: edmundoab

Originally posted by: NewBlackDak
Using quarter of 25 cents instead of 20 cents? WTF
One quarter is 1/4 of something. 100 cents = $1. 25/100 = 1/4. 20 cents would be a fifth. That makes perfect sense.

As someone else said, It's a matter of what you can relate it to.
My height
6 ft
72 inches
2 yards
~1.83 m
1828.8 mm
182.88cm


Which do you prefer? Even people in the same place may prefer something different. I know what a yard is(too many years of football). If someone uses that unit of of measure I instantly know how long something is. Most people don't. I can guess a measurement almost spot on for yards. The way I do feet is make my yard gues, and multiply it by 3. Most people do that just the opposite.

20 cents is easier to count. For example. if a change of 80 cents is needed. All you need is 20 X 4 to make 80 cents in a super market.

What can 25 cents do? 25 x 3 = 75 + 1 nickle = 80
I had trouble adapting to this when I first came to America.

Even the Scientific SI units used globally are not totally in common with American's SI unit

If you need 80c(cents) your example holds up, but if you need 75c you're screwed!

A quarter is 25c, 20c doesn't make mathematical sense nor does it make more practical sense.

My point is, America tries to be different from the rest of the world. Thats is related to the main topic. about why some people insist on using farenheit

 

[Concillian]

Originally posted by: AnnoyedGrunt
I also work in the SEMI industry, so I know that 200mm and 300mm are roughly equivalent to 8" and 12" (well, and that kinda means I know what 150mm is, but forget about that for now).

I work in the disk industry.

We have discs that are 95mm in diameter, but are 0.050" thick
Our gas lines are fow regulated in sccm (standard cubic centimeters per minute) but gas line pressures are in psi, and vacuum system pressures and gas partial pressures are in Torr!
Film thicknesses are measured in Angstroms, but head fly heights are in micro-inches

Who the hell knows what a microinch is? I always have to convert microinches to nm or Å in my head... microinches... sheesh.

Point being that the US is in chaos as far as measurement systems go.

I think all out temps are in C though, except our PM cathode magnet array max temperatures are spec'd in Farenheight (we killed the magnets of a cathode this way once... max temp is ~130F and we took it to 100C thinking it was well below spec... Doh!)

 

[Concillian]

Originally posted by: edmundoab
left hand drive (Canada had to follow along)

Umm, China, most of Europe, and all of Southern America follow along too. In fact, most countries drive on the right (LHD).

 

[n0cmonkey]

Only the stupid americans use F.

 

[AnnoyedGrunt]

Originally posted by: Concillian
We have discs that are 95mm in diameter, but are 0.050" thick
Our gas lines are fow regulated in sccm (standard cubic centimeters per minute) but gas line pressures are in psi, and vacuum system pressures and gas partial pressures are in Torr!
Film thicknesses are measured in Angstroms, but head fly heights are in micro-inches

Who the hell knows what a microinch is? I always have to convert microinches to nm or Å in my head... microinches... sheesh.

Point being that the US is in chaos as far as measurement systems go.

I think all out temps are in C though, except our PM cathode magnet array max temperatures are spec'd in Farenheight (we killed the magnets of a cathode this way once... max temp is ~130F and we took it to 100C thinking it was well below spec... Doh!)

Dude, a mircoinch is a millionth of an inch, just like a micron is a millionth of a meter...duh The microinch is also much smaller than a micron, and therefore much more cool!

It's so true about unit chaos. Most of our gas flow is measured in SCFM (standard cubic feet per minute), so there's another change in units for ya. But we measure vacuum pressure in mmHg (for hold down applications) and millitorr (for process applications).

Ahh, the dull life of an engineer. We are so easily amused.

-D'oh!

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

Farenheit 911 = Celsius 488.33333333333337

 

[wseyller]

I'm in US but I like to use celcius as most people communicate using celcius, plus I'm dealing with belgium technology at work that I have to use celcuis temp every day so I'm used to it.

 

[FrustratedUser]

Originally posted by: AnnoyedGrunt
It's kinda funny how you get "fluent" in the different measurement scales just like languages.

I can kinda translate english to spanish if I have enough time and a dictionary in front of me, but I still think in english. I can convert inches to mm, but can easily picture 6" and would have little idea how large 150mm is.

I also work in the SEMI industry, so I know that 200mm and 300mm are roughly equivalent to 8" and 12" (well, and that kinda means I know what 150mm is, but forget about that for now).

However, most of the time, I need to convert things to inches to really understand how large something is. I still need to convert Kg to Lb, even though I spent 4 years in college determining the bending stress on a 2 m long cantilevered beam due to a 100 Kg mass. Earth's gravitational acceleration will always be 32.2 ft/sec^2 rather than 9.8m/sec^2.

Finally, I know that -42 F is fricken cold (when I went skiing in Montana once) and that 110 is damn hot. The only temp I know in celcius is 20, since that's the standard for measurements (and it's a cool 68 F).

Anyhow, it really takes full immersion in one set of units before you can really start to use it in daily life. I even learned all the metric stuff in elementary school 20 years ago and it still hasn't gained much use in the US. Although, our company is starting to use both inches and mm on our mechanical drawings, so at least there's a bit of progress.

-D'oh!

Exactly. I have the same problem but the other way. I got here (US) 2.5 years ago and I was lost and still am with all the weird units here.
Fl.oz, oz, lbs, gallon, quart, F, cup, feet, inch, mile..... to me they have a somewhat random connection and I need to convert to metric to get a clue.
5820 ft = 1 mile = 1609 meters(WTF)

 

[THUGSROOK]

Originally posted by: michaelpatrick33
Farenheit 911 = Celsius 488.33333333333337

:laugh:

 

[edmundoab]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Only the stupid americans use F.

LOL, I didn't want to be that blunt .... hehehe

 

[NewBlackDak]

I agree that our measurements are silly.

Atleast with the metric system there is one base. I like that all the measurements for volume, length, and mass have a common base, and can be derived easily. It still doesn't help.
I know I can benchpress 350lbs, but when they loaded up 158kg at the powerlifting meet I was confused on the amount of weight I was going to lift.

 

[SplinterDB]

[/quote]
How about the so called American English?
aren't most of the original americans from England/ Europe?
Cookie instead of Biscuit ?
Center instead of Centre ?
Aluminum instead of Aluminium ?
Carmel instead of Caramel ?



* PLUS if america can spend billions of dollars to bomb IRAQ and kill more people , whats wrong with spending the same amount of money changing the metric system for compatibility? * Sorry if I brought out this sensitive issue. I know its none related.

Of course the arrogance of "we aren't asking you to use our system" does make more enemies around the world. Not trying to pack an argument , just my point of view.[/quote]

If you want to speak about the evolution of language. Why don't you start bashing the Australian too. As a "colony" of britain their language has evolved also.

The war is a sensitive subject, many people here agree or disagree with you. It is your right (at least i hope it is in your country.) to speak you mind. i wont start a flame war over your inflammitory statements on Iraq.

If it is simple arrogance fine, a lot of Americans don't agree with "Policing the globe" .
Back to subject. Think about all the small stuff you would have to change (measuring cups, cookbooks,
changing all or nothing doesn't work unless you are a dictator.

 

[AnnoyedGrunt]

Originally posted by: FrustratedUser

Exactly. I have the same problem but the other way. I got here (US) 2.5 years ago and I was lost and still am with all the weird units here.
Fl.oz, oz, lbs, gallon, quart, F, cup, feet, inch, mile..... to me they have a somewhat random connection and I need to convert to metric to get a clue.
5820 ft = 1 mile = 1609 meters(WTF)

Yeah, I can never remember all the Cup, oz, gallon, pint, and crap like that, and I've lived here all my life. The only way I know "pint" is beause that's how beer is normally sold. Do people in other parts of the world buy beer in pints? If so, then there's some common ground for ya!

Also, it's actually 5280 ft per mile, not 5820 (at least you got the digits right, now just work on the order of them).

One cool factoid is that 1.2 miles (2Km) is 2112 yards, and 2112 is one awesome album from Rush, who being from Canada must use the metric system. Therefore, through the great music of Rush we have a link between the metric system (2Km) and the US Crazy Unit System (2112 yards), which in turn allows us all to live in harmony! So, if we all drink beer and listen to Rush, we should finally be able to achieve world peace.

BTW, I just saw the Rush 30th Anniversary Concert last night @ Shoreline in Mountain View (SF Bay Area, CA, USA), so if I seem a little crazy it's probably just all the second hand Pot smoke.

-D'oh!