That state of metric conversion in the US

[SoothSayer]

Or worse.

<http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/11/1110mars-climate-observer-
report/>

Learn how to post links correctly in Usenet.

 

[Gib Bogle]

Can you really be that stupid?

Seek help.

 

[UltimatePatriot]

In a democracy, a mere majority is not a
sufficient foundation when drastic and far-reaching action is
necessary to protect the nation in time of peril.

How profound. Would you like to become my running mate in 2016?

I have a wall and a few prisons to build long our southern border, and
some nationwide police ranks to clean up. We can "send them down to the
wall to serve" similar to being sent to Alaska after a **** up in the
service. Let the **** up cops perform duty as guards at the new prisons.

Then, we can start making these violent little bastards actually sere
their bit, instead of skating due to overcrowding and utter stupidity of
the current tax dollar embezzling bastards running things.

 

[cameo]

When gas hit $1.00 per gallon in Hawaii, they converted to liters.
This is the days of mechanical displays. Hawaii stuck to liters for
quite awhile (perhaps in to the 90s) until the Federal gov stepped in
and forced them to back to gallons. So much for the transition to
metric.

Probably because many vacationers complained that metric was very
unamerican? ;-)

 

[Joerg]

Some stations had to switch to half gallon prices, till the old pumps
could be replaced. Some could have new gearboxes installed, others were
too old. It was kind of sad to see a well maintained classic old gas
station with brand new chrome pumps.

Up north they at least still have the 70's pumps in service:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seattledailyphoto/416984863/

Some are along Route 66:

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/marcofedele/5502659751/

 

[cameo]

Or worse.

<http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/11/1110mars-climate-observer-
report/>

Oh no! Virtually the same problem that caused Air Canada's Flight 143
near-disaster in the '80s.

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

Some stations had to switch to half gallon prices, till the old pumps
could be replaced. Some could have new gearboxes installed, others were
too old. It was kind of sad to see a well maintained classic old gas
station with brand new chrome pumps.

There once was a time when currencies were so stable they engraved
postage rates into the postal scales.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

Nylon cord tires would freeze with a flat spot if they sat very
long. Steel belted radials mostly eliminated the problem. One guy in
my company had his old VW bug there and it beat the crap out of you till
the rubber & nylon thawed out. All the Army trucks were the newer tires
and were a little rough for a few miles.

It was a real problem for decades. Now, it's just an inside joke.

Alaska is bigger than Texas, and they just can't handle being second.

You could break Alaska into two and make Texas the third largest U.S.
state.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[[email protected]]

Oh dear Nymbecile. Have you tried lying down in darkened room?

Every room he walks into darkens considerably.

 

[David Lesher]

I seem to remember that a few dacades ago (maybe in the '70s) there was
some kind of federal push to convert the country to the metric system by
a certain date that is already in the past. As it's painfully obvious by
now, not much came out of that initial excitement.

AFAIK, all Detroit iron is now metric.

 

[David Lesher]

Surprised? Some of my work is in aerospace. There it's all inches,
pounds, PSI, slugs, knots, feet and so on. To some extent that is even
so in the medical device industry. The topper:

Which is why the International Space Station is half-metric, half SAE.

 

[David Lesher]

A wine barrel is 32 gallons (probably US), an oil barrel is 42 gallons
(probably Imperial?).

What the heck is the 55 gallon drum (barrel) (probably US) for?

The 42 is what's left by the time the wagon with the open 55
gallon filled by Drake got to the market....

 

[Joerg]

AFAIK, all Detroit iron is now metric.

Doesn't look metric to me:

http://www.leftlanenews.com/new-car-buying/chevrolet/suburban/specifications/
http://www.gmc.com/sierra-1500-pickup-truck/features-specs/dimensions.html

 

[David Lesher]

The one I hate is HVAC "tons" and BTU's. What's even worse is
the yellow tag that talks BTUs, hours and kilowatts to express
efficiency.

Damn it, it's kilowatts out/kilowatts in, period.

 

[SoothSayer]

AFAIK, all Detroit iron is now metric.

This is a fact and has been since the 80' at he latest.

 

[SoothSayer]

Doesn't look metric to me:

http://www.leftlanenews.com/new-car-buying/chevrolet/suburban/specifications/
http://www.gmc.com/sierra-1500-pickup-truck/features-specs/dimensions.html

Again, idiot... this goes more toward individual Americans and the
"average" a car company thinks their demographic carries.

Now, idiot... go try to find ANY American engine that uses an SAE head
bolt or any other fastener on the engine.

ALL of the engines, transmissions, and other drive train components are
metric and have been for decades.

 

[SoothSayer]

The one I hate is HVAC "tons" and BTU's. What's even worse is
the yellow tag that talks BTUs, hours and kilowatts to express
efficiency.

Damn it, it's kilowatts out/kilowatts in, period.

That is electrical efficiency. Thermal efficiency is another animal.

So, a declared value for any competition should reflect electrical
consumption *for a given BTU unit output figure*.

Like 10k BTU appliances.

Or 30k BTU appliances.

That chart would allow for a comparison, and *that* observation would
allow one to assign an "efficiency" number to the industry product line.

I am sure that a big tonnage unit would perform better than a smaller
one on a thermal efficiency view.

 

[[email protected]]

The one I hate is HVAC "tons" and BTU's. What's even worse is
the yellow tag that talks BTUs, hours and kilowatts to express
efficiency.

Damn it, it's kilowatts out/kilowatts in, period.

I bet you lose sleep over things like SEER (BTUh/W).

 

[[email protected]]

That is electrical efficiency. Thermal efficiency is another animal.

Wrong again, AlwaysWrong. kW is a thermal measure, too. A watt is
3.4 BTU.

So, a declared value for any competition should reflect electrical
consumption *for a given BTU unit output figure*.

Like 10k BTU appliances.

That would be a 34kW appliance.

Or 30k BTU appliances.

100kW appliance.

That chart would allow for a comparison, and *that* observation would
allow one to assign an "efficiency" number to the industry product line.

SEER is just such an efficiency number. SEER is defined as the number
of BTUs transferred per watt. Despite the bastard units, it works.

I am sure that a big tonnage unit would perform better than a smaller
one on a thermal efficiency view.

Good grief. There is no such correspondence. You can find high, and
low, SEER ACs in all sizes.

 

[rickman]

I use metric frequently in my work, but apparently metric fasteners are
still a few cents more expensive than standard over here, so there's still
economic pressure, however slight, to continue using them.

Metric is kind of nice because you can "make your own" when it comes to
magic sizes and stuff. Sometimes you want, say, a plate that's 1/4 or
3/8" thick, but it just doesn't look quite right -- visually appealing.
Instead, you could specify 5, 7.5, 10, etc. mm thickness, or other odd
values, assuming it's in stock of course -- and potentially get more
elegant proportions and whatnot. This is analogous to working in
conventional vs. Exx series R/L/C component values: some ratios are easy
to get (factor of 2 = 1k:2k vs. 1k:2.2k off by 10%), others not so much.
On further analysis, one would probably find it's a wash, in the end.

Insert usual blurb about the inch technically being metric (i.e., so
effing what, specify 6.35mm bolts instead).

That reminds me of when I worked as a contractor under government
supervision. They had a rule that all purchases were to be in metric
unless you provided a written justification for why you couldn't find it
in metric. I ordered a PC-104 board and hadn't filled out the metric
exception form and was told to do it. When I replied that the board
*was* metric they almost fell over. I guess no one had bought anything
that *actually* was metric! Well, it was sort of. They had dimensions
in both units and never were exact round numbers, so it was a wash...