Bret L wrote:
How can we take a nation seriously that has failed to embrace the
Metric system?
--
You'll be happy to know that the US HAS had the metric system as an
official and approved system of measurement for almost 150 years.
Abraham Lincoln signed the bill into law. However, we sensibly use it
only for scientific and medical uses and certain machining and
microelectronic applications. It isn't very people friendly in its
basic units, even though it is fully decimal.
**Bull****. Here in Australia, we used Imperial measurements for many
decades. I grew up with them. Switching to Metric was relatively painless
and most now wonder why we did not switch MUCH earlier. Metric is far more
people friendly. It is far easier to calculate and there are no silly
conversions required (such as: Troy Ounces, US Gallons, etc). I well recall
how much thought I had to give to work out which was the next size drill I
had to grab from the box for my dad, when he asked me to hand him the next
size up from 1/8" (is it 9/64", or 5/32"). If I want to know the next size
up from (say) 4mm, I intuitively and instantly know that it is 4.5mm.
Most Americans know approximately the lengths of a centimeter,
millimeter, meter, kilometer and the weight of a kilogram and volume
of a liter. 1000 cc is a liter, or 61 cubic inches.
**It is time that the US embraced the measurement system that the entire
planet uses.
The metric system, or more accurately the universally accepted
version of it, has other flaws. Metric threads are poor in comparison
to UNC and UNF and especially the old Whitworth.
**Standardised threads are not necessarily going to suit all applications.
There is no reason why a specific Metric thread cannot be developed for such
applications.
It was only fairly
recently that a Japanese metric bolt would fit a European metric nut
or vice versa, and the sockets didn't always interchange either.
**I've never had such a problem.
--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au