[Bret L]

**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.

Yet there are 5.5mm and 13.77 mm sockets!

The Germans love to use inside spline fasteners made to no
conceivable standards as well. Whereas in America, our Bristol (no,
not British) spline fasteners so beloved of Collins Radio are gone and
done with.



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.

You know, I thought that way once too. We did not and we aren't going
to, same as the Australians and New Zealanders are going to abandon
driving on the wrong side (LHD cars on the right is the world
standard). It doesn't bother me either way to be honest.

Degrees Fahrenheit are a far more usable human scale than Centigrade.
Inch pound gallon isn't such a problem: horses are in hands, wind
speeds in knots (nm/hr) and air and marine navigation in nautical
miles. In Britain, so and so weighs so many 'stone'. It's not a big
deal.



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 is indeed possible but in 70+ years the metric savants have
ignored the problem. Any engine machinist working on inch (American
car engines, Harleys, LyCon flat aircraft engines) and metric
(everything else except vintage Brit stuff) machined castings will
give you an earful about how the metric thread actually used not only
has a ****ty threadform but is too coarse for fine work and too fine
for ruggedness,