The US mesurement system has bothered me for a long time. Officaly the Untied States is Metric, but they still teach them the US costumary system first. And the way that teach Metric is based on caculations that no first grader could possibly understand (if you want to teach someone what a kilometer is you make them run one, not tell them that there's point whatever km's in a mile). I even heard once the reason water boils at 212 F and freezes at 32 F is that the Farenhiet scale was based on the hottest and coldest days of one year; not very constant. Metric work's better, but it look's like the USA is never going to use it :-(, but I, Brant Swanson (my name) here in America proudly say "I stand 173 cm heigh".
"Officaly the Untied States is Metric, but they still teach them the US costumary system first. And the way that teach Metric is based on caculations that no first grader could possibly understand (if you want to teach someone what a kilometer is you make them run one, not tell them that there's point whatever km's in a mile)."
I didn't know that it was official.
I'm glad that I wasn't taught what a kilometre was by having to run it. Imagine having to learn what a marathon was.....
"Officaly the Untied States is Metric, but they still teach them the US costumary system first. And the way that teach Metric is based on caculations that no first grader could possibly understand (if you want to teach someone what a kilometer is you make them run one, not tell them that there's point whatever km's in a mile)."
I didn't know that it was official.
I'm glad that I wasn't taught what a kilometre was by having to run it. Imagine having to learn what a marathon was.....
yea but amy think of the possibilites when it comes to Sex Ed!!!
LOL
My grandmother (God rest her) used to say, "I've always found that Farenheit ovens cook so much better than Centigrade ones." :lol:
Logical Paradox, how much is the 24-hour clock used in the USA? We British don't use it nearly as much as our continental (European) cousins, and on the occasions when it is used someone will often "translate" it. Examples of this:
* I was enquiring about the times of the Caledonian Sleeper (London - Scotland night train), and the ticket seller said, "There's a 9.33 departure from London Euston, gets you into Edinburgh Waverley at 5.45" and I said "21:33" as I wrote it down. Personally I always use the 24-hour clock, not just for train times.
* The local news slot (Devon & Cornwall) on the BBC breakfast news always includes the times of next high water just before the weather forecast. A map is shown with the high-water times in 24-hour format, and guess what? The presenter always translates them into a.m. and p.m.
* At a mobile blood donation clinic the sign outside the venue said that the afternoon session would commence at 04:45!
The "24-hour clock" is not used here(USA) much but that probably has to do w/it often being referred to as "military time".
I even heard once the reason water boils at 212 F and freezes at 32 F is that the Farenhiet scale was based on the hottest and coldest days of one year; not very constant.
The Fahrenheit scale was based on body temperature being 100F (he apparently had a slight fever the day he calibrated it), and the temperature at which a salt/water mixture froze, being the coldest thing he could arrange for in his lab.
I'm all for adopting metric, but there is tremendous inertia in the US about it.