You're missing the point. It is only in a situation where there is a mixture of different measurement systems (a system which you think is a 'good thing') that such an error could have taken place. The extra checking and level of communication necessary in order to prevent such disasters has a cost in itself - which is another reason why having a mismash is unnecessarily expensive.
I think you are missing my point.
If everyone had agreed on imperial or metric from the start then dimensional errors would not happen. As far as I am aware the shuttle has had two disasters - neither of which were to do with measurements however the specs were done in imperial.
On a broader scale you are misrepresenting my ideas of what is a 'good thing'. The 'good thing' I am referring to is choice at a basic level, not a scientific one.
Firstly, I am not 'comfortable' with the calendar/time system - it is a stupid system. It's more accurate to say that I'm resigned to it, given the universality of the current system.
Far enough, I realise that spome metricists curse the 'non-metricness' or lack of decimal in the time system - reminds me a bit of when the nerds take over springfield (in the simpsons) and they covert time to metric time.
I also note with surprise that a fairly new cartoon from america "Tripping the Rift" used km for distance - slightly off-topic.
>There are a few issues with that argument:- >Market forces killed the beta-format, market forces are keeping alive the >imperial format.
Pure inertia is delaying (not keeping alive) the demise of the imperial system. It is dying, though, slowly but surely. It just isn't fast enough for some of us.
A few things that go against that.
1) opinion polls in the UK showed support for metric in the 70's whichhas decreased over the years
2) In my lifetime, I've never been more confident about imperial staying with us than in the last few years
3) Technology means that in-built GPS and car computers show imperial (eg yds, miles, mpg, miles left in the tank, etc). So technology will assist in keeping imperial healthy (unless manufacturers are told not to allow consumers to be able two switch between imperial-metric).
And if your answer came to within half an inch of your requirement, you'd have to do it again with more precision. With the metric millimeter, you get far greater precision with no increased awkwardness (integer as opposed to fractional measure). Quite simply, the inch as a basic unit is far too big.
I have said on numerous ocassions that for small distances the mm is ideal, bigger than that and I choose the inch or the foot. There is nothing wrong with me doing this, the ability is there for me and is available for me to choose.
For a coarser level of approximation the centimeter would have been as easy if not more easy. With metric you can shift using powers of 10.
I tried that - I preferred the inch and fractions thereof at the time. I just did.
I am not talking about that. I am referring to the fact that with imperial you have to learn one set of conversions for length (inch, foot, yard, mile) and other set for mass/weight (ounce, pound, stone). With metric, having learned about milli, centi, kilo etc for length, the same factors are applied to mass/weight or capacity (liter vs pint/gallon). You don't have to be aware of any relationship between mass/length to benefit from that.
Considering kids in the UK (and presumably US and Ireland, amongst others) are comfortable in approximating in feet and inches, pounds or stones and pounds, miles, etc I wonder how much time youngsters spend 'learning' this in relation to just picking it up in everyday life?
There isn't a direct correlation. The Unix command line syntax is one of the ugliest, unfriendliest things ever foisted on the IT community. On the other hand, Windows is easy to use but not really robust.
It wasn't foistered! Back in the late 60's there was no GUI interface - not until Xerox invented it.
The fact that unix has not adopted the GUI is precisely the reason why Windows is so bad. Unix is not clubsy, its high performance, secure and ultra-robust (what does re-boot mean in the unix world?!)
And I can do one hundred extra things in the VI command editor than I can do in any word processor.
I think I'd know how I'd equate imperial/.metric to the choice of O/S.
BTW - why not ban UNIX? After all, 97% of the world's computers use Windows ;-)
But you have offered no rational argument that imperial is better, other
than the circular logic that it is better for you because you prefer it, and
you prefer it because it is better for you.
I have -but you have re-interpretted it. I'm not thick - I know metric and imperial equally. Right now I will choose either based on the merit of the application. What is best to me is based upon having access to both types of system.
I was. A minority did complain and grumble (more in the UK than here of course), that they were losing some vital piece of their culture. In fact, they were simply grumbling because they had to change.
Money gets revalued all the time, by nature. REvaluing it to decimal is just another revaluation.
Culturally it still has the Queens head on it!
The main difference is that currency is controlled by the government, so they decide what coins and notes you see and deal with. So when they withdraw the old ones, people cease being exposed to the old, and therefore get comfortable with the new. If the government had kept both sets of currencies in circulation allowing people the "choice" of which they used, you would have the same awful mess with currency that we now have with measurement.
Except it would be a real mess having to do business with two very different currencies.
The mess of measures in the UK today is just something made up by the UKMA. The best person to ask about that is a British person.
>St Patrick was Welsh, you know!
Most likely he was (although there are those who claim he was Roman or from Gaul too). He certainly wasn't Irish. Fortunately, he found that the Irish were a people that didn't reject new ideas simply because they didn't originate there :-)
And what's so wrong with snakes anyway? ;-)
