Why hasn't U.S. gone metric yet?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

a late supper (frozen paella - 750g for the two of us).

Have you ever tried heating it up?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

We don't observe DST in most of Arizona because who wants another hour of 40+ degree heat.

Yeah that used to screw me up when I was working for megacorp. We had a plant in arizona and i'd wait until I *thought* it was after 5 there to call people I didnt actually want to talk to, and instead of their voicemail I'd get the guy still at his desk, since it was also 4:30 in arizona.

 

[Goonie]

Actually, they've changed daylight savings again - according to my calendar, they pushed it back by another week to next Sunday. And the funniest thing was, nobody even noticed. There was nary a word in the news this weekend about it. I think quite a few people will be very surprised next week though.

Why we can't just get rid of standard time and stay on daylight savings all the time is beyond me.

For the first time in years and years (actually since about kindergarten), the time change won't have much of an impact on me. Unless I'm going on a trip or have an appointment, what time it is has no bearing on me. I get up in the morning when I'm done sleeping, and go to bed at night when I'm tired. There's no set time for either. Being retired, I don't wear a watch because, to me, it doesn't really matter what time it is.

However, given the choice, I'd leave the time the way it is now, and quit the "falling back" and "springing forward". Whether the kids get on the bus at 7am in the dark, or get off the bus at 4:30pm in the dark.....dark is still dark. When it did matter to me, I preferred light at the end of the day, because mornings sucked whether it was light or dark!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Then you should definitely NOT move to Saskatchewan!

My fathers parents are from there, and not the "nice" part. Just north of lake tabasco or something like that.

I'd say the odds of my moving to where they [-]escaped[/-] [-]ran away from[/-] [-]spoke horrifically of throughout my childhood[/-] used to live is somewhat low.

 

[bpp3]

Last time they tried that, I was one of the kids waiting for the bus. It wasnt that dark and I didnt have any problem with it, but I still remember the news furor over the PO'd parents.

I'd sure like DST all year round. I can use the daylight at the end of the day a lot more than in the morning. I've already had to tell Gabe a couple of times that we cant go to the park because its too late and almost dark already. Yank that back another hour next week and its gonna be a hassle.

I hated going to standard time in the winter as a kid. By midwinter it would still be dark while waiting for the bus, but as a result of the shift it would also be dark by the time you got home. It would have been nice if they had left us a little sunlight in the afternoon.

The whole changing clocks thing is ridiculous. I am glad we don't do it here, though the proposal occasionally comes up.

 

[jazz4cash]

Actually, they've changed daylight savings again - according to my calendar, they pushed it back by another week to next Sunday. And the funniest thing was, nobody even noticed. There was nary a word in the news this weekend about it. I think quite a few people will be very surprised next week though.

Why we can't just get rid of standard time and stay on daylight savings all the time is beyond me. Yeah, yeah, the kids will be waiting for the bus in the dark - c'mon, how many kids actually still take the bus at 7AM? And most of them would much rather have the extra daylight after school just like the rest of us. OK - rant off.

Oh...so THAT'S why I keep having to reset the clock on my laptop today?

 

[Meadbh]

Oh...so THAT'S why I keep having to reset the clock on my laptop today?

Yeah, nobody told your laptop about Dubya's Bright Idea. Now look at all the energy you're wasting!

 

[thefed]

i often wonder about standardization.

today as i drove down the road, i wondered about semi's...18 wheelers. I looked at the lines connecting the trailer of a big-rig to the truck itself, and saw the big plugs on both ends....I wonder if they (the plugs) are all the same from one truck to the next? If not, what would you do if you had to haul a trailer with incompatible lines (i suppose they are brake lights and compressed air for brakes)? If they ARE all the same, WHO invented them? Do they make money every time a plug is made with that particular connector?

Then i looked at their mudflaps (funny ones) and wondered the same kind of thing... "are those standard18-wheeler mudflaps? or are they made specifically to mount to a 1998 Peterbuilt blah blah" if theres a standard mounting bracket or configuration for mudflaps...how'd that become so?


wierd stuff like this goes thru my head a lot. i must be special

 

[ladelfina]

At my yoga class I mentioned the thing about different standards once again (since that's where my original discussion took place about cups vs. grams), but talking about time. Bizarrely, a teacher who wasn't in on the prev. conversation sponteously said.. "yeah! and no one knows the mass of the Kg since it's always changing.. I find that fascinating!!!" Needless to say we were the only two in the class who felt that way!

Well, I heated the frozen paella to 350°, but it only got to 180°. I think my stove is broken.

 

[jazz4cash]

Metric? I don't think we've figured out the old system. Actually, we're semi-metric and just don't let the general public know.

 

[bpp3]

Well, I heated the frozen paella to 350°, but it only got to 180°. I think my stove is broken.

Try the microwave. Or the (1/16-th)^5-th-wave, perhaps.

 

[jazz4cash]

i often wonder about standardization.

today as i drove down the road, i wondered about semi's...18 wheelers. I looked at the lines connecting the trailer of a big-rig to the truck itself, and saw the big plugs on both ends....I wonder if they (the plugs) are all the same from one truck to the next? If not, what would you do if you had to haul a trailer with incompatible lines (i suppose they are brake lights and compressed air for brakes)? If they ARE all the same, WHO invented them? Do they make money every time a plug is made with that particular connector?

Then i looked at their mudflaps (funny ones) and wondered the same kind of thing... "are those standard18-wheeler mudflaps? or are they made specifically to mount to a 1998 Peterbuilt blah blah" if theres a standard mounting bracket or configuration for mudflaps...how'd that become so?


wierd stuff like this goes thru my head a lot. i must be special

Yeah....you ARE special. That stuff is all standard....even the mudflaps more or less. Hydraulic hoses are still non-metric. They go by SAE sizes that generally correspond to inch measurments (hoses and couplings). Electrical connectors are standard also...dunno if they're metric, but I'm pretty sure any tractor fits any trailer. Society of Automotive Engineers sets most of these standards. American Society of Mechanical Engineers does thier part and so on and so forth. ISO is International Standards Organization and they serve similar functions.

When I went to work at the GM Proving Grounds in '82 all the speed limit signs on company property were metric only, because eventually that was going to be the standard. As travelover stated, all the cars are metric, but GM threw in the towel and changed the speed limit signs a few years ago...so now we truely have a mixed system....talk about complicated!

 

[TromboneAl]

Just noticed my clock is wrong on the PC. Humans just aren't good at standardization. Think of it, computers are now, what, 60 years old, and they can't even display the current time reliably!

Sorry Ladelfina, I didn't mean my post to sound condescending like that.

 

[ERD50]

Well, I heated the frozen paella to 350°, but it only got to 180°. I think my stove is broken.

Wouldn't a frozen paella be 360°? And 180° would be half of one?







-ERD50

 

[ladelfina]

sigh. I guess I have to explain: 350°F is ~180°C.
Al .. no prb... I used a winky face

For a bizarre food geometry conundrum, go here:
The Great Pizza Orientation Test

 

[ERD50]

sigh. I guess I have to explain: 350°F is ~180°C.

For a bizarre food geometry conundrum, go here:
The Great Pizza Orientation Test

I hope you don't think you need to explain that, anymore than I hope that I don't need to explain that there are 360 degrees in a circle?

I bet the domino's delivery guys have all heard about the guy who needed his pizza oriented. Pretty funny, but I'm not sure what else they would do to keep it straight. Side 'A', side 'B'? Hmmm, those are the flip sides of a record - could get confusing, and hard to put pepperoni on the 'B' side.

Me, I like the corner piece.

-ERD50

 

[ladelfina]

I hope I don't need to explain that I did think I needed to explain that!

I just wonder what went through the head of the kid who had to make the "beef/left/none" pizza.

 

[ERD50]

I hope I don't need to explain that I did think I needed to explain that!

I guess we went full circle on that one, then!

-ERD50

 

[jIMOh]

Very simple-

The Cincinnati Bengals are giving up records amount of yardage. If we switch to metric system, the amount of yardage will be increased, and that just can't happen.

Plus, all the football stadiums have 120 yard fields. Removing seats of paying customers to create a 120 meter field is not profitable for the NFL.

 

[Grizz]

Very simple-

The Cincinnati Bengals are giving up records amount of yardage. If we switch to metric system, the amount of yardage will be increased, and that just can't happen.

Plus, all the football stadiums have 120 yard fields. Removing seats of paying customers to create a 120 meter field is not profitable for the NFL.

In Canada, our football league (the unofficial NFL farm system) uses yards. There are differences though. Our field is much wider, our balls are bigger (pun intended), and we only have 3 downs(I think that is metric for 4 downs).

 

[Meadbh]

i often wonder about standardization.

today as i drove down the road, i wondered about semi's...18 wheelers. I looked at the lines connecting the trailer of a big-rig to the truck itself, and saw the big plugs on both ends....I wonder if they (the plugs) are all the same from one truck to the next? If not, what would you do if you had to haul a trailer with incompatible lines (i suppose they are brake lights and compressed air for brakes)? If they ARE all the same, WHO invented them? Do they make money every time a plug is made with that particular connector?

Then i looked at their mudflaps (funny ones) and wondered the same kind of thing... "are those standard18-wheeler mudflaps? or are they made specifically to mount to a 1998 Peterbuilt blah blah" if theres a standard mounting bracket or configuration for mudflaps...how'd that become so?


wierd stuff like this goes thru my head a lot. i must be special

Don't know about big rigs, but standardization is one of the reasons why Toyota has a very efficient manufacturing system and why the parts always fit.

 

[calmloki]

Don't know about big rigs, but standardization is one of the reasons why Toyota has a very efficient manufacturing system and why the parts always fit.

You know, i think Mr. Ford was working on something like that some years ago....

 

[Goonie]

i often wonder about standardization.

today as i drove down the road, i wondered about semi's...18 wheelers. I looked at the lines connecting the trailer of a big-rig to the truck itself, and saw the big plugs on both ends....I wonder if they (the plugs) are all the same from one truck to the next? If not, what would you do if you had to haul a trailer with incompatible lines (i suppose they are brake lights and compressed air for brakes)? If they ARE all the same, WHO invented them? Do they make money every time a plug is made with that particular connector?

There are 2 air lines, 1 is color coded red (either red hose or red connectors, or both) and is the emergency trailer brakes. The other is color coded blue (blue hose and/or connectors) and is the trailer service brake (the regular brakes that are operated by the driver's brake pedal). There is also the electrical connection for the trailer lights. The connections, air and electrical, are standard on all tractor-trailers. The electrical lines have a plug connector. The air lines have 'glad-hands' connectors.

No idea who invented them though.

 

[TromboneAl]

Concerning oven temperatures, here's a story.

My Mom came over to Sweden with us when DW and I had our second marriage ceremony over there. When we were visiting DW's grandparent's house, Mom decided to bake an American style turkey dinner while everyone else was out canoing. The house only had a wood stove. And by "wood stove" I mean a traditional kitchen range that is powered by wood rather than gas or electricity.

So she keeps stuffing the oven with wood to try to get the temperature up to 350 degrees, but of course the dial was in centigrade, and 350 centigrade = 662 Fahrenheit!

The bird was done in record time, and turned out fine.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I can lie in either units. Mox nix.

Doctors have a fascinating outlook on units. When we were in baby mode, the whole hospital talked in terms of "sonnameters". Hello?