DOOM: Metric system

[xoggoth]

Even as a pro Brexity person I prefer metric, much easier. Why not make time metric? 60 mins to an hour, 24 hours to a day etc. how daft is that?

[Lance]

Even as a pro Brexity person I prefer metric, much easier. Why not make time metric? 60 mins to an hour, 24 hours to a day etc. how daft is that?

1 second is the SI unit of time. That's 9 billion oscillations of the caesium atom. Why 9???? I guess as they already had the second and wanted to make something close.
What you do need for time, metric or other, is where the base unit is focussed around one revolution of the planet (ie. a day). Currently 86400 seconds in a day. So we could easily make that 100,000 seconds per day. 100 hours in a day. 1,000 seconds in an hour.

Or maybe.... just leave it the feck alone... Which is what the gov should be doing. We all manage with what we have now so why bother with such a distracti...... oh wait....

[ladymuck]

A base 12 system (like time) is far more flexible than a base 10. Many more factors to play around with when dividing into sub-units.

[Gibbon]

Even as a pro Brexity person I prefer metric, much easier. Why not make time metric? 60 mins to an hour, 24 hours to a day etc. how daft is that?

Why are there 24 hours in a day? › Ask an Expert (ABC Science)

[d000hg]

It's not f***ing random like that chart.

3 barleycorns to an inch
12 inches to a foot
3 foot to a yard
1160 yards to a mile
3 miles to 1 league

4 farthings to 1 pence
12 pence to a shilling
20 shillings to a pound

16 ounces to a pound
14 pounds to a stone
2 stones to a quarter
4 quarters to a hundred weight
20 hundred weights to a ton

It is just a load of random numbers.

Finding every obscure measurement to demonstrate non-metric systems are overly complicated is somewhat disingenuous. Loads of those have either not been widely used for centuries or were quite niche to certain industries. Inches and feet and yards and miles is hardly difficult, nor are ounces and pounds or pence and shillings. Properly thick people have been using them without finding it difficult for ages.
Standardising on the units is more important than what the units actually are.

It's not like the metricised scientific system is free from a whole load of weird and wonderful units.

[WTFH]

Finding every obscure measurement to demonstrate non-metric systems are overly complicated is somewhat disingenuous. Loads of those have either not been widely used for centuries or were quite niche to certain industries. Inches and feet and yards and miles is hardly difficult, nor are ounces and pounds or pence and shillings. Properly thick people have been using them without finding it difficult for ages.
Standardising on the units is more important than what the units actually are.

It's not like the metricised scientific system is free from a whole load of weird and wonderful units.

OK, but for 50 years we have not used shillings. Children only know of them from their parents and grandparents.
The same is with other measures - the under 50s were not educated in inches, feet and yards, and while they may know about them, it's just via parents, grandparents and folklore.
"Properly thick people" were educated in pounds, shillings and pence, and used coins that were marked in shillings etc, their children weren't educated that way, but the government's desire to cancel the last 50 years of education and advancement seems to be more about distraction than about concern for the UK as a global business hub, or educational and R&D centre.

[d000hg]

OK, but for 50 years we have not used shillings. Children only know of them from their parents and grandparents.
The same is with other measures - the under 50s were not educated in inches, feet and yards, and while they may know about them, it's just via parents, grandparents and folklore.
"Properly thick people" were educated in pounds, shillings and pence, and used coins that were marked in shillings etc, their children weren't educated that way, but the government's desire to cancel the last 50 years of education and advancement seems to be more about distraction than about concern for the UK as a global business hub, or educational and R&D centre.

I didn't realise things you were taught by your parents wasn't "education". Strange, since virtually everything post-imperial generations do using measurements - cooking, decorating, etc - was predominantly learned from these insignificant parents and grandparents.

The thick people almost certainly learnt their easy familiarity with imperial measurements from parents or employers rather than from "education" too.

[SueEllen]

I didn't realise things you were taught by your parents wasn't "education". Strange, since virtually everything post-imperial generations do using measurements - cooking, decorating, etc - was predominantly learned from these insignificant parents and grandparents.

The thick people almost certainly learnt their easy familiarity with imperial measurements from parents or employers rather than from "education" too.

So the fact my mother bothered converted things into grammes and kilogrammes for me, means I'm thick? Or was she just progressive and realised the world was moving on?

[WTFH]

So the fact my mother bothered converted things into grammes and kilogrammes for me, means I'm thick? Or was she just progressive and realised the world was moving on?

And that she gave you pocket money in decimal coins - it should only ever be pre-decimal!

[Gibbon]

It's not f***ing random like that chart.

3 barleycorns to an inch
12 inches to a foot
3 foot to a yard
1160 yards to a mile
3 miles to 1 league

4 farthings to 1 pence
12 pence to a shilling
20 shillings to a pound

16 ounces to a pound
14 pounds to a stone
2 stones to a quarter
4 quarters to a hundred weight
20 hundred weights to a ton

It is just a load of random numbers.

On both sides of the fence!

The meter is a unit of length equal to 3.28 feet; the gram is a unit of mass equal to approximately 0.0022 pounds (about the mass of a paper clip); and the liter is a unit of volume equal to 1.05 quarts.

Where did they get them from, and a litre is just short changing 2 pints!