Metrication

[kphoger]

Question: do most Americans know what e.g. their height is in metric units? Most Americans have studied common metric units and Celsius at school, so do they know?

An August 2022 online poll of 1000 Canadian adults found that only about 20% of them measure their body height in metric units.  If four-fifths of internet-users in Canada measure their own height in feet and inches, then do you really think people in the US would be more likely to use centimeters?  Come on...

[GaryV]

P13 probably hasn't thawed out from the -40 degree temps in Helsinki this week. How much do brain waves slow down at those temps?

(Note the deliberate siting of this post in the Metrication thread.    )

[Scott5114]

Don't underestimate what can be accomplished during a Finnish winter—this one Finnish nerd was stuck in his room over the winter and started screwing around with his computer for lack of anything else to do, and accidentally invented Linux.

[Max Rockatansky]

Probably about 95% of the "nerd things" I've done in my life came from the years I was stuck having to sit around at home during Michigan winters.  The alternatives during high school were to indulge in binge drinking or chain smoking.  I would imagine the madness is only greater in some even more northerly climate area like Finland.

[Big John]

Or go to college basketball, where jersey numbers are base 6.

I am watching a college basketball game and saw a player wearing #8.  I thought that was not legal so I googled this and saw the NCAA approved a rule change allowing basketball players to wear 0-99 starting this season: https://www.aseaofblue.com/2023/6/10/23756416/college-basketball-ncaa-rules-changes-2023-24-season

[Poiponen13]

Returning to Canada. Does Canada use imperial units (pounds, ounces) when measuring weight of small objects on kitchen scales?

[1995hoo]

Returning to Canada. Does Canada use imperial units (pounds, ounces) when measuring weight of small objects on kitchen scales?

You really have absolutely no common sense.

The answer to your question depends on the individual scale being used, and presumably further depends on how the individual has the scale set. The mere fact that a government decrees the use of metric, or of some other system of measurement, does not mean people have to use that system in their everyday home lives. Put differently, only an utter dumbass would think people are suddenly going to throw away recipes written in the old style measurements (and their existing kitchen implements such as scales, measuring cups, etc.) just because the government decreed a new system.

I have a digital kitchen scale. Sometimes I set it to pounds and ounces, sometimes I set it to grams. Just depends on my needs at a given time. I'd do the same if I lived in Canada.

[Scott5114]

I'm an American and I use grams and mL in the kitchen whenever I can, just I tend to make half-portions of things and it makes division easier. The problem is whenever I'm following instructions that are specified in imperial units. Then, it's usually less annoying to just use the units in the instructions than it is to do a conversion.

[kkt]

I've heard (from Mom, a good cook who lived near the Canadian border and had friends in Canada) that they use a mixture of both sets of units.  They get some cookbooks from the United States, some from Britain, and some from France and elsewhere, so a well-equipped Canadian kitchen would have sets of American volume measures - teaspoons, tablespoons, ounces, cups, pints  And American weight measures - different kinda ounces, pounds.  And metric volume (ml) and weight (grams) measures.  Perhaps an electronic scale that can be switched between U.S. and SI weights, to save some space.

[Poiponen13]

An advantage of metric system is that its units always have ratios of powers of 10. Converting to larger and smaller units just involves moving the decimal dot around. For example, 0.056243 kilometers is:
0.56243 hectometers
5.6243 decameters
56.243 meters
562.43 decimeters
5,624.3 centimeters
56,243 millimeters


This makes metric system more logical than imperial/US customary system.

[vdeane]

An advantage of metric system is that its units always have ratios of powers of 10. Converting to larger and smaller units just involves moving the decimal dot around. For example, 0.056243 kilometers is:
0.56243 hectometers
5.6243 decameters
56.243 meters
562.43 decimeters
5,624.3 centimeters
56,243 millimeters


This makes metric system more logical than imperial/US customary system.

In the US we "solved" that problem by just not doing that in day to day life, which does make fractions more common.  For example, if an exit is less than a mile away, it might be signed "1/2 mile" or "3/4 mile".  In Canada, however, there are no "1/2 km" signs.  Instead, they say "500 m".

[hotdogPi]

The relation between "1000 feet" and miles isn't obvious, though. Meters to kilometers is much easier.

[kalvado]

Pretty often things are simplified by not using different units within same scope.
US manufacturing drawings can have 34.56" as dimension, no conversion required. Same as metric drawings would call for 1234.5 mm.
Or my grocery receipt has 1.234 lb of apples. No ounces.. gas? 12.345 gallons.

[Poiponen13]

Are fractions usually used in metric units? And are there any formal plans to metricate US's road signs entirely?

[Big John]

Are fractions usually used in metric units? And are there any formal plans to metricate US's road signs entirely?

No fractions in metric.  US had long-term plans of metrifying signs, but that was killed in the late 1990s.

[hotdogPi]

I'm currently sitting at a Peruvian-Japanese restaurant. The menu used a comma for a decimal point, so my meal was "16,50". Japan does not use the comma this way. Internet sources disagree on whether Peru does, although someone on Discord says yes.

My check is not in 24-hour time — the internet also disagrees on this with regard to Peru. (If they did, it wouldn't be the first I've seen in the US to do so, unlike the comma for a decimal point.)

It also had an already-included 15% tip (I tipped 20%) even though I was alone, which I have no idea if Peru does, and a 4% credit card fee which seems to be the hot new trend in Massachusetts.

[kkt]

The relation between "1000 feet" and miles isn't obvious, though. Meters to kilometers is much easier.

1000 feet is about 1/5 of a mile.  If it's just for distance to an exit, they highway department probably didn't measure it down to the foot or meter anyway.

[Big John]

The relation between "1000 feet" and miles isn't obvious, though. Meters to kilometers is much easier.

1000 feet is about 1/5 of a mile.  If it's just for distance to an exit, they highway department probably didn't measure it down to the foot or meter anyway.

Actually highways are measured in 100' stations, highway plans specify where items such as the sign placement and theramps shall go, then the numbers are compared to get the distance.  Generally the sign placement will be a specific station distance prior to the ramp.

[Rothman]

I'm currently sitting at a Peruvian-Japanese restaurant. The menu used a comma for a decimal point, so my meal was "16,50". Japan does not use the comma this way. Internet sources disagree on whether Peru does, although someone on Discord says yes.

My check is not in 24-hour time — the internet also disagrees on this with regard to Peru. (If they did, it wouldn't be the first I've seen in the US to do so, unlike the comma for a decimal point.)

It also had an already-included 15% tip (I tipped 20%) even though I was alone, which I have no idea if Peru does, and a 4% credit card fee which seems to be the hot new trend in Massachusetts.

Eh, charging more for credit card users has been around for years.

[kalvado]

Are fractions usually used in metric units? And are there any formal plans to metricate US's road signs entirely?

No fractions in metric.  US had long-term plans of metrifying signs, but that was killed in the late 1990s.

I don't think Ronald Reagan was the president in late 90s.

[Big John]

Are fractions usually used in metric units? And are there any formal plans to metricate US's road signs entirely?

No fractions in metric.  US had long-term plans of metrifying signs, but that was killed in the late 1990s.

I don't think Ronald Reagan was the president in late 90s.

It was congress that did that.  It started with the mandate that all highway and bridge plans had to be in metric starting in 1996 with the expectation that signage would be changed at a later date.  It all got repealed in 1998.  Some highways and bridges were built under the metric plans though.

[SectorZ]

I'm currently sitting at a Peruvian-Japanese restaurant. The menu used a comma for a decimal point, so my meal was "16,50". Japan does not use the comma this way. Internet sources disagree on whether Peru does, although someone on Discord says yes.

My check is not in 24-hour time — the internet also disagrees on this with regard to Peru. (If they did, it wouldn't be the first I've seen in the US to do so, unlike the comma for a decimal point.)

It also had an already-included 15% tip (I tipped 20%) even though I was alone, which I have no idea if Peru does, and a 4% credit card fee which seems to be the hot new trend in Massachusetts.

Eh, charging more for credit card users has been around for years.

Still illegal in Massachusetts. Last place I had do it to me, I asked my credit card company to charge it back, and they did.

[kkt]

Some of you might enjoy this T-shirt:

https://www.geeksoutfit.com/products/fahrenheit-celsius-kelvin-t-shirt?variant=47201046167860&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Google+Shopping&currency=USD&country=US&utm_source=google&utm_medium=3941215709&utm_campaign=D-D_RMKT_ALL&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvrmM86ikhAMVO9bCBB2Hlg2REAEYASAEEgL2gPD_BwE

[kalvado]

I'm currently sitting at a Peruvian-Japanese restaurant. The menu used a comma for a decimal point, so my meal was "16,50". Japan does not use the comma this way. Internet sources disagree on whether Peru does, although someone on Discord says yes.

My check is not in 24-hour time — the internet also disagrees on this with regard to Peru. (If they did, it wouldn't be the first I've seen in the US to do so, unlike the comma for a decimal point.)

It also had an already-included 15% tip (I tipped 20%) even though I was alone, which I have no idea if Peru does, and a 4% credit card fee which seems to be the hot new trend in Massachusetts.

Eh, charging more for credit card users has been around for years.

Still illegal in Massachusetts. Last place I had do it to me, I asked my credit card company to charge it back, and they did.

Looks like now explicitly legal in NY with some fine print:
https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-new-law-clarify-disclosure-credit-card-surcharges-goes-effect-sunday

[Rothman]

I'm currently sitting at a Peruvian-Japanese restaurant. The menu used a comma for a decimal point, so my meal was "16,50". Japan does not use the comma this way. Internet sources disagree on whether Peru does, although someone on Discord says yes.

My check is not in 24-hour time — the internet also disagrees on this with regard to Peru. (If they did, it wouldn't be the first I've seen in the US to do so, unlike the comma for a decimal point.)

It also had an already-included 15% tip (I tipped 20%) even though I was alone, which I have no idea if Peru does, and a 4% credit card fee which seems to be the hot new trend in Massachusetts.

Eh, charging more for credit card users has been around for years.

Still illegal in Massachusetts. Last place I had do it to me, I asked my credit card company to charge it back, and they did.

Looks like now explicitly legal in NY with some fine print:
https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-new-law-clarify-disclosure-credit-card-surcharges-goes-effect-sunday

Meh.  Been standard practice in NY.  Haven't been surprised by a charge yet.  At least with the businesses I've been to, they've been good about posting it.