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cjnull t1_irftedt wrote

I can't believe how much Reagen screwed up…

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PolyJuicedRedHead t1_irfuzi2 wrote

Big sky there. You can see for kilometres and kilometers.

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deadwlkn t1_irfvar9 wrote

Live near there. Pretty land.

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InsuranceToTheRescue t1_irfwxwg wrote

For all the dipshits that are gonna be like, "We're 'Murica and we're different than those other commie, metric countries! Besides, it's not like using different systems causes any problems."

It almost caused a drug overdose. It caused us to almost lose a satellite. It caused us to crater a Mars orbiter into the planet. It caused an airplane to run out of fuel mid flight. Finally, it caused a roller coaster to derail.

Folks currently alive will probably never be able to fully grasp metric. We'll likely never hear that something is 20km away and just have an intuitive estimate of how far away that is like we would if we were told it was 12mi. The same would probably be true of weights, and volumes, and other measurements.

But our kids and grandkids would know. And we would finally be able to work internationally without the confusion. Confusion that will someday cost lives instead of cash and the heartbreak of which will force us to change.

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McTwist1260 t1_irfyq00 wrote

Decades ago I was going up to Rockford, Illinois and passed a sign that said “Chicago 100km / 62 mi”. It’s been one of the most useful signs I’ve ever seen.

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MasterFubar t1_irg4y3d wrote

To be fair, the problems you mention are caused by the confusion between the two systems, not by the use of the medieval system by itself. To avoid this type of confusion, airplanes everywhere still have their altitude measured in feet and speed measured in knots. This is true even for airplanes made by Airbus and Embraer.

However, the medieval system does have shortcomings even without the confusion caused by conversion. For instance, adding fractions is much more likely to cause error than adding decimal numbers. That's the reason why machinists in the US have abandoned fractions long ago, using exclusively decimal inches in their measurements.

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DefiantStomp t1_irgej4r wrote

Can confirm. Tucsonan here. People also drive like the speed sigs are in KPH too.

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dvdmaven t1_irggpam wrote

I remember when Carter had some of the other highway signs done in Metric and Stupid, people cut the signs down or burned them.

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CrieDeCoeur t1_irgw6s0 wrote

Pretty simple. 0 Celsius is where water freezes, 100 C is where it boils. A kilometer is 1,000 meters, there are 100 centimeters to a meter, a thousand milliliters to a liter, etc. All divisions or multiples of 10, 100 or 1,000.

Unlike pints and quarts and bushels and pecks and drams and gallons and yards and furlongs and God knows what else with values all over the goshdarn place.

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B_P_G t1_irhuh6s wrote

> 0 Celsius is where water freezes, 100 C is where it boils.

And why is that an advantage from the standpoint of a temperature scale? When was the last time you stuck a thermometer in a pot of boiling water?

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B_P_G t1_irhunkz wrote

There's no way for the government to force anyone to use it. The system is out there. Everyone knows about it. Some people and industries use it but most don't. It's a major burden to switch and it isn't worth it.

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quooo t1_iri1oq9 wrote

>When was the last time you stuck a thermometer in a pot of boiling water?

I don't have to, I just wait until it bubbles.

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pjabrony t1_iri8gc5 wrote

> Besides, it's not like using different systems causes any problems." > > It almost caused a drug overdose. It caused us to almost lose a satellite. It caused us to crater a Mars orbiter into the planet. It caused an airplane to run out of fuel mid flight. Finally, it caused a roller coaster to derail.

I agree. These are all problems. That's why the rest of the world should give up metric and use the correct system.

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Toad32 t1_iric8yv wrote

Rockford is neither small or cool. It has near the highest crime rate and poverty levels in the state. To be fair it has a nice raceway and some of the people are cool.

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Gandydancer t1_iril3pz wrote

> I don’t have to, I just wait until it bubbles.

Does this mean I can stop making crop circles in random countries? All I want is the hot water, I'm not too keen on knocking down grass with boards. Game changer if true.

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modangon t1_irjcoe0 wrote

Ah the only freeway with good taste

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Jforjustice t1_irlbvb4 wrote

>Rockford is neither small or cool. It has near the highest crime rate and poverty levels in the state. To be fair it has a nice raceway and some of the people are cool.

interesting. we just passed thru town, stayed in an airbnb and were hosted at peoples' homes for dinner while there. it looked quaint and unassuming. i guess coming from the suburbs of NJ, any small town looks cool and interesting. maybe it's all the books I read or the places I wish I could roadtrip to. i had no idea regarding the crime rate and poverty.

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Qnofputrescence1213 t1_irmfswh wrote

I drove this stretch back in 1995 when I was 21 and my immediate thought when I saw those signs was “WTF?” 😂

I’m still horrible at converting or even estimating km to miles so I would look at the speedometer numbers to figure out how many miles we had left.

I’ve never seen signs in the US like this since and now I know why. I just assumed that there were other roads along the southern border like this. Guess not.

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