Metric wins hands down!
This article deals with Adam Koch’s anti metric diatribe.
Quite right, nobody should conform to anything for the sake of conforming. Yet, to condemn a measurement system outright because you do not, or do not want to understand it, is not very intelligent. What an amazing statement: (Adam Koch)”When I see a bolt is 1/4 inch, I know to grab the 1/4 inch socket. If I have a metric bolt, I have to try each one of my sockets until I find one that fits. ” Now would you believe it people using metric tools would have exaxtly the same problem, ever wondered why? Luckily metric countries are spared that nuisance because nobody buys inch products. You on the other hand have to put up with that pain in the neck on an ongoing basis because your carmakers switched to metric years ago without telling you. The privilege of using obsolete measurement units costs your country billions of dollars annually. America’s problem is it can’t function without metric measurements, pharmaceuticals, science, meteorology, exports, imports and many more are all metric, but dumbed down to imperial for people like you. Yes, you are welcome to stick with your hodgepodge of medieval units and pay for it with disadvantages that metric countries have done away with long ago.
Now one more observation, don’t blame the metric system for your lack of understanding it. I am aware that this attitude is the easiest way to avoid familiarising yourself with that system. That means essentially you have no idea what you are talking about and which system is better.
by Adam Koch
First of all, the metric system is confusing. Second of all, I think it was president John F. Kennedy who said that “Conformity is the jailer of freedom, and the enemy of growth.” The United States of America is a sovreign nation. We should not, and certainly we should not HAVE to conform to anyone elses systems but our own. It is our right to have our own measurement system, and it was probably prompted by colonists anger at England over dishonest weights and measures.
When I see a bolt is 1/4 inch, I know to grab the 1/4 inch socket. I can understand inches. If I have a metric bolt, I have to try each one of my sockets until I find one that fits. I had a Chevy S-10 Blazer… Guess what? Some of the bolts were metric, some of the bolts were standard, and there was no way to distinguish between the two, other than finding the best fit. I agree, measurements should be standardised. In the US, all bolts should be standard. All the other countries can keep their metric if they want.
If you told me the next town is 100 kilometers, I have no idea what you are talking about. But if you tell me the next town is 50 miles, then I know exactly what the distance is, how long it will take, etc. This is similar to the debate over speaking spanish in this country. English is our language, anyone who can’t speak English, should go home, I shouldn’t have to learn Spanish. Likewise, I shouldn’t have to learn metric.
