'We don't have a left party in the U.S.': AOC deems Democrats 'center or center-conservative'

[Boiler 43,438]

1 minute ago, Steeleballz said:

 

   I can also do both, as I said, but I'm hard pressed to name an area where the imperial system is actually better. I can think of areas where metric is much better or easier to use. I can think of a lot of areas where it makes no difference. I can't really come up with anything that is actually better about imperial measurements. Familiarity is basically what it has going for it. 

I am 6ft, much easier than 1.83m

 

13 Stone is easier than 82.5kg

 

And we have already mentioned asking for a pint, half a liter, lets say we go close sounds weird.

 

MPG?

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,315]

I take a medication that is 3 units per ml. 100 ml per vial. Makes the figuring out how long it will last real easy

[Burnt Reynolds 5,058]

46 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

  It's really not that hard. I was in middle school in Canada when they switched to metric. For a while, everything is labeled or printed with both values. For a few months, you remember simple factors like conversion constants, and then your brain makes the switch and you go on with the rest of your life thinking in metric. Since it's an easier system, there is no internal resistance. The brain actually likes doing things the easy way. All the resistance is external.

When I moved to Canada switching to metric in my brain took me maybe the better part of a year. When my wife visited the US for months she adjusted even quicker to imperial. It doesn't matter either way. What you describe is a two way street, and if there's any resistance to switching to US imperial, it's external.

 

Interestingly, in daily life, I've found US imperial measurements to be better in some areas, like weather (I find changes in Fahrenheit temperature causes more responsive attention given the larger spread), weight (on a consumer/populace scale), area (as sq ft is still often used in Canada), while not really having any preference for others (distance, height, capacity/volume). And I can come up with a rationale for why the US need not switch.. because it's not a big deal. 

 

Also, like hell if I'll ever pronounce "z" as "zed". 

 

Edited January 22, 2020 by Burnt Reynolds

[Steeleballz 7,550]

55 minutes ago, Burnt Reynolds said:

When I moved to Canada switching to metric in my brain took me maybe the better part of a year. When my wife visited the US for months she adjusted even quicker to imperial. It doesn't matter either way. What you describe is a two way street, and if there's any resistance to switching to US imperial, it's external.

 

Interestingly, in daily life, I've found US imperial measurements to be better in some areas, like weather (I find changes in Fahrenheit temperature causes more responsive attention given the larger spread), weight (on a consumer/populace scale), area (as sq ft is still often used in Canada), while not really having any preference for others (distance, height, capacity/volume). And I can come up with a rationale for why the US need not switch.. because it's not a big deal. 

 

Also, like hell if I'll ever pronounce "z" as "zed". 

 

 

 

    It actually is a big deal. When I need to know a blood gas result in 10 seconds and somebody has to spend 60 seconds converting from Fahrenheit to Celsius, inputting the data in metric (because every analyzer made in the world uses metric), and then getting me the results back 2 minutes late, it's a big deal. If someone screws up a medication dose because the rest of the world is using grams of medication per KG of body weight, and we are converting to mg/dl per pound, that is a big deal. 

 

  As someone who learned both systems as a kid, there is very little dispute in my mind that metric is easier to learn and use, and better to work with. That is the reason the rest of the world invested the time and effort to switch. While there is no practical difference to me when talking about something like speed or temperature, there is an issue when you have to spend time or money going back and forth between 2 different systems. We are not going to get the rest of the world to switch back to an obsolete system. We will be metric sooner or later. Probably later.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

I am 6ft, much easier than 1.83m

 

13 Stone is easier than 82.5kg

 

And we have already mentioned asking for a pint, half a liter, lets say we go close sounds weird.

 

MPG?

 

  That is familiarity at work. Personally I hate stone weight. My grandma used to use that, as many UK residents do. It's not easier to me, because it's just something I have to convert back to pounds to have a meaningful value for most people.

 

  I have no issue using metric or imperial for height or weight or buying groceries or gasoline. I am comfortable with imperial because I use it more, but I was comfortable with metric when I used it more for that kind of thing too. Certainly both can be learned and then memorized. Suggesting imperial is easier to work with as opposed to using metrics base 10 calculation is a no starter for discussion. Metric is easier. If someone didn't use either and was taught both at the same time, they would want to use metric. 

[Boiler 43,438]

I convert to Stone to get a real sense. I noticed the US has a similar issue with feet and do not like yards, 

 

If some says they are 280 lbs would not mean anything, 20 Stone and they are a fat #######.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

17 minutes ago, Boiler said:

I convert to Stone to get a real sense. I noticed the US has a similar issue with feet and do not like yards, 

 

If some says they are 280 lbs would not mean anything, 20 Stone and they are a fat #######.

 

  Right, but the opposite for most Americans. Twenty stone means nothing and 280 pounds means big. Again though, it's just people being more comfortable with the known than with the unknown.

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

30 minutes ago, Boiler said:

I convert to Stone to get a real sense. I noticed the US has a similar issue with feet and do not like yards, 

 

If some says they are 280 lbs would not mean anything, 20 Stone and they are a fat #######.

Mr Maven #1's best friend back in the UK was a large boy. When I first met him, #1 said, well we like to call him Just 17. I was confused, and then it was explained to me that he's "Just 17 (stone)." 

[Boiler 43,438]

1 minute ago, elmcitymaven said:

Mr Maven #1's best friend back in the UK was a large boy. When I first met him, #1 said, well we like to call him Just 17. I was confused, and then it was explained to me that he's "Just 17 (stone)." 

Not Just 238?

[Burnt Reynolds 5,058]

58 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

 

    It actually is a big deal. When I need to know a blood gas result in 10 seconds and somebody has to spend 60 seconds converting from Fahrenheit to Celsius, inputting the data in metric (because every analyzer made in the world uses metric), and then getting me the results back 2 minutes late, it's a big deal. If someone screws up a medication dose because the rest of the world is using grams of medication per KG of body weight, and we are converting to mg/dl per pound, that is a big deal. 

 

  As someone who learned both systems as a kid, there is very little dispute in my mind that metric is easier to learn and use, and better to work with. That is the reason the rest of the world invested the time and effort to switch. While there is no practical difference to me when talking about something like speed or temperature, there is an issue when you have to spend time or money going back and forth between 2 different systems. We are not going to get the rest of the world to switch back to an obsolete system. We will be metric sooner or later. Probably later.

In all seriousness, I don't think the idea is to get everyone else to switch to US imperial, although, customs (e.g. product specifications) that people follow from the US wind up exported with the imperial system in mind (and converted). The imperial system clearly works for the US just fine, and there's a significant cost for the US to switch to metric, along with learning curve for 300 million people. There's simply no reason to. 

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

Just now, Boiler said:

Not Just 238?

Well, then you couldn't sing that Beatles song, or if you did, it just wouldn't flow as well.

 

Well he was just 238 / you know what he ate (?)

[90DayFinancier 910]

11 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

This is an example of poor systems engineering where two stakeholders were not properly connected either via an interface control document, or a systems technical specification.  Again, simple math.

Yup it's not like it's rocket science.

[OriZ 3,157]

23 hours ago, Steeleballz said:

 

    There is a point there. Put the Democrats in the spectrum with Canada's major parties and they would be well to the right of the Liberals and the NDP. Even the conservatives in Canada would not be too much farther to the right. The USA does tend to be right leaning overall. Not sure there is any other country where NB could claim to be MOR.

30 years ago I'd say I agree, but today's dems? much closer to the communist party than a center party.

[OriZ 3,157]

11 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

I completely agree.  At home all my temperature displays are in Celsius (I considered Kelvins), and my preference is metric, but I can survive in a world where 0.62 miles ~ 1 km. 

 

Btw, I thought you would like the Gimli Glider reference. 

 

Haha I do. Not exactly the same as fueling but when I go diving, I keep having to switch from kg to pounds and vice versa for weights. I was certified in kg. I dive here with pounds, but when I'm on vacation it's back to kg. madness. It reminded me of that because that has actually been the cause of dive accidents. Btw, at home, I actually have it display in F just cause I'm used to it by now.

 

7 hours ago, Steeleballz said:

 

  Some is simple, it's not always, and it does lead to mistakes. Why even do it though? It's routine in the medical field to have to convert either weight or temperature from imperial to metric, do a calculation and then convert all the values back to imperial to get the final result in the format you need.

 

  It's just silly at this point. Metric is a better system and everyone else is using it. There is not 2 options here. We are going to switch to metric. The only thing left to decide is how long we are going to drag our feet.

I see what you did there.

Edited January 23, 2020 by OriZ

[TBoneTX 43,059]

17 hours ago, 90DayFinancier said:

Yup it's not like it's rocket science.

Explaining the dearth of Jewish dancers at Radio City Music Hall doesn't take a rockette Zionist.