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Egladil
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Joined: 25 Mar 2007
Posts: 84
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 Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:23 am Post subject: Metric vs Imperial units |
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| Tiana Calthye wrote: | | Stop cluttering up the bloody character sheet thread arguing the merits of metric/imperial. Shoo, go make another thread for it. |
Since you asked for it I thought I'd go ahead and make my first thread on this forum 
So, what do people think? Which is better, metric or imperial? Why?
And is there any benefit in using imperial units at all? *biased*
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Duncariel
(dies)
Joined: 18 Mar 2007
Posts: 483
Location: Resisting temptation in a TNT fireworks stand near you...
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:39 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | And is there any benefit in using imperial units at all? |
No. It's a bloody pain. Why should we even worry about it? I mean, metrics are all in nice units of ten... you just move the decimal for conversions. Seriously. No need for a calculator, or even a brain, really. It's nice when numbers make sense.
Whoever came up with imperial was a total sadist. Speaking from an USian point of view, because we're forced to use the.... eh, stupid system. So many stronger words.
^^
That's all I have to say. Really.
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Jandalf
But I don't WANNA think!
Joined: 17 Mar 2007
Posts: 299
Location: 49°10.751' N, 97°56.5415' W
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 9:00 pm Post subject: |
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Imperial is silly, yes. Metric makes so much more sense. Metres are based on a very even division of the distance from pole to pole, all the divisions of units are in numbers very easy to remember and to calculate...
I can't remember how many feet there are in a mile. Five thousand something ridiculous? And yet the pain of it is that Canada's got the imperial and metric systems mingled together all over the place... I think in litres for liquid volume, and yet I think in feet and inches for people-height. I think in kilometres for overall distance, and yet I think in miles because out in the country here (because it's so completely flat), gravel roads run east-west, north-south, and intersect once every mile. I also associate the Celsius temperature system with metric and Fahrenheit with imperial, and I think in Celsius (except when baking. I think in Fahrenheit then, but cooking is also in Celsius for me. Messed up, quite?). I understand that Fahrenheit was made based on annual temperature averages in the region it was created, but... seriously. Water freezes at 0 with Celsius and boils at 100. Water freezes at 32 in Fahrenheit and boils at what? I forget.
End rant.
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Naraiwë
WARNING: User too shiny for consumption
Joined: 25 Mar 2007
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Location: Neverwhere
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| Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:38 pm Post subject: |
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I hereby dub you both reasonable people. Long live the metric system!
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Tiana Calthye
The Admin with Lime
Joined: 16 Mar 2007
Posts: 785
Location: Canada!
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 2:08 am Post subject: |
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Eh, the Metric system makes more sense. I'd be repeating those guys up there if I bothered explaining why it does. I like it better. Basically I think about like Jandalf there. Just I don't think in miles at all. I think in feet and inches for height because it's easier to be specific while making more sense to say it that way... six feet rather than two metres, y'know? All the blather... I can't think in centimetres for height without having to mentally convert. But Metric doesn't have smaller measures that are commonly used, so it's harder to assosiate. I mean, who uses decimetres anyway...
Basically, in short - Metric is better, but some things are just automatically done in Imperial, such as baking and height. 
Everything else makes more sense in Metric, though.
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Egladil
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Joined: 25 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 9:54 am Post subject: |
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I use decimetres! And millimetres. And centimetres, metres and kilometres. And sometimes even micrometres. About the only thing inches are used for are the size of computer screens and tvs.
And just to confuse things, here in Sweden we have miles too. But they are 10 km long. Can be somewhat confusing for people who don't know about imperial miles (or the other way around)
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Naraiwë
WARNING: User too shiny for consumption
Joined: 25 Mar 2007
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Location: Neverwhere
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 11:51 am Post subject: |
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Yes, and they are NOT known as swedish miles, it's actually just mil.
I use dm all the time too, I mean, I even use µm and nm in the weird classes I have to take at the University.
Length is the easiest if you use cm. If you don't feel like using cm for heights use metres for all I care. 1.68m is a way of writing it.
And Fahrenheit is the crappiest thing I know. ^^
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Duncariel
(dies)
Joined: 18 Mar 2007
Posts: 483
Location: Resisting temptation in a TNT fireworks stand near you...
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 4:20 pm Post subject: |
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Hee. Decimeters, millimeters... nanometers.... (hearts nanometers)
Chemistry, I swear, does weird things to your head.
Farenheit isn't logical, but it's... lessee, how have I described it before.... eh. I sounds better. Like, 20 degrees C is what, like seventy degrees? It freaking doesn't feel like twenty degrees, people! That's where farenheit comes from.
I think in Kelvin. *grins* But you have to have celsius to think in Kelvin, so you still have to know how to convert from degrees F to degrees C. But K is easier to figure everything else out from. Less conversion ratios.
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Jandalf
But I don't WANNA think!
Joined: 17 Mar 2007
Posts: 299
Location: 49°10.751' N, 97°56.5415' W
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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But my skin would be peeling off at seventy degrees! And then Kelvin makes sense because zero is actually zero. You can't get much more zeroy than that. What was water's freezing point there, 287 or something?
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Alistair
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Joined: 27 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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I was raised with Imperial, so as a consequence, I like it better. XP
It just makes more sense than having all the centimeters.. and all those little different things.. ugh.. too confusing
about celsius and farenheit, I live in Arizona, so when it's hot, it feels better to say, "It's 120 degrees outside!!!!" than "It's 50 degrees outside!!!!"
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Naraiwë
WARNING: User too shiny for consumption
Joined: 25 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 12:52 am Post subject: |
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50??? That's err, really warm! And here I was thinking 30 degrees was too much... 
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Jandalf
But I don't WANNA think!
Joined: 17 Mar 2007
Posts: 299
Location: 49°10.751' N, 97°56.5415' W
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| Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 1:54 am Post subject: |
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Oh yeah, 30 can be pretty bad, but especially when it's really humid outside... I think I remember it being near 40 once, and it was all nasty and humid too. That was a gross day. XP I much prefer things sitting from 18-25.
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Duncariel
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Joined: 18 Mar 2007
Posts: 483
Location: Resisting temptation in a TNT fireworks stand near you...
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| Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 2:35 am Post subject: |
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273.15 K...
Yep. That is, if the freezing point of water is 0 at celsius. Yep. A'cause you add 273 to your degrees C to get degrees K... whee.
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Jandalf
But I don't WANNA think!
Joined: 17 Mar 2007
Posts: 299
Location: 49°10.751' N, 97°56.5415' W
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| Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 3:03 am Post subject: |
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Oooh, I was so close...
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Tiana Calthye
The Admin with Lime
Joined: 16 Mar 2007
Posts: 785
Location: Canada!
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| Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 3:51 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | It just makes more sense than having all the centimeters.. |
That's why I still use inches and feet...
Because... I'm sorry... 1.68 metres is MATH. I don't do math. I 'm horrible at it. It makes my head hurt so much. Honest, I've been brought to tears by math before. (grimaces) I just can't... numbers don't translate right for me. For inches and feet I have a set translation... two fingers for inches and this far apart with my hands for feet. And even though a centimetre is a finger width... well, that's still a lot more numbers. (explodes)
So yeah. That's why I use a mix. Less math. x_X
Not that I can't convert in my head ANYWAY. (dies)
And...
50c.?! ARE YOU INSANE?!
Omg.
T would be so dead.
T is dying at 34.
Heck...
T is dying at 25 already. T is Canadian, you see, and thinks it's perfectly fine to wear a teeshirt outside at -5.
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Naraiwë
WARNING: User too shiny for consumption
Joined: 25 Mar 2007
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Location: Neverwhere
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| Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 12:37 pm Post subject: |
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T is funny.
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Duncariel
(dies)
Joined: 18 Mar 2007
Posts: 483
Location: Resisting temptation in a TNT fireworks stand near you...
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| Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 12:16 am Post subject: |
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Snrk.
Being Montanan, and practically immune to cold, Dûn can wear a light jacket at -5. Farenheit.
Jokes. I'd die. But it isn't too bad a freezing....
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AubinMagnus
Hobbit
Joined: 24 May 2007
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Location: E-Town.
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| Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 12:32 am Post subject: |
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| It's funny being Canadian an going to California and seeing them wear jackets in perfectly agreable weather. |
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