Stoo
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I've spent 9 years in Dallas, and I've found it really hard to switch to the imperial system, but somehow I did it.
it never worked the other way around though: when I was referring to the metric system, people were looking at me like i was saying some sort of magic spell or I was insulting their mothers...
The Chairman
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Metric or imperial. Fractional or decimal. Use what works for you. I can convert fractions to decimal equivilants fairly quickly. My favorite thread is 1/4-20 which needs a #7 drill. A 6mm x1.00 is just a bit too thin and an 8mmx1.25 is to big. Might as well go to a 5/16-18. While it's getting easier to get metric hardware, I still find a better variety in imperial. Give me dimensions and I'll build it. I am not constrained by only one unit of measurement.
It gets a little off. The circumference at the equator is 40,075,000 m. Spin gives a bulge around the middle, so following a line of longitude all the way around the earth is shorter than going around at the equator.
Wish I could use the same excuse for my bulge around the middle....
But it is a mile a minute.
Yea, the original definition of the meter was 10.000.000 m from the equator to the pole. (1/4 of a full turn) but as you noticed, the earth is not a perfect sphere.
Yes, a nautical mile per minute.
The word for nautical mile in my language is "distansminut", translate to minute of distance.
Pilotmaverick
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Iam german and so only knew the metric system.
I was sent from my company for 1-1/2 years to Florida to start a new subsidiary. We manufactured industrial machinery there. Since we are a german base company all measurements where in metric. Initially the US workers had problems with these measurements and had trouble to guess things right. After a few week, everyone was fine with the metric units and calculations. I remember this one morning where a worker came up to me and told me that he made some woodwork at home and how easy it was for him using the metric system. He first used together with his buddy the imperial system and something did not fit as expected. Then he grabbed his metric tape from his truck and continued in metric. He was astonished that the US never overcame the imperial units since the metric seems so much easier for day to day calculations and measurements. Later he told me even his buddy was convinced and bought a metric tape measure.
I was sent from my company for 1-1/2 years to Florida to start a new subsidiary. We manufactured industrial machinery there. Since we are a german base company all measurements where in metric. Initially the US workers had problems with these measurements and had trouble to guess things right. After a few week, everyone was fine with the metric units and calculations. I remember this one morning where a worker came up to me and told me that he made some woodwork at home and how easy it was for him using the metric system. He first used together with his buddy the imperial system and something did not fit as expected. Then he grabbed his metric tape from his truck and continued in metric. He was astonished that the US never overcame the imperial units since the metric seems so much easier for day to day calculations and measurements. Later he told me even his buddy was convinced and bought a metric tape measure.
Conversion errors between Metric and Imperial units can have catastrophic, or expensive consequences.
NASA lost the Mars Orbiter because one team worked in metric units in calculations, and the other used imperial units. Cost 125 Million US Dollars.
The previous year NASA lost the Solar Heliospherical Observatory when the conversation factor between Metric and Imperial was left out of the AMD files.
Perhaps the luckiest where the survivors of an Air Canada Flight in 1983, when the plane ran out of fuel mid flight. It was the first plane to use metric measurements, the crew miscalculated the fuel requirements. They actually thought they had twice the amount of fuel needed!
The Hubel Telescope error was originally blamed on calculation conversion issues. I thing actually the error was in the measuring instruments and related practices used to test the mirrors.
NASA lost the Mars Orbiter because one team worked in metric units in calculations, and the other used imperial units. Cost 125 Million US Dollars.
The previous year NASA lost the Solar Heliospherical Observatory when the conversation factor between Metric and Imperial was left out of the AMD files.
Perhaps the luckiest where the survivors of an Air Canada Flight in 1983, when the plane ran out of fuel mid flight. It was the first plane to use metric measurements, the crew miscalculated the fuel requirements. They actually thought they had twice the amount of fuel needed!
The Hubel Telescope error was originally blamed on calculation conversion issues. I thing actually the error was in the measuring instruments and related practices used to test the mirrors.
EireDiver606
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