Metric System
The metric system is officially the dumbest system invented by mankind. Everyone absolutely LOVES the metric system because it's so easy to convert from, say, meters to kilometers, or liters to milliliters. The only problem is, this is an entirely redundant system. Put simply: we already have a decimal system! The decimal point belittles that conversion already. Adding a prefix to the name (i.e. "kilo" or "centi") adds absolutely no functionality. Why do you need 1 centimeter when you already have 0.01 meters?
The metric system is simply a single-unit system. The American System has different, and versatile units. We already have EVERYTHING the metric system has, AND MORE! If being able to choose the perfect unit for the project you're working on is so hard, just pick one of the available units and go with it. No one is stopping anyone from measuring everything in 100ths of a foot, 10ths of a foot, or 1000-foot units. "Oh, that plank is a centi-foot long" or "That plank is a tenth of a foot long" or "That plank is point-one feet long." If that makes you more comfortable, go with it.
Moral of the story, the metric system is a system that has been obsolete since the invention of the decimal point (which was invented a long... long time ago).
The metric system is simply a single-unit system. The American System has different, and versatile units. We already have EVERYTHING the metric system has, AND MORE! If being able to choose the perfect unit for the project you're working on is so hard, just pick one of the available units and go with it. No one is stopping anyone from measuring everything in 100ths of a foot, 10ths of a foot, or 1000-foot units. "Oh, that plank is a centi-foot long" or "That plank is a tenth of a foot long" or "That plank is point-one feet long." If that makes you more comfortable, go with it.
Moral of the story, the metric system is a system that has been obsolete since the invention of the decimal point (which was invented a long... long time ago).
posted by Pirate Jimmy @ 11:01 PM
2 Comments:
At 11:26 AM,
Chaka said…
I love the post, but I think the big advantage of metric are the easy conversions between different kinds of units. A liter is 1000 cubic centimeters, for example. How many cubic inches is a gallon?
Still, unless I'm doing a physics problem, I see no reason to use metric. The existing system is entirely functional for everyday life, and in my mind, not worth overturning. Or at least not worth my effort to agitate for overturning.
At 2:09 PM,
Pirate Jimmy said…
It is true that the conversion of cubic inches to gallons is tough, so if you want just use cubic inches. By creating a unit called the "liter" and making it simply 1000 cc's, the metric system is not creating a unit, it's giving a kilo-cc a 2nd name. All the metric system is doing is giving pet names to special amounts of a single unit.
I deam 1000 cubic inches to be called one jimmy. A jimmy is a unit of volume. "I went to work and bought a 2-jimmy bottle of pop today."
This "jimmy" isn't any more of a unique unit than a "liter" is.
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