Metric

[CW]

And are plotting to take over the world. :)

[notbob]

It's 2.65mm.

Jaysus! If you can't divide 5.3 by 2 in your head, you just flunked gradeschool math.

nb

[Andrew Barss]

J. Clarke [e-mail] wrote: : dpb wrote: :> Robatoy wrote: :> ... :>> But what seems to be the reason for the US hold-out to stay with an :>> archaic system? :>

:> Comfort...it's what people grew up with so it's what's natural.

: The hold-out is that the US is still at least somewhat responsive to the : will of the people and the public doesn't _want_ some bizarre French system : crammed down its throat.

No country has ever voluntarily adopted the metric system.

-- Andy Barss

[Andrew Barss]

:> But what seems to be the reason for the US hold-out to stay with an :> archaic system?

It's not archaic!

: The cost for wholesale switchover would be a huge one-time cost, while : the cost for staying is paid incrementally. There isn't enough : incentive to make it worthwhile in the minds of regulators.

: Kind of like keyboard layout...Dvorak is 10-15% faster for a trained : typist

That's a myth. And a quite interesting one at that:

It's not only NOT faster than a QWERTY keyboard for a trained typist, it's arguably slower, and Mr. Dvorak was a bit of a huckster.

: Personally I like metric for most things, but living so close to the US : it's just easier to use US units for construction/woodworking.

Otherwise, you'd find 2440 x 1220mm plywood panels easier and more intuitive to work with?

-- Andy Barss

[Leon]

Now that you have told me the answer, point me to a rule that will indicate that distance.

[d.williams]

Get me a 2 x 4 sounds way better than get me a 5.08 x 10.16. (nominal of course actually a 3.81 x 8.89) What do they call a stud in the metric speaking countries. (there's a straihght line for ya)

[FrozenNorth]

.65 millimeters = 0.0255905512 inches, approx 1/40

You got a rule accurate to 2.5 one hundredths of an inch? More importantly, can you use it?

Not doubting your skill, but that is getting ridiculously precise for woodworking.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 9/8/2009 6:32 AM J. Clarke spake thus:

Amen.

[Chris Friesen]

I should note up front that I use QWERTY and have never tried Dvorak.

There are arguments against that article. This post for instance is quite interesting and seems to bring up several easily-verifiable points:

I got my 10% figure from Donald Norman's book, "The Design of Everyday Things". He notes that Dvorak affectionados claim higher improvements but that he could not substantiate them.

Quite a few people have indicated that Dvorak results in less stress on their joints.

No, I'd find 2400x1200 panels easier to work with. Why stick with 8' ceilings if we're truly going metric? But that would require redoing all the building standards for 400mm or 600mm centers instead of 16" or 24".

Chris

[Morris Dovey]

Oh oh - I just finished a drawing for a parabolic trough concentrator using dimensions of 2438.4 x 1219.2 mm :(

[notbob]

2.65 millimeters = 0.104330709 inches

Now that I've provided an answer as ludicrous as your challenge, what's your point?

nb

[Leon]

OK, here we go,

I wood'a been funnier if it had been ,,,,,

[Chuck]

I think we just found the CZAR of metric. I'll call Obama. Thanks for volunteering Luigi!

[Ed Edelenbos]

Yeah, the US would much rather hold out for some stupidly bizarre measurement that had to do with the distance from the nose to the thumb of some long dead English king.

Bizarre French system? Talk about your basic unadulterated horseshit... downright bizarre, if you ask me.

LOL... sometimes I think the stuff here is akin to really poorly done comedy.

Ed

[Leon]

Oh, I gotta call you on some of these. LOL

Here are the main arguments for both sides of the debate:

Communicating measurements:

1. Imperial is easier to hear and leads to less confusion. Someone calls out a measurement for a piece of wood, & before you notice it, you cut 10mm instead of 10cm.
2. Metric is easier to hear and leads to less confusion. Quickly now, is 19/32" bigger or smaller than 5/8"? On the other hand, it is immediately obvious that 15mm is smaller than 16mm.

Easier to hear? Which is smaller, 15 $%imeter or 16 @%imeter. Do I need to repeat that? :!)

Ease of learning:

1. Imperial measurements are easier to learn. You don't have to memorize all those crazy prefixes: femto, nano, micro, milli, centi, deci, deka, hecto, kilo, mega, myria, giga, etc.

No friggen kidden, I only knew about 4 or 5 of those, the last one because of my hard drive.

1. Metric measurements are easier to learn. You don't have to remember all those crazy measures like inches, hands, feet, cubits, yards, fathoms, rods, cones, chains, furlongs, cables, miles, etc.

We really only use feet, yards, miles and inches with any common regulirity.

But a good rod is needed for fishin, and cables for TV.

Arithmetic:

1. Imperial uses simple fractional arithmetic which we all learned in grade school. Not like metric where you need to know all those prefixes and can easily make a mistake on your calculator & cut something 10 times too big or 10 times too small.

Exactly

1. Metric uses simple decimal arithmetic where you can use your calculator directly without springing big bucks for one that calculates inches and fractions.

What fun is that?

Accuracy:

1. Metric is more accurate. You can easily go to 0.5mm which is more precise than 1/32"

Not if what you are measuring is 1/32" long.

[Morris Dovey]

Lots of us use calipers that split that into 25 parts.

I can, but generally only use the measuring tools to check the results - my primary cutting tool is good to +/-0.001, all by itself.

Not really. Imagine gluing up a table top with that much difference between the heights of adjacent boards...

...or assembling a M&T joint when the tenon was 0.025" oversize and the mortise was 0.025" undersize.

[Leon]

No, I wnat to se the metric rule that will indicate 2.65mm.

[Leon]

You have obviousely missed my point, as what you pointed out is not metric. I wanted to see the rule that indicates your answer, 2.65 mm. My point is it is easier to measure halves in inperial than in metric. Regardless of an imperial rule marked in 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, or 1/64 of an inch, 1/2 is alway easy to see. It is going to be tough to see 2.65 mm markings.

[FrozenNorth]

Agreed, I can also make a mark at half a millimeter with a pencil, but what have I got when I actually make the cut?

We all don't have a CNC, and you will still have movement larger than what we are talking about.

ROS ;-)

That can be tweaked, pick one and adjust.

However if the tenon was 0.025 undersize. and the mortise was 0.025 oversize, then we have a problem.

[FrozenNorth]

Ok, you take a measurement and it comes to 13 25/64 with a really good rule, where are we now?

Mark it accurately. ;-)

Now cut it, without a CNC.