Boat Building Forum

Find advice on all aspects of building your own kayak, canoe or any lightweight boats

Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
By:Phil Nelson
Date: 2/3/2011, 2:34 am
In Response To: Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric (ancient kayaker)

"the division of the meter in factors of 10 because of the happenstance that we have 10 fingers doesn't seem especially logical and scientific to me."

It's no less logical or scientific than the inch first being defined as "three grains of barley, dry and round, placed end to end, lengthwise". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inch)

Even if your '10 fingers' theory was true, and it's not, at least it's a reasonable basis for a measurement system. Not too many people I know have 4, 8, 12 or 16 of anything to help them with dividing-up imperial units :-)

Metric has one advantage that no-one can argue with... it's used by almost every country & that's important in this modern age of international trading.

Regards,

Phil.

: don't understand all the fuss. Use either, who cares? Just don't
: rob us of the choice, that's not the democratic and free market
: way. I have metric on one side of the tape measure and imperial
: on the other. I use which ever works best for the job in hand.
: No big deal. I would use cubits and fathoms if they were more
: appropriate.

: However, it can be a pain to use metric since the only official
: units are mm and meters and there is a factor of 1000; because
: of that measurements in mm often run to several hundreds which
: is more likely to lead to mistakes. In many cases it is less
: likely to lead to an error when I work in feet and inches.

: The division of a foot into 12 inches is dumb I agree, but dividing
: the inch down in steps of 2:1 is convenient and logical. It is
: simply the binary system, the same way computers are built
: internally. I have no trouble with binary arithmetic and in fact
: I worked with computers and digital electronics for many years.

: By comparison, the division of the meter in factors of 10 because
: of the happenstance that we have 10 fingers doesn't seem
: especially logical and scientific to me. Some folk claim it is a
: huge convenience that 1 cubic meter of fresh water weighs
: precisely 1 metric tonne. No much help if you are designing a
: sea-going boat.

: I also worked in metric for decades in various fields so I am not a
: dinosaur. Adopt the metric system by all means, but I would
: oppose efforts to eliminate the imperial system which is
: superior for some purposes such as building a boat.

Messages In This Thread

Off Topic: Goin' Metric
John Caldeira -- 2/2/2011, 12:19 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
JohnK -- 2/2/2011, 4:38 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Doug S -- 2/2/2011, 8:26 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Damian wentzel -- 2/2/2011, 9:19 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 1:51 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Richard Hayes -- 2/2/2011, 10:05 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Al Edie -- 2/2/2011, 11:49 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Mike Savage -- 2/2/2011, 1:03 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Paul G. Jacobson -- 2/2/2011, 4:34 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
John Caldeira -- 2/2/2011, 9:10 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Niven Paine -- 2/3/2011, 2:07 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 2:16 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Niven Paine -- 2/3/2011, 4:29 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 8:46 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
John Caldeira -- 2/3/2011, 2:21 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Chris Richer -- 2/3/2011, 9:29 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
John Caldeira -- 2/3/2011, 9:54 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 2:09 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
John Caldeira -- 2/3/2011, 2:26 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Robert N Pruden -- 2/7/2011, 12:44 pm
Off Topic: Goin' with Yost measurements
Paul G. Jacobson -- 2/3/2011, 3:25 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' with Yost measurements
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 8:48 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' with Yost measurements *PIC*
Tom Yost -- 2/3/2011, 9:21 am
R/C pushrod
Doug S -- 2/3/2011, 1:29 pm
Re: R/C pushrod
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 3:29 pm
Re: R/C pushrod
Doug S -- 2/3/2011, 3:44 pm
Re: R/C pushrod
Les Cheeseman -- 2/3/2011, 3:47 pm
Re: R/C pushrod
Doug S -- 2/3/2011, 4:29 pm
Re: R/C pushrod
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 5:43 pm
Re: R/C pushrod *PIC*
Tom Yost -- 2/3/2011, 6:06 pm
Re: R/C pushrod
Clayton Plunkett -- 2/3/2011, 6:12 pm
Re: R/C pushrod
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 7:00 pm
Re: R/C pushrod
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 7:03 pm
Re: R/C pushrod
Clayton Plunkett -- 2/3/2011, 7:23 pm
Re: R/C pushrod *PIC*
Tom Yost -- 2/3/2011, 7:35 pm
Re: R/C pushrod
Randy Echtinaw -- 2/3/2011, 7:45 pm
Re: R/C pushrod
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 7:48 pm
Re: R/C pushrod
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 7:50 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' with Yost measurements
Robert N Pruden -- 2/7/2011, 12:34 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' with Yost measurements
Bill Hamm -- 2/8/2011, 12:39 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 2:04 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Paul G. Jacobson -- 2/3/2011, 3:18 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 1:53 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Richard Hayes -- 2/3/2011, 7:30 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 8:51 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Richard Hayes -- 2/3/2011, 1:33 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 3:32 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Robert N Pruden -- 2/7/2011, 12:39 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/8/2011, 12:39 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
dave -- 2/2/2011, 12:46 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Paul G. Jacobson -- 2/2/2011, 4:37 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
ancient kayaker -- 2/3/2011, 12:04 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 2:23 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Phil Nelson -- 2/3/2011, 2:34 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 8:54 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Phil Nelson -- 2/3/2011, 8:39 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/4/2011, 6:59 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Phil Nelson -- 2/4/2011, 7:17 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/4/2011, 7:23 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/4/2011, 7:31 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bushwacker -- 2/4/2011, 10:48 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Todd O -- 2/4/2011, 11:29 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/4/2011, 12:28 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/4/2011, 7:17 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Phil Nelson -- 2/4/2011, 6:54 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
John Caldeira -- 2/3/2011, 3:13 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Alex Ferguson -- 2/3/2011, 4:31 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 8:56 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
John Caldeira -- 2/3/2011, 10:05 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
dhwdaniels -- 2/3/2011, 5:37 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
dhwdaniels -- 2/3/2011, 5:29 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Mike Savage -- 2/3/2011, 6:28 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Les Cheeseman -- 2/3/2011, 8:48 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/3/2011, 9:00 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Les Cheeseman -- 2/3/2011, 9:06 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
ancient kayaker -- 2/3/2011, 11:28 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Mike Savage -- 2/3/2011, 1:28 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
ancient kayaker -- 2/3/2011, 3:07 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
John Caldeira -- 2/3/2011, 5:56 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Ian Johnson -- 2/4/2011, 12:48 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/4/2011, 7:12 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Mike Savage -- 2/4/2011, 1:15 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/4/2011, 1:38 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
ancient kayaker -- 2/4/2011, 11:51 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/5/2011, 5:35 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
ancient kayaker -- 2/5/2011, 12:58 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Charles Leach -- 2/5/2011, 1:53 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Les Cheeseman -- 2/4/2011, 11:07 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Roy Martin (fadedred) -- 2/4/2011, 6:56 pm
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Will Clarke -- 2/5/2011, 12:07 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Roy Martin (fadedred) -- 2/5/2011, 9:25 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Bill Hamm -- 2/5/2011, 10:32 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Roy Martin (fadedred) -- 2/5/2011, 11:59 am
Re: Off Topic: Goin' Metric
Robert N Pruden -- 2/7/2011, 12:30 pm
I can't read any more metric conv. posts...
Robert N Pruden -- 2/7/2011, 12:50 pm
Re: I can't read any more metric conv. posts...
Kirk Fredericks - Farback Carpentry and Automation -- 2/7/2011, 1:25 pm
Re: I can't read any more metric conv. posts...
Bill Hamm -- 2/7/2011, 2:07 pm
Just one more
Ian Johnson -- 2/8/2011, 4:34 am
Re: I can't read any more metric conv. posts...
Palle Dam -- 2/8/2011, 5:28 pm
Re: I can't read any more metric conv. posts...
Bill Hamm -- 2/9/2011, 12:43 am
Re: I can't read any more metric conv. posts... *PIC*
Tom Yost -- 2/14/2011, 12:39 pm