J-20 5th Gen Fighter Thread IV (Closed to posting)

[kwaigonegin]

This might be off-topic but I still can't quite figure out why America is so stubborn about using the imperial system of measurements

To be fair in the scientific circles, medical and even in academia Americans do use the metric system in addition to the Imperial one. We're smart like that

Now if you go to the restaurant and tell the waitress you would like a 113 grams burger she''ll look at you weird!

 

[Inst]

In Asia what they did was just redefine the meanings of customary market units so that they'd be instantly convertible to metric. For example, a Chinese Li 里 equals half of a kilometer, which is about equal to its old value of a third of a mile. That actually has merit, because most customary units are designed for use; you buy a quart or a gallon of milk instead of 500 deciliters, and a pound of flesh instead of half a kilogram.

The United States generally has no need to international metric units, as it is a large consumer market and the costs of internationalization would not be absorbed by the gains of compatibility, but if the United States were to switch to metric, it probably should mandate that a transitional system be used, with products legally mandated to indicate whether they are "Old Pounds", "New Pounds", and that the New Pounds / Quarts / Liters are defined in terms square with metric, so a "New Pound" would be defined as half a kilogram, a "New Gallon" would be defined as four liters instead of four quarts, a "New Quart" would be defined as a liter instead of its former almost a liter value.

 

[Blackstone]

In Asia what they did was just redefine the meanings of customary market units so that they'd be instantly convertible to metric. For example, a Chinese Li 里 equals half of a kilometer, which is about equal to its old value of a third of a mile. That actually has merit, because most customary units are designed for use; you buy a quart or a gallon of milk instead of 500 deciliters, and a pound of flesh instead of half a kilogram.

The United States generally has no need to international metric units, as it is a large consumer market and the costs of internationalization would not be absorbed by the gains of compatibility, but if the United States were to switch to metric, it probably should mandate that a transitional system be used, with products legally mandated to indicate whether they are "Old Pounds", "New Pounds", and that the New Pounds / Quarts / Liters are defined in terms square with metric, so a "New Pound" would be defined as half a kilogram, a "New Gallon" would be defined as four liters instead of four quarts, a "New Quart" would be defined as a liter instead of its former almost a liter value.

Jimmy Carter tried to impose metric on Americans in the mid-70s and failed miserably.

 

[Player99]

Jimmy Carter tried to impose metric on Americans in the mid-70s and failed miserably.

Old habits die hard. It's the same here in China, even though we started to adopt the metric system probably as soon as the PRC was founded (actually, I'm not sure about that, as lots of things had been initiated in the early ROC era). For younger generations (by that I mean people born after 1949), metric is as natural as the simplified Chinese characters, but to those just one generation older, they mostly still have to convert kg to jin (the redefined measurement unit of weight as mentioned in Inst's post above) just to have a sense of how heavy something is.

...I'm just glad that in the 2340's, everyone will be using the metric system, which will save me a lot of trouble when I reincarnate there next time (I've been undecided whether I want to go straight to the far future or back to the Tang or Song dynasty China)...

 

[latenlazy]

Old habits die hard. It's the same here in China, even though we started to adopt the metric system probably as soon as the PRC was founded (actually, I'm not sure about that, as lots of things had been initiated in the early ROC era). For younger generations (by that I mean people born after 1949), metric is as natural as the simplified Chinese characters, but to those just one generation older, they mostly still have to convert kg to jin (the modified measurement of weight as mentioned in one of the posts above) just to have a sense of how heavy something is.

...I'm just glad that in the 2040's, everyone will be using the metric system, which will save me a lot of trouble when I reincarnate there next time...

My parents and older relatives do this with the jin, and it drives me crazy sometimes. I also saw it a lot in Walmart in Shanghai, which was pretty annoying.

 

[vesicles]

To be fair in the scientific circles, medical and even in academia Americans do use the metric system in addition to the Imperial one. We're smart like that

Now if you go to the restaurant and tell the waitress you would like a 113 grams burger she''ll look at you weird!

Hi guys, I am back!!! Long business trip and semi-vacation...

OK, about metric / English systems. When I first started grad school, one of my first tasks was to assemble a micro-manipulation system next to a microscope on a float table (to minimize vibration). The scope was Zeiss (Germany) and the float table was made in the good ole US of A. As the dimension of the Zeiss scope was metric while all the holes for mounting on the float table were English, the micro-manipulation system can never be placed next to the scope in the way that fits perfectly next to the scope. The only possible way to do that was to place the scope at an odd angle so that the micro-manipulation system can be mounted next to the scope and the micro-manipulator can be positioned perfectly above the objectives... To this day, that Zeiss microscope sits on that float table at an odd angle and you have to twist your body in an odd way to be able to use the scope... And last time I went back to visit my mentor, he said he simply told all the later students that it was my fault and that they should blame me for having to endure the ergonomical nightmare whenever they have to use the scope...

And later on when I had to put together a home-made laser set-up for a total internal reflection fluorescence microscope with all the mirrors and pin holes, again on a float table made in the States. I had to convert metric-to-English and English-to-metric so many times that it made my head spin...

 

[Equation]

Hi guys, I am back!!! Long business trip and semi-vacation...

OK, about metric / English systems. When I first started grad school, one of my first tasks was to assemble a micro-manipulation system next to a microscope on a float table (to minimize vibration). The scope was Zeiss (Germany) and the float table was made in the good ole US of A. As the dimension of the Zeiss scope was metric while all the holes for mounting on the float table were English, the micro-manipulation system can never be placed next to the scope in the way that fits perfectly next to the scope. The only possible way to do that was to place the scope at an odd angle so that the micro-manipulation system can be mounted next to the scope and the micro-manipulator can be positioned perfectly above the objectives... To this day, that Zeiss microscope sits on that float table at an odd angle and you have to twist your body in an odd way to be able to use the scope... And last time I went back to visit my mentor, he said he simply told all the later students that it was my fault and that they should blame me for having to endure the ergonomical nightmare whenever they have to use the scope...

And later on when I had to put together a home-made laser set-up for a total internal reflection fluorescence microscope with all the mirrors and pin holes, again on a float table made in the States. I had to convert metric-to-English and English-to-metric so many times that it made my head spin...

VESS....welcome back!

 

[Blackstone]

My parents and older relatives do this with the jin, and it drives me crazy sometimes. I also saw it a lot in Walmart in Shanghai, which was pretty annoying.

OT- Like Adam Smith said, money goes to where it's most welcomed.

 

[tphuang]

let's get back on the topic of J-20.

 

[AssassinsMace]

This is a nice shot.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!