The OTHER American history

[rareboy]

^
Road signs in the UK are still in miles. Nice article follows:

Britain goes metric. Except where it doesn’t

Britain adopted the metric system in 1965. Mostly. How well has it worked? In 2015, 60% of eighteen- to twenty-four-year-olds didn’t know their weight in kilos; 54% didn’t know their height in cent…

notesfromtheuk.com

I have English and American architect friends who argue for "the inherent logic of feet and inches" because, after all, an inch approximates the width of a thumb, a foot approximates the length of a foot, a yard approximates a stride and, "because the foot divides so neatly into quarters" and the yard into thirds, etc. They believe--a few of them quite vehemently--that the system is more natural.

I'm neutral, although when I do calculations (which I do more of than I care to) I use decimals, for example:
1'-6" = 1.5", 1/16" = .125", etc. For whatever reason--perhaps simply repetition--I can generally draw measurements from 1/32" to 2" without a scale to guide me.

Hopefully your 1'-6" actually is recorded as 1.5'.

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

How many times must it be said that Christopher Columbus DID NOT discover America before Americans stop celebrating it each year? Not to mention still teaching it in school.

And this is the pg13 version of "Why he shouldn't have a national holiday."

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

As an architect, the problem I have with feet & inches is that typically, when one is adding a string of dimensions; and, using a digital calculator, you have to be extremely careful when converting some numbers as they wind up "infinite" and can cause rounding errors. For example 1 foot 2 inches is 1.1666666666666+ in decimal / 1 foot 7 inches is 1.58333333333333333+ / 7 foot 4 inches is 7.333333333333333333+ and so forth. If one doesn't get the rounding exactly correct, the errors tend to compound themselves (or one purchaces a digital calculator that is programed for feet/inches). With metric, everything is streightforward and simple, even decimals. . .for example 1.25 meters / 5.75 cm / 2.5 k

And, the U. S. already knows a decimal system. . .just look at our currency

Critical theory: Are these calculation errors the cause of some of our disasters from bridge collapses to explosions to spaceships burning up and falling apart?

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

Did we ever reach a concensus on the great chicago fire?

 

[rareboy]

How about how they want to remember the past

Versus the past?

Tulsa race massacre - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

I can't even talk about this one.... how my precious sweet baby Mary Jane came to be illegal...

Why the US Made Marijuana Illegal | HISTORY

Fear of Mexican immigrants led to the criminalization of marijuana.

www.history.com