A Call For Humor!

[LightninBoy]

 

[bkatbamna]

NASA itself messed up and crashed a probe on Mars.

 

[bkatbamna]

Well the only exact conversion to the USA system of measure is 2.54 centimeters per inch. That and knowing that one cubic centimeter is 1 gram you can do almost all the conversions you need. It might get a bit messy and all, but hey. Then we still end up with the recently infamous balloon which was the size of 6 school buses. What is the metric conversion to Euro school buses? You have short tons, long tons (tonnes in the UK), and metric tons, but this is before we get to the short bus.

The funny thing is if you grew up with all this you know all or mostly all the goofy USA measures without even thinking about it. So while metric is simpler and makes more sense it won't be easier than what you grew up with. I'm not even sure metric is always better for conversions. Awfully easy to simply botch a decimal point somewhere. The numbers look right and all, but may be off by orders of magnitude.

Plus you have no idea what those are in real numbers. I grew up in India up to about 4th grade and I still mentally make conversions of kilometers into real numbers.

 

[Ageve]

NASA itself messed up and crashed a probe on Mars.

Yep. That's why they stopped using the imperial system alltogether.

During the design phase, the propulsion engineers at Lockheed Martin in Colorado expressed force in pounds. However, it was standard practice to convert to metric units for space missions. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab assumed the conversion had been made. This navigation mishap pushed the spacecraft dangerously close to the planet’s atmosphere where it presumably burned and broke into pieces, killing the mission on a day when engineers had expected to celebrate the craft’s entry into Mars’ orbit.

How NASA Lost a Spacecraft From a Metric Math Mistake | SimScale

How NASA lost a spacecraft due to a mistake with metric units and unit conversion. Learn about the Mars Climate Orbiter incident.

www.simscale.com

 

[skraz]

My point was that the world can be divided into countries that use the metric system and countries that have sent men to the moon.

a country that used the metric system to put those men on the moon

 

[Mnyb]

American wire gauge - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[bkatbamna]

And we routinely use x french to describe the diameter of balloon dilators as well as endoscopically placed stents. For example, we use plastic biliary stents that are 10French. A precise metric equivalent is not possible because it is 3.3333333333333333333333 mm infinitely.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Yep. That's why they stopped using the imperial system alltogether.

During the design phase, the propulsion engineers at Lockheed Martin in Colorado expressed force in pounds. However, it was standard practice to convert to metric units for space missions. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab assumed the conversion had been made. This navigation mishap pushed the spacecraft dangerously close to the planet’s atmosphere where it presumably burned and broke into pieces, killing the mission on a day when engineers had expected to celebrate the craft’s entry into Mars’ orbit.

How NASA Lost a Spacecraft From a Metric Math Mistake | SimScale

How NASA lost a spacecraft due to a mistake with metric units and unit conversion. Learn about the Mars Climate Orbiter incident.

www.simscale.com

While I actually think the metric system is better, the main take-a-way from these kinds of conversion problems is using mixed systems and having to convert. Use all imperial, or all metric or whatever. Don't mix and match.

 

[Blumlein 88]

 

[Blumlein 88]

 

[DonR]

View attachment 268095

Military

 

[Blumlein 88]

 

[Blumlein 88]

 

[Blumlein 88]

 

[Pegwill]

 

[Pegwill]

 

[Martin]

 

[Andretti60]

View attachment 268095

All US citizens (I can’t stand using “Americans”) use the metric system: the US currency was one of the first to adopt it (one dollar equal 100 cents) in 1786.
PS as an immigrant and a scientist I can understand only part of the joke: what about drug dealers?

 

[DonR]

All US citizens (I can’t stand using “Americans”) use the metric system: the US currency was one of the first to adopt it (one dollar equal 100 cents) in 1786.
PS as an immigrant and a scientist I can understand only part of the joke: what about drug dealers?

Cocaine and other narcotics are often dealt with in kilograms.

 

[Suffolkhifinut]

Cocaine and other narcotics are often dealt with in kilograms.

You must have a big nose!