Fahrenheit usage around the world

[Paul G]

Hey, at the end of the day we each have the opportunity to look at our thermometers, out tapes, our rules and decide if we want to use a different one with different units or measurement.  Let's not get this topic too emotional nor political.

Thanks.

Peter

I agree with your sentiment of using whatever floats your boat, but avoiding emotion and politics is kinda hard in a thread intended to mock America in the vein of the long running bashings by the metric zealots. I know... water off a ducks back... But it's sure getting old and certainly isn't friendly.

 

[Paul G]

Oh, and I'm 38, and wouldn't have a clue whether to put a coat on or not if it was 78F outside...

I'm in my 40's and I have no clue whether to put on a coat if it's 78F without knowing if its windy  [big grin]

 

[mouppe]

Hey, at the end of the day we each have the opportunity to look at our thermometers, out tapes, our rules and decide if we want to use a different one with different units or measurement.  Let's not get this topic too emotional nor political.

Thanks.

Peter

I agree with your sentiment of using whatever floats your boat, but avoiding emotion and politics is kinda hard in a thread intended to mock America in the vein of the long running bashings by the metric zealots. I know... water off a ducks back... But it's sure getting old and certainly isn't friendly.

I completely agree with you. The first post set the tone and others continued. Use of words such as "archaic" doesn't help the friendly nature of the thread.

Why does it bother people if others want to use a system they are comfortable with? As to the question of accuracy, that is down to the user and his tools, not the scale.

 

[Paul G]

I also find it funny..... and I also can't really understand why they are so resistant and stubborn to change.  

Just because it's familiar doesn't mean it's the better way, it's just the familiar way.  The sooner you go the better way the more familiar it will become.

Oops -- I guess I treaded into a "USA not welcome" thread.

Funny, all the USA-bashing here, and yet it is under the "General Friendly Chat" forum ...

Some of you ought to realize that back 40-50 years ago, when we tried to start the move to metric, we had a population of about a 1/4 billion people.  It is pretty tough and expensive to take a huge country in a completely new direction.  I am an engineer and everything I did in college was metric-oriented.  But you do not change a country's general population overnight.  It will take generations to do that, if at all.  And regarding the switch to Celsius -- give me a break!  There is nothing inherently more accurate, smarter, or better about one temperature unit of measure over another.

But enough complaining -- I think I go saw some 2X4s and build something -- or for the rest of you - 50x100s ...

Metric zealots are just complaining about bumping into measures that are unfamiliar. Start describing cabinet sizes in decimeters and decameters and the complaints will continue, anything other than millimeters and meters has them converting to what they think in trying to remember which way to shift the dot and how many spaces. And even if we did all change to metric overnight they'd soon be whining that we don't spell it metre.

 

[RC]

I'm sincerely sorry for posting the original picture which I found funny and baffling at the same time.

It was not meant as mockery of NA inhabitants but more as an astonishing realization that the US is the last country to still use Fahrenheit.

I find it funny that our electronic thermometres have to have support for Fahrenheit only because of the US. (Yes I know its economies of scale, etc.)

I could not agree more with previous  posters sentiments of using what ever measurement system internally you wish. Heck, use bushells, yards, whatever flavour of gallons rocks your boat or hectometres if you like.

So if Peter or another mod wishes to take this thread down I'm fine with this. Not meant to be or become political.

 

[Stephen B]

[size=12pt]

At the end of the day, we all have and love one common system - FESTOOL .

 

[leer]

I'm sincerely sorry for posting the original picture which I found funny and baffling at the same time.

Reiska,

No worries, really.  Sometimes words are hard to interpret.  Much easier face to face.

I originally mentioned that our population was a 1/4 billion people, when there was some discussion 40-50 years ago about  the USA switching to metric, rather than saying the population was 250 million people, because I love to use fractions ...   [wink]

Seriously, though -- I did not put the Imperial scale on my TS55.  I use millimeters for setting depth, since the standard scale is easy to read.

And I own Woodpecker aluminum rules in 12", 36", and 600 mm lengths. I also have a dual scale tape measure with both imperial and metric.  

BUT ... for a country the size of the USA, it just is NOT economically practical to switch, even if you had the support of the populace.

Now, let's all get back to important topics like discussing Festool tools and all the cool projects we can work on using these tools.  [smile]

 

[wow]

I had forgotten all about something until this thread reminded me of it...

Years ago I sold instrumentation, one portion of which was analog meters with custom scales. I always got crap from engineers about whichever scale I chose to show them as a sample of what we could do. I finally had the lab make up a meter with a scale that indicated SPEED in MPH, KPH, and Furlongs per Fortnight.

Made a great conversation starter and the whole mess of personal preference/bias was completely forgotten.

 

[PaulMarcel]

I had forgotten all about something until this thread reminded me of it...

Years ago I sold instrumentation, one portion of which was analog meters with custom scales. I always got crap from engineers about whichever scale I chose to show them as a sample of what we could do. I finally had the lab make up a meter with a scale that indicated SPEED in MPH, KPH, and Furlongs per Fortnight.

Made a great conversation starter and the whole mess of personal preference/bias was completely forgotten.

Now that was genius marketing.

 

[upscale]

[size=12pt]
At the end of the day, we all have and love one common system - FESTOOL .

Yabbut, since I like to do my woodworking with Imperial measurements, I'd REALLY like to see a full line of Festool products that measure on the Imperial scale.

[poke]  [poke]  [poke]

 

[wow]

I had forgotten all about something until this thread reminded me of it...

Years ago I sold instrumentation, one portion of which was analog meters with custom scales. I always got crap from engineers about whichever scale I chose to show them as a sample of what we could do. I finally had the lab make up a meter with a scale that indicated SPEED in MPH, KPH, and Furlongs per Fortnight.

Made a great conversation starter and the whole mess of personal preference/bias was completely forgotten.

Now that was genius marketing.

Or a sign of what happens when someone with ADHD or OCD or (insert acronym here) has too much time to think about a problem?!

;D

 

[Kev]

I for one have no problem if people want to use feet, inches, degrees Fahrenheit, etc in the privacy of their own home or country. I don't like the cost of having to buy something that "needs" to be manufactured in some form of dual scale mode to satisfy less than 4% if the population of the planet. I think, deep down, that's where most of the angst of the topic stems from.

Times change and dominant economic power shifts. I don't believe the Imperial v's Metric issue will bring about the downfall of major economies, but it could be just one of the many "bending v's breaking" issues of the future.

 

[wow]

BUT almost nothing is packed in tens

Err, I think they are...

List of things packed in base 10 multiples:

*** edited to reflect reality where I live ***

NEVER 10 except as noted below

*** Light bulbs - nope, usually 4 or 6
*** Eggs - nope, usually 12 or 18
*** Screws - nope: 3, 4, 6, 10, 12, but also 25, 50 & 100
*** Chocolate bars - nope, usually 6 - (trust me, I KNOW this one!
*** Small bottles of water - nope, usually 6, 12, 24, 36 and sometimes 48 half-bottles

And just for fun, my list of things packed in base 12 multiples that I could think of quickly:

Eggs - 12 or 18
Hot dog buns - 8 or 12 (and yes, the dogs are usually packed in 10's but some are now packed in 8's)
Wine
Soda Pop - 6/12/24/36
Beer - 6/12
Facial Tissue (box) - 3/6/12
Toilet Paper (rolls) - 6/8/12/18/24/36/48
Cans of Vegetables/Soups/Fruit - 12 per case
Paper towels - 6, 12, and more
Bars of Soap - 3, 6, 12 and 24
Nitrile gloves - oddly enough 100 to a box but 12 boxes to a case?
Leather work gloves - 3, 6 and 12
Socks - 6 pairs
Men's briefs - usually 6 pairs, but often include a 'bonus' pair
Men's socks - usually 3
Pens - 12
#2 Pencils - 12
Note Pads - 12
Bandaids (sometimes - depends on brand and type)
Canning jars - 6 or 12
Brake cleaner - 12 cans/case
Spray paint - 12 cans/case
Cascade Dishwashing pods - 32, 24, 60 and others
Halls cough drops - 12, 20, 30, 180
Trash bags - 12 plus many other qtys. divisible by 10 or 12
Alkaline batteries (AA, AAA, C, D, and 9 volt)
Lithium Batteries (CR-123A) - 12
Disposable diapers
Christmas ornaments
Motor oil - 6
Jello - 24 or 30 packages to a case
Ears of corn - dozen
Fresh cookies - dozen
Cupcakes - dozen
etc...

Just making a point that here in midwest USA more/most household items are still sold or packed 'by the dozen' than any other system. I don't know how long - or IF - things will take to move totally to base 10, but I won't be holding my breath.

Besides, being a computer guy I think they should all be Hexiecimal anyway...

 

[Paul G]

I for one have no problem if people want to use feet, inches, degrees Fahrenheit, etc in the privacy of their own home or country. I don't like the cost of having to buy something that "needs" to be manufactured in some form of dual scale mode to satisfy less than 4% if the population of the planet. I think, deep down, that's where most of the angst of the topic stems from.

Times change and dominant economic power shifts. I don't believe the Imperial v's Metric issue will bring about the downfall of major economies, but it could be just one of the many "bending v's breaking" issues of the future.

Kev, that's the reality of international markets, no different than my TVs instruction manual in 6 languages, 5 of which I don't need but arguably pay for. But in reality the TV maker saves cost by doing it that way instead of keeping track of 6 different manuals and if they limited their sales to English speaking countries the TV would cost much more. There's probably some hidden cost to my Ford because folks in a handful of countries drive on the left side of the road, it causes me no angst, but somehow an inch and F gets folks bun tied in a knot. There's far fewer people who natively speak French than the population of the US, why isn't there all this angst over French instruction manuals? No, there's more to this than some perceived cost, it's the country in question, not much different than when the topic of China comes up, a word synonymous with junk yet I'm typing this post on a high end device that was likely largely built there. Some folks resent China for its impact on the world, some folks resent the US for its impact on the world, an inch and F can be convenient pissing posts to express it.

 

[Paul G]

Beer - 6/12

As a Costco shopper I usually get it in cases of 24. Just stocked up on Corona, a Mexican beer owned by a multinational headquartered in Belgium and Brazil. 3 metric countries but still comes in 24 pack, wonder how it's sold in metric countries. Oh and the limes at the grocery store are usually individual or a bag of six, and if sold by weight it will be in price per pound.

EDIT: when it comes to packaging a base 12 has the advantage of being divisible by 2 and 3, a 12 pack set in 3 rows of 4 has a perimeter of 14, same as a 10 pack set in 2 rows of 5. Comparing volume to packaging the 12 pack of 3x4 is more efficient use of carton than the 10 pack of 2x5. Surprised the environmentalists aren't demanding a change to base 12 LOL