# The metric system **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 1, 1999, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system/933 "1999-06-01T20:33:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 1999, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system/933/21 "1999-06-07T02:31:00Z")
Apathy what a great word. I saw it once spray painted on a wall in Toronto. It said “Toronto has too much apathy but who gives a damn anyway” I think there is too much going around. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 1999, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system/933/22 "1999-06-07T05:33:00Z")
IIRC, SterlingNorth, 0 degrees Fahrenheit was determined by mixing equal amounts of ice and…something else…salt? Checking Cecil, I find [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a891215.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a891215.html) which says: > [@](#): > > It dawned on him that it was going to look a little strange having the zero on his scale just sort of hanging off the end, so to speak. So he cooked up the explanation that zero was the temperature of a mix of ice, water, and ammonium chloride. * * * “We’re gonna have lawyers here. It’ll be a fun time.” –R.R.S. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 1999, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system/933/23 "1999-06-07T05:50:00Z")
> [@](#): > > but I don’t feel that 30 degrees is enough difference between cold and hot. – SterlingNorth Actually, I have the opposite feeling about this. It is very hard to feel the difference of a 1 degree change in Fahrenheit, but you can just barely tell a 1 degree change in Celcius. To me, that makes it more meaningful. There is also the goofy and misleading use of 98.6 as normal body temperature in Fahrenheit. That decimal place makes normal boby temperature seem a lot more precise than it really is. We only chose that number, because it is a translation from 37 degrees Celcius ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 1999, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system/933/24 "1999-06-11T02:37:00Z")
The worst offender remains uncorrected even in presumably metric societies: the HMS (hours:minutes:seconds) time system. ## I’m still waiting for my first digital days. millidays chronometer. Designated Optional Signature at Bottom of Post ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 1999, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system/933/25 "1999-06-11T03:24:00Z")
I think the reason that time has not been revised by the metric system is because it can never be fully integrated into a single decimal numbering scheme in a way that is still reasonable for everyday use. Why? Because our measurement of time is based on two completely independent cycles-- the Earth’s revolution around the Sun, and the rotation of the Earth. We can’t have one nice decimal measurement that encompasses both cycles, so why bother? It is imaginable that such a metric measurement would be done in a society that spends most of its time in deep space. If we started living in deep space, I could imagine us creating a time system based on seconds (with kiloseconds, megaseconds, etc). ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 1999, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system/933/26 "1999-06-11T19:32:00Z")
AHunter, if you ever get a chance to go the Smithsonian, check out their collection of time pieces. You will discover that when the metric system was invented and then imposed on the French people during the revolution, a decimal time system was also imposed. The people loathed it, and it was disposed of as soon as it could be. * * * \>\>while contemplating the navel of the universe, I wondered, is it an innie or outie?\<\< —The dragon observes ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 1999, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system/933/27 "1999-06-11T23:08:00Z")
[http://www.swatch.com](http://www.swatch.com) I’m sure you guys read about the new Internet time devised by Swatch. It’s sort of decimal. Here is there explanation: > [@](#): > > What is this new Universal Time? > > Timed by Swatch > > Internet Time represents a completely new global concept of time. So what is the deal? Basically, the Swatch Beat, the revolutionary new unit of time means the following: > > No Time Zones > No Geographical Borders > > How long is a Swatch beat? In short we have divided up the virtual and real day into 1000 “beats”. One Swatch beat is the equivalent of 1 minute 26.4 seconds. That means that 12 noon in the old time system is the equivalent of @500 Swatch beats I think that 86.4 seconds is to long an interval to ever become pratical. Therefore, it’s just a gimmick and will never catch on. Anyone thinking something else? ## ct _When in trouble or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout_ ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 1999, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system/933/28 "1999-06-12T15:47:00Z")
> [@](#): > > AHunter, if you ever get a chance to go the Smithsonian, check out their collection of time pieces. – Narile Do you know which museum this is in? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 1999, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system/933/29 "1999-06-14T22:59:00Z")
## Undead, Sorry but I couldn’t say off the top of my head. I remember seeing the timepiece collection some time ago though it might have been part of a limited exhibition. \>\>while contemplating the navel of the universe, I wondered, is it an innie or outie?\<\< —The dragon observes ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 1999, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system/933/30 "1999-06-14T23:55:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I think that 86.4 seconds is to long an interval to ever become pratical. Therefore, it’s just a gimmick and will never catch on. Anyone thinking something else? Not at all. Briefer periods would be measured in centibeats, not quite a second. I must say, I think the English system has a certain panache that the metric doesn’t, but I have to weigh in with the Metrists on the practicality of conversion. It may be best to work on one subset of industries at a time. It must be possible to divide industries into largely disjoint sets (like food service and the auto industry). Change them one at a time, rather than abandon the English system altogether at once. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system/933.md?page=1)