Knots vs. Miles

Does it make any sense to still be using Knots as a measurement?

Yes, because the rest of the world doesn't use miles.

There is only one unit, and that is meters pr seconds. Kilometers pr hours is acceptable though.

The same for starboard and port.. Should be scrapped.


*tounge firmly in cheek*

Does it make any sense to still be using imperial units?

Does it make any sense?

IF I had to pick a system to change to, it would be meters/second.

I hope like hell the US never goes to si. Decimals are a pain in the butt if you make a living with a tape measure in your hand.

Everything else I could care less, there's no difference in any if it, just different sticks.

Ugh, I beg to differ! Decimals is currently the only way to measure with ease unless you grew up with imperial measurements as a tradition. 15/16ts of an inch vs 7/8s.. That is unless you know your customers are bound to get it wrong if they try the DIY route

Come now, throw the rest of the imperial rule away. You have had sine 1781 to get this straight

a knot is a nautical mile per hour.
a nautical mile is the distance on the earths surface of 1 minute of one degree [ie 360 degrees x 60 minutes = 21,600 miles around the equator]
we are stuck with 360 degrees in a circle, so are probably stuck with the nautical mile and knot

Ah, but I can add and divide fractions easier than four decimal places. 15/16 = .9375 anyway.

Which is all very logical and pre-GPS oriented. I think the world have moved on

I can fully sympathize with Karl. 1/16ths of an inch are as common as counting or saying your ABCs, to someone who uses it 8-10 hours a day. And God help me if i have to use a tape with the fractions written on it. I've started using metric for boat stuff because it's more the norm in the A class (and F-18 apparently), but I'd go poor trying to do it at work everday.

I've spent over 30 years in the construction industry here in the good ol USA. Would switch to metric in a heartbeat. Wish it would have stuck in the 70s.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the USA the only country in the world still on the British Imperial system.

Fred

Yeah ,what's it to ya canuck?

I'm not sure about the kind of guys you've got working in the lumber yards in Arizona , but the ones around here would short circuit and explode if they had to learn metric. Half the the time they're lucky to get the boards within 2' lengths( that's .6096 of a meter,for you imperial challenged folks)of what you order loaded on the truck.
If we were to switch over tomorrow I'd be OK with it , it would just take some serious mental recalibration.I'd probably survive.

+1

It would be a big task to switch from metric to imperial here if situations were reversed. It would probably cause mental meltdowns and blown fuses plus all kind of production slowdowns. I personally would positively hate it. I always struggle when I am building to US plans with imperial measurements..

Perhaps the process could start with the schools and teachers. The rest would follow from there.. I know that MIT and other institutions have professors and lecturers insisting on SI units in all coursework.

I'm pretty sure Congress had set a date for several years ago for the US to officially switch to the metric system but that killed as it got closer. The problem is that darn near every piece of manufacturing equipment in the US uses inches and feet. Every road sign is in miles. It's an expensive switch to make but it would be nice to see us start using both to make the transition. We have some manufacturing overseas and a lot of international customers so we have supported both measurement systems in our manufacturing environment for years. Our component drawings show both measurement systems on every dimension.

Yes logical and still used inside the GPS devices
SI units is a good idea, however they selected the wrong base measures (what is the meaning of 1m, I guess some old french length measure). If 1 m would be 1.825m, I guess the whole word would have already converged to the SI system.
So we will always measure distance in nm and speed in kts as long the earth turns because it is logic.

I'd flat out freak framing a wall .4064m oc. Hell, I don't even know what the diamonds work out to, 19" & some change.

Most of construction works in feet & inches. Cabinet makers are a bit slow and we function only in inches. I have to think for a second if someone says 13', 5-13/16", whereas I get it pretty quick when its 161-13/16".

How does it work in si? Do you use strictly meters? Or a combination of m and cm? What do you do if you have 62.5cm? Do you call it 5/8 of a meter, or .625 meters?

Yet we haven't had any problem printing EVERYTHING in English and Spanish.

I seem to recall there was a switch over date ,now that you mention it.Not surprising it got nixed.It'll probably happen ( is happening) on it's own accord with the global economy. Just take alot longer.

19", That'll never pass code.

I don't see it too often anymore, (I also don't frame too often anymore), but trusses can be laid out on the diamonds if called for. I don't know the reasoning for such an odd number.

You would simply use 62.5cm. A metric tape measure will have tick marks at 10ths between each base number so 62 plus 5 tick marks. Everything is in 10ths....and 62.5cm is 625mm, 6.25 decimeters (not used that often), and 0.625 meters. It's much simpler than what we do here today. 5/64" is much more difficult to enter in a computer.

To Todd's point, even our framing centers would eventually change to align with the metric system which impacts code and everything else. 16" centers (40.64cm) would become 50cm or 40cm centers or something standard and easily divisible (I wonder what european framing standards are in that regard?).

IMO, the problem everyone has with the metric system is trying to co-relate back to what they are used to. They always think "now how many inches is that?". Instead of just forgetting about the inches and feet.

JMO

C

The definition of a metre changed over the years as we learnt more about geometry and the planet, but the length stayed the same. A very entertaining question of changing the definition to fit the measurement

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre


On the coordinate system used inside GPS units.. It is WGS84 but the output could be anything really. Even UTM or Buckminster Fullers world map.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Transverse_Mercator_coordinate_system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Geodetic_System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_map

If the logical approach was universally accepted we should have been using knots instead of km/h or m/h in cars as well

Being in the science/engineering world, I use metric (SIs) all the time, and have since high school and college (it's not just MIT, BTW).

Being American, I would say that the decimal part of it makes things much simpler, but agree that relating the measurements to the "normal" imperial measurements used in every other part of my life is challenging.

I find that nautical miles are easier to use as a race officer. There are roughly 6000 feet in a nautical mile, so 0.1 nm is 600 feet, which helps when setting a starting line with a GPS.

Mike

Dude, come to FL. You are required to toss out your plumb, level and tape measure in order to sit for the GC exam. English or Metric, it doesn't matter... There is no such thing as a straight wall or 90 degree corner in construction here.

16" center ppttthhh... we use "dat oughta doit" measurement.

Jay, it's called "Contemporary non linear design" People pay Big Bucks to have curve walls in many areas.. enjoy the "added" dimensions to your home

Todd-
Hockey sticks at 10 meters and on ice skates.
I'm stacking the deck. LOL.
Hope to see you at the Worlds.
Fred

Fred you know that hillbilly cracker will be like a fish outta water on ice, much less on ice with skates!

Genius, I tell you... genius. I'll put that in my mobile home listing 4 sale....

Only ice I'm interested in is what's floatin' on top of my rum drink.
No worlds for me. I don't feel like I've got the new boat even close to where it should be to spend the jack (Travel,measurements, entry and insurance upgrades) it'll take to do worlds. If work is slow I may try to help out with RC if I can find a place to crash.