Settle a boat argument...

[Keith_Menard]

Whereas waterskiing was invented in America

Whereas the imperial system is a superior standard of measurement

WHY IS THE COURSE AND SPEEDS NATIVE METRIC!?!

[MISkier]

To try and make water skiing an Olympic sport, which conducts measurement in Metric.

[BraceMaker]

Is it superior? I have a metric tape measure. It's awesome.

 

I still prefer imperial skiing.

[BlueSki]

There are two types of countries in the world, those that use the metric system, and those that have been to the moon.

[jetpilotg4]

http://storerscience.weebly.com/uploads/2/1/3/4/21347444/metric_mishap_caused_loss_of_nasa_orbiter.doc

[Horton]

@"Keith Menard" because we are subservient to the global government.

[Keith_Menard]

@Horton

 

 

[dvskier]

IWWF they run the show.

[ski6jones]

@BlueSki and those that lose satellites trying to use both simultaneously. http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric.02/

[eleeski]

First, the USA is officially a metric country. That we are too set in our ways to popularly abandon an archaic and counterintuitive system is just sad. Fortunately most engineering is done in metric so the quality of what we design and produce is first world.

 

If we would talk in terms of the actual rope length instead of some inaccurate retarded line off of a rope length rarely seen, specify speed accurately and give temperature in something that makes intuitive sense (0 is freezing and 100 is boiling - what's hard to get there?).

 

Waterskiing officially switched in the 70s. Skiers should have had plenty of time to adapt.

 

Eric

[oldjeep]

Metric? My rope id marked in feet and the speedo is in MPH

[eleeski]

@oldjeep ZO can toggle between imperial and metric. Every rope I've bought has had both markings. When judging jump, the metric distance is the real score. Every recent car (including American cars) is all metric.

 

My old jeep (57 Willys) is imperial. It's also a novelty antique. Perhaps you need newer equipment?

 

Eric

[oldjeep]

@eleeski

 

[lpskier]

I love telling the boat crew “55/14.” Drives them nuts.

[BraceMaker]

My new argument - the world is now post metric/imperial. Does it matter if I send you a cad file that's in imperial when your CAM can be in whatever you want it to be?

 

1980's US was full of manual machines running factional inch lead screws and machinists using imperial gauge blocks. Different world these days.

 

Run what you wanna - convert on the fly.

[mfjaegersr]

What kinda ‘boat’ argument is this? Weak! What a let down; I was all ready to defend Bayliners again.

 

 

[Keith_Menard]

@mfjaegersr We were arguing on the boat while waiting for others to get ready :)

[mfjaegersr]

@"Keith Menard" I knew that...just looking for the funny angle; it was low hanging fruit, to which I am partial. ?

 

Seems to me there’s a whole ‘nother thread here (prolly been done at least twice by now?): Best Between Ski ______ (debate, world problem solved, funniest moments, etc .)

[MillerTime38]

I love calling line length and speed in metric, 58/11.25 sounds way better than 36/38

[jimmyjamesbrown]

@BlueSki when did Liberia and Burma land on the moon? :D

[9400]

You also have decimal feet used by civil engineers and surveyors here. The South Carolina Dept. of transportation briefly decided to go metric with their road construction plans....those were fun times.

[ScottScott]

The whole metric thing in the US is one of my biggest pet peeves. The US spent too much time teaching people how to convert imperial to metric, just confusing everyone. The ironic thing is that very few people know how many feet in a mile, or ounces in a gallon (I would have to look it up.) But I can tell you how many meters in a kilometer, or milliliters in a liter. The US is just too ignorant to go cold turkey. If we did we'd realize how much easier it is.

[rockdog]

I can’t believe US still mostly haven’t changed over, metric is so much easier. The refusal to even want to learn a clearly superior system staggers me.

[ski6jones]

I'd be fine changing over but the hardest thing for me about metric is the loss of the intuitive feel about magnitude. I have a pretty good feel for a pound, a few inches, or a mile. Not so much in Kg, cm or Km.

It wouldn't take long if you were forced to think in those terms, but I think that's the biggest adjustment for most folks.

[Horton]

@ScottScott a meter is approximately a yard. A mile is 5280 feet (I did not look it up).

 

What sounds better? 6L or 366?

[LOTW]

Try working on you Cat or Polaris sleds, half of the parts are imperial and the other metric. Made in the U.S. with Japanese engines.

[ScottScott]

@Horton Nope, not convinced.

and....approximates don't count (although irrelevant because who cares how many yards in a meter...cold turkey) I'll give you a bonus for knowing feet in a mile, but that only supports my case. What kind of random number is 5280?

 

How many meters in a kilometer? How many centimeters in a meter? How many milliliters in a liter? How many milligrams in a gram? 1000, 100, 1000, 1000 see a pattern? I didn't have to look those up.

[dbski]

When I taught drafting I had my kids do drawings in both cm/mm and inches. Kids would bitch for a few drawings but after a few they would often ask why can't we do them all in cm/mm. If you want to mystify about 90% of high school students ask them to find 5 13/16" on a ruler/tape measure! Saying all that, when I still want to have a true feeling how big an engine is I always convert to cubic inches, 2 litres=120cu. in.

[Horton]

Confusing or not the bottom line is most Americans know what it means when you say a mile or a foot or a gallon. It's what we grew up with just like I grew up with 15, 22, 28, 32, 35, 38, 39, 41, 43, and 47 off. I know what those lengths mean.

 

I have to look at a reference table to figure out what the hell the metric is because that's not what I grew up with.

 

Trying to convince me metric as better is about as logical as trying to tell me that speaking Chinese is better because it's a more nuanced language.

[Rednucleus]

I'm a veterinarian; science based training; drug doses in metric (mg/kg) as well as US (mg/lb) - my brain is still US but at least I can "speak metric" with my colleagues.

[skihard]

Metric is so much easier when you understand the fact is based on 10's.

And its strange I am Canadian born and raised now living in the USA and it's funny because I change when I cross borders.

I use degrees F and miles down here and degrees C and km when I am back home. And I struggle with each in each country. 32C at my parents but it's 90F at my place. I understand each where I am at physically but I can't say it's 32C on my dock down here it just doesn't sound or feel right.

[Keith_Menard]

@skihard 10 what? Oh...just 10's...cuz we said so!

 

A foot is a historic measure derived from the king himself, not some random 'scientist'!

 

[75Tique]

This came up by the commentators during the Moomba. I kind of chuckled when one of them said why would you define rope length by how much is laying on the floor of the boat. Kind of makes sense. Of course we could always say 60, 53, 47,43.... just to further confuse the subject.

[klindy]

@75Tique don't get @Wish started!

[gsm_peter]

@"Keith Menard"

Fwiw

A search in Swedish old digital newspaper archives on the word Waterski=vattenskidor.

There are many (100) hits before 1850.

Skis where like canoes.

Boats was steam ships.

Ralf Samuelsens relatives came from south part of Sweden.

[Roger]

@BlueSki - actually, the computers used to navigate to the moon and land there used metric internally, but converted to (and from) English units for the astronauts...

 

"With respect to units, the LGC was eclectic. Inside the computer we used metric units, at least in the case of powered-flight navigation and guidance. At the operational level NASA, and especially the astronauts, preferred English units. This meant that before being displayed, altitude and altitude-rate (for example) were calculated from the metric state vector maintained by navigation, and then were converted to feet and ft/sec."

 

The US has tried to convert to metric since I was a kid. Still not there, but some progress has been made (for example, my Jeep Grand Cherokee, Chevy Corvette and Cadillac SRX all use metric fasteners these days. Americans are a stubborn lot B)

[Than_Bogan]

Remember when it was called the English system? And then the creators of that "system" so thoroughly abandoned it that they forced us to change the name. AND we were too embarrassed to call it American units, so we grabbed a term that explicitly refers to the long past era when it seemed like a good idea.

[Keith_Menard]

@Roger I still use a half inch socket on a 13MM head...just out of spite! :)

[jetpilotg4]

@horton I’m with you on the 15-22-28 etc off, but how many times have you had to explain 15’ off is 15 feet of a 75 rope= 60 feet to someone not familiar with our addiction? Although I agree 41off sounds way cooler than 9.75 meters

[RAWSki]

@Roger not to get too political but I think you can credit NAFTA and the international automotive market for the metric fasteners on your vehicles.

 

I wish we were a metric based country but I will admit that I still have to stop and think about line lengths in meters and what is hot and what is cold in Celsius!!

[dbski]

 

Someone explain to me why tires are sized metrically for width (275, 295, 305) but inches for diameter (17, 18, 19)!

[jetpilotg4]

@RAWSki Here’s a quick pilot hack for you guys, double temp in Celsius and add 30

[BraceMaker]

@dbski science.... marketing.

[rico]

yellow, green, blue, purple, meh...

[eleeski]

The QWERTY keyboard is even stupider than ozzez and libs or whatever the imperial system uses. A keyboard designed to slow down the typist so keys wouldn't jam??! Every typing record is set on a Dvorak keyboard which is engineered for speed and ease of learning. Hopefully voice recognition will improve enough to obsolete all keyboards but Alexa thinks I'm creepy...

 

Eric

[DaveD]

@Rednucleus It's scary that the US dosage mixes metric (mg) and US (lb).

 

@eleeski Alexa is right. I'm sure she's seen you wear socks and flip flops.

[igkya]

A gallon of milk but 2 liters of soda, WTH?

[ScottScott]

Yeah, soda manufacturers did their token part to go metric.....but only if you buy the big bottle.....the little ones are still 12 or 16 oz. So how many 16oz bottles in a 2 liter?