I just took a virtual stroll through the EU's website, and ran a few searched for words like "inch," "ounce," "pound," and "gallon." What I found was this: the EU's website, and all their "official documents and reports" are plagued by English units. From ounces of gold to US Gallons of MTBE transport containers, all the units you know and love can be found, used by none other than the almighty metric gladiator: the EU. I encourage all of you to see just how metric they really are, or, more accurately, can't be.

Bill (/all), you might be fascinated by the posts on this webpage:

http://www.independence.org.uk/board/index.html

under "compulsory metrication"

Check out my posting, the posts are chronological down the page so scroll right down.

There's some really interesting posts from both sides of the argument. There's a fair (but small) scattering of extreme views but you'll notice that the most extreme quotes come from those who enjoy forced metrication - but then again they would woudn't they.

Bill, have you ever been outside your own bunker (U.S.A)? You seem to have very little knowledge of the rest of the world.

I can understand that people don´t want to give up a system they have grown up with. But don´t assume people outside USA (and some other English speaking nations) can imagine what an inch is.

It´s inevitable united states will fully adopt to the metric system one day. It may take a generation or so, but it will happen.

So I take it, from your authoritative tone, that you have been everywhere on Earth, is that correct? You know Jose, the USA is a very large place, unlike wherever you are from, and I have no need to travel anywhere because I can get anything on this globe, from the comfort of my own house, but I take comfort in the fact that, should I ever travel to the United Kingdom, I will know how to operate. For your information, sir, the United States has been going metric for 150 years, and we have "progressed," if that's the word for it, very little in that time, so your statement that it will only take a generation is as absurd and stupid as the rest of your post. I'll tell you a little story, that even a person with as low an IQ as yourself should be able to understand. I went to Sears, a large retail chain the US (because of my huge ignorance, I can't say that they're global), and I was looking at the Allen wrench sets. There were no wrench sets in English units, and I found this highly odd, so I went to the sales clerk and inquired as to why they didn't have any. He told me that they were sold out, again, as they sold a large number of them. I asked him about the metric set, and he told me that the store had never sold one in 8 years of being open. Now, I could go all day telling you of incidents very much like that one, but I don't want to waste my time. I want to ridicule you on one other thing before I quite wasting my time on you. My post was grounded in a fact, that if you go to the EU's website, and you go to the search page, and you type in English measures, that you will get results. Now that's the EU using those measures, not me, not my government. So before you want to make baseless accusations about me being an idiot, you had better have your facts straight pal, because I am no idiot, I am no slouch, and I do not care for people like yourself. One other thing, you generally want to post something relating to the topic, which you didn't do, because you can't argue with the original statement I made, which is why you avoided it. Do yourself a favor, stop making yourself out to be a fool while trying to do that to other people. You aren't smart enough.

"a person with as low an IQ as yourself". Lower than yours? Ha! don´t make me laugh, Roland. The picture I get of you is like the one I get of the average American man (and believe me I have met plenty) - an uneducated fellow who hardly could point out his own country on a world map.

When United States finally decides to fully adopt the metric system it will go quickly. You talk about 150 years, but that´s the same story with Britain. They tried for over 30 years to make Britain metric voluntary. Now they´re doing it by force (they still have to change the road signs though) and that´s going to make a huge difference. If all other European countries could do it why not U.K?

P.S visit http://www.metricsucks.com/ I think they will like you on their meassage board.

Well Jose, you'd be wrong about me, contrary to your incorrect stereotype of me being a dumb American idiot, I am nothing of the sort. I can find the United States on the map, I can find Florida on the map, and I can find Ocala on the map. While I'm on it, the wild characterization that us American's can't find our country on a map has been widely misconstrued, mainly because of foreign illegal immigrants who flood inner-city schools, and who cannot speak a complete English sentence. When you take that into account, its little wonder that some of our students look like idiots, and its certainly no wonder they have no idea where they are. You also make a terrible attempt at discrediting my comment that America has "recognized" the metric system for 150 years, yet has made only inches of progress in moving to it. Just when are we going to decide to go metric Jose? When will it happen? Its "been happening" for 150 years, and what have you to show for it? Nothing. I think I know the British well enough to answer as to why they are balking at "what all of Europe is doing." The British perfected feet, inches, pounds, pints, ounces, gallons, all of it, and why in the world would they want to give up something that has worked for thousands of years, just as well and maybe even better than your metric system, just to be like the rest of Europe? Striving to be like Europe is an insult to them, they'd have to lower their standards. You know what else Jose, look at your computer (I'm making a leap of faith here that you even own one), and know that America is responsible for it. The motherboard may have been made in Taiwan, but the technology was invented and perfected in the USA. In fact, when you walk down the street, provided that you live in a 1st World country, you will certainly see something that America has made possible (60Hz electricity, the telephone, the Internet, GPS...just to name a few). Remember who saved Europe from itself, twice no less. Remember who ended the Cold War. Know that the worlds top financial analysts have now decided that the Euro will never come close to replacing the dollar as the world's business currency. Look forward to who will capture and execute Osama bin Laden for his crimes. Don't be so quick to criticize the country who gave you the ability to criticize. One last thing Jose, you've yet to prove my original post wrong, the EU does use English units to describe things on the "official" website, with no supplementary metric units. I'd like you to explain that for me, but I doubt that you'll be able to. Have fun trying though.

Australia went metric in the 70´s and the imperial system seems to be already forgotten there. Same thing with South Africa. And how many people in Britain now think in Fahrenheit now? I don´t think neither you or people behind this website speak for the rest of the British people. The majority probably don´t give a damn. The biggest issue is not wether metric is superior to imperial or not, but the fact that you don´t want two different measurment systems in use. The science and the engineering industry are already using metric so using anything else in the rest of the society would just be plain stupid.

The British didn´t invent the imperial system. Similar systems were in use in probably most countries before metric came along. My grandfather still spoke in inches and feet sometimes. He was born 1917 and metric has been the only legal system here since 1889.

But now 95% or so of the world population have fully adopt the metric system. Now only America is left...

P.S I have the deepest respect for American science and technology. I´m sure U.S will kick Usama´s ass. Hopefully very soon.

Well Jose, I think I misjudged you. The difference between you and I is that we see the world from different angels. Perhaps I am misguided about the British, but from all experience I have thus far, they are not a metric society, and I can tell you first hand that the American South is not. Its a difference of opinion, I suppose, I don't see how English units hinder us, and you don't see why we still use it. Perhaps America will go metric, my only point is that it remains to be seen (I will fight it every inch of the way). As for Osama, he's as good as dead. Whether it be by the bomb or by the noose , his goose is cooked. On a side note, I think the Daisy Cutter has to be the most interesting conventional bomb I've ever heard of, a circle of death with a radius of 600 yards, and the thing weighs 15,000lbs. Sorry about the comments I made about you being stupid, I now know they were unwarranted.

Bill Roland
PS: I never said England invented Imperial measures, I only said they perfected them.

With reference to British public opinion, please visit this link, which summarises opinion polls to date:

http://www.bwmaonline.com/Consumer%20Surveys.htm

Metric is used in the UK for many manufacturing industries. It is not, however, the lead system in the consumer economy.

That´s ok, Roland. My first post was a bit provocative so I exepected some in return. I did it on purpuse because I wanted to heat things up here :-)

Britain will probably continue to be a mish-mash of measuring systems for a long time. Children are taught metric in school, but most of their parents probably speak in imperial, road signs and speed limits are in miles, but you buy gas in litres, temperature is in Celsius etc.

If you ask people most probably want to keep a system they´re used to no matter how complicated or outdated it is. I guess many were upset in Britan when the curency became decimal, but who want to switch back now?

In my country they asked the people twice if they wanted to switch from driving on the left side of the road to right. Both times a mayority said no, but the switch was made anyway in 1967. If you would ask people here today if they want to switch back (to driving on the left side) they would laugh themselves to death.

The biggest issue is not wether metric is superior to imperial or not, but the fact that you don´t want two different measurment systems in use. The science and the engineering industry are already using metric so using anything else in the rest of the society would just be plain stupid.

Explain to me why you can't have two in use. Do you think people are too stupid to handle both? Here in the U.S., we simply add metric alongside the customary label and let people choose which system is better for them. I don't see why we shouldn't be able to continue doing so for centuries to come.

In any case, most people here don't roll over backwards for scientiests/engineers. They can use metric if they think it's best, the rest of us will ignore them and use customary.

Some interesting points (and mis-points) have been used here.
Firstly "kids are taught metric but their parents speak imperial thus they speak imperial". I hear this a lot.
Well, those parents were also taught metric at school!
Science uses metric? Yes, of course it does but that is the point - metric is great for science as it uses "big numbers". That's why even "metric Australians" know their height in ft/in and not cms!
Imagine if my tablets were dispensed by the ounce, how many fractions would that be? Yes - lets keep metric to science and imperial to "life"
No-one uses fahrenheit?
Hmmm, me thinks not - true to say that we tend to talk celsius when it gets cold, but go down any British high street and pick up a holiday brochure and check out the temps for the hotter climes. Also EVERYONE knows that that tabloids go ballistic when the temperature here hits 90 or 100 - we all know the headlines (scorcher etc).
60Hz electricity? The UK uses 50Hz - um, we also invented that telephone thing. And we finished the Germans off *with the help* of the US (not according to holywood, tough!!!).
We also had british computers in school (hey can anyone remember when hard disks were called "Winchesters?").
It is true to say that many Americans do not possess a passport, but I'm sure that they can point out where the US is on a map!!!
I AM NOT going to get into the virtues of driving on the left OR why roundabouts are a good thing!
The UK has "been metric" for over 30yrs - true, but now-one realised and we all ignored it! We all speak imperial "on the streets". So NO Britain is most definitely NOT a metric society, but most of us can speak a little French ;)
Oh, and I wish metricators woud stop mixing decimalising currency with metrication - that's a poor excuse!
Yes, I go to Sears whenever I visit the US - I also make sure I go to Wendy's - I was saddened whe Wendys chain collapsed here in the UK - they were great!
(back to the subject...)
Yes most of us here would like to stay 'bilingual' and have dual labelling - the more information I get about a product the better.
And at least with dual labelling we can opt to read the one that makes sence and ignore the one that we were taught at school!!!!

Well there you go, a lot of disjoined rambling but it was an attempt to add some weight (in stones!) to some of the points made.

I will await the criticism!!

SteveH

Let me counter some more claims.

The USA is not metric: This is not true. Both Metric and Customary units are viable in the USA. And Metric has been adopted in applications where it is more practical to use instead of Customary, such as the sciences and medicine.

Businesses saves money by using metric: If this is true, then the USA would have been "Metrifed" long ago. American companies are very much into cutting costs where it is practical, and sometimes impractical. If Metrics provided significant saves to the company, then they would have made efforts toward metrification.

The USA's use of Customary units hampers internatinal trade: I find this claim to be absurd on its face. It seems that the root of this "complaint" has more to do with Amarican goods are often packaged in larger quantities and because they are measured in Customary measures, it produces non-round metric units.

Carlos

"Why can´t you not have two systems in use". Why not three or four measurment systems? Japan had three measurment systems for many years when they finaly realized the stupidity and went for metric only.

When a government decides wich measurment system to use they´re more likely to ask scientist and engineers than a man selling bananas on the street...

Can you explain to me why non-metric America has dominated so much of international trade, why the US dollar is the internationally used currency? Their non-metricness doesn't do much to restrain them.

Martin Bangemann, the European Commissioner who resigned over a corruption scandal recently, admitted that he was demanding that we Brits went metric because we had this wonderful advantage of being a full member of the EU and having largely the same weights and measures as the Americans, the world's most active international traders. Having the same weights and measures as the Americans is more important than having that of the rest of the world.

Jose, most scientists have lives outside the laboratory, and they make up a minority of the population, in any country.

Can you explain to me why non-metric America has dominated so much of international trade, why the US dollar is the internationally used currency? Their non-metricness doesn't do much to restrain them.

Martin Bangemann, the European Commissioner who resigned over a corruption scandal recently, admitted that he was demanding that we Brits went metric because we had this wonderful advantage of being a full member of the EU and having largely the same weights and measures as the Americans, the world's most active international traders. Having the same weights and measures as the Americans is more important than having that of the rest of the world.

Jose, most scientists have lives outside the laboratory, and they make up a minority of the population, in any country.

<<Can you explain to me why non-metric America has dominated so much of international trade, why the US dollar is the internationally used currency? Their non-metricness doesn't do much to restrain them.>>

I'll tell you this much, it has very little to do with metrics. It has more to do with Americans attempts to create a free market environment and American entrepreneurship.

The whole Customary vs Metric debate is subject to that free market. If Metric was clearly superior to Customary, then there is nothing stopping American businesses from converting to metric. But apparently it is not the case.

And finally with the advent of computers and the use of dual labeling, the need for the USA to go through metrification to coexist with "the rest of the world" becomes a very moot point.

Carlos

Hey Steve, I just have to say, I only brought up the "hertz" thing because it reminded me of what a teacher told me the navy used (he was a retired Commander) to find enemy (anyone who wasn't American) subs, he said "you always listen for 50Hz electricity, and then you know what you're hearing isn't your own." Its totally irrelevant, but who cares? lol Also, Alexander Grahm Bell may well have been Scottish, but he built, tested and patented the telephone in Boston, Massachutes, so we claim him, lol. And WWII, I won't argue about that one, but I don't think that we exactly rode on your coatails into Paris or Germany, but I digress. Did you hear about Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's? Poor guy, he died of liver cancer, he was only 69...that's pretty young these days. Wendy's is the best. My grandfather actually met Dave and Wendy, when he was moving her in at the University of Florida quite a few years back, just as another useless fact. I use to think that dual marking was ok, but I no longer think that, because I don't think those metric proponents will ever let it rest until the metric system itself is either supreme, or gone, which, I still think it will happen one day. Don't be fooled by the comment that "science and technology" use the metric system without ever even considering customary measures. At the office I work out, we just got done with some major technological additions, one of which was a fiber optic cable being burried 500' to connect several of our buildings. I noticed that the cable was marked as "6mm," but that at 12" intervales, a large number was printed with the word "feet" at the end, and I realized that "27,356 FEET" meant that that was the 27,356th foot of the wire. CAT5e ethernet cables are also marked in feet. The Cisco switches we bought, dementions and specifications given in inches, pounds, degrees Fahrenheit, as well as power consumption in BTUs per hour. Also, had a conversation with an engineer at Intel, who says that while some aspects of the chip design are metric, others are not. For example, the chips are produces on a ".13 micron" process, from a "300mm waffer," but according to him, the engineers quite often use the unit "mils," which he explained to me were 1/1000 of an inch, even though I already knew that. So there you have it. Also, I'd like to see a picture of a "british computer," if you could provide one, I'd love to see it...lol

"we also invented that telephone thing."

Funny, every history book I ever read said the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in Boston.

"Oh, and I wish metricators woud stop mixing decimalising currency with metrication - that's a poor excuse!"

Yeah, really. Currency is a completely separate issue but it's almost impossible to have a conversation with a metricator without them mixing the two.

--------------

"Why can´t you not have two systems in use". Why not three or four measurment systems? Japan had three measurment systems for many years when they finaly realized the stupidity and went for metric only.

The U.S. and Britain only have to deal with two.

When a government decides wich measurment system to use they´re more likely to ask scientist and engineers than a man selling bananas on the street...

In America the people outrank the government. Metrication can only happen when the people feel there is a real reason to convert, and that hasn't happened yet. It probably never will.

I would never put the word "never" in my mouth. The Roman empire existed for 700 years. At the height of their power the Romans probably believed their empire would continue to live on forever. If you could ask them year 126 AD, "when are going to be defeated?" They would most certainly say NEVER.

As for the second world war I would say the war (in Europe at least) was won and lost (by Adolf Hitler) on the eastern front.

Let's not get onto who invented what since I think we all know which country (or countrymen) invented most things - including computers.
When I was at school we used Acorn/BBC Microcomputers which ran faster than PCs and they went on to create the truly risc based Archimedes. Acorn/BBC are now the ARM group.
Also, aren't ICL British, along with Psalm, amongst other things.
Here's a few odds 'n' ends that many don't know:
Did you know that Burger King is british? In fact it's owned by the company I work for: Guinness/Diageo.
Did you know that Universal Studios is half owned by the Rank Group (strangely enough, they were my last employer!!!). Also Pizza Hut/ Express, pilsbury - they're all British. Bulmers (who make my favourite: Strongbow) are currently buying up all the (hard) Cider makers in the US. The only point I'm making here (by the way) is it's odd who owns what. Most UK citizens would have thought Burger King was American.
And as far as telephones are concerned, two words: BT / Vodafone (don't they both own the world by now?).
Ahh, it's only fun but it shows just how "global" the economy is - once BT (or GPO as it was called) was the laughing stock of Britain - I mean, STATE CONTROLLED???!! Woah!
Re: World War II - I know that we owe much to the brave boys of the US to help us out and we are eternally grateful - it just irritates me (as a pro-US Brit) when Hollywood spin their stuff over it.
Bad news about "Dave Thomas" - he made the best burgers but never pulled it off in the UK - why?!!!
I still agree with dual labelling, where it makes sence - but sometimes it's stupid - eg in the supermarkets - cartons of 2pints of milk that are also labelled 2.blah blah blah blah litres!! I mean, what exactly would 0.0001 litres of milk look like?
Science and engineering use metric - yeah I know there are exceptions eg/ I'm about to have my mini race tuned in which the 1275 "cubic centermetre" engine will be bore out by 'n' thousands of an inch. (P.S. I though a mil was a millimetre - ie one thousandth of a metre - from the french "mil" . Nice to see BTU's over there though - funnily even the French use British Thermal Units in some applications! Did you know that fridges and freezers across Europe show their capacity as cu ft?
As far as the japanese (and chinese) are concerned they don't only have to deal with different measures - they've got all those dialects and writings too!
In Britain - the people outrank the government - that's why we don't "speak their way" even if they make it a crime for grocers to.
In a sense, Hitler lost/won the war, his politics of harmonisation and expansion live on - only by the back door and with "euros" instead of guns this time!
What goes around.......

We seem to be getting away from the point - the EU and its UK supporters in central and local government are profoundly averse to democracy and choice. They fear imperial measurements because they remind the people of what they have lost and face losing in future - which is freedom. Europe is about top down cultural control, which is not the Anglo-Saxon way. The interesting question is: why are so many petty bureaucrats and little Hitlers in town halls up and down the land, not to mention the BBC, so keen to prescribe our very thoughts, and why are most of us so compliant? By the way, and for the record, Burger King is a mainly franchise operation due to be floated or sold in the near future. ICL are Japanese owned and the name is being phased out. Psion is British, SteveH is confusing it with the US Palm. Universal belongs to the French media group, Vivendi, though I believe the theme parks are semi-autonomous. My point: we need to stand united with our American cousins and not score points off each other. Wendy was best, though, and we did invent the computer. I agree totally!

Well my last post was as much out of humor as anything else. I do have one follow up question, I hope you were joking about BT owning the world, I just checked the Global Fortune 500 list, and BT makes less than McDonald's does, as it wasn't even on the list. The largest Telco in the world, according to the list, was American Telephone & Telegraph Corporation, aka AT&T, which we all know Alexander Graham Bell founded. Ok, I'm through with that...lol. Anyway, you're dead on with Hollywood; they can ruin history like nobody else. Pearl Harbor was the worst movie I've watched in a while. I heard another interesting fact, although I have no idea if it’s true, regarding refrigerators. I have heard that the temperature they list in the freezer is -18C, which is the temperature at which all bacterial life is inhibited. Now, -18C also equals exactly 0F. I wouldn't give up Fahrenheit measurements for anything in the world. I've tried using the Celsius scale...I just am unable to tell you in Celsius what the temperature is. An interesting side note to that, I was talking to a Cisco representative the other day, who was born and raised, and lives in Australia. I mentioned to him, on the phone, that it was 28 outside, and he asked me if anything had begun to ice up. Now he must have known that 32F was the freezing point on that scale, and he must have also known that I was talking about 28F, because I didn't tell him. So much for the eradication of Fahrenheit knowledge. BTW, mils are 1/1000 of an inch. If I said something was 100 mils, that would be 1/10 of an inch, I suppose.

28F outside? I thought you lived in Florida? Nice warm florida (well it is when I visit it, which is usually betwixt august and october where it's usually between 85 and 105 - yummy if you're not working)

I must say that I was not having a slanging match against America and the UK, I love America. I also love Europe. However I do hate the EU - but that's totally different.

Some points though, Burger King *is* owned by Diageo, 50% of Universal *is* owned by Rank. I cannot make these facts up because I am both a shareholder and employee/ex employee of these monsters.

Hey but life's too short - let's get back to bitching about how crap metric is!

On the way into work this morning I notices a sign that was advertising land for rent - It said "To Let, 17000 to 20000 sq feet of office space with 1.25 acres of land and a work yard" - that's 3 imperial measures on one sign! (yeah i know, i know!!!)

It actually does get quite cool in Florida in the middle of winter. Bill is not pulling your leg. The first week of January, the temperature fell to below freezing several times. I have some bamboo growing in a bucket of water; there was sheet of ice covering the water’s surface by 12:30am (I forget which night). Currently it is 52F and cloudy where I am in Tallahassee. This is sweater and coat weather for us Floridians. I am currently wearing a jacket and feel quite comfortable putting on an overcoat before I go outside. Before you make fun of us for low cold tolerance, I would like to mention something. When a group of us from the University of Florida went to Cambridge for the summer, we were informed by one of our instructors that 70F was unusually hot and that at such ‘extreme’ heat caused construction workers to take the day off. Then he realized who he was talking to and conceded that 70F was probably nothing to us Floridians… and he was right. I am quite comfortable at 70. It’s really interesting to see who finds what temperature agreeable.

You'd be surprised at what this country goes through - I'm sure that you know that it is so unpredictable here!

Where I work we have a lot of southern hemisphere types (NZ's, Ozzies, springbokers) and they can't get over the fact that on Monday it can be over 90 and then on Wednesday everyone has to wear their pullovers coz it's dropped to below 70. What they adore is that when it *does* get up to 90 we don't suffer that really humid heat that they get in the SouthernHem (And in Florida). But I must admit us Brits will start moaning about going through a heatwave and one week later complain that "we never have any sun". Yes, stats give UK an avg of 72 - 75F in the summer but that is made up from extremes of 50 to 95 (and over 100F on the odd year. It really takes some visitors by surprise! Eg/ last week it was well below zero whereas today it's about 50F/10C (an unusual trait here is that when it get's cold we seem to revert to celsius - I suppose it's coz 100 sounds hot and zero sounds cold!)

Finally, I've not heard of workmen being told to go home when it's hot - in fact (perculiarly) there is a law for lower extreme temperatures but no law for upper extremes over here.

Well, in all fairness, that bit of information came from an English Literature instructor. It is very reasonable to assume that his expertise does not extend into the sphere of Construction practices. Also, you have to take into account human memory error and the fact that I was there in 1999 (and now that I think about it, it could have been 79F). Anyway, it is still an amusing story to tell to my friends here who can't imagine anything under 95F as being uncomfortable. One of my favorite comparative temperature stories here has to do with swimming. All throughout North Central Florida, there are wonderful fresh water springs that we like to swim in. They are about 72 degrees year round which makes swimming in March interesting since the water is a few degrees warmer than the ambient temperature. Anyway, in the heat of summer, there is a difference of 20 degrees or more between the water and the air. Naturally, it seems very cold to us. My friend’s dad was visiting us from up north (Boston, Massachusetts) and we took him to one of the Springs to swim. Naturally, people from Massachusetts have a higher tolerance to cold than do those of us from Florida. Some of them even swim in the Atlantic Ocean when it’s 60F outside… when we Floridians are breaking our coats out and dreaming of summer swimming weather. He commented on all of the people with Southern accents commenting on how cold the water was. “Now,” he said, “I will be impressed with the water temperature when I hear someone with a Boston accent complaining about how cold it is.”

Well, you may not find that story as amusing as I do. But try to imagine telling such a story using Celsius. I am not as familiar with Celsius as I am with the gram, liter, and meter, but I think that the temperature spread in my story would be between 15C and 37C. That is not nearly as impressive as the difference between 60F and 98F. I thought metric proponents liked to have a lot of small units between the large ones so they could really fine-tune their measurements. Guess not, where temperature is concerned… unless there are smaller Kelvin measures of which I am unaware.

1 degree Kelvin = 1 degree Celsius. If you need smaller meassurments you use decimals like 0.14 degrees Celsius for example.

You Floridans really do wear coats at 60F? I thought that was a myth. Here in North Dakota that's when we dig out our shorts. But I guess we do get greater extemes up here--in a typical winter we get a few days down to -20F and in July it can get over 100F in the shade.

Mr Banana.

Since when was one degree Kelvin = 1 degree Celsius?
First of all you would say 1 Kelvin (drop the "degree").

And so, following that:

1 degree C = 274.15 Kelvin (= 33.8 degrees F)

Ok?


Niles, Following your story regarding different places in the US, it is similar here but for different reasons - air quality.
The best way of explaining this is us folk who live near London - when we go up to scotland we get cold turkey and occasionally rush to the nearest car to suck on it's exhaust pipe. That usually keeps us going for a couple of hours!!

Mr. Banana said: “1 degree Kelvin = 1 degree Celsius. If you need smaller measurements you use decimals like 0.14 degrees Celsius for example.”

By that, I assume that you mean a change in one degree of Celsius is the equivalent to a change of one Kelvin (ie: a change from 1C to 2C is the equivalent of a change from 274.15 K to 275.15 K). Thank you. That clears the matter up for me. I was researching the topic on a metric site and one of the comments regarding the superiority of Celsius had to do with some of the decimal properties of some standard Fahrenheit measures. I believe the gentleman suggested that it was ridiculous to have a standard human temperature of 98.6F when you could just say 37C. (That’s how I got the idea that metric users might not like small, fractional, temperature measures… and it seemed extremely odd to me that a proponent of a decimal system should have a problem with a decimal fraction.) I am glad to see that all ‘metric people’ aren’t that silly. Thanks for the more reasonable position; it is refreshing.



Inchesrule said, “You Floridians really do wear coats at 60F? I thought that was a myth.”

The myth is true, though many of us wait until it gets below 55… it also depends on where you are from in Florida. For example, someone from Miami will react to 60 degree weather the same way that a Gainesville (North Central Florida) person would react to 50 degree weather. A lot of it, though, has to do with the fact that it is so warm here for most of the year that we want to break out our winter-wear for the variety of it. From mid-December to mid-March are the months that we can wear long cloths without sweating, so we like to enjoy it while it lasts. In my case, I like wearing a jacket because I find the inside breast pockets to be extremely useful. Naturally, I wear one whenever I can because I hate using my pants pockets… so in 60 degrees, I will wear a jacket even though I would be just as comfortable without one.

A famous radio personality from up north who now lives in Florida isn’t so nice in his observation. He sort of poked fun at his new neighbours by saying something to the effect of: ‘Well, as you know, I have moved from New York to Florida. It doesn’t get nearly as cold here and that’s why I like it. You should see some of the native Floridians, though. It gets below 60 and they start breaking out the sweaters and coats. It’s like they think it’s going to snow or something. It’s so funny, I’ll drive around and see some of these people at the gas station filling up their SUVs hoping to be seen in their trendy sweaters… these people have no idea what real cold is.’

I don’t really take offense at this sort of thing. He is right that part of it does have to do with our fascination with winter apparel. Besides, I get to taunt northerners when they vacation here in the summer. When some of my acquaintances complain about the hot, humid 94 degree weather, I can simply smile and say, “this is nothing… it’s not really hot until it gets up around 99.”

Ok, I wasn´t clear enough. Have any of you studied physics or chemistry?

1 unit of Kelvin = 1 unit of Celsius

0 degrees Celsius = 273.15 degrees Kelvin (the freezing point)