I prefer the metric, it makes more sense to me, but I would not push it on anyone. People get very attached to how the learned to measure and they get all emotional about it; not worth the argument, in my opinion.

Ah, yes, the metric issue. Americans have Ronald Regan to thank for killing the conversion to metric. It is such a joy to run into American cars that are a mix of English and metric fasteners (not). Not completing the conversion was a totally reactionary move and is simply ridiculous. I can't think what it is costing us now and will cost us when we finally have to make the change.

BPL is based in the US, so I would expect English measures. I wouldn't dream of getting on a site based in say, the UK or Australia and demand English weights. Personally, I have tried to put both units in my posts, for my own education as well as those who use metric. My hope is to get used what things feel like. Ultimately, a kilogram feels like a kilogram, not 2.2 pounds, and that is where I need to go. Somehow, the liquid measures are easier to adjust to.

Christine - well put!

We Americans have this "American Exceptionalism" view of the world - we're better than everyone else, so our measurement system must be the best too.

I hate measureing in 1/8ths of an ounce or inch or that there's 5280 feet in a mile.

We should just switch over to metric and be done with it.

Some day we'll be shocked into realizing there are other countries just as good as us.

I really like the diversity of ideas that comes from non-Americans.

We should be measuring the mass of our gear not the weight. The weight will vary slightly from one location to another and vary greatly from one planet to another. The proper unit of mass in the Imperial/English system is the SLUG!! "The slug is a unit of mass associated with Imperial units. It is a mass that accelerates by 1 ft/sec2 when a force of one pound-force (lbf) is exerted on it. Therefore a slug has a mass of 32.17405 pound-mass or 14.5939 kg." The pound as a unit of mass makes many physics calculations even more ridiculous.

About two (?) years ago there was a concerted effort by the Backpacking Light staff to convince our readership to allow us to switch over solely to using the metric system for our articles and gear shop listings but we received enough negativity to the notion that we opted to continue working with both systems.

Personally I try to use metric numbers in my everyday life as regularly as possible with the hope that I'll naturally learn it and become comfortable with it. I'm pretty dialed in distances and volumes but am still not fully grasping weights yet.

GO METRIC!!!

"You, in this country, are subjected to the British insularity in weights and measures; you use the foot, inch and yard. I am obliged to use that system, but must apologize to you for doing so, because it is so inconvenient, and I hope Americans will do everything in their power to introduce the French metrical system. ... I look upon our English system as a wickedly, brain-destroying system of bondage under which we suffer. The reason why we continue to use it, is the imaginary difficulty of making a change, and nothing else; but I do not think in America that any such difficulty should stand in the way of adopting so splendidly useful a reform."

Sir William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) speaking in America in 1884

Geez, the simplist of threads turn into Chaff on here. We've have the American Superiorist theory, the obligatory American apologist, American apathy...........what's left? Oh yeah, global warming, consumerism, and guns. Then it will be the typical (recent) BPL thread.

Edited by skinewmexico on 03/31/2011 10:53:22 MDT.

I used to work as a carpenter, and can see some advantages to the "English" system (or, at least reasons why it might have evolved). For example, I can more accurately eyeball and communicate fractions based on dividing in half (1/2, 1/4, 1/8 etc) than dividing by ten, and having twelve inches in a foot (and three feet to yard) makes dividing into thirds almost as easy as halves.

On the other hand, I've been working on an architecture degree for the past few years, and scale conversions would be a lot easier if we used a decimal system.

Canada switched to metric when I was in high school, so I've had a long time to adjust. The government here didn't cave and we are now well entrenched in the metric system... until you walk into a building supply store.

In building supplies, nothing has really changed in the past 40 years. All lumber is still listed in imperial units (thankfully!). I prefer measuring in feet and inches with building material and since the majority of our buildings were built on the old measuring system, I think it will stay that way for a long time to come.

I'm a hybrid when it comes to Backpacking gear weight. I think of shelter weights in pounds but like to measure my small items in grams. Volume doesn't matter as both litres and cubic inches (or gallons) work for me. Kilometers markers are everywhere here so that works for me as well but I still use a ruler that measures in inches (I'm not sure why).

Whatever system one grows up in is how we're wired to perceive measurements. Raised in the States I think in pounds, feet, miles, gallons, acres, degrees Fahrenheit etc. (Especially Fahrenheit.) Even though I have most of the common conversions memorized, my default is the units I grew up using, with perhaps the exception of grams and liters. My metric indoctrination began in seventh grade chemistry, so it's not as though the knowledge was withheld by some standards cabal.

Back to the OP, I'm a little confused by the request because articles here present every measurement in both system. Is the suggestion that the English system be dropped entirely? That dog wouldn't hunt (for the record, my dog weighs 3.6 stones).

Cheers,

Rick

Edited by halfturbo on 03/31/2011 11:21:42 MDT.

hell no!!! :)

I used to open the microsoft calculator to use for conversions while gear shopping and reading BPL. Got tired of that so I had a "sticky note" over on the side of the screen with a few simple reminders. Having committed the reminders to memory, the sticky note is gone.
This was so much easier than when I HAD to do the same conversions in school!

Would of, should of, could of. I wish they had just completed the change in the 70s because now we would not be talking about this. The next best choice would be just sticking with the english system. Having to work with two different systems that are not easily exchangeable is a train wreck. The metric system makes sense, the english system are numbers somebody pulled out of their a.. The only thing worst than the english system is two systems like we have now.

Sooner or later the US will become metric, we just need to wait until a couple of generations are dead, and one of those generations is mine.

What's so hard about this siequence 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64...........

It's just as easy as 1, 10, 100, 1000.

28% of the world drives on the wrong side of the road. That's a real problem.

The most spoken language is Mandarin. Lets all switch over to Mandarin.

Edited by magillagorilla on 03/31/2011 11:55:43 MDT.

USA! USA!

The Metric system is a evil plot to overtake the industrial world. If we switch to the metric system, the terrorist win!

>Back to the OP, I'm a little confused by the request because articles here present every measurement in both system. Is the suggestion that the English system be dropped entirely?

Hi Rick,

You are wrong on this point. After several years of members complaining on this issue BPL still publishes articles with measurements in the US measuring system only, I personally think for a supposedly international magazine this is very rude and especially rude if it is a technical article with lots of charts and graphs, put simply if a technical article on BPL does not include metric conversions I do not read it.

When writing an article it is very easy to do conversions at the time and I would like to see BPL have a policy that all articles published are in both systems.

Tony

"Lets all switch over to Mandarin."

Daniel, you go first.

--B.G.--

"Lets all switch over to Mandarin."

While I like the sound of Mandarin, I would feel awful about imposing its "tonal" system onto everyone!! Chinese grammar is brain-dead easy -- but the tonal pronunciation trips up almost every foreign speaker! For speaking, why not pick a language that's both easy and consistent -- like Spanish?

Edited by ben2world on 03/31/2011 13:45:54 MDT.

"When writing an article it is very easy to do conversions at the time and I would like to see BPL have a policy that all articles published are in both systems."

Agree.