State of the Game

Spaceman Si

Spaceman Si
Erei said:
One of them was the metric system. To free you from the Brit system. Sadly, the dude from the "Academie Nationale" had his ship captured by the Brits, and the poor guy died in jail in England. As such, you never got the metric system.

Doubly ironic, since the Brits eventually, and for once, did the right think and adopted the metric system.
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Officially, at least, America adopted metrication in 1975. The act signed by President Gerald Ford made metrication “the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce”, but…. It also “permitted the use of United States customary units in all activities”. US Metrication Act

Public opinion was such that this new-fangled stuff wasn’t welcome, and Reagan disbanded the US Metrication board in 1982.

So today, the US uses Imperial measurements in daily life, but SI units in scientific fields. (Mostly. Except where the Mars Climate Orbiter was concerned, and then a “bit of a mix up” between contractors on units meant that the probe went spiralling into the planet rather than maintaining a steady orbit.)

Erei said:
My grandma was a young child when you boys got in Normandy for some Nazi butt kicking. ;)
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My Dad was a young man at that time, and went through Normandy. He might have met your grandma ;) He was unscathed until March 1945 when his tank got knocked out. He got picked up by an American medic patrol, who took him to a US field hospital to be patched up, which leads me on to the lack of cocoa in coca-cola these days…

MishaTX said:
Yeah, we're mad as hell about that one too. Well, some of us are. We're just mad as hell very quietly, depending on who's listening. ;)
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Dad said that one of the walking wounded’s jobs was to go up to the mess tent in the mornings and bring back buckets of coke for the patients. Yes, buckets. And at that time, it was definitely ”The Real Thing”. I was told that the recovery process was much improved with extra energy being evidenced by all concerned :)
 

AngryAntz

AngryAntz
Spaceman Si said:
Officially, at least, America adopted metrication in 1975. The act signed by President Gerald Ford made metrication “the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce”, but…. It also “permitted the use of United States customary units in all activities”. US Metrication Act

Public opinion was such that this new-fangled stuff wasn’t welcome, and Reagan disbanded the US Metrication board in 1982.

So today, the US uses Imperial measurements in daily life, but SI units in scientific fields. (Mostly. Except where the Mars Climate Orbiter was concerned, and then a “bit of a mix up” between contractors on units meant that the probe went spiralling into the planet rather than maintaining a steady orbit.)



My Dad was a young man at that time, and went through Normandy. He might have met your grandma ;) He was unscathed until March 1945 when his tank got knocked out. He got picked up by an American medic patrol, who took him to a US field hospital to be patched up, which leads me on to the lack of cocoa in coca-cola these days…



Dad said that one of the walking wounded’s jobs was to go up to the mess tent in the mornings and bring back buckets of coke for the patients. Yes, buckets. And at that time, it was definitely ”The Real Thing”. I was told that the recovery process was much improved with extra energy being evidenced by all concerned :)
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I think someone took home schooling to heart
 

VR Lucian Arkright

VR Lucian Arkright
MishaTX said:
Guilty as charged. I had only just hit "Post" when I realized that I was going to need an extra finger to reach 2047.

It would have worked too, if it hadn't been for your legendary ninja skills! :)
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I must confess that I enjoy blowing peoples minds when I do binary counting on my fingers.

Throws smoke pellet, coughs, staggers around blinded by smoke in the eyes, and trips over the thread's cat
 

Erei

Erei
Spaceman Si said:
Officially, at least, America adopted metrication in 1975. The act signed by President Gerald Ford made metrication “the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce”, but…. It also “permitted the use of United States customary units in all activities”. US Metrication Act

Public opinion was such that this new-fangled stuff wasn’t welcome, and Reagan disbanded the US Metrication board in 1982.

So today, the US uses Imperial measurements in daily life, but SI units in scientific fields. (Mostly. Except where the Mars Climate Orbiter was concerned, and then a “bit of a mix up” between contractors on units meant that the probe went spiralling into the planet rather than maintaining a steady orbit.)
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I know that to. Really should have switched.
Spaceman Si said:
My Dad was a young man at that time, and went through Normandy. He might have met your grandma ;) He was unscathed until March 1945 when his tank got knocked out. He got picked up by an American medic patrol, who took him to a US field hospital to be patched up, which leads me on to the lack of cocoa in coca-cola these days…
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She told me the GIs where nice and gave chocolate to the children (due to rationing, we didn't have chocolate during the war), and stockings (I think that's how you call them) to the women :)

Your dad heroism is not forgotten, however :)
 

SpaceIsHuge

SpaceIsHuge
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