[AT] Spam> Re: metric system

[Ralph Goff]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "charliehill" <charliehill at embarqmail.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 6:16 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] Spam> Re: Spam> bearing cross-reference


Mattias, the reason folks here are so resistant to metric is that everything
we have is in the english system and the coversions are hard to do.  Once
you start to work in Metric it is much easier to use and gets exponentially
easier once you get into things like physics and have to deal with mass
units and that pesky little fellow called gravity.

Charlie we in Canada have had to deal with the metric system for something 
like 40 years now and I think we have developed a sort of combined system on 
the farm. The biggest obstacle in my opinion is that all our land was 
surveyed in the 1800s using the imperial (english) system. A section of land 
was one mile square and contained 640 acres. I'm not going to get out my 
calculator to see how many kilometres around or how many hectares are in a 
section. Roads are a mile apart east and west, 2 miles apart going north and 
south and I don't see that changing any time soon as it hard enough to 
maintain the roads we have without tearing them down and relocating them .
Grain prices are given in both bushels and tonnes and I'd say bushels are 
still the most used measure. We buy our fuel and chemical in litres but know 
that there are 4.54 of them in a gallon. I guess a dollar per litre doesn't 
sound quite as bad as $4.54 per gallon for gas. We end up spraying 
herbicides in litres per acre, a combination of two systems that we have 
adapted to.
I think most of us still relate more to how many miles per gallon our 
vehicle gets rather than how many kilometres per litre.
I still swear every time I encounter a metric bolt or fitting and have to 
pick up a metric wrench to deal with it. I think possibly when our "boomer" 
generation disappears maybe the metric system will become more predomiinant. 
Until then I'll keep looking at the farenheit side of my thermometer so I 
can brag to you guys down south just how cold it is here. :-)

Ralph in Sask.