why is cable lengths in meters

leftwinger57

When ever I have to much time on my hands I think of stupid sh%t like this. We still live in the U.S and I think we still use feet and inches,calibers for ammo measurements unlike the rest of the world that use meters and wacky conversions like type 303 ammo which equals 30 caliber or a 12.7mm machine gun is 50 caliber. Is there any reason U.S. makers use the universal meter language. Hey thankfully we still drive on the left side.
Oh, I do have a conversion chart right next to me so I know wtf lengths are talked about.

[Deleted User]

and why isn't it spelt metre?

leftwinger57

Good point my conversion chart took the American way out w/ METERS...LOL

pitdogg2

because most all cable is made over seas where most of the world is metric.

Lew do you know why the Brits and their colony's drove on the left?


So they could still hold their sword in their right hand...I'm not making this up.

decal

You have way, way too much time on your hands !!!!!!!

mhardy6647

I'd prefer they measure lengths in rods or furlongs, personally

1 meter = 0.199 rod

1 meter = 0.00497 furlong



In seriousness (well, relatively speaking), a meter is 39.37 inches, or a little more (about 3-1/3 inches) than a yard. Think of a meter as a yard and, whoopie, the cable mfg. is giving you more for your money! It's like getting 9% more for free! Such a deal!

leftwinger57

Doc,but how many fathoms ? The thing with the sword is correct but I also heard it was in deference for farmers and their wagons,carts and tractors for some reason or another. The scene w/ Chevy Chase in a round-about was priceless.
About to much time on these here hands, I can't argue w/ the truth.

mhardy6647

Unfathomable.



EDIT: Actually -- come to think of it -- a one fathom pair of "interconnects" would be a pretty good length for many folks; two or three fathom lengths for speaker cables.

I couldn't possibly have put it any better than Wikipedia does:

There are two yards in an Imperial fathom

mhardy6647

oh, and I just had another, corollary thought about this whole feet-meters thing.

I mean, who wouldn't want a stereo power amplifier with two big old illuminated feet on the front panel?

txcoastal1

I like to measure in metric, my wife says I look bigger

BlueFox

A centimeter versus a millimeter.

txcoastal1

BlueFox wrote: »

A centimeter versus a millimeter.

I like centimeters vs inches

BlueFox

I wish we had switched to the metric system. I can count to 10.

txcoastal1

BlueFox wrote: »

I wish we had switched to the metric system. I can count to 10.

I sometimes meticulously convert to metric because fractional dimensions in US conversions are a PITA to pin point precision

mhardy6647

In my professional life, we're all metric, all the time.
Not so much outside of the lab, though.

BlueFox

LOL. No s h ! t.

I should Google this, but we lost a spacecraft to Mars because two teams were developing the software. One was using US measurements, and the other was using the metric system. The results were close enough to get it there, but the difference between 36" and 39.3701 inches over millions of miles can throw it off a tad.

mhardy6647

DSkip wrote: »

BlueFox wrote: »

I wish we had switched to the metric system. I can count to 10.

Lies. You can count to six or twelve. If there are still beers in the case nobody counts. That only happens when it's empty.

Twenty four hours in a day.
Twenty four beers in a case.
Coincidence?
I think not.

BlueFox

Another conspiracy.

mhardy6647

Dang. That would explain it.

BlueFox

Fake facts.

txcoastal1

BlueFox wrote: »

Fake facts.

"Conspiracy"
get it right

Unknown

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helipilotdoug

When it comes to wire, we sell some in meters and some in feet on the website. It really depends on the manufacturer. Some sell and price in meters and some sell and price in feet. But I'll sell you cable lengths in any measurement you want! millimeters, centimeters, inches, feet, yards, meters, You name it.

cfrizz

Hysterical thread!

I hate math with a passion and had enough trouble with regular math, trying to teach me metrics was NOT/didn't succeed!

K_M

Metric is far easier.
"our" american system is really tough, as it is all mostly memorized units of measure, and random amounts of one make up the next bigger or smaller unit of another size.

Seems many are hanging on to our system out of nostalgia mostly.
Our system is very hard to learn, anyone ever cook here??

People tend to be lazy and hate change.

mantis

I'd love to go just Metric, life would be so much easier. Go buy a 2x4 at the Lumber yard. Go ahead and measure it and see what it really is. It's not 2x4

K_M

mantis wrote: »

I'd love to go just Metric, life would be so much easier. Go buy a 2x4 at the Lumber yard. Go ahead and measure it and see what it really is. It's not 2x4

The funny thing, a lot of stuff is metric in the USA, and then on the other hand, a lot of stuff is not.
We measure all types of things, in liters, Grams, kilograms and many things are measured in centimeters, millimeters and so on.
Its like we are afraid to really let go and move to Metric.

Cars, Science, and a lot of other things are universally in metric here and worldwide, but we still stick with Feet, and Ounces on some things.

befuddle

Metrics great for the math in measure But in terms of speed and temp the scale seems to large for comfortable practicability ie -15 Celsius /100 km a hour snds excessively cold and rather fast

mhardy6647

What gets me is tires -- you know, when you have a set of 225/65R17 tires on your, umm, for a wild example, RAV4. 225 mm tread width, 65% aspect ratio tires -- on 17 inch wheels. With metric nuts and lugs. Actually, I assume the nuts are metric; who knows?

leftwinger57

Look at what I started. Cathy we have at least the math thing in common. I was so bad they what's called now socially promoting a student. I never passed algebra 1 never. They didn't know what to do w/ me. I hated it so much I walked out of my math SATs. How, you might ponder, well a few drops of Ipikak syrup will make you throw up hence a sick out and a rescheduled test. I never went back and the only school who would take me for free was Bronx C.C. There is a very deep rooted phyc reason for all of this but this isn't the Dr. Phil show and it's a very touchy subject w/ me. I forgot about the whole temperature differences also.

mantis

It's all madness, if we just went Metric like the entire rest of the world, our lives would be so much easier.