Obama's NASA gives huge FUCK YOU to global science community.

[tranche]

NASA's decision to engineer its replacement for the space shuttle using imperial measurement units rather than metric could derail efforts to develop a globalised civilian space industry, says a leading light in the nascent commercial spaceflight sector.

"We in the private sector are doing everything possible to create a global market with as much commonality and interoperability as possible," says Mike Gold of the US firm Bigelow Aerospace, which hopes to fly commercial space stations in orbitMovie Camera. "But NASA still can't make the jump to metric."

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17350-nasa-criticised-for-sticking-to-imperial-units.html

Change? Meet the new unit of measurement, same as the old unit of measurement. God! To think I was so stupid as to think we'd be on the metric system by now -- I was fooled. Just weights and measures? Just words? Why doesn't he do something! Now! There is no place in this world for the foot and inch. None. This English unit hegemony must stop now!

[babylonsister]

1. You're kidding, right.

:eyes:

[YOY]

2. You're upset about that?

Let me guess...low threshold for conversion equations?

[dave29]

3. numbers are just placeholders for perceptual boundaries

Obama gets it

:) lol

[Lost-in-FL]

4. Lockheed Martin... I mean NASA, can wait.

There are other priorities.

[n2doc]

5. I wouldn't put it quite that way, but it is stupid

We aren't buying rocket parts from Cletus' "rockit N go" shop. Any company can do things with the proper units. I wonder if this is some kind of legacy issue with re-using old spare parts?

[bluestateguy]

6. We tried the metric system in the late 70's/early 80's

Americans were not interested, and that was that.

[kath]

65. Oh, but they didn't REALLY try - they gave a half-assed attempt, then gave up on it too soon - it's

pathetic that the US isn't metric like the rest of the devoloped world (well the Brits are kind of in-between) and the ENTIRE scientific community

[Adelante]

7. Satire?

[countingbluecars]

8. LOL!!!

[HopeOverFear]

9. IT'S BLASPHEMY I SAY, BLASPHEMY!!!!!!!!!

:sarcasm:


:eyes:

[elocs]

10. Science aside, the reason we are not on the metric system here

is that Americans do not want it and are not interested. Simple concept. It will never happen here.

[Buzz Clik]

24. I won't touch that with a 3.048-meter pole.

[mwooldri]

74. That's not much of a 0.9144 metre stick by any measure. nt

[GCP]

79. My car gets 40 rods to the hogs-head and that's just the way I like it!

Edited for accuracy

[realisticphish]

87. but the metric system IS here

go to any lab and ask whether they measure in mils or ounces, kilos or pounds.

Science and industry have been using metric for decades

[grantcart]

11. "This English unit hegemony"

Now that is funny.


Hard to describe something as hegemony when only one country is influenced by it.

[Buzz Clik]

12. I'm more impressed with Obama than I was ten seconds ago. He made that decision himself? Awesome!

How does he do it? In another thread, we learn that Obama made the decision not to embed a Stars and Stripes reporter in Mosul. And now he's making decisions about the intricate details of constructing the shuttle.

Wow.

Either that, or the authors of these OPs are hugh morans.

[Cha]

18. The buck stops at Obama and

if anyone can possibly bring him into this then their day is made.

[ieoeja]

13. Evil is afoot!

Good is a meter.

[scubadude]

14. Yes, I agree, this move is wrong.

The metric system should have become the standard a long time ago. It is simply superior to the English unit in every way. Clinging to standards that have no value isn't change we can believe in.

Scuba

[scubadude]

15. Yes, I agree, this move is wrong.

The metric system should have become the standard a long time ago. It is simply superior to the English unit in every way. Clinging to standards that have no value isn't change we can believe in.

Scuba

[Romulox]

20. Metric is definitely NOT "superior to the English unit in every way"

It's really poorly scaled to the human environment.

How many meters tall are you? Now how many hundreds of cm are you? Most Brits and Canadians I've met use feet for these measurements...

[Buzz Clik]

22. Exactly. In the Subways of Canada, do you buy a 6-inch sandwich or a 15-cm sandwich?

Ha!

[scubadude]

26. Yes, and they can tell you exactly how many stone they weigh too.

But that doesn't make it the right thing to use.

The metric system is not scaled well for human perception? So you are claiming there is some kind of natural universal affinity for inches and feet? Bwaaahaaaahaaaaahaaaaa! :wow:

[Buzz Clik]

30. Hell, I haven't seen my feet in years.

bada bing!

[Romulox]

31. You didn't answer my question: how many meters tall are you? 1.x?

If you're like most human beings, you're one-point-something meters tall.

"So you are claiming there is some kind of natural universal affinity for inches and feet? "

Um, no. I'm claiming they are better scaled to the human environment, and I provided a practical example. :eyes:

[scubadude]

32. C'mon, how many stone do you weigh?

There are hundreds of weight and distance measuring systems that are no longer used. How many cubits are you tall? Why would I ask you? Many many people used to use cubits as a standard, and I bet not a single one would understand the change. Why did we give it up? How did they manage the change? Hmmmmm.

The metric system is powers of ten better than the English system.

Scuba

[Romulox]

36. Not a clue. Don't see what point that makes....

"There are hundreds of weight and distance measuring systems that are no longer used. "

Funny that it's inconceivable that the metric system might share some of the flaws of these long forgotten systems of measure!

"How many cubits are you tall? Why would I ask you?"

Right. But I asked you how many meters tall you are--you know, a unit in the system you are advocating for! And you really don't like the question, as you've ducked it twice! :hi:

[scubadude]

53. Somewhere between one and three, I won't be more specific.

Closer to 2, way less than a full 3.

Soon our English system of measure will be just one more of the flawed systems you seem to love relegated to the dustbin of history.

Right now scientist are engaged in experiments designed to further their efforts to codify the metric system. You see it is designed to match phenomenon observed in nature. But of course your kidding me anyway! :crazy:

Scuba :banghead:

[comtec]

77. I'm 178 cm tall

115 kilos and dropping!!! =]
happy? =]
OK I'm also living in Holland where i've had to adjust to the Km and Liter as well.
oh well.
such is life :)
Give me a mile, and MPH any day =]
this 100km/l is crazy stuff for gas mileage. I miss MPG... but that;s getting into ranting territory.

[jberryhill]

72. There is a natural affinity for things evenly divisble by 2, 3, 4, and 6 /nt

Halves, thirds and quarters work out nicely in a base 12 measurement system.

Using base ten simply because that is the number of fingers we evolved is utterly arbitrary.

[scubadude]

85. What, and we can't do multiples of ten?

Quick, how many digits one one hand? How many feet to the mile?

How many inches in a fathom? How many feet in a fathom? How many meters in a kilometer? Same stuff, just a little getting used to, then the simplicity of a more logical system for the rest of your life. It's worth it.

Scuba

[MilesColtrane]

89. Singing, "Five Loony .3048 Meter Looooong!" just doesn't cut it.

[Canuckistanian]

33. There are actually very few measurements we use in Imperial

Body height and weight are notable - metric hasn't caught on here yet. But doctors use metric almost exclusively.

And yes, we buy 6" subs and 12" pizzas - but that seems to be the American influence over our food.

But for everything else - we use metric. Temperature, car speeds, food weights, liquid measurements, land size and even fuel economy are all metric now.

The US and the UK are the biggest holdouts from using metric. The rest of the world has moved on to standardize in metric.

[Romulox]

38. The Canadians "only" use English measures for their most common measuring tasks!

Science is best conducted in metric, no doubt. But to admit that Canadians "only" use English measures for height, weight, and short distances rather proves my point, non?

[Canuckistanian]

39. Why are you Americans so touchy on this?

Did you not see my list of ALL the things we use metric for?

Eventually, we'll lose the feet and pounds. My son is being taught exclusively in metric now. It's only us "pre-conversion" people using feet and pounds right now.

We're slowly moving to a totally metric world. Imperial is dying here. Slowly, but it IS dying.

[Romulox]

42. *I'm* touchy? *You* are the one that is excited about this, I'm just putting in my $.02.

How's metric time coming, by the way? Time measurement are no more logical than English distance measurements. :hi:

[Canuckistanian]

43. There seemed to be a "gotcha" tone to your response.

Sorry if I misinterpreted it, but I've had Americans preach to me that the Imperial system "is much more accurate" than metric. It's not. It's just different.

:hi:

[Romulox]

45. Not in the least. (The Metric Time critique is fairly damning, however, imo.)

"I've had Americans preach to me that the Imperial system "is much more accurate" than metric. It's not. It's just different."

I tend to use the metric when I have to do any fine measurements. On a fine scale is where the metric system really shines.

[Canuckistanian]

56. Yeah, what's the Imperial equivalent of the Angstrom?

I actually looked it up. It's 3.937 millionths of an inch.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

62. You realize that's your own personal bias, right?

[scubadude]

64. Yes, good point. I am biased in favor of logic and simplicity.

KISS is my motto, yours too I take it.

Scuba

[slackmaster]

97. It is inherently superior for precision machine work

English-unit machine tools are typically scaled to cut in increments of .001 inch (thousandths). With metric machines, the smallest unit is generally .01 mm (one hundredth of a millimeter). That is more precise.

Calculating the dimensions for metric threads is much simpler too.

[sharp_stick]

16. Damn I hope you're kidding

plus you missed this little snippet from the article. Here, I'll help you out a bit.

>NASA recently calculated that converting the relevant drawings, software and documentation to the "International System" of units >(SI) would cost a total of $370 million – almost half the cost of a 2009 shuttle launch, which costs a total of $759 million. "We >found the cost of converting to SI would exceed what we can afford," says Hautaluoma.

[soothsayer]

17. Didn't we completely wreck a mars lander or something (supposedly)when we tried to use metric stuff?

Yeah, here it is

September 30, 1999
Web posted at: 1:46 p.m. EDT (1746 GMT)


(CNN) -- NASA lost a $125 million Mars orbiter because one engineering team used metric units while another used English units for a key spacecraft operation, according to a review finding released Thursday.
more http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric/

[PVnRT]

51. That would be a failure of oversight

The people who missed that should have been rightfully fired for not checking that in the first place.

[Ian David]

19. Bush's head of NASA was a Young-Earth Creationist who denied Global Warming and "mishandled" money.

And you're going nuts over The Metric System?

[redqueen]

21. *roffle*

[Number23]

37. I love your "roffles" And this OP definitely deserves one

:)

[Political Tiger]

23. That's it! I've had it! IMPEACH OBAMA NOW!

:crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

[a la izquierda]

25. The Metric System is the tool of the Devil...

Grampa "Abe" Simpson.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

71. My car gets 40 rods to the hogs head and that's the way I likes it.

[a la izquierda]

76. LOL

thanks for the early a.m. chuckle!

[Hutzpa]

27. This has got to be a joke,

false alarm everyone....:rofl:

[Buzz Clik]

28. So, what do you figure this thing is -- 3/8" or 9 mm?

[AngryOldDem]

29. Not before I get my pony.

A dapple gray one.

[greguganus]

82. How many hands high? Or metres? n/t

[RaleighNCDUer]

34. Wasn't that the exact problem that caused the loss of one of the Mars probes?

A mixup between imperial and metric caused a miscalibration?

At least, that was the story.

I personally think it was shot down by a UFO.

[Blue_Tires]

35. there is still a chance we might try the metric alphabet

i hope

[RoyGBiv]

40. Shut up and go away ...

I am thoroughly fed up with this bullshit.

[zulchzulu]

41. Oooh! Metric wars! Did you ever try to use an English metric part in an Asian metric car?

The Asian metric system is slightly smaller (no jokes please...) than the English metric system.

If you don't think so, try replacing a generic car part in Eurometrics in an Asian automobile. There's enough size difference to make it a useless part.

So let's get all this out in the open. Which metric? The parts made in Asia (most of them) or the parts made in Europe (very few comparatively)...

[PVnRT]

49. If it doesn't conform to SI standards, it isn't metric

If something is "different" about Asian parts, they aren't using the System Internationale that defines metric units by means of fundamental physical properties (like the wavelength of a hydrogen atom at a specific energy, etc.).

[zulchzulu]

75. Well considering that so much technology is produced in Asia, shouldn't SI standards be Asian metric

....

My Honda uses Asian metric-measured parts. A European part doesn't fit precisely. I can see why it's so, from the protectionist standpoint perhaps.

I would suspect a lot of technology is produced in Asia that goes into a NASA vehicle. And I would venture to guess that NASA is not willing to retrofit Asian production facilities to an SI standard.

Look at the Stealth bomber. Not one part in the vehicle is flat... for detection reasons. Look at the cost of those things...billions of dollars for one stinking Stealth.

I'd be all for SI standards on all hardware and make all other electronic accessories internationally compliant. That's never going to happen though.

[SeattleGirl]

44. What really amazes me is how a lot of people around here give Obama

direct responsibility for anything and everything they don't like.

Obama's NASA???

You mean he is now the head of NASA too? That he personally tells them what to do?

Holy shit, the man IS busy, isn't he?

:eyes:

[high density]

46. lol

well done. I was worried my ignore list would grow by one.

[phleshdef]

47. It doesn't matter. Any conversions that may need performed can be easily done in seconds.

If someone from a metric system country is trying to create something for NASA, this wouldn't hinder them one little bit. Its irrelevant.

[PVnRT]

48. Oh, for fuck's sake

There are legitimate things to gripe about.

I have no less than seven books at my desk at work that list conversion factors for imperial to metric and vice versa. My calculator has it built in. There are plenty of opportunities for the "global science community," which, by the way, universally uses metric, even in the U.S., to create a global market.

I'm not usually one to pounce on critics, but fuck is this a massive fail.

[AtomicKitten]

50. FFS.

[vaberella]

52. The English use the metric system. n/t

[Drunken Irishman]

54. GO BACK TO CANADA!

:P

[11 Bravo]

55. Since you're new here, I'm going to assume that you aren't aware of the "sarcasm" smilie.

[Fearless]

57. Wow! I feel for you who feel so hurt by this. Accept psychological help.

Nevermind, health care isn't happening either.


:eyes:

[Thrill]

58. Obama's people aren't even in yet at NASA

[Grown2Hate]

59. Since you're new around here, let me be the first to tell you that you will

be BLOWN AWAY (I mean absolutely BLOWN AWAY) at people's lack of being able to discern sarcasm in a post (even if it is LITERALLY dripping with it) unless you use the sarcasm smilie. Best not to assume that ANYONE will get the joke. However, well done. :) I especially liked, "The English unit hegemony must stop now!". Priceless. :)

[NoPasaran]

69. According to the profile, the OP has been here since 2004

I think that's 1885 in metric.

[Grown2Hate]

70. Ah. Long enough to know the ::sarcasm:: necessity. Tsk, tsk. NT

[HamdenRice]

78. I feel really dumb now. But the environment is so full of dumbass Obama bashing that ...

sarcasm simply is incapable of taking the silliness to its absurdist conclusions without appearing to fit right in with the madness.

Even now, I'm still not sure you are correct in your assessment.

[HamdenRice]

60. OK, you win. This is the dumbest fucking post in the history of DU, perhaps the entire Intertubes

Obama's NASA has said "fuck you" to the global scientific community because of a dispute over measuring systems?

You are an insane idiot. I wish there was a more polite way of saying it. I note that you have 100+ posts only.

I would say enjoy your brief stay, but it seems that you 10-100 post counters who hate the Democratic Party and Obama are the new face of Democratic Underground.

[dionysus]

84. oh shit

:spray:

[CreekDog]

61. You think with Iran, the economy, universal health care that Obama is deciding metric/English units?

Are you freaking kidding me? :wtf:

This is the stupidest thing to blame on Obama that I HAVE EVER SEEN POSTED HERE!

By far the stupidest.

[Clio the Leo]

63. I want my life back....

.... I KNEW in the 6th grade when they MADE me learn the metric system as "the wave of the future" that it was a waste of time.

I'll never get that week back .... I've been robbed. I could have spent more time learning how to divide fractions.

[Uzybone]

66. and some will tell us that there is no poutrage on DU

what the hell is this?

[incapsulated]

67. YaY!! Death to the Metric Overlords!!

Go NASA!!

:D

[FreedomRain]

68. I can see it now

The Freeper outrage if he even tried to covert to a system with "Internationale" in the name. Might as well call it the "Systeme Socialiste" :)

[mwooldri]

73. It will go all metric globally eventually.

The UK had further to go because its money wasn't even metric. Now pretty much everything is metric except a few handful of measurements (roads in miles, beer in pints, few others I forget). In the food stores food must be sold by metric weight or volume, but many do provide a comparison in pounds and ounces.

[tomm2thumbs]

92. never give an inch to these metric people

oops

[architect359]

80. Interesting...

All of the government related projects that I've been involved in (at least in terms of architecture / construction docs) are done in metric - using milimeter measurements. That being said, I also know that some contractors and subs do still convert the measurements into imperial. It does make certain critical dimensions a bit more dicey for fit and finish though.

This is interesting to me only in the sense that I was under the impression that all gov agencies are using metric.

Of course, as soon as I write that I remembered that Mars mission failure a few years back due to a conversion error (more like forgetting to convert some calcs)... So yeah. I guess that NASA has always been using imperial. Hope that they rigorously continue to QAQC their work than, if they want to do their own thing inspite of international standards...

[Orsino]

81. We shouldn't discriminate against less-developed nations...

...that are still tied to the primitive "Metric System."

If they can only handle multiplying by powers of ten, though, they are not ready for work this advanced.

[greguganus]

83. lol n/t

[Rowdyboy]

86. Metrics failed here in the 1970's and it will fail today.....

Sorry it ruined your buzz.

[LiberalAndProud]

88. the next thing you know, we'll be changing our money to metric

actually, I'm quoting my mil there.

[tkmorris]

90. Why are we kicking a 2 week old thread?

Because we can?

[tomm2thumbs]

91. damn, and we were inches away from the metric system too!

oops

[Life Long Dem]

93. If everyone converts or if we conert them tonight...

when we wake up we will all be converted. Into what, this I don't know.:puke:

[anonymous171]

94. Most scientists are probably smart enough to know how to convert imperial units to metric units

I don't think this is an issue

[phleshdef]

95. Most non-scientists have computers with simple programs that will do it instantly...

its definately not an issue.

[dionysus]

96. who resurrected this fail of a thread?

:shrug: