3 ms·

How are you defining 'human scale' units? To me they're units that you can eyeball. Units that don't inherently have to be accurate. If you want accuracy you

How are you defining 'human scale' units? To me they're units that you can eyeball. Units that don't inherently have to be accurate. If you want accuracy you can use a different metric. If the newspaper described something in terms of football pitches, that doesn't preclude giving the the actual area also. So I don't see the problem of keeping the foot (~30cm) and using actual metric for the base. >Settling on centimeters as a common unit and neglecting the decimeter is quite odd on its own. Well every industry that that im aware of uses mm over cm. Building material is commonly sold in 2400mm heights, more commonly than even 2.4m and if there's an industry that needed the decimetre surely it's the building industry, but even they went the other way and settled on mm.

cxr 4y ago
> How are you defining 'human scale' units? "'human-scale' objects i.e. those that you are likely to find yourself using your hands to work with" And I'd say that it's clear enough from context that what I'm taking about is basically "whatever people in the US use inches and feet for (or a large part of that set, at least)". Again, that's the whole point of this thread—things that people continue to use feet for and how it impacts the adoption (or lack thereof) of metric units. > If you want accuracy you can use a different metric. "The point is that people [...] aren't" > I don't see the problem of keeping the foot (~30cm) and using actual metric for the base. The foot is not a metric unit, full stop. > Well every industry that that im aware of uses mm over cm How tall are you? Is that something you answer by reporting it in millimeters? You're also ignoring the part about how centimeters are not an opportune unit for the types of things I'm describing due to their scale. That makes millimeters even less so.
- benj111 4y ago
  >"'human-scale' objects i.e. those that you are likely to find yourself using your hands to work with" >How tall are you? Is that something you answer by reporting it in millimeters? I wouldn't describe a human as something I would use my hands to work with. Anyway if you asked my height I would say 6ft. If I actually measured myself eg for a BMI I would use cm or mm ~180cm ~1800mm neither of those are hard. I don't really get why you're arguing against me on this. I know both units. Inches and feet are useful for some things, and I use them for the things I find useful. I could have the opposite discussion with someone who only uses metric, that imperial is useless because it doesn't do X and they can't imagine ever using it until their imagined use case is fixed. Ultimately it's what you're used to. But if you want the human scale units then imperial is there.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - cxr 4y ago
    Is there a reason why you insist on missing the point (ignoring it, rather)?

cxr 4y ago

> How are you defining 'human scale' units? "'human-scale' objects i.e. those that you are likely to find yourself using your hands to work with" And I'd say that it's clear enough from context that what I'm taking about is basically "whatever people in the US use inches and feet for (or a large part of that set, at least)". Again, that's the whole point of this thread—things that people continue to use feet for and how it impacts the adoption (or lack thereof) of metric units. > If you want accuracy you can use a different metric. "The point is that people [...] aren't" > I don't see the problem of keeping the foot (~30cm) and using actual metric for the base. The foot is not a metric unit, full stop. > Well every industry that that im aware of uses mm over cm How tall are you? Is that something you answer by reporting it in millimeters? You're also ignoring the part about how centimeters are not an opportune unit for the types of things I'm describing due to their scale. That makes millimeters even less so.

benj111 4y ago
>"'human-scale' objects i.e. those that you are likely to find yourself using your hands to work with" >How tall are you? Is that something you answer by reporting it in millimeters? I wouldn't describe a human as something I would use my hands to work with. Anyway if you asked my height I would say 6ft. If I actually measured myself eg for a BMI I would use cm or mm ~180cm ~1800mm neither of those are hard. I don't really get why you're arguing against me on this. I know both units. Inches and feet are useful for some things, and I use them for the things I find useful. I could have the opposite discussion with someone who only uses metric, that imperial is useless because it doesn't do X and they can't imagine ever using it until their imagined use case is fixed. Ultimately it's what you're used to. But if you want the human scale units then imperial is there.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- cxr 4y ago
  Is there a reason why you insist on missing the point (ignoring it, rather)?