....what were the 70's like?

If I remember right, the European commission has set a deadline for Britain to switch to metric. Even though Britain hasn't converted completely, in the U.S. there is no such push for change. The 70s was the last real effort by the U.S. govt to change to metric.

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Strangely, the two-liter soda pop bottle that became popular in the 70s is one of the few items you see in the U.S. that is regularly metric. That was partly a result of the phasing out of glass bottles in the 70s and the use of recycleable thermo-plastic to help conserve resources.

32 oz glass bottles used to be popular in the 70s. Kids would often go on bottle hunts and get some free money by returning them to beverage shops.

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It's quite simple; if we were all metric, there'd be no need to convert between systems. At the same time, if we were all Imperial/US Customary, there'd again be no need to convert between systems.

Yes, there're many hard metric products in the America. America's caught somewhere between the two systems as Canada and Britain are (just at different points).

North American soda cans are still 12 oz. even if they're listed as the soft-metric 355 mL equivalent.

There aren't any really compelling, practical reasons to switch to it. The metric system certainly isn't 'all that.'

 

......kinda funny, i have the dazed and confused DVD and was watching it with my mom one day, she graduated in 1976 same year as the movie took place and like in the opening seen where every1's going to school and theres people outside smoking pot and how there talkin and listening to music my mom laughed and was like "wow thats exactly how my highschool was" she says her and her friends had a really good time in the 70's.

 

So you want all of the other countries in the world to switch to the English system just so the U.S. doesn't have to convert? That's silly.

There are many practical reasons to switch to it, some of which are based on accuracy and repeatability, not to mention reducing chances of conversion errors between systems. Conversions within the English system itself are much more complicated than metric. There's only a few drawbacks, such as the loss of composite numbers such as '12'.

The dislike for it is based mainly in empathy for tradition.

Anyway, I don't want to drag the thread into a metric system debate.

There were other movements proposed in the 70s that never came to be, such as the Equal Rights Amendment. It didn't surprise me that ERA failed. It's not likely that people would make such a change if they were afraid of a change as trivial as the metric system.

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The last major social movement was the ending of segregation in the 60s and 70s. Societal movements in the U.S. seem to be at a standstill, especially the past couple decades. In some respects, things seem to be going in reverse. I mentioned earlier the call for an amendment banning gay marriage.

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I just don't care for a system based on so meaningless a unit as the metre. Even units of energy and mass involve the metre somewhere. Then there's the lack of decent proportionality in all the base-10 madness. Then ya have a litre that should itself be a millilitre, and a base unit that already has a prefix attached to it (kilogram). It's screwy and isn't any better than the alternative. If anyone wishes to use it, fine. I don't.


More on topic, the '70s were rosier times, anyway. US Steel was still a powerhouse, and the country wasn't bein' sold out wholesale as it's since been.

 

The U.S. is actually a scrap metal country now. We are a supplier of scrap metal to countries such as China. We used to accept scrap and make steel. Rather sad.

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You'll have to convince every country in the world of this (with the exception of the U.S.) So many countries wouldn't be using it if it were really that bad.

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American cars are a little better than they were in the 70s. American-made cars in the 70s rusted out big time. There used to be a cottage industry of rust-proofing businesses for cars in the 70s. That industry seems to have died out as it isn't needed much anymore.

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This seems wierd to me, most of my late teenagehood was based around dark side of the moon, old school punk music, john lennon as a solo artist, joy division, neil young, david bowie, countless 70s movies including star wars, apocolypse now, the godfather, Gallipoli, taxi driver, not to mention more and what we see now in that 70s show and dazed and confused, Dogs in space (aussie film). There was the second half and the end of the vietnam war, watergate, riots in britain, the space race was still going strong, disco music, the brady bunch. And my parents tell me all about it....

Oh yeah, and there was the flourishing of the hardcore porn industry...

whoever says the 70s wasn't big has got their head up their arse, or maybe i'm wrong and all the people who were there can correct me.

 

I don't have to convince anyone of anything. They can use whatever crap they want. I have my way, which is shared by millions, anyway. It isn't goin' anywhere, so there's no problem.

 

Man, as I've said of the sixties so many times before--I wasn't even born then, and I still miss it! I would literally give my right ear just to have been born in the seventies. The sixties, I'd give both me ears. Christ, might as well toss a lung in there too. I can't believe I missed it--it's just not fair.

 

For the average person in the U.S., it doesn't matter too much personally. There's an added costs to items since conversions have to be done and that takes time and money plus mistakes are sometimes made in conversion. Things would be more efficient with everyone on metric.

A few hunded million of your tax dollars were lost a few years ago (assuming you're in the U.S.) because the thrusters on the Mars spacecraft were assumed to be English when in fact they were in metric and the craft missed the planet.

Intra-English mistakes are even more common because of the non-sensical plethora of conversion factors within the English system. (not to mention ambiguity between volume and weight: an ounce can be both weight and volume in the English system; ambiguity between weight and mass: pound-mass or pound-force; plus a number of other problems I don't want to elaborate on)

It's still interesting how emotional people get about a topic as trivial as this. Emotional ties to tradition often win out over practical reason, especially in the U.S.

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Ya mean like the kilo?

The so-called 'English' system does need to be reworked in areas like capacity measures as well as mass and weight, though. Even units of linear measure could be reorganized somewhat.

I apologize for all this. Like ya said, it is rather trivial, but I'm kinda obsessed with measures for some reason.

 

I heard that pot was cheaper.....
dno though wasn't there eather.

 

Color photography was more expensive.
Most of my pics were monochrome.

Oh, cheap's a tremendous understatement for 70's pot prices v. Today's...

 

Can you say Colombian?

'Lumbo' as we affectionately called it. The gold was some of the best weed ever, even compared to today's stuff. And only $35 an oz. Ahhhhhh....the good ole days.

 

well....i know one thing for shour! i was born 79 and i looove it, so i think that was the best year in my life!!!! ......but wish i would have lived from the 60s. now im just doing my life to the best and that makes me sometimes thing im there....wish....

 

That's called a live studio audience.