I would certainly like to see engineers use the SI system for dates. The US approach to Oct 1, 2008 is often 1/10/08. When working on a Canadian job some think our system is 10/1/08 when it is in fact 08/10/01 . The only date in 2008 that we can be sure of is 08/08/08.
that's why I always write 31 Aug 2008, as for the convention of having the days between the month and year in the US I just can't understand it. it makes no sense at all.
Luck is a difficult thing to verify and therefore should be tested often. - Me
I just wish people would use the metric system correctly. Some still persist in using centimetres, which is not a multiple of 1000, so not metric.
But my biggest gripe is with European beer manufacturers. In Australia, we drink beer out of 375 ml "stubbies", but the Germans, Czechs, etc persist in sending their stuff to us in 333 ml bottles.
Where is that? Guess I'm being picky, but that's too big! Aluminum or steel cans?
To me, if it is not in multiples of 10^3, it is not metric. Thus millimetres, metres, kilometres are the only length units we need. Why do I need to know my waist is 97 cm when 970 (without mm) is self explanatory?
I know it is common, as is cm here in Australia. That doesn't stop me from railing against it. I think some countries actually measure pressure in kg/cm^2, but that is silly, in my opinion that is.
The advantage of a 330 ml is that you can drink it before it gets warm. A 375 ml /always/ has that annoying warm bit at the bottom. A 1000 ml would be far too warm, and a 1 ml would be silly. Therefore the SI system is stuffed. However, as Winston pointed out, it is less stuffed than all the other alternatives.
Cheers
Greg Locock
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