The Imperial system needs to die...just saying

I saw this diagram on a friends Facebook page and had to repost it here. I am a physics major and as such use the metric system all the time. Except for weather temperature I never use the US system of measurements. When I first got to college and had to adjust to using metric for everything it was difficult. It was a chore to learn all the scales both small and large: nanometer, micrometer, milometer, centimeter, meter, hectometer, kilometer, etc. At first it's a lot to process, but as you start to use the metric system more it dawns on you how absolutely genius it is. You need to covert from kilometers to meters? Easy, one kilometer is 1000 meters. You need to covert from miles to feet? Well, yes most everyone knows 1 mile is 5280 feet. But .432 miles? Can you do that one in your head? I doubt it. But .432 kilometers to meters? Easy, 432 meters. It's genius. And you can go as small or as big as you want. It's not just in length either, the metric system uses this kind of scale for EVERY type of measure, volume, mass, time, area, etc. Once you learn the system once, you know it all. Can't say the same for the US way of doing things.

Then there's the whole matter of temperature; who decided that 32 degrees was a good point to set the freezing point of water? I'll tell you who, it was Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, and while he had an actual scientific reason at the time for making his scale as  he did, it still sucks. And the scale of temperature that he used? 180 degrees to the boiling point of water? Why?  Water then boils at 212 degrees? Because that makes a lot of scene. Now let's take a look at Celsius...oh simple, beautiful Celsius. At what temperature does water freeze? 0. At what temperature does water boil? 100. ...Genius.

I understand why getting the United State to convert over to the metric system would be a very daunting task. It involves a lot more than just teaching everyone in this country the metric system (in fact most every college educated person already has at least a basic understanding of it), it would involve a complete overhaul of so many things: road signs, household and industrial appliances, the entire culinary industry, all transportation vehicles,  and the list goes on and on. The conversion to the metric system would cost this country billions and billions of dollars.

Even though I acknowledge and understand the difficulties in converting this country I adamantly believe it is absolutely crucial we begin the process of getting the metric system in the US now. We are only one of three countries in the WORLD that still use this system, so not only does it put us at a distinct disadvantage, but it's just plain stupid.