<![CDATA[You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements.]]>You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements.

"Orion’s main engine provides up to 6,000 pounds of thrust, enough to accelerate a car from 0 to 60 mph in about 2.7 seconds. At the time of the burn, Orion’s mass was 58,000 pounds and burned approximately 1,000 pounds of fuel during the firing."

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Artemis II Flight Day 2: Orion Completes TLI Burn, Crew Begins Journey to the Moon - NASA

NASA’s Artemis II crew is on the way to the Moon.

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NASA (www.nasa.gov)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/eb8a2126-abfa-46b1-87b3-0fa55ed6c230/you-know-there-s-something-wrong-with-us-politics-when-nasa-is-forced-to-communicate-in-imperial-measurements.RSS for NodeWed, 08 Apr 2026 11:34:25 GMTFri, 03 Apr 2026 06:58:23 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:56:47 GMT]]>@mrundkvist

Of all the institutions to promote imperial units, should be the most embarrassed. In 1999, the crashed. The contractor, , used lb-f (#imperial units). The software expected N (Newtons, units).

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Stinson_108/statuses/116347489943568915https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Stinson_108/statuses/116347489943568915Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:56:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:54:57 GMT]]>@mrundkvist and it's all because of pirates: https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/22/retro_metric_imperial/

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.tchncs.de/users/fishidwardrobe/statuses/116347482765035968https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.tchncs.de/users/fishidwardrobe/statuses/116347482765035968Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:54:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:40:36 GMT]]>@btrinen @mrundkvist
And I vote!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.seattle.wa.us/users/ohmu/statuses/116347426323789644https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.seattle.wa.us/users/ohmu/statuses/116347426323789644Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:40:36 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:31:14 GMT]]>@btrinen @mrundkvist hahaha me too except it's the cello instead of the banjo although I would very much like to learn the banjo.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://m.ai6yr.org/users/douglasvb/statuses/116347389525233116https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://m.ai6yr.org/users/douglasvb/statuses/116347389525233116Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:31:14 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:15:35 GMT]]>@mrundkvist @LabSpokane And yes, I'm wearing blue jeans right now. But I don't play the banjo.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.world/users/mlanger/statuses/116347327968848698https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.world/users/mlanger/statuses/116347327968848698Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:15:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:15:18 GMT]]>@mrundkvist @LabSpokane In the 1970s, I was taught the metric system with the understanding that the country would switch to it with the rest of the world. That never happened. I can convert millimeters in centimeters to inches and feet now and roughly convert meters to yards, but the rest requires deeper thought or a calculator. I wish we had made the change. It's a pain in the ass when everyone else uses metric units and I have to think harder than I should to figure out how much it is.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.world/users/mlanger/statuses/116347326868761858https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.world/users/mlanger/statuses/116347326868761858Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:15:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:08:11 GMT]]>@mrundkvist
Both affirmations are true!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.la/users/pthenq1/statuses/116347298851386736https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.la/users/pthenq1/statuses/116347298851386736Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:08:11 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:06:40 GMT]]>@mrundkvist

Well, these dungaree-wearing banjo players broke the interstellar barrier, did a fly-by of Pluto, and are currently flying a team around the moon.

Ain't nothin' wrong with the banjo.
Long as you do your science right.

😀

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://neuromatch.social/users/adredish/statuses/116347292891160514https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://neuromatch.social/users/adredish/statuses/116347292891160514Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:06:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:04:40 GMT]]>@mrundkvist I’m not reflexively opposed to the use of old-school units (many of them have useful mathematical properties that metric lacks). But in science and engineering contexts, it should be all metric all the time.

I’m fortunate to have been a reasonably bright kid during the two weeks the US made a metric push in the late 70s, and then decently trained in science that I’m reasonably comfortable in both systems.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://az.social/users/lerxst/statuses/116347285077284282https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://az.social/users/lerxst/statuses/116347285077284282Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:04:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 15:55:43 GMT]]>@farbel @mrundkvist I mean, it's not like we don't have inches and feet in Europe either. I've had to do conversions all my life too because they're commonly used in many contexts. Since the default is metric, I do the conversion the other way of course, but at the end of the day, it's still an additional cognitive load.

I was just discussing wind speed with my brother, who works at an airport. I'm used to metres per second wind speeds, but they use knots.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/veronica/statuses/116347249823679914https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/veronica/statuses/116347249823679914Sat, 04 Apr 2026 15:55:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 15:50:53 GMT]]>@mrundkvist checks out

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://chaosfem.tw/users/veronica_claire/statuses/116347230834276830https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://chaosfem.tw/users/veronica_claire/statuses/116347230834276830Sat, 04 Apr 2026 15:50:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 15:48:55 GMT]]>@mrundkvist

Why you gotta do Dungaree Wearing Banjo Players so wrong? I'd take either Pete Seeger or Bela Fleck over Trump any day of the week.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/dlakelan/statuses/116347223130662119https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/dlakelan/statuses/116347223130662119Sat, 04 Apr 2026 15:48:55 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 15:40:40 GMT]]>@mrundkvist Unfortunately NASA must pander to the illiterate banjo players to keep its funding. Internally they use metric for everything because that's how science works, even in the US.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sfba.social/users/not2b/statuses/116347190647357831https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sfba.social/users/not2b/statuses/116347190647357831Sat, 04 Apr 2026 15:40:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 15:39:32 GMT]]>@mrundkvist The banjo is a beautiful instrument.

https://youtu.be/eGi-6p96ET8

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.ca/users/maggiemartin/statuses/116347186244326960https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.ca/users/maggiemartin/statuses/116347186244326960Sat, 04 Apr 2026 15:39:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Sat, 04 Apr 2026 15:33:49 GMT]]>@mrundkvist My daughter is a pilot and I'm in the Navy and we use non-SI units daily, and I don't think lesser of either of us as a result.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.clitheroe.ca/users/scott/statuses/116347163757123053https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.clitheroe.ca/users/scott/statuses/116347163757123053Sat, 04 Apr 2026 15:33:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Fri, 03 Apr 2026 22:46:11 GMT]]>@mrundkvist It's 4,204,640 football fields to the moon.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sfba.social/users/14mission/statuses/116343201551420240https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sfba.social/users/14mission/statuses/116343201551420240Fri, 03 Apr 2026 22:46:11 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Fri, 03 Apr 2026 22:37:05 GMT]]>@mrundkvist

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Mutedog/statuses/116343165803597342https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Mutedog/statuses/116343165803597342Fri, 03 Apr 2026 22:37:05 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Fri, 03 Apr 2026 22:09:22 GMT]]>@mrundkvist You know all of our standards are metric then converted to imperial? When you buy a pound of cheese, you’re really getting just under half a kilo.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://beige.party/users/ShiitakeToast/statuses/116343056764914889https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://beige.party/users/ShiitakeToast/statuses/116343056764914889Fri, 03 Apr 2026 22:09:22 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Fri, 03 Apr 2026 22:04:37 GMT]]>@mrundkvist It only has to make sense to white people who imagine themselves involved in the process.

The rest of us know better, and moved on years ago.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.world/users/YakyuNightOwl/statuses/116343038118394650https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.world/users/YakyuNightOwl/statuses/116343038118394650Fri, 03 Apr 2026 22:04:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Fri, 03 Apr 2026 14:03:48 GMT]]>@mrundkvist It is frustrating as well for the hundreds of millions of Americans who had no choice of measurement standards in school or everyday life, most of whom neither wear dungarees nor play banjo. Every day I am applying complex conversion formulae just to get by in Mexico. I still don't have an innate sense of either metric sizes or celsius temperatures. Metric is easier, but still a struggle. Poor me.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mas.to/users/farbel/statuses/116341147479063448https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mas.to/users/farbel/statuses/116341147479063448Fri, 03 Apr 2026 14:03:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Fri, 03 Apr 2026 13:45:17 GMT]]>@mrundkvist Worse, NASA lost a spacecraft due to this oractice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter

I don’t see it as superpower bravado but rather the inability to adapt and the low values the public places I. Science and engineering.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://c.im/users/tsrams/statuses/116341074658339973https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://c.im/users/tsrams/statuses/116341074658339973Fri, 03 Apr 2026 13:45:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Fri, 03 Apr 2026 13:43:29 GMT]]>@mrundkvist I actually wear dungarees and play a banjo.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.seattle.wa.us/users/btrinen/statuses/116341067568347051https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.seattle.wa.us/users/btrinen/statuses/116341067568347051Fri, 03 Apr 2026 13:43:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Fri, 03 Apr 2026 13:32:53 GMT]]>I can't overstate this. NASA's use of pounds and cubic feet in its outreach efforts does not come across to science-literate people, inside or outside the US, as a sign that the country is a badass superpower that can do what it likes and ignore everyone else.

Instead it suggests that the US is a provincial nation of dungaree-wearing banjo players.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://archaeo.social/users/mrundkvist/statuses/116341025923946587https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://archaeo.social/users/mrundkvist/statuses/116341025923946587Fri, 03 Apr 2026 13:32:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to You know there's something wrong with US politics when NASA is forced to communicate in Imperial measurements. on Fri, 03 Apr 2026 10:22:55 GMT]]>@Luke_Drury @mrundkvist That it is 🙂👍

And in a similar if conversely flowing vein, a large part of the US occupied volume of the ISS was built in Italy under direct contract to NASA. Ever wonder why there have been quite so many Italian astronauts? 🙂

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/markmccaughrean/statuses/116340278947206713https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/markmccaughrean/statuses/116340278947206713Fri, 03 Apr 2026 10:22:55 GMT