My wife has a Kindle, and we've been planning on me getting a different reader because of the library issue. I either read junk popular books very quickly that I don't want forever (so don't need to buy) or technical books that I want a hardback that I can write in. If this works, then we'll be happy to get another Kindle.

Doing things in mph is nice when you are driving on the highway because a mile takes a minute (yes, due to traffic, I actually usually drive at right around 60).

I can't answer your CAD program question, but if it can't do either one by toggling a box, then as a professional computer programmer, I can tell you it sucks.

As to the other question, since street signs get replaced on a regular basis anyway, not any more than currently replacing them would cost.

Maps are computerized now, and most can do both units. Things like google maps which are based on photography and satellite imagery largely use metric as the natural unit, and they convert to imperial. It would be relatively minor.

I do wonder how much of the resistance is the fact that it's called SI (for System Internationale d'unites, minus the stupid accents of course). That's just too much for a red-blood American to take. Ain't no way we're gettin' our units from a bunch of cheese-eatin' surrender monkeys.

As someone who works with the military, it's a nightmare trying to keep track of the inconsistent units. I'm currently working with aerostats, and the distances (slant ranges) are measured in kilometers ('klicks'), except for the fucking altitude of the thing, which everybody expresses in feet. I don't know why. Converting to distance on the ground using mixed units sucks. I can do it on the computer, but it would be sooooo much easier if alt. was in meters, and then I could do it approximately in my head.

I have to keep two sets of sockets and wrenches and allen wrenches, and can't ever remember which one to use on which vehicle.

I know, it's not like it's the end of the world, but it is a pain in the ass and costs me money and time.

I knew that someone was going to bring up knots. Knots are useful only because they, unlike Imperial measures, are directly tied to the physical size of the earth and that was important when you were trying to figure out where you were in the ocean. If you go north at 1 knot for an hour, then you go one arc minute in latitude; on your sextant, that's the unit of measurement, and well within the measurable range. If you are not going north (or south), you can use your compass, geometry and your speed (in knots) to calculate where you are on the earth (approximately).

When you are doing navigation on the earth, knots just work. Everything 'fits' in terms of determining where you are without significant translation. That's why they are still used by people all over the planet. So, in terms of the Imperial vs SI argument, they actually support the idea of standardization to a useful, consistent measurement system, and that would be SI, not Imperial.

No, the pitch could have been much, much faster. If they had a real catcher there, it would have made sense for them to send one in there pretty fast. But they had the stupid mascot there, who can't see very well, and so had to dial it down. See discussion at PCMag. There are numerous arm pitching machines that can throw ~100 mpg, though not as many as the wheel-based ones.

Here's an answer: If the aliens existed, they would have done it already. Look up the Fermi Paradox. The only answer I can come up with is that intelligent / spreading life is exceedingly rare.

And more importantly, you cannot 'discriminate' against the moron because of his beliefs. That's the important part of the legislation: you cannot hold their belief in something that contradicts the known evidence against them in academic matters. They get tenure, and if you don't give them tenure, they sue the school's ass off.