In machining here in Texas metric is not so peachy. No suppliers carry any metric steel bar stock. Taps, Dies and other stuff is nonexistent. Cutting metric threads on a lathe with an Imperial leade screw is a PITA. The Metric leade screw lathes aren't much better. They have the christmas tree thread dial to play with. At present I need to cut a M18x1.5 four start shouldered arbor on my Imperial leade screw lathe. It will be an exciting project. I can work with metric but it's just another thing I have to convert before I start to do any work.
Metric makes a lot of sense for some things such as engineering and astronomy where you're dealing with huge numbers. The argument about it being more precise is bullchit of the first order. Both Imperial and Metric dimensions are set in stone, controlled internationally and both can be converted back and forth. People that grew up and work with metric are used to it and think in metric terms. We others don't.
I've had lots of internet discussions about the metric/imperial debate. I've never heard anyone arguing for imperial that got down to calling names but invariably the metric aficionados fall into a name calling rant. Sort of like having a discussion with a democrat.
