I really don't see what the difference between not having a mark for 1/10th of an inch and not having 1/16th of a cm either, so that issue goes both ways and I'm sure you don't suffer particularly whenever you need to calculate some awkward unit that's doesn't have a mark on an imperial ruler.
I agree fractions are more useful in many cases, which is why if I could relate to your previous mention of splitting a cm into eight, I would've calculated with 1/8cm fractions until I was forced to use decimals.
I have a ruler with 1/16th of an inch on it as well. Many rulers come with both but I've never had to use an inch for anything in my life and I'm going to try to remember asking some engineering friends if they've ever if I can remember. (http://cdn-write.demandstudios.com/upload//5000/300/40/8/353...)
I agree. But the average person doesn't need to. We're not all traveling the world buying things in different measures or collaborating on space shuttles. Most of us are popping down the shop to buy a pint of milk.
I'm sure they don't, I hardly think all that many peoples around the world were happy to move to the metric system from whatever they were on before when that was introduced including my own countrymen but you have to realize that it's an issue that everyone has dealt with and after a few years it should stop being an issue entirely. The average person buys a pint of milk but somewhere someone is calculating pints from liters because the UK is nowhere near self-sufficient in food and I'm sure that includes milk, so it's not unreasonable to think that the cost of conversion does affect the average person in some small unnoticeable way.
And lastly, these are the things that make countries unique! Different! Interesting! Culture! Anything to keep those differences is good.
Sure but you could qualify anything with that. I like culture as much as the next guy and I would enjoy ordering a pint ( and then hand it of to whoever is closest and actually drink beer ) but keeping a unit system that's different from everyone else is like showing up to a party and telling people they need to say the words backwards and not use any vowels, it's doable but frustrating. Then again it's in my culture to be conformist, maybe others think culture is enough of a reason to never change.