How often does it rain? That's my gf's biggest concern. Doesn't concern me a bit though. Lol

You'll fit right in. I love it here compared to the south. It's very grey though so be ready for that.

It's a nice mix, just a little warm 🙂

One is volume, one is weight. Not the same. Keeping using your teaspoon- it’s just a 5ml spoon now. And a tablespoon is just 15ml

> A visitor is not going to be buying meat at a grocery store, they are going to be eating out.

Having done longer stays, gonna disagree with that. Grocery shopping in other countries is great for saving money and getting to experience the place.

> And if they for some reason were buying groceries they are going to be more concerned about the currency conversion than the unit of measure. Come on. I mean what benefit is there really?

Low-level: Gas in Denmark right now is 14.66 DKK per Liter. "What's that in FreedomBuxx?" You usually have the currency conversion squirreled away in your head when you're in a country for a while. If you can think in Liters, you can do "1 USD is a little under 7 DKK so it's a smidge over $2 and change for a liter" and you're done. If you can only think in gallons, you do that, and then also have to convert 3.78541 liters per gallon, which yeah, you can round to 4, but it's another conversion. And while you might have "a liter is a quart, for small use cases", it's a second conversion and this pretty much where brains blow up. (Answer: it's 8.12 USD/gal).

High-level: We're on an island of Imperial units, and that's isolating to commerce/tourism. It's fine that we're 'the exception' while we're the 800lb-gorilla (363kg) economy but, someday we may not be. We doggedly refuse to believe that there could be any long-term (generations-length) benefit to the local+world economy that could outweigh the (amortized over generations) costs... to the point that the idea of starting a systemic/slow conversion seems too much, because we can't see what's on the other side.

I get you're not convinced. I'm sorry.

The knee jerk - anti change response is strong!

I completely support this but I’m a scientist so already biased here. The only time I really have troubles shifting is temperature… I just like the finer scale of Fahrenheit for the range of human experience.

But in all this pushback what really amazes me is some of the following just seem to be ignored: Doesn’t seem to matter that we already have Km/hr and mph on our cars (just flip the emphasized unit). Or that anyone crossing the Canadian or Mexico border has to “make these conversions” Any mechanic worth their weight has a complete metric set as well as imperial. We buy liquids in liters (coke) a lot! The world has to make special tools for American products (or they don’t and we suck it up… eg cars) and Americans already make/use a lot of shit in metric (computer chips use nanometer as a scale) Also It’s just a name -switching to metric doesn’t mean the existing product has to be replaced. Your 200gal propane tank can still be filled with a metric volume of Propane

Will it require money to change signs - yes. Will a public awareness campaign be needed. Yes. Do I hear a lot of whining about “change sucks and any change is bad” - yes

That's the crux of it.

It wouldn't. You'd still have to abide by federal law.

Ah yeah I'm across the mountains. We've got a lot of California's but I've been seeing an uptick in Texas plates lately

Tri-cities has quite a few displaced Montanans over the years. Once they complete college they come on down either here or Spokane.

Come on out. I'm in a light red county in Washington but still light years ahead of the south and Midwest. (Our state's prettier too 🙂)

It will not change what certain federal agencies require. For instance, if you have a CDL license, you will still not be able to use pot and keep your job because the FMCSA says pot is bad. Marijuana will remain on the panel of drugs to test for.

WA is an at will employment state. They can fire you if they believe you are impaired. There's no requirement for testing.

The drug free workplace act doesn't require drug testing, just anti drug policies.

Nice!!!! To bad my CDL is a federal license :(

The first three paragraphs focus on that, but the bulk of the article is more general, and talks repeatedly about impairment.

Being a NORML article, it belabors the point that tests don't tell whether a person is impaired at the moment, only whether the substance has been used.

So I'm interested in any answer to the question, because the article doesn't address it.

I think I am open to most anywhere on the west side though

How does this affect employers with large federal contracts that require a drug free workplace?

I do IT work. :) my girlfriend does school-based therapy for elementary/middle school aged kids.

Once you’re settled it’s not so bad. I don’t know what you do for a living, but minimum wage is over $15/hr here and in Seattle it’s even higher.

The problem is lots of people expect to move here without any job prospects or housing lined up, expecting to be able to float for a long time based on the cost of living in Oklahoma or Arkansas or wherever they’re coming from, and that’s unrealistic. But it sounds like you’re doing your due diligence already.

Yeah I've looked into the housing and cost of living. I assume I'll be able to find a decent enough job to keep myself afloat. But won't be able to save as much as I do now more than likely. It's a change I'm more than willing to take. :)

I'm surprised we haven't gotten more yet from even Idaho or Montana

Housing and the cost of living as super high here, but we’d be glad to have you. Expecting lots more red state refugees in the years to come.

A visitor is not going to be buying meat at a grocery store, they are going to be eating out. And if they for some reason were buying groceries they are going to be more concerned about the currency conversion than the unit of measure. Come on. I mean what benefit is there really?

God I really need to move out west sooner than later. I live in fucking Indiana, Washington is one of our top picks to move to though. Hopefully within 2 years.