Hi-

I am older and do not play blitz or even anything like it.  I keep getting my tactics trainer rating dropping because I get penalized for being slower. 

Can you have a blitz and a standard clock, like they do at chesstempo for example, please?

Thank you.

Are u running the 100 meter dash or playing chess? Age has little to do with chess smarts.

100 yard dash

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That's pretty funny coming from a kid who lists "International" as his location! 

i thought it is the 100 yard dash

International track event distances, including the Olympics, are all metric distances, including the 100 meter dash.  So are NCAA college distances in the U.S.  I don't know about high school.  Way back when I was in high school in the 1970's most school districts ran yards distances rather than meters, but they have since switched to metric distances.  There might be some school districts that still run the old distances.

EDITED for clarity.

100 metres = 110 yards

oh

ok

i didnt know that

now i do

What the blazes is a "yard"... I thought that was something you found when you go out the back door of your house

Only those places still living in the distant past would use such terms as yard, mile, foot, inch, gallon and pint wouldn't they?   lol... just kidding ...  /tease

no Americans do.....

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No arguments here-- the refusal of the U.S. to switch is an embarrassment and a financial drain.  And the loss of NASA's 1999 Mars Climate Orbiter because of a metric/english snafu was borderline criminal.

Living right on the Canadian border, I get a mix of both systems.  Canada did it right in the 1970's when they took the plunge and made the switch.

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 I certainly agree that it was right to switch in the 1970's. What would happen if the US tried to do it now? Its annoying for us because a lot of our trade is with the US, so we kind use a mixture of both systems.

It would cost too much to change now for the USA would it ? and British hasn't change too.

As far as the OP, I don't agree with Skipgugg. Aging does slow the thinking process IMO. You can switch the tactics trainer to untimed mode, but there is no rating in the untimed mode.

The only question I have is "why".  Why didn't America go metric with the rest of the world?

Just ignore the timer!

They don't want to get along with the French etc.

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 I think the UK uses the metric system for the most part. I think they are still in the process of making it the offical system. I am not certain about this though.

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 Money and pride. IMHO

The last real push for metric in the U.S. was in the 1970's at about the same time Canada switched.  Several states started posting highway distances with both systems, and giving temperatures in both systems, along with a few other changes.  But if a push comes from the Federal level, the conspiracy nuts start screaming about world-order influence, businesses start screaming about massive layoffs resulting from their "conversion" expenses, and all sorts of other hysterical scare tactics pop up.  It's political suicide in the U.S. to advocate the metric system.  Bottom line is that most people, regardless of the lack of logic involved, don't want the change, so it doesn't happen.