New here :-)

From: Geoff Roberts <geoffrob_at_stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au>
Date: Sun Mar 4 23:47:47 2001

----- Original Message -----
From: "Edwin P. Groot" <epgroot_at_ucdavis.edu>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2001 1:57 PM
Subject: Re: New here :-)


> OK, well I'm a displaced Canadian and I automatically assume
weights
> to be in Kilo. So 40 LIBS it is.
> Things in the US are just too democratic and the government can't
> ignore the public's complaints about converting to metric.

Hmph. Too Democratic? Contradiction in terms. I think the lobbyists
just have more power.

> People in Canada complained about converting to the metric system, but
it went
> through anyway.

We had the same experience down under. Like or not, here it is. To
preserve my sanity I retained my familiarity with
the imperial weights and measures I learnt in Primary (er, grade school
to you Yanks,) combined it with the
metric stuff they taught us in High School, coupled with conversion
factors to go readily from one to the other,
this allows me to think/visualise in my preferred units (depending on
the circumstance) then spit out the correct
(politically or otherwise) units to those that only speak one system.
(Virtually anyone in Oz under the age of 30 or
over the age of 50.) Personally the most annoying conversion is the
metric equivalent of Miles to the Gallon for fuel consumption.
I will volunteer for the firing squad for whatever idiot decided that
Litres per 100Km was the proper subtitute.
4.454 litres to the (British Imperial not US) gallon and .621 British
(not US) Statute miles to the Kilometre. Yech.

Add to this the fact that certain industries (aviation for instance)
regularly use elements of both.
We still measure altitude in feet, but ACFT weights in kilo's, runway
lengths in metres, navigational distances in
Nautical miles (they are stuck with that for all time, since a nautical
mile is 1/60th of a degree of latitude. ie 1 Minute).

I feel inclined to add that despite the interim headaches, we are
ultimately better off with Metric.
I felt a bit the same at the change in currency from Pounds shillings
and pence to dollars.

> My opinion is that many people from the US are paranoid of
> things from the outside (like the metric system), as if it is some
> Communistic plot.

Well, paranoid is a bit strong, however they do seem to show a tendency
to regard anything that has
A) Originated elsewhere
or
B) Not been in use in the US for 100 years or more
As "unAmerican".
Apart from it's local 'mods', like the US mile, US ton, US gallon - we
used the slightly larger, Genuine, Unadulterated Imperial measures,
5,280 ft or 1,760 yards to the mile, and 2,240 pounds to the ton - the
US system is what the British left them in the first place.

Cheers

Geoff Roberts
Computer Systems Manager
Saint Mark's College
Port Pirie,
South Australia
geoffrob_at_stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au
netcafe_at_tell.net.au
ICQ: 1970476
Received on Sun Mar 04 2001 - 23:47:47 GMT

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