[meteorite-list] Metric

From: Michael L Blood <mlblood_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Feb 18 17:15:46 2005
Message-ID: <BE3BA8A8.18144%mlblood_at_cox.net>

I intellectually "dropped out" of school in about 3rd grade when
I learned of the metric system and that the adults (who ran everything)
insisted on using inches, feet, quarts, cups, gallons, oz & Lbs....I just
couldn't believe they were that stupid and felt they, therefore, had
little if anything to teach me. Then, in 7th grade, I discovered algebra
and started to wake up. High school was rough, having spaced out
all through grade school, however.
        The solution to conversion is simple - they would just have to
have an absolute "start date" (like Jan, 1, 2006) after which all
groceries, gas pumps, speedometers, street signs, etc be EXCLUSIVELY
in metric - absolutely NO conversion information on public display.
        It would take about 5 days for everyone to know that 110KPH
was the maximum speed, what a kilo of meat is vs 300g etc.
        When I went to Mexico, thinking I would spend graduate school
there I stopped converting pesos to dollars to figure out prices. After
about 5 days, there was no point. No one used $s. The real irony was it
took a couple of days after coming back to stop converting dollars to pesos
to figure out the price of something.
        "Leadership" is something the US has rarely seen. I didn't like most
of Regan's policies, but he had it. Kennedy had it. The rest of the
presidents in my lifetime were varying degrees of well to ill intended, but
NONE of them have been leaders.
        Therefore, I doubt we will see metric conversion like I describe. It
will ever so slowly eek its way into comprehension. I must admit that after
only 50 years, there is perhaps a 20 to 30% comprehension among the
more educated in the US. Give it another 50 years or so and it will be
approaching common knowledge even among the average - and after a
mere hundred years from now I bet everyone will "get it."
        Best wishes, Michael

on 2/18/05 1:10 PM, Jerry A. Wallace at jwal2000_at_swbell.net wrote:

> Hi Adam,
>
> The problem here lies not with you but with the average American who
> is almost totally ignorant when it comes to the 'mysteries' of the metric
> system.
>
> The average (older) American doesn't know a centimeter from a centipede
> or a millimeter from a millipede. They can't tell you which has more
> volume:
> a quart or a liter (except for a few dedicated drinkers who figured it
> out at
> the liquor store years ago when the distillers went through the conversion
> process to metrics.)
>
> There was a once a highly promoted national program that was meant to
> educate Americans about the use of the metric system and then gradually
> convert the country over to its use. If memory serves, it seems like
> that was
> during the Kennedy administration. It was a rational and noble effort that
> died on the vine because it brought the populace of our fair country
> together
> like few things before or since. I well remember all the kickin', screamin',
> shoutin', and hollerin' that the proposal caused. "Yessiree and by
> dang," they
> shouted in unison, "the old methods of using inches, feet, yards,
> fractions,
> quarts, gallons and the like were good enough for our forefathers, so by
> jingo,
> they're good enough for us."
>
> Well, the government cratered to popular will, therefore we're still
> building
> and measuring things with a system of measurements that was created by
> establishing the distance between the tip of the King's nose to the tip
> of the
> King's thumb with his arm outstretched as being one yard (whatever that
> was).
>
> The metric system is actually based on scientific reasoning and is
> incredibly
> easier to use. It actually makes sense. I don't know what is being taught or
> used in schools now, but I can only hope that the metric system is the
> preferred system. If it is, then it's one of the few things that the
> feds had any
> input on that was truly useful and right. But then that's a different
> can of
> worms.
>
> So, my recommendation to you is "stick with using the centimeter cubes as
> scale comparisons in your photos, and thereby force the boneheads to go
> out and buy a metric ruler." It'll be good for the economy and may give
> the knuckleheads a clue the next time they meet a centimeter or millimeter.
>
> Just some thoughts from the west Texas wilderness,
>
> Jerry
>
>
> Adam Hupe wrote:
>
>> Dear List,
>>
>> I must be missing something here. Using a 1 cm cube to give a perspective
>> buyer some scale is considered by some a corruption of use? It tells a lot
>> about this public forum when something as innocent as a scale provided in an
>> image so that a perspective buyer can make an informed decision about the
>> size of the object is somehow considered a scam. It makes the avocation so
>> much more enjoyable. Just, what is proper scale etiquette?
>>
>> Kind Regards,
>>
>> Adam
>>
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> Meteorite-list mailing list
>> Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> ______________________________________________
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list

 

--
"You and I do not see things as they are. We see things as we are."
     -Herb Cohen
--
If a million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.

Received on Fri 18 Feb 2005 05:14:00 PM PST