[USMA:14554] Re: So very funny...and metric too.
From: Paul Trusten [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sex sells, so perhaps we can make SI into something so erotic that no American can ignore it. But, along those lines, we ought to use humans instead of elephants.Pardon my political incorrectness, but who should be SI's first pin-up girl? Who says that a pin-up girl must be human? I'd sure like to get this gal's measurements in cm kg (females of her kind inspired quite a bit of ancient Arab poetry): http://www.duncanislandranch.com/main.html Jason
[USMA:14555] Re: So very funny...and metric too.
Oops! Wrong link. I meant to include this one: http://www.duncanislandranch.com/paridaa.htm From: Paul Trusten [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sex sells, so perhaps we can make SI into something so erotic that no American can ignore it. But, along those lines, we ought to use humans instead of elephants.Pardon my political incorrectness, but who should be SI's first pin-up girl? Who says that a pin-up girl must be human? I'd sure like to get this gal's measurements in cm kg (females of her kind inspired quite a bit of ancient Arab poetry): http://www.duncanislandranch.com/main.html Jason
[USMA:14556] Re: rail gauges
Sorry to hear that the rail gauge story I posted is an old one that many of you have seen (even on this list) before. I guess I missed it the last time. I realize that it is not uncommon for some stories to circulate around on the internet and come back again and again to the same recipients. But perhaps my reviving of the old story (true or not) has had one salutatory effect: it may have introduced the pharse horse's ass units (HAU) into our vocabulary. Regards, Bill Hooper Keep It Simple! Make It Metric!
[USMA:14557] Re: Ireland Road signs - new deadline
Do car speedometers in Ireland have dual MPH and km/h markings, as they do in the US? ... All cars are fitted with dual MPH and km/h speedometers, but the outer km/h readings are smaller, and are not really readable, which is why I've replaced them with km/h only displays on my last two cars (along with the fact that the standard odometer is miles only). ... What about speedometers in the UK. Any rental cars I've used in the UK are also dual, and I would expect them all to be, although I'd defer to Chris for a definitive answer. -- Tom Wade, EuroKom | E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (all domain mailers). Dale House| X400: g=tom;s=wade;o=eurokom;p=eurokom;a=eirmail400;c=ie 30, Dale Road | Tel: +353 (1) 278-7878 Stillorgan| Fax: +353 (1) 278-7879 Co Dublin | Disclaimer: This is not a disclaimer Ireland | Tip: Friends don't let friends do Unix !
[USMA:14558] US metrication part I--inspiration
Indeed, a wise old man, who knew that inspiration was the first step in the process. Joe, did he start using Miss Metric when she was born? That is an ingenious stroke, because it focuses the public on a cause, i.e., the young woman's progress in life. Or, did Miss Metric New Zealand arrive in the public eye when she was already centerfold-worthy? Did it have something to do with the measurements 91-58-91? Now, that's a lot more interesting than the width of a fingernail. Joseph B. Reid wrote: The wise old man who ran New Zealand's metrication program found a girl who was born at the start of the New Zealand metrication program. He named her Miss Metric and published in the press periodic reports with photographs of her progress. Joseph B. Reid 17 Glebe Road West TorontoM5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071 -- Paul Trusten, R.Ph. 3609 Caldera Boulevard, Apt. 122 Midland TX 79707-2872 USA (915)-694-6208 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[USMA:14559] Re: poetry of WOMBAT measurement (was SUV item)
Yes, but do you consider that a fixation of a standard of measurement for the United States? BTW, I thought that was in 1875, just after the US signed the Treaty Of the Metre. Joseph B. Reid wrote: Paul Trusten wrote in USMA 14548: The United States has no SI measurement standard, much less an SI measurement folklore. The US received a prototype meter and a prototype kilogram in 1895, if I remember correctly. The inch/pound units are legaly defined in terms of those prototypes. Joseph B. Reid 17 Glebe Road West TorontoM5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071 -- Paul Trusten, R.Ph. 3609 Caldera Boulevard, Apt. 122 Midland TX 79707-2872 USA (915)-694-6208 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[USMA:14560] the WOMBAT Congressional resolution of 1836
OK,OK,OK I suppose I am subjectively unwilling to admit that my Congress ever passed a fixation of the standard of weights and measures as is their right in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, but after reading Jim Frysinger's excellent Metric Background web page, which I strongly recommend, http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj/background.htm I do see that the Congress did fix something into place. Pasting in from Jim's page, the discussion reads as follows: 1836 Congress directed that standards be distributed to the states. Apparently pleased that somebody was taking concrete action, Congress passed a resolution on 1836 June 14 directing that standards for weights and measures be distributed to the states, thus unifying the units in use within the country. This report did not specify whether those should be metric standards or standards of the yard, pound, gallon, and bushel-however the latter were the ones distributed by the Treasury. Thus they became the de facto units of commonly used measures and rapid adoption by the states in their laws and regulations made them effectively the de jure standards. Two years later Congress directed that the Treasury Department distribute balances to the states to use with those standards. I suppose we could call this the WOMBAT resolution, or, maybe even the Whatever resolution. It's time that the Congress fixed what it fixed! -- Paul Trusten, R.Ph. 3609 Caldera Boulevard, Apt. 122 Midland TX 79707-2872 USA (915)-694-6208 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[USMA:14561] a liter of gasoline
Jim Frysinger noted on his metric background page, ...Thus they became the de facto units of commonly used measures and rapid adoption by the states in their laws and regulations made them effectively the de jure standards When the US Metric Board voted in 1979 to support the change of gasoline pumps from gallons to liters to accommodate the pumps (most of them at the time) that could not read a price of more than 99.9 cents per unit volume, I thought we could do the above de facto to de jure thing all over again I knew that state bureaus of weights and measures were involved here, since I would always end up staring at the state seal on the pump as I stood pumping at self-serve stations. So, I thought, if the US standard of measurement was initially fixed passively through the state bureaus beginning in 1836, then the metric system would be fixed as the US standard in like manner in 1979. Moreover, the placement of the liter in such a visible position in the national public eye (posted prices, word of mouth), along with the liter-ization of soft drinks which began at that time, would provide the essential spark of national inspiration, and the rest of SI would be easier to enact. But, of course, nothing changed, except the US Metric Board itself, the operation of which was suspended by the Reagan Administration in the early 1980s. Paul Trusten, R.Ph. 3609 Caldera Boulevard, Apt. 122 Midland TX 79707-2872 USA (915)-694-6208 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[USMA:14562] Re: poetry of WOMBAT measurement (was SUV item)
Inches and pounds are indeed legally defined by the prototype kilogram, as described by this article here: English units of weight (ounces, pounds, and tons) are now also derived from the metric standard of mass, which is the international prototype kilogram. This is a solid cylinder of platinum-iridium alloy maintained at constant temperature at Sèvres near Paris. A copy, as exact as possible, of this standard is maintained by an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce Weights and Measures, Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Regards, Steve. [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Joseph B. Reid [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: U.S. Metric Association [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, July 23, 2001 3:10 AM Subject: [USMA:14552] Re: poetry of WOMBAT measurement (was SUV item) Paul Trusten wrote in USMA 14548: The United States has no SI measurement standard, much less an SI measurement folklore. The US received a prototype meter and a prototype kilogram in 1895, if I remember correctly. The inch/pound units are legaly defined in terms of those prototypes. Joseph B. Reid 17 Glebe Road West TorontoM5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071
[USMA:14563] Re: US metrication part I--inspiration
Indeed, a wise old man, who knew that inspiration was the first step in the process. Joe, did he start using Miss Metric when she was born? That is an ingenious stroke, because it focuses the public on a cause, i.e., the young woman's progress in life. Or, did Miss Metric New Zealand arrive in the public eye when she was already centerfold-worthy? Did it have something to do with the measurements 91-58-91? Now, that's a lot more interesting than the width of a fingernail. Joseph B. Reid wrote: The wise old man who ran New Zealand's metrication program found a girl who was born at the start of the New Zealand metrication program. He named her Miss Metric and published in the press periodic reports with photographs of her progress. Miss Metric's physical birth occured at about the same time as the official start of New Zealand's metrication program. Joseph B. Reid 17 Glebe Road West TorontoM5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071
[USMA:14564] Re: poetry of WOMBAT measurement (was SUV item)
Yes, but do you consider that a fixation of a standard of measurement for the United States? BTW, I thought that was in 1875, just after the US signed the Treaty Of the Metre. Joseph B. Reid wrote: Paul Trusten wrote in USMA 14548: The United States has no SI measurement standard, much less an SI measurement folklore. The US received a prototype meter and a prototype kilogram in 1895, if I remember correctly. The inch/pound units are legaly defined in terms of those prototypes. A bill of the 39th Congress declared it lawful throughout the USA to employ the weights and measures of the metric system. Further provisions specified that no contract dealing, or court proceeding could be deemed invalid because of the use of metric measures. This bill was passed by the House asnd sent to the Senate on 1866 May 17 It was passed by the Senate on July 27. The following day, July 28, the bill was signed into law by President Andrew Johnson. The Convention du Mètre was signed on 1975 May 20 by representatives of 17 countries, including the USA. the Convention was ratified by President Rutherford B. Hayes on 1878 Septembe 27, the US Senate having approved the measure. New prototype metres and kilograms were completed in 1889, 31 metres and 40 kilograms. The US drew two of each. The first pair was received at the White House on 1890 January 2. The second pair was received in July. Joseph B. Reid 17 Glebe Road West TorontoM5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071
[USMA:14565] metric usage at www.whyfiles.org
Another web-site related exchange. BTW, what happened to the NIST Metric Program Office site, which used to be at http://www.nist.gov/metric ? Bruce -- Bruce Raup National Snow and Ice Data Center Phone: 303-492-8814 University of Colorado, 449 UCB Fax:303-492-2468 Boulder, CO 80309-0449[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Forwarded message -- Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 13:40:20 -0600 From: Bruce Raup [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: David Tenenbaum [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Talk to the Team David, Thanks for your personal reply. After I sent my message to you praising your use of SI units, I did, in fact, notice other stories that were only in non-SI units. Given that your content is scientific in nature, that your audience is surely international, and that many in the US agree with your sentiments to ditch the inch and boot the foot, why not take a leadership position and use SI always? The US is slowly converting to metric. The US auto industry has metricated, and we buy film, skis, carbonated beverages, and many other things in metric units. Are you planning on being the last in the US to convert? If we all wait for each other to go first, we'll never get anywhere! Regards, Bruce P.S. For lots of interesting information on the metric system, including its history and the status of US conversion, see any of: http://www.metricmethods.com/ (metrication consultants) http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/ (the US Metric Association) http://metric1.org/ (jump-off site to metric info) -- Bruce Raup National Snow and Ice Data Center Phone: 303-492-8814 University of Colorado, 449 UCB Fax:303-492-2468 Boulder, CO 80309-0449[EMAIL PROTECTED] On 2001-07-23 14:02 -0500, David Tenenbaum wrote: At 1:36 PM -0500 7/23/01, Bruce Raup wrote: Excellent article at http://www.whyfiles.org/shorties/073glacier_melt. I am particularly pleased that you used SI units, which is appropriate not only because the content is scientific in nature, but also because the information is on the World Wide Web, and information on the World Wide Web should be World Wide Units. Thank you for not dumbing down the units for the American audience! Bruce Raup National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, CO, USA Bruce: Strangely enough, we actually use both SI and american units, as the story dictates, or as the data come to us. it sure would be a lot easier if we'd just ditch the inch and boot the foot, however.
[USMA:14566] Re: metric usage at www.whyfiles.org
Strange, Bruce. I called up there on other business and had hoped to ask this question, too, but Jim McCracken is out of the office today. Perhaps they've had to turn it off due to hackers, equipment reconfiguration, or some other reason. OTOH, that fire in the tunnel in Baltimore wiped out a large optic cable trunk that normally carries a lot of internet traffic. Perhaps part of the 'net is down to repair that. Jim Bruce Raup wrote: Another web-site related exchange. BTW, what happened to the NIST Metric Program Office site, which used to be at http://www.nist.gov/metric ? Bruce -- Metric Methods(SM) Don't be late to metricate! James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/ 10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789
[USMA:14567] Re: poetry of WOMBAT measurement (was SUV item)
Joseph B. Reid wrote: Yes, but do you consider that a fixation of a standard of measurement for the United States? BTW, I thought that was in 1875, just after the US signed the Treaty Of the Metre. Joseph B. Reid wrote: Paul Trusten wrote in USMA 14548: The United States has no SI measurement standard, much less an SI measurement folklore. The US received a prototype meter and a prototype kilogram in 1895, if I remember correctly. The inch/pound units are legaly defined in terms of those prototypes. A bill of the 39th Congress declared it lawful throughout the USA to employ the weights and measures of the metric system. Further provisions specified that no contract dealing, or court proceeding could be deemed invalid because of the use of metric measures. This bill was passed by the House asnd sent to the Senate on 1866 May 17 It was passed by the Senate on July 27. The following day, July 28, the bill was signed into law by President Andrew Johnson. In a conversation not too long ago with the project engineer on the Neuse River Bridge project in North Carolina, he spoke of courts refusing to handle condemnations in metric units. I suppose that they could have started an appeal process based on the above law, but they elected not to. That alone would have delayed progress and increased costs--just one judge's refusal to obey the law. The Convention du Mètre was signed on 1975 May 20 [The above is obviously a typo and was intended to read 1875; Joe went on to use the correct and subsequent date on which Johnson signed the bill.] Jim -- Metric Methods(SM) Don't be late to metricate! James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/ 10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789
[USMA:14568] Re: metric usage at www.whyfiles.org
Try http://physics.nist.gov. Most of their stuff moved to the physics zone some weeks ago. I updated all the links from SI Navigator at that time. Their reference material on Constants, Units and Uncertainty is now at http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/index.html. Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of James R. Frysinger Sent: July 23, 2001 13:00 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:14566] Re: metric usage at www.whyfiles.org Strange, Bruce. I called up there on other business and had hoped to ask this question, too, but Jim McCracken is out of the office today. Perhaps they've had to turn it off due to hackers, equipment reconfiguration, or some other reason. OTOH, that fire in the tunnel in Baltimore wiped out a large optic cable trunk that normally carries a lot of internet traffic. Perhaps part of the 'net is down to repair that. Jim Bruce Raup wrote: Another web-site related exchange. BTW, what happened to the NIST Metric Program Office site, which used to be at http://www.nist.gov/metric ? Bruce -- Metric Methods(SM) Don't be late to metricate! James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/ 10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789
[USMA:14569] RE: metric usage at www.whyfiles.org
Looks like NIST's server is down. BaAron Carter -Original Message- From: Bruce Raup [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, 23 July, 2001 14:43 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:14565] metric usage at www.whyfiles.org Another web-site related exchange. BTW, what happened to the NIST Metric Program Office site, which used to be at http://www.nist.gov/metric ? Bruce -- Bruce Raup National Snow and Ice Data Center Phone: 303-492-8814 University of Colorado, 449 UCB Fax:303-492-2468 Boulder, CO 80309-0449[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Forwarded message -- Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 13:40:20 -0600 From: Bruce Raup [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: David Tenenbaum [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Talk to the Team David, Thanks for your personal reply. After I sent my message to you praising your use of SI units, I did, in fact, notice other stories that were only in non-SI units. Given that your content is scientific in nature, that your audience is surely international, and that many in the US agree with your sentiments to ditch the inch and boot the foot, why not take a leadership position and use SI always? The US is slowly converting to metric. The US auto industry has metricated, and we buy film, skis, carbonated beverages, and many other things in metric units. Are you planning on being the last in the US to convert? If we all wait for each other to go first, we'll never get anywhere! Regards, Bruce P.S. For lots of interesting information on the metric system, including its history and the status of US conversion, see any of: http://www.metricmethods.com/ (metrication consultants) http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/ (the US Metric Association) http://metric1.org/ (jump-off site to metric info) -- Bruce Raup National Snow and Ice Data Center Phone: 303-492-8814 University of Colorado, 449 UCB Fax:303-492-2468 Boulder, CO 80309-0449[EMAIL PROTECTED] On 2001-07-23 14:02 -0500, David Tenenbaum wrote: At 1:36 PM -0500 7/23/01, Bruce Raup wrote: Excellent article at http://www.whyfiles.org/shorties/073glacier_melt. I am particularly pleased that you used SI units, which is appropriate not only because the content is scientific in nature, but also because the information is on the World Wide Web, and information on the World Wide Web should be World Wide Units. Thank you for not dumbing down the units for the American audience! Bruce Raup National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, CO, USA Bruce: Strangely enough, we actually use both SI and american units, as the story dictates, or as the data come to us. it sure would be a lot easier if we'd just ditch the inch and boot the foot, however.
[USMA:14570] Re: Talk to the Team (fwd)
Apparently, more people need to write these people (without reference to me, of course!). Bruce -- Forwarded message -- Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 15:02:25 -0500 From: David Tenenbaum [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Bruce Raup [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Talk to the Team At 1:40 PM -0600 7/23/01, Bruce Raup wrote: David, Thanks for your personal reply. After I sent my message to you praising your use of SI units, I did, in fact, notice other stories that were only in non-SI units. Given that your content is scientific in nature, that your audience is surely international, and that many in the US agree with your sentiments to ditch the inch and boot the foot, why not take a leadership position and use SI always? The US is slowly converting to metric. The US auto industry has metricated, and we buy film, skis, carbonated beverages, and many other things in metric units. Are you planning on being the last in the US to convert? Please... If we all wait for each other to go first, we'll never get anywhere! Agreed. Believe it or not, however, your passion is not universal -- eg we've not had this comment in years. But i'll certainly take it into account when writing further. Essentially, we never change from one system to another, and since much of what we write comes from the sci lit, it's automatically SI... Regards, Bruce P.S. For lots of interesting information on the metric system, including its history and the status of US conversion, see any of: http://www.metricmethods.com/ (metrication consultants) http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/ (the US Metric Association) http://metric1.org/ (jump-off site to metric info) -- Bruce Raup National Snow and Ice Data Center Phone: 303-492-8814 University of Colorado, 449 UCB Fax:303-492-2468 Boulder, CO 80309-0449[EMAIL PROTECTED] On 2001-07-23 14:02 -0500, David Tenenbaum wrote: At 1:36 PM -0500 7/23/01, Bruce Raup wrote: Excellent article at http://www.whyfiles.org/shorties/073glacier_melt. I am particularly pleased that you used SI units, which is appropriate not only because the content is scientific in nature, but also because the information is on the World Wide Web, and information on the World Wide Web should be World Wide Units. Thank you for not dumbing down the units for the American audience! Bruce Raup National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, CO, USA Bruce: Strangely enough, we actually use both SI and american units, as the story dictates, or as the data come to us. it sure would be a lot easier if we'd just ditch the inch and boot the foot, however. -- David Tenenbaum,Staff Writer The Why Files, http://whyfiles.org Monday-Wednesday (608) 265-8549 (fax 262-2331) Thursday-Friday (608) 238-2201 (fax 238-2209)
[USMA:14571] Re: metric usage at www.whyfiles.org
Yes, much of the information that used to reside on the Metric Program Office site has now migrated to the Physics site, as Bill describes below. Nonetheless, the Metric Program Office site http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/200/202/mpo_home.htm returns a 404 error, even when attempts are made to open in from the alphabetical listing on NIST's main pages. For example, from http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/siteindex.htm There has been some reorganization in this area and I suspect that all the bits and pieces have not yet been put in their new places. I am a bit concerned that I didn't see any reference to the MPO on the Office of Weights and Measures page at http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/230/235/owmhome.htm It seems to me that this would have been a logical place to put a highly visible link to the MPO. But I did go to http://www.ts.nist.gov/ and that gave me a link to http://ois.nist.gov/tsweb/orglinks.cfm?DivisionNo=202 On that page is 202 Metric Programs and a description of the MPO, headed by Gerry Iannelli. The link on that page http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/200/202/mpo_home.htm is also broken, though. I still think they are rearranging wires and hyperlinks; we've just caught them in medias res. Jim Bill Potts wrote: Try http://physics.nist.gov. Most of their stuff moved to the physics zone some weeks ago. I updated all the links from SI Navigator at that time. Their reference material on Constants, Units and Uncertainty is now at http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/index.html. Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of James R. Frysinger Sent: July 23, 2001 13:00 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:14566] Re: metric usage at www.whyfiles.org Strange, Bruce. I called up there on other business and had hoped to ask this question, too, but Jim McCracken is out of the office today. Perhaps they've had to turn it off due to hackers, equipment reconfiguration, or some other reason. OTOH, that fire in the tunnel in Baltimore wiped out a large optic cable trunk that normally carries a lot of internet traffic. Perhaps part of the 'net is down to repair that. Jim Bruce Raup wrote: Another web-site related exchange. BTW, what happened to the NIST Metric Program Office site, which used to be at http://www.nist.gov/metric ? Bruce -- Metric Methods(SM) Don't be late to metricate! James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/ 10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789 -- Metric Methods(SM) Don't be late to metricate! James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/ 10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789
[USMA:14572] RE: metric usage at www.whyfiles.org
Baron Carter wrote: Looks like NIST's server is down. It's NOT down (as I said in USMA 14568). It's now at http://physics.nist.gov. Has been for weeks. If my memory serves me correctly, Jim McCracken did post a message telling us about the restructuring. Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator)
