Dear Carlton and All, I am writing to support the views you state here. It is my experience, in Australia, that a conversion can almost always be done smoothly and quickly if you follow some basic rules.
1 Decide on the goal. In this case you decided that 'We will all use degrees Celsius for measuring temperature. 2 Decide on the time frame. You chose 'Now' as your timeframe; for a bigger conversion or for a bigger group you might have used the M-day concept. 3 Do not use conversions. In this case you removed all previous temperature scales so there was no need (or mechanism) for anyone to convert between old and new temperature scales. 4 Persist with the change. The major attack* will come immediately before and soon after any change is made; if you hold your ground and don't revert resistance will steadily fade. * Note the use of the singular word 'attack'. The attack will always come for the same reason, which is 'I don't want to change my mind'; this may be shrouded in other words, phrases, and complaints but underlying it is the simple thought, 'I don't want to change my mind'. Cheers, Pat Naughtin CAMS Geelong, Australia on 2002-07-15 12.42, [EMAIL PROTECTED] at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > In a message dated 2002-07-12 18:37:15 Eastern Daylight Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > >> BTW, I installed a digital indoor/outdoor thermometer that is displaying in >> Celsius only. Some roommates and neighbors ignore it or ask what it means >> in the old units. Most of my roommates understand it because they have >> lived abroad for a few years. Some people think it is kind of an oddity, >> but I haven't had much hostility to it. (It's my thermometer, after all, >> and I can do what I want with it--they recognize that). > > At our house all the thermometers, and the two thermostats, register in > Celsius only. My family had no trouble understanding them -- it took them > less than a week to understand the new scale of reference. > > Carleton >
