"mc" wrote: >would it not be easier to keep everything in metric
--------------------------------------------------- I've been a technical and scientific writer since the early 1960's. In all that time I've worked in metric right here in the USA. It's what most of the engineering/scientific community lives by. The simple fact is the STANDARD AMERICAN system of weights and measures is METRIC! It has been so since the middle 1800's when our Congress adopted the metric system as our official system. What they did not do was to make it illegal to continue to use the clumsy, crazy "American/English" system. (40 lashes for each of 'em with a wet noodle!) So, stubborn Yanks that we are, we still measure by the King's thumb, etc. >From time to time some numbskull tries to mix the two. The most famous case is when someone got confused between the two while they were configuring the main mirror for the Hubble telescope and produced a billion dollar blunder that was only solved much later by some equally expensive correction optics. It didn't help that QA missed the error too. My XYL is Dutch, so we live and cook and work in Metric here in Oregon country, and it's great. Still, I am reminded of just how powerful early training can be. For example, I know exactly what I'm doing when I set my soldering iron at 400C and what to expect if I touch something that's 50C, but I still have to stop and think about whether I'll need a jacket if it's 15C out. I was raised perceiving the weather in Fahrenheit, and after all these years I still have to stop and think for a moment. That's a clue about just how powerful early training can be. Ron AC7AC _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
