I'm willing to concede that the US may have been the most progressive nation on earth with respect to the *specifically restricted context* of rationalizing the currency system in use in that place at that time.... :) The original statement sounded rather more all-encompassing.
K ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Cowan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Karljürgen Feuerherm" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2003 9:57 AM Subject: Re: [OT] Metric was Yerushala(y)im - or Biblical Hebrew > Karljürgen Feuerherm scripsit: > > > Well, in either case, the original point falls to bits. Neither of the two > > countries match the original descriptor of 'the at-the-time most progressive > > nation on Earth'. > > In terms of reform of this kind, the U.S. certainly does match, thanks to > Thomas Jefferson, who liberated the world pounds, shillings, and pence > (and their analogues). Unfortunately, his decimal-based measurement > system didn't have the quantifying prefixes of the metric system (which > did not yet exist), and it was entirely Jefferson's idea with no support > from other scientists or countries. So it failed, and the U.S. was > stuck with the Fred Flintstone Memorial Measurement system by default > (it has never been adopted officially). > > > Nor does any other. It's simply much too simplistic a statement. > > In general, yes. But this is a restricted context. > > -- > Real FORTRAN programmers can program FORTRAN John Cowan > in any language. --Allen Brown [EMAIL PROTECTED] >
