a letter to the APWA - let your concerns be heard!! > -----Original Message----- > From: Hu, Alfred > Sent: Friday, November 03, 2000 7:48 AM > To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' > Subject: Continued commitment to metrication > > > To: American Public Works Association: > > Within the past twenty years the US Fedral government showed a lack-luster > commitment to metrication making the US the only major nation on earth > stuck with an archaic set of measuerment units originating in the 13th > century. This lack of commitment was brought about by laziness, lack of > metric education and its benefits, politicians only interested in being > reelected, arrogance and general public disinterest in metric. If this > trend continues the USA will still be the "odd-ball" well into the 21st > and 22nd centuries. At this rate we cannot wait for such a govenment to > commit to a national coordinated conversion to metric but instead we > should take the initiative to show that converting to metric works and is > beneficial. > > Presently many industries and organizations have already converted to > metric or SI such as bottling, automotive, federal construction (as > alledged), pet food, athletic events, film. Furthermore the highway > departments of wealthy and highly populated states such as California and > New York remain firmly commited to metric. The cost of conversion was not > much of an issue. Furthermore as world trade and communications > increase, it becomes more crucial to convert to SI. > > The metric system is designed to be easy (no cumbersome fractions) to use > and to learn, helps in world trade and communications, allows school > students to not waste time learning old measuerment units no one else uses > and moving to one system of measurement can even prevent disaster such as > that of the Mars Orbiter (not to mention the cost of the loss). > > Its time to realize that if English is the international language then > metric or SI is the international system of measurement. Its time to > stop this wishy-washy lack of commitment to metric, jump on the metric > band wagon and get it over with once and for all. It seems that our > government needs a sharp slap on the face for it to start pushing for > metric commitment. > > Therefore we strongly urge the American Public Works Association to stay > the metric course and not make the potentialy costly mistake of reverting > to archaic units. > > regards, > A. H. Computer systems analyst San Francisco.
