What would trigger the final decision by U.S. to go
metric?
My hunch is it is the kind of thing where one more
little item, one more little victory, one more
business switching, one more industry converting,
etc., all adds up, until suddenly the entire pile of
little things builds up to making something big
happen. I see it as something like continuing to add
one more feather and one more onto the scales until it
suddenly tips our way.
Andy Johnson
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/metricAmerica
--- Adrian Jadic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> From: Adrian Jadic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: [USMA:11683] What... (was: USMA digest 488)
> Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 19:42:56 -0500
> Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
> I must be in one of my pessimism low points (or
> highs.. depends how you see
> it).
> I certainly share your views and I also believe it
> is an achievable goal. I
> am not a Don Quixote myself.
>
> I did not mean to discourage, I was just asking a
> hopefully proactive
> question:
> ====WHAT? ...would (or could) really trigger the
> switch?====
> Like you, I am doing my best to speed it up in any
> way I can, but it just
> helps, it doesn't trigger.
>
> Large companies, the pharmaceutical and automobile
> industry have switched
> but this is, more or less internally due to market
> needs. People don't see
> the bolts in the car nor the drawings it was made
> from. Cars still display
> mph.
> As for the drugs, many don't understand anyway
> what's written on the
> packages or they don't care because they are sick
> and want to get "fixed"
> (to quote an expression that my wife hears daily).
> We still have
> Thermometers in F, scales in lbs. ...and nurses
> Celsius-free.
>
> How about the masses, people (as John mentioned
> today) who are loudly crying
> "Never!". The healthy plumber or carpenter who are
> building houses for a
> living in "the greatest country in the world"? What
> would convince these
> guys to forget about their "two-by-four" and the
> half-inch pipe?
>
> Obviously, the Mars disaster due to sloppy
> metrication, did not trigger any
> mass reaction despite the financial loss. The
> carpenter is probably
> thinking: "we should have not messed with those
> "metrics" in the first
> place, our system is just fine!".
> NASA made a big report with a lot of brushed-up
> recommendations but nobody
> asked the Chief Engineer to resign. This tells me
> that even NASA is still
> not entirely convinced. How about if we had lost
> astronauts?
>
> I prefer to stop here and let everybody join the
> discussion if they wish to.
>
> I am convinced that sometimes it is useful to sit
> back and look at the big
> picture although it might look pessimistic. It helps
> me focus better.
>
> So, what would/could trigger a large scale
> metrication in the US?
>
> A.
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andy Johnson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Saturday 17 March 2001 15:29
> To: U.S. Metric Association
> Subject: [USMA:11681] Fwd: Re: USMA digest 488
>
>
> Now...if you were to convince me as a certainty that
> the U.S. is not going to go metric in my lifetime,
> then I would lose interest in the cause. I am not
> interested in metrication as a game or as a hobby
> but
> as a very definite achievable worthwile political
> goal.
> Elaborate if you can, if you will, about how you see
> it, please. As for me, I am sure we will be metric
> someday, and I hope I can speed it up a bit.
>
> Andy Johnson
>
> --- Adrian Jadic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > From: Adrian Jadic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Subject: [USMA:11677] Re: USMA digest 488
> > Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 12:42:26 -0500
> > Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> > I agree that anti-metric thinking is deeply
> > engrained in our society but,
> > (and I apologize for my pessimism) I believe that
> a
> > tragedy won't be enough.
> >
> > Just look at the gun laws. There was a Columbine
> > tragedy and several more
> > before and after that. Results.. nothing.
> >
> > For Australia a tragedy was enough to trigger a
> mass
> > approval of the gun
> > ban. Similarly, it did not take much to convince
> > them of the metric
> > advantages in spite of their English heritage.
> Here,
> > it seems we need
> > something more.
> >
> > The question is WHAT? Personally, I believe that
> > something has to shatter
> > the American self confidence before the many would
> > accept that there is time
> > for a serious/radical change.
> >
> > I have lived for extended periods in several
> > countries and only here I found
> > this strong mass conviction that "We are the
> best".
> > When the human spirit
> > reaches that level there is no place for change.
> > History proved this many
> > times.
> >
> > A.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Paul Trusten [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > Sent: Friday 16 March 2001 22:50
> > To: U.S. Metric Association
> > Subject: [USMA:11674] Re: USMA digest 488
> >
> >
> > You are quite right; it is a risk management
> issue.
> > But I'm afraid that
> > anti-metric thinking is deeply ingrained in this
> > society, and nothing will
> > change until a tragedy happens.
> >
>
>
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