This mantra is voiced repeatedly by those opposed to metrication. The logical error in it is that it has an erroneous implied premise. The success mentioned might be blamed on or credited to (choose your point of view): - our form of government, - our history of transcontinental expansion that led to a history of inventiveness, - our gluttonous use of world resources, - our ethnically mixed society, - our long use of enslaved peoples for labor, - our rapid growth to the status of being one of the worlds largest single-language countries, - our use of the English language, - our colleges and universities, - our favorable location, - or just plain luck. But, please, don't blame it on the use of our American Hodgepodge of units. When faced with this challenge, perhaps we ought to say, "Yes, we did that in spite of our ridiculous units of measurement; just imagine what we could have done had we metricated, thereby making all the things we've done easier!" One could then point out that being hangers-on to this hodgepodge resulted in the recent loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter. And our students are loaded down with having to learn measurements twice! Jim On Tuesday 24 April 2001 1553, Nat Hager III wrote: .... > One might reasonably ask why it is, then, after all this time, > that the U.S. economy still is the most robust in the world, that we > remain the leader in volume of foreign trade, and that students the > world over pray for the opportunity to be educated in the > universities of this most backward of nations. .... -- James R. Frysinger University/College of Charleston 10 Captiva Row Dept. of Physics and Astronomy Charleston, SC 29407 66 George Street 843.225.0805 Charleston, SC 29424 http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cert. Adv. Metrication Specialist 843.953.7644
