This is the answer of Bill Roland to John. Nothing but the usual trash, ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Roland" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, May 07, 2001 8:49 PM Subject: Re: A letter from a friend of mine Well, he can believe what he wants to, it doesn't change the fact the we are reverting to Imperial in areas. There are a growing number of imperial only items in my house that I buy from the supermarket, and I talked to an Intel engineer, and he told me that while wafers are measured in MM and die size in microns, the "mil" or 1/1000 of an inch, is very much used internally by the people who build the stuff, so argue with them, not me. Ask your buddy how many road signs he sees in Kilometers? I'd wager none, but if he sees any, they have been really reduced from the total that there were 5 years ago. Metric hasn't taken hold. My teachers are required to teach metric units, but lo and behold, they don't. It isn't convienent for anybody. Do you know why its inconvenient? I'll give you an example. Yesterday I was buying bagged mulch, 2 cubic feet worth. The metric equivalent, carefully tucked away, read 56.6 Liters. Now, to the average person, liters means Coca Cola, not a bag of solid mulch. So, nobody looks at that, they dismiss it as stupid and unnecessary. 2 cubic feet is easy to visualize. In fact, the main advantage imperial has over metric is its ability to assign lengths that are similar to human digits. For example, 1 inch equals the length from the tip of your index finger to the first joint on your index finger. While it might now be 100% precise, it is close enough to give the idea. 1 yard equals the length from the tip of your nose to the tip of your outstrechted hand. Again, not 100% precise, but enough so that you get the idea. 2 cubic feet is easy to visualize, 56.6 liters is not. That's why nobody is adopting the system where there government doesn't make them. Also, point out to your buddy that multiple sections of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 has been repealed over the last 5 years, including the portion requiring the government to use the metric system. Bill Roland
