Keep up the good work, Norm. No doubt you'll let us know if any or all of
them reply.
By the way, "pence" is plural. The singular is "penny."
Bill Potts, CMS
Roseville, CA
http://metric1.org [SI Navigator]
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
> Behalf Of Norman Werling
> Sent: May 12, 2001 10:57
> To: U.S. Metric Association
> Subject: [USMA:12746] Fw: International System of Units (SI, metric)
>
>
> Copy for USMA list members.
>
> Norm
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Norman Werling" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "Representative Cynthia McKinney" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Senator Max
> Cleland" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: 2001May12 13:41
> Subject: International System of Units (SI, metric)
>
>
> > Dear Senator Max Cleland, Senator Zell Miller and Congresswoman Cynthia
> > McKinney,
> >
> > I will be mailing you each a copy of this email which is being processed
> > through my Outlook Express system. I repeat my dismay that you
> all refuse
> > to reply to emails which are not sent to your web sites or
> which have not
> > been sent via US mail. Any automatic acknowledgments do not
> count if your
> > or your staffs' reply is not addressed to the subject matter.
> >
> > Obviously you can tell that I am an advocate of the United States fully
> > utilizing the International System of Units (SI-metric). The present
> > hodgepodge of archaic units referred to as US Customary or US Standard
> > is_not_the equal or a valid substitute for SI. I prefer to call US
> > Customary WOMBAT (Way Of Measuring Badly in America Today).
> >
> > I repeat myself when I say it is amusing or even laughable that Congress
> > yielded to highway contractors' pressure to revert to "English"
> units when
> > the British are changing to SI-metric. The British must do so if they
> want
> > to be part of the European Union. I admit that there is reactionary
> > (conservative) led backlash against SI-metric and even Britain's
> membership
> > in the EU, but the tide is for SI-metric and for the EU and against the
> > reactionary backlash.
> >
> > Remember, SI-metric is not just Europe, it is Japan and all of
> Asia, it is
> > all of Africa, it is Latin America, it is the rest of the
> English speaking
> > world, it is the entire world outside of the US.
> >
> > India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Jamaica are all
> nations of
> > British heritage who have completed or are nearly complete in converting
> to
> > SI-metric.
> >
> > I feel that it is US government and industrial interests which are
> impeding
> > Canada's completion of their conversion to SI-metric.
> >
> > Certainly all three of you know that the entire world has been replacing
> > their individual archaic measurement units with SI-metric. Not all
> nations
> > used to use the British Imperial units. The U.S. (so-called) Customary
> > differed in volume from the British Imperial. Many other
> nations changed
> > from their own non-metric systems which may have been similar to the
> British
> > Imperial but were not the same.
> >
> > Look back in time when everyone in the world used "sun" time before the
> > advent of Standard Time. Do you not see the similarities?
> >
> > Are you not thankful that the US Congress adopted decimal
> currency in the
> > late 1700's? Britain did not dump 4 farthings to a pence, 12 pence to a
> > shilling, and 20 shillings to a pound sterling until 1971. The
> same kind
> of
> > people in Britain who opposed that action are the kinds who oppose using
> > SI-metric now.
> >
> > You all may think that there is American opposition to switching to
> > SI-metric, but I believe that there is more apathy than opposition among
> > Americans. My 45 year old daughter, when confronted by my Celsius
> > thermometer on my back fence said, "I am ready to change but we (meaning
> > Americans) all need to change at the same time and just have it over
> with."
> >
> > Congress often must take the lead when something is worthwhile and
> > necessary. Look at legislation concerning civil rights, industrial
> safety,
> > and the environment and you must agree that voluntary approaches have
> > serious flaws. If my company wants to do the "right thing", but other
> > companies are not required to do the "right thing", my company is placed
> at
> > a competitive disadvantage.
> >
> > There is an American business organization called TABD, which stands for
> > TransAtlantic Business Dialogue. That group succeeded in pressuring the
> > European Union into a ten-year extension to 2009 before the EU will
> require
> > only SI-metric measures to the exclusion of Imperial or WOMBAT, the
> > so-called US Customary. I do not trust TABD because they
> promised to take
> > steps in the next ten years toward bringing the US into compliance with
> SI,
> > but they and their kind promised the same thing in 1979 and 1989.
> >
> > Now we are confronted with the possibility of an expanded western
> hemisphere
> > trading zone. I would be totally dismayed, disappointed, and downright
> > angry if American companies were to overwhelm all of the other
> nations of
> > our hemisphere with America's antiquated non-decimal measures to the
> > exclusion of the modern already adopted SI metric measures. I emphasize
> > right here and now that applying decimals to the use of inches, feet,
> yards,
> > miles, ounces, pounds, fluid ounces, pints, quarts, and
> gallons is_not_
> a
> > solution. At some point you must still convert with factors of 12, 3,
> 5280,
> > 16,16, 8, 2, or 4 in order to relate one or the other to the other.
> >
> > With SI-metric, for distance move the decimal point to convert from
> > kilometer to hectometer to decameter to meter to decimeter to centimeter
> to
> > millimeter. For volume, move the decimal point to convert
> from kiloliter
> > to hectoliter to dekaliter to liter to deciliter to centiliter to
> > milliliter. For mass (weight), move the decimal point to convert from
> > kilogram to hectogram to decagram to gram to decigram to centigram to
> > milligram.
> >
> > I was age 39 in 1975 when Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act. I
> > decided to give SI-metric a chance and readily found that it is mush
> easier
> > and looked foreword to the US joining the rest of the world. Congress
> took
> > a few steps forward but then has taken many more serious steps back.
> >
> > Also do not forget that the inch, the foot, the yard, and the
> statute mile
> > all owe the definition of their very existence to their relationship to
> the
> > meter. Let's just use the meter!
> >
> > I cannot see how it is in the best long term interests of the US to not
> join
> > with the rest of the world in fully using SI. Do you think
> that American
> > business should have the power to force other nations, large or
> small, to
> be
> > inundated with archaic WOMBAT (Way Of Measuring Badly in America Today)
> > units when their laws all provide for goods measured in the
> International
> > System of Units (SI)? We keep saying through government and
> business that
> > we will change to SI, but our actions belie our words.
> >
> > Looking forward to your replies via email and/or US mail,
> >
> > Norman V. Werling
> > 1240 Hunters Drive
> > Stone Mountain, GA 30083-2545
> > 404-292-9328
> >
> >
> >
>
