Dear Jim and All,
Your point about paperclips raises the issue of standards around the house -
or for that matter around the elementary school.
Mints around the world have copped out of this debate by adopting truly old
units for coins. For example, the mints of both Australia and the USA seem
proud of the fact that they use Troy units for their coins. I understand
that James Watt, of steam engine fame, tried to standardise coins with
common measures of mass so that ordinary people could check the mass of meat
they got from the butcher by comparing it with a whole load of standardised
pennies. Although James Watt was a supporter of metric measures, I don't
think he was promoting coins with a metric mass.
In Australia we could readily use a single sheet of 80 g/m2 A4 paper as a
reasonable 'standard' for a mass of 5 g. When we wanted to find the mass of
an article with better precision we could simply divide the piece of A4 into
5 pieces each with a 1 g mass.
But the point I want to make is that the general public don't know what
'standards' they have that are readily available and reasonably consistent.
--
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
CAMS - Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist
- United States Metric Association
ASM - Accredited Speaking Member
- National Speakers Association of Australia
Member, International Federation for Professional Speakers
on 2001/06/08 01.33, James R. Frysinger at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Indeed. Diversification helps marketeers provide product recognition
> ("Big Gulp" is probably a patented or trademarked size descriptor) and
> obfuscation of units frustrates economic comparison. "My large size is
> better than your large size. Don't try typing 'large' into your
> calculator, though."
>
> BTW, I saw one of those "science education suggestions" in a newspaper
> style journal published by the National Science Teachers of America. It
> showed kids how to make a balance from a soda straw, paper cups, and
> clothespins. Then it invited them to weigh various objects "in
> paperclips". Reminds me that I need to stop off at the grocery store on
> the way home to buy 400 paperclips of hamburger.
>
> Jim
>
> On Thursday 07 June 2001 1111, Duncan Bath wrote:
>> Yes, those who would rely on "market forces" doing the job forget
>> that *the market* decides what is to be offered and at what price.
>> It constitutes a profoundly blunt instrument when it comes to
>> standardization; in fact, often just the reverse.
>> Duncan
> ....
