-----Original Message----- From: Han Maenen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: March 9, 2002 03:05 Subject: [USMA:18625] Anti-metric Associated Press
>Associated Press thinks that the am/pm clock is used in Europe and they also >think that we use irrational and inconsistent decimalized ifp trash. When I >see stupid decimal ifp like 7.4 miles I see red. Looks like 12 km to me! D. The BWMA etc,. alway tell >us that fractions and non-decimal subdivsions are superior to decimal ones, >but when it comes it they decimalize their garbage without blinking an eye. But, miles and yards don't fit too well on odometers. D. ast updated: 09-03-02, 07:47 > > > >A small explosion occurred at the French entrance to the Mont Blanc tunnel >early today, several hours before the long-awaited reopening of the Alpine >passage. > >A maintenance truck was destroyed but there were no injuries, a local >official said. The blast caused no damage to the tunnel itself, which has >been closed since a 1999 truck fire killed 39 people. > >The passage linking France and Italy was expected to reopen to cars at noon >(11 a.m. Irish time), as originally scheduled. > >No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, which occurred at >about 3 a.m. (2 a.m. Irish time), said Mr Michel Bergue, an official of the >Haute-Savoie region, where the French entrance to the tunnel is located. > >The explosive device was described as low-grade, of the type used often in >the Alpine area to trigger avalanches. > >Police began taking positions at the tunnel's entrance by dawn, as part of >security measures planned for the reopening later in the day. > >Two other attacks against the tunnel last year, while it was still closed to >traffic, were claimed by activist groups that opposed truck traffic in the >Alpine passage. > >Demonstrations were planned today in protest at the tunnel's eventual >reopening to trucks, which government officials say will happen next week. > >Environmentalists and other critics say that trucks inside the 7.4-mile >tunnel are too dangerous and cause excessive pollution. > >In March 1999, 39 people were killed after a truck carrying flour and >margarine caught fire and turned the passage into a deathtrap. The blaze >burned for two days while firefighters tried to reach cars and people >trapped inside. > >AP > > > > >
