There are two glaring error of fact in Adrian's message (quoted here): on 4/24/2002 5:10 PM, Adrian Jadic at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I wrote a small explanation letter asking them to publish it in response to > the eroneous Editor's note but instead I got the cold shoulder similar to > what we get from all enemies of the metric system.
(1) The editorial in Metric Today is not erroneous. One can adopt the metric system for all one's measuring and still not use A4 paper sizes (or B or C series sizes). And one can use A4 paper and not adopt metric for anything else you do. This is no different than the situation regarding measuring fuel consumption by volume used per unit distance traveled versus distance traveled per unit volume used. it is also no differnt that the use of the 24 hour clock rather than the am/pm version. Both of these things are used one way more by metric users and the other way more by non-SI users. But that doesn't make these things metric or non-metric. Neither the volume per unit distance method nor the 24 hour clock are particulalry metric and neither is A4 paper. Yes, I myself prefer the A series of paper sizes (and B and C). They are better, more rational sizes. (More particularly, they are more a rational SHAPE.) But they could have been made using inches or furlongs or cubits. The fact that they are specified in metric (and even based on A0 having an area of 1 square metre) does NOT mean that one MUST use them if one wants to "use the metric system". It is in that sense that one can say that A4 is not metric. And it is in that sense that Metric Today was not erroneous. (2) The editor of Metric Today is not an enemy of the metric system. Valerie Antoine is and has for years been one of the most ardent and effective proponents of the metric system in the US. It is insulting as well as being extraordinarily inaccurate to paint her as "an enemy" of the metric system. I'm sorry Adrian did not get the prompt reply he is demanding, but I sympathize with the Editor's plight of having so much work to do that it becomes an impossible task to respond personally to every letter. If we paid her enough so that she could hire a big staff, maybe she could accomplish that. Is she overworked? Quite likely. Is she an enemy of metric? Preposterous! An apology is required. Regards, Bill Hooper college physics teacher (retired), USA (Florida) +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Do It Easy, Do It Metric! +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
