2002-07-23 My point in posting my suggestion was to suggest to convert those things first and right away that would have the greatest impact as far as exposure of units is concerned. And at the same time be the least costly. Road sign conversion is costly. The various state and federal DOTs barely have enough money to operate let alone spend it on the mass conversion of signs. Especially when the population is kilometre illiterate.
If we can expose the population to SI by converting the least expensive ones first, it may become easier for the public to accept SI in something more expensive. John ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joseph B. Reid" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, 2002-07-23 15:44 Subject: [USMA:21360] Re: Metrication activities > John Kilopascal wrote in USMA 21349: > > >The most important things to convert first, are weather reporting, gasoline > >pumps and weighing machines in the grocery stores. Each of these can be > >done almost over night and with virtually no cost. These also have the > >effect of exposing the general population to weather terms in SI, such as > >degrees Celsius (temperature) , hecto/kilopascals (air pressure), > >millimetres/centimetres (rain/snow depth); metres (water levels); kilometres > >per hour/metres per second (air speed), etc. The conversion of gas pumps > >will expose the public to the litre in a form other than a trade name in > >soda pop sizing. The conversion of scales will expose the public to the use > >of the gram and kilogram. > > > >Weather Reporting: Since the info is already available from the sources in > >SI, and converted somewhere down the line, all that need be done is the > >converting to FFU stopped. This should be a cost savings as there must be a > >cost to convert to FFU, so not doing it is a cost savings. > > > >Gasoline pumps & grocery scales: Most of these are digital by now and all > >capable of being converted. No need to buy new equipment. These devices > >can be switched over simply by either a hardware switch internal to the > >device or a software code. > > > >There is no economical reason these can not be changed in a short time with > >minimal expense. There may also be other areas where change can be made > >quickly and with little or no expense and has the effect of exposure to the > >new units. If we can get these simple areas to change first, it may be > >easier to do the more costly ones shortly thereafter. > > > >Any comments? > > > >John > > > In Canada all speed linmit signs were changed to km/h over the Labour Day > week end of 1977 by the simple process of slapping a decal over the > existing signs. At the same time all new cars sold in Canada from that > date had to have metric speedometers. > > Weather reporting went metric in April 1975. > > News reporting is metric which involves Canadian Press translating > Associated Press despatches from inch/pound to metric. > > Quantities of grain are recorded in kilograms instead of bushels, a > considerable saving of time from the old way of converting mass into volume > units (bushels). > > Joseph B.Reid > 17 Glebe Road West > Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071 >
