nobody is forced to buy 16:9 TVs and 4:3 DVDs should be forbidden!
16:9 is the one and only format for movies! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Han Maenen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, August 09, 2002 12:05 PM Subject: [USMA:21597] Unit names; consumers' rights; duodecimal system > Spelling of unit *names* is not standardized under SI. The US and all other > nations are therefore entitled to use their customary spelling of metric > units. Many countries, especially in Northwestern Europe, spell meter, > liter, etc, for instance Germany and The Netherlands. The fact that French > and British English are used in the two language versions of the brochure > does not mean that other countries must adopt the -re spelling. > Only the notation of *numbers and symbols* is standardized. See the SI > brochure from the BIPM, up. 109-110. Nothing about the spelling of unit > names, only symbols and numbers. > > Less on topic: people who have a DVD player are forced to buy widescreen > televisions, as 4:3 DVDs are deliberately made available only in very small > numbers; they are almost all widescreen with these hideous black bars. > Traders of all kind always claim that they respect the choice of their > customers. The Metric Martyrs and the Irish butchers, for instance.The DVD > problem shows what hogwash this is! They only respect consumer's choices > when it suits them, but when they can impose things like widescreen TV's on > us, down the drain go customer's rights. Irish butchers do not use dual > metric/avoirdupois pricing. What about people in Ireland who want to buy in > metric? And the same thing is still going on in Canada. > > Another thing: changing to the duodecimal number system is impossible. I > would be implacably opposed to it. Everything in mathematics will have to > start from scratch. Although clocks use the duodecimal system, the numbers > on them are still decimal ones. In the trash with most clocks and watches! > The cost would be astronomic. And all this because 12 can be divided by 3 > and by 6 and 10 cannot. It will mean the death of metric as we know it, but > I think that the ifp camp would be in for a nasty surprise. > How, for instance, can something like 1 rod = 5-1/2 yd = 16 ft 6 in or 1 > mile = 1760 yards etc.etc. be accommodated under the duodecimal system? Most > factors in FFU are binary and many others are not based on any number system > at all. Only a few have ever been factors of 12 and/or 3. A duodecimal > system of units would also be based on 1 and factors of the new 10 > (1,2,.........a,be, 10). > > Han > Historian of Dutch Metrication, Nijmegen, The Netherlands > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Brig Bhutan Vim" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Friday, 2002-08-09 1:25 > Subject: [USMA:21585] Digi TV : Opposition to US gov > > > > Hi Madan: > > I am no body to talk for or against the political forces in US, but I see > that advocates in both groups have their opinions *to disagree* like what > happened at time of signing the Metre Convention; as a result America is > still struggling to get away from Yards/Miles/Pounds and gallons. They > advocate the SI-metric policies but refuse to change even the spellings of > 'meter and liter" to Systeme Internationale d'unites (SI in all languages). > Great thinking, I must profess! > Brij Bhushan Vij <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > <snip> > >
