John does have a point below. However, I'd rather hear 'blocks', 'stores', 'football fields' than hideous yards, feet, inches anyday... ;-)
Marcus On Thu, 17 Oct 2002 23:37:35 kilopascal wrote: >2002-10-17 > >These are vague visualisations used by vast majority of Americans who are >functionally innumerate. FFU was developed for and by such people, and that >is why the mathematically impaired cling to it. It was never meant to be >exact. That is why for centuries before the advent of the metric system, >there were thousands of variations on every unit within FFU. > >Apparently today, most people can not visualise distances in FFU, so they >resort to visualisations. > >Even though a football field may be a little over 90 m, the visualisation is >meant to be a rough estimate, and just one can also visualise it as 100 m, >making it easier to do conversions back to SI. > >Isn't it sad that instead of teaching and learning SI as a proper system for >descriptive measurement, we would rather revert to these primitive types of >visualisations. It really shows that America is regressing, when methods of >ignorance are promoted over methods of intelligence. > >John > > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Bill Potts" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Thursday, 2002-10-17 23:22 >Subject: [USMA:22752] RE: A new system > > >> Mike: >> >> I don't know of an exact definition. >> >> City blocks certainly vary. In general, they're just a guide to getting >> around (go so many blocks in this direction, turn right, then so many >blocks >> in that direction, ...) . In New York, it's the distance between adjacent >> numbered streets (short blocks) or avenues (long blocks, as the avenues >are >> much further apart). Chicago city blocks tend to be more uniform. In >> California, the term isn't used very much. >> >> I think a football field is a little over 90 m or so. >> >> A story (no e in American English) varies, depending on whether it's a >> standard residence, a commercial building, or whatever. For houses, the >> minimum is a little over 2.5 m. For fancier houses, it's somewhat more. >> >> Bill Potts, CMS >> Roseville, CA >> http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] >> >> >-----Original Message----- >> >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:owner-usma@;colostate.edu]On >> >Behalf Of Mike Joy >> >Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2002 17:22 >> >To: U.S. Metric Association >> >Subject: [USMA:22751] A new system >> > >> > >> >Hello all, >> > >> >I see the US media is converting from the ifp 'system' to some kind of >new >> >'easyspeak' system. >> > >> >Can any one tell me please how many metres there are in:- >> > >> >1) 1 city block >> >2) 1 football field >> >3) 1 storey. >> > >> >Is there an exact definition? >> > >> >Regards >> > >> >Mike >> >Perth Australia >> > >> > > ____________________________________________________________ Get 25MB of email storage with Lycos Mail Plus! Sign up today -- http://www.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus
