I have here Nelson DeMille's By the Rivers of Babylon. It is about Arab terrorists hijacking two Israeli Concordes (with each having a radio-controlled bomb in the tail) on the way to New York for a peace conference. One of the planes is blown out of the sky when the pilot tries to escape and Ahmed Rish, the commander of the terrorists in a Lear jet, presses a button. It is a metric book. Ifp has been defeated and I would suppose that the USMA (and of course, the BWMA) has been disbanded. What we are hoping for, metric in aviation is a fact. There is an American on the surviving plane who really hates SI, John McClure: 'McClure could see several flashlights moving along the river bank below. Three football fields away. That was the only way he would ever estimate distance. Three hundred yards. About 270 of these ridiculous metres. "They've already surrounded us" he said'.
Han ----- Original Message ----- From: "kilopascal" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, 2002-10-18 5:37 Subject: [USMA:22753] RE: A new system > 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 > > > > > > >
