----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 7:34
PM
Subject: [USMA:23280] A few questions to
all
There are a few abbreviations in some of your
letters that do not know. What is "FFU" or "IFP"? A web
search yields too many results.
I myself did not know this until reading Mr. Potts's
letter.
When the USA converts to SI, should we
use Kelvin or Celsius?
Celsius. Kelvin is a standard suited for science
and would be confusing to the general public, whose primary interest in
temerature scales is meteorological, in having to know the difference
between 273 (cold) and 303 (warm). Celsius is more suited to use by the
general public by moving the zero point to 273 K, the freezing point of water,
making 0 C cold and 30 C warm. The celsius scale is alreadyused
worldwide for weather forecasts as far as I know and the United States would
be unusual if it gave weather reports in Kelvins.
Does anyone know many US federal agencies abided
by executive order 12770 (the one about using metric units; circa 1991),
or did that order just get swept under the rug?
Huh?
Why is the phrase "metric" used more than
"SI"?
As Mr. Potts said, everyone knows what "metric" is. SI
is the set of scientific standards, which includes everything from lux to
webers, while "metric" is the system used by the general public, and
deals with Celsius, kilometres, and litres.
How would we convince the US postal service to
use SI? This would clearly educate the US public about SI.
Have them rescale the shipping rates and all of their
measuring devices - 30g instead of one ounce - 500g instead of one
pound. Not sure how to actually GET THEM to do it.
How do we convince the general public that
converting to SI is "cool" or possible? For example, I don't see any
political protests or rallies pushing for SI.
That's because SI is regarded as geeky at best, an alien
concept at worst.
What would the standard size of computer paper
be?
As Bill Potts suggested, the ISO A series is ideal. A4
is the closest in size to the major US format (8.5x11
inches)
