On Thu, 28 Nov 2002 09:26:55 Nat Hager III wrote: ... >Again Marcus the reality is today, 2002 November 27, if I go out in the mall >and expect every person I run into to be speaking millimeters I'm going to >be sorely disappointed.
True, of course. But that would be our *ultimate goal*, would it not? > And as a physicist of 30 years, who's never done >technical work in imperial and rarely does personal work in imperial, I have >no intention of converting to "inches". So the need for a quick-and-dirty >mental scheme for converting from inches to millimeters is unavoidable, >given the present reality. > My dear friend, Nat, the *ONLY* way that would definitively work is for *full conversion/switch* to take place! This business of people converting back and forth is *precisely* the type of thing that does NOT work. People need to simply create a *totally NEW mindset* IN SI. There is no other way around this. We have significant experience to that effect. Everywhere I know of where metrication went the "soft" way, "dual" way, without eliminating the *presence* of ifp units, conversion flopped. And it's unfortunate to say that EVEN in those cases where we have total SI presence we're still seeing some stubborn folks clinging to FFU, go figure! (Example? Miles and Fahrenheit in Canada, or even cm for snow accumulation - this one is even more mindboggling!... I still hear those around me, and NOT by old farts, by the way, which is even more troublesome!) >The same problem exists for metric-educated children emerging into a >still-ifp world, and unless you want them reverting completely to ifp after >school, you'd better teach them similar skills. Not my preference, but the >reality of the situation TODAY. > I vehemently disagree. This is precisely the kind of stuff that we MUST avoid at all costs. Take the situation of body data in Canada, for instance. Despite the fact that they learn metric in school you still see the practical totality of kids, youth and all using ifp exclusively. And why do they do it? Precisely because those surrounding them, including their parents, continue to do so. When I confronted some of these kids many times, this is the excuse they most often used, that their parents and everybody around them used it. Therefore, this business of "being nice", so to speak, to them is a strong detriment to our cause, I'm sorry. So, what we actually needed to do is to get *THEM*, the *"old farts"*, to make an effort to learn these new skills, NOT the other way around! And how do we get that to happen? Simple, by eliminating the presence of ifp in the environment. That's the ONLY successful way of doing it. Ultimately they'll come to the point that when they have a conversation with people who do not understand FFU they'd be sorely embarassed. Well... Tough luck, serves them right. They brought it upon themselves, they are the ones who chose to be out of the loop! Sorry, there can be no excuse for such behavior. Metric is so easy, so simple and practical that such excuses hold water with me! ;-) Also, look at it this way. Why should we insist on using 286's when there are Pentium IV 2.5 GHz machines around us??? For the sake of these old fellows we should compromise our own progress and comfort??? No way! If they wanna ride horses on roads and all, that's their business, but do NOT expect that *I* would do the same!!! It's that simple. In addition, there are alternative ways to get around the communication barrier without resorting to actually using ifp. For example, show comparative data, gestures, etc. ... >Again, so they can speak to their parents still using legacy units. Once the >generational change is over, the situation no longer exists. > Well... It doesn't seem like things work this way. At least it hasn't been happening in Canada. Such 'generational changes' are NOT taking place. What we're witnessing around here is a continuation, perpetuation of this hideous ifp crap with absolutely no prospect of change in sight! If SI is not used, it simply disappears from the scene and nobody "remembers" it or about it! ... >Never happen! Can you imagine every ruler, micrometer, machine tool, etc in >the US suddenly being shrunken 1.6%, to fit some new "definition" of the >inch?? Talk about Esperanto analogies! >... Again, I sure hope this insidious strategy dies at the source. Regards, Marcus ____________________________________________________________ Get 25MB of email storage with Lycos Mail Plus! Sign up today -- http://www.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus
