Comments interspersed as well Howard Ressel Project Design Engineer, Region 4 (585) 272-3372
>>> "Predrag Lezaic" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 01/01/04 03:47AM >>> Hi, Since I came to US 10 years ago there have been 4 things that bothered me. I wonder if any of these almost exclusively (as far as I know) items have anything to do with Metric vs. Imperial. 1. Why the heck every calendar has Sunday as first day of the week? For the religious in this group, even god rested on the seventh day, not the first! Culture and tradition, what's the big deal! Besides is there really a beginning and end to a week these days? Can one tell the difference between Sunday and Monday anymore? For that matter, I was in the Atlanta airport on Christmas and every store was open (not just the essentials like food and magazines). It bothered me and I don't even celebrate Christmas. 2. AM/PM To this day I have no clue what noon is. I cringe when someone calls 13:00, military time. Same, its our culture and I see no need to change our culture and customs for something so minor. There would probably be lots of nuances in your country of origin that would drive an American crazy after living there 10 years. I hope that person would not be so arrogant as to think that his way was correct and yours wrong (forgive me, I'm not trying to imply that you are arrogant, just making a point. Ironically, Americans do have a reputation of being arrogant and not very tolerant themselves). 3. January 1, 2004. In Europe, it would be written 1 January, 2004. See response above 4. Letter sized paper vs. A4. Culture, custom and economy. Even if we go metric 100% I don't see the paper size industry changing too fast, if ever. Like pipes and lumber, paper will probably just go to a rational nominal size. Pipe sizes have not changed in many metric countries nor lumber and other products, just their names have become rational metric. I don't see the use of A4 paper as a metric issue rather an international standards issue. Certainly there are bigger international standards we need to be concerned about other than paper sizes (IE. formats for electronic equipment). Any comments please? Thanks, Predrag
