The purpose of the list is to discuss issues related to SI. Our discussions on the list often provide valuable ideas to the USMA
Many of us on this list are members of USMA. With our dues, we support the USMA's efforts, particularly in Washington, in the promotion and facilitation of metrication (including discussions with members of Congress). The USMA works with standards bodies, too, and with NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). I think we can consider a number of industries to be allies in the effort to accelerate metrication. The liquor and wine industries have been 100% SI for years, as has the automotive industry. The major soft drink manufacturers use hard metric sizes for their larger containers. The pharmaceutical industry is 100% metric, although not 100% SI (as they use their own abbreviations in some cases [e.g., mc for �], rather than the approved SI prefixes). (Note: I consider mc to only be an abbreviation for micro; � is the SI prefix that means micro.) Some large manufacturers, especially Procter and Gamble, are very progressive in their adoption of SI for their products. Almost all of P&G's packaging is in round SI values. If it were not for a few hold-out states, P&G would probably take full advantage of FPLA, which permits metric-only labeling. Several of us on this list serve on standards committees, such as IEEE SCC 14 and IEEE/ASTM SI 10-2007. If you're curious about these, do a Google search. For my own part, I've had a web site for about five years, providing easy navigation to a large number of other web sites for those interested in metrication. The site includes a political action page, with links to all senators and congress critters, all state legislatures, and newspaper web sites by state, nationally, and worldwide. Jim Frysinger, Marcus Berger, and others also have SI web sites. Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Behalf Of J. Ward >Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 19:45 >To: U.S. Metric Association >Subject: [USMA:28927] Pro metric lobby? > > >I signed up for the USMA list expecting that the main purpose of the list >would be to organize some sort of pro-metric campaign. While I am very >grateful for all the good work the USMA does and appreciate all the things >I've learned reading postings to this list, the lack of organized >political >mobilization is still a bit of a disappointment. > >If we could somehow redirect the fervor for a decimal clock into a >lobby for >organized US SI conversion, think of the wonders we could accomplish! > >On Wednesday 25 February 2004 09:59, Gavin Young wrote: >> Maybe the USMA should create form letters on their website (like >the action >> alerts of environmental websites) that will facilitate mass >mailings by all >> USMA members and anyone else interested in SI metric. Letters >addressed to >> various organizations can be posted. >
