Dear Euric, Do you know anything about GK, who posted the material below? In particular, do you have an email address for GK?
Cheers, Pat Naughtin Geelong, Australia -- on 2/4/04 2:21 PM, Chimpsarecute at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > A thing or two... > > Posted By: GK > Date: Wednesday, 31 March 2004, at 10:25 a.m. >> >> Got a few things to put down here, so there's bound to be a bit of reading - >> I could never say anything in a short fashion, only a long-winded one...I'm >> not sure whether that was to the delight or horror of my English teachers at >> school lol! >> >> I have noticed some arguments on the web against metric seem to be based on >> its flaws. YES you don't get a nice even number when you divide 10 by three >> (or 100 for that matter). YES you can put the bloody decimal point in the >> wrong spot. In fact despite the strong pro-metric stance I have, I am >> willing to concede that when properly pointed out, it does have its flaws. >> No doubt about it. >> >> But if you really think about it, I mean REALLY think about it, anything >> designed by, invented by, of thought up by humans is flawed - or should I >> say IMPERFECT? Because let's face it, we ourselves are imperfect. So the >> idea is not to say "OH you can't do thirds in Metric!" and flush it down the >> S-bend! At the end of the day (at least in my mind) the way to pick the >> better system is to choose the one with the least flaws, critical errors, >> stuffups - whatever you fancy calling them. And as I see it, there are far >> less things wrong with metric (in reality, less than a lot of people >> apparently will admit) then the Imperial system. >> >> On a slightly different note, another argument against was based on the >> account of an American woman's trip to Europe, where she encountered people >> being slack and using fractions rather than decimals - so writing Kilometres >> an hour as KPH rather than the correct km/h isn't slack? - and in the pub >> she found people still called their glasses of beer "pints"...SO WHAT? >> >> In Australia we call them pints, pots, schooners...And then for the smaller >> glasses there's middies and even more...The whole idea of calling it a >> bloody pint is that despite the measurement system changing, people still >> prefer a little tradition, thought not enough to prevent them from adopting >> Metric in the first place. >> And FYI, the pint glass HAS a metric value - 568mL. >> >> Now for those of you who think its just too dam hard to change the system of >> measurement...Well I can't speak from experience because like I say I came >> into the world after Australia changed over. But one thing I can say is >> since 1972, practically and culturally most things are thought of in metric >> terms. There are only a few examples of Imperial prevailaing, and then a lot >> of the time that has to do with US influence. The best example is with >> vehicle tyres - diameters in inches, and pressures for everyday use in PSI >> rather than the metric kPa, but that's also because in this case PSI is a >> simpler way of doing things. And for timber we still have the old faithful >> 4x2 (2x4 to the US, "four-be-two" in Australian lingo) basically because it >> is a cultural thing more then anything else, even though the timber is sold >> in metric values. >> >> The funny thing is older people will still say "It's about 18 inches wide" >> or "2 foot deep"...But these things take a few generations to completely >> change. I mean Europe has had hundeds of years and they're more metric than >> us, but they still have "pints" LOL. >> >> My father is like this, a surveyor by trade, he was a draftsman with a shire >> council during the transition, and although he is trained and thinks in >> numerial/decimal/ultimately metric terms, he will still bloody say "it's 18 >> inches long!" >> >> And as for the traditional element in Australia? Well a lot of us love our >> fishing, and the first thing you see when you buy gear imported from the US >> is primarily its figures in imperial THEN metric (i.e. yards of line, >> poundage rating) and at the end of the day, most gear made in australia and >> sold here will also have imperial values...I guess at the end of the day >> people prefer to say they have a "7-foot baitcaster combo, with 12-pound >> line, (and the relevant rig) with a 2-ounce sinker"...Put simply some things >> will never change, but at least there's no real confusion here because at >> the end of the day we're just trying to catch a bloody fish, which we will >> weigh in kilograms anyway lol. >> >> But out of this the real bummer is getting a product (whatever is is) from >> the US and having it say something like "this part 50mm", then buying a 50mm >> bracket to fit - sorry 5cm :P - and having it NOT fit, and then realising >> the bloody thing is 2-inches, and so is 50.8mm wide! NO CRAPPY SOFT >> CONVERSIONS ON THE BOX! USE EXACT FIGURES PLEASE! >> >> One more point in this long-winded posting covers temperature. Someone made >> the point that Fahrenheit enables you to think "high 90s - getting hot" and >> "low 30s - BRASS MONKEY WEATHER!" and you couldn't do this with Celsius >> (CELSIUS NOT CENTIGRADE!) because of the smaller temperature range for >> "ambient temperature" - oooo big words. Ok lets look at it this way : 32F/0C >> 122F/50C 212F/100C So your everyday temperatures are going to fall between >> 0C and 45C. Instead of having to remember a shitload of ranges, you think >> 0-10 cold, 11-20 warming, 20-30 warm, 30-35 hot, and after 35 it's bloody >> hot. Trust me it's easier for you to learn that then it is for me to think >> "shit it's 67F in New York City - WTF?!!" >> >> In mentioning that, let me say that when considering American >> visitors/tourists, many Australian info sites will put the temperature >> ranges for Australian cities and town in both scales. But sadly you don't >> often seem to afford the same courtesy to us and the rest of the world. >> Apparently people other than just myself must have brought this to the >> attention of weather.com because you can now display figures INCLUDING >> temperature in metric - you get the marks for that guys! >> >> And now you're crying, wishing you'd never embarked upon the journey from >> the top to the bottom of this page, let me close by pointing out something >> peculiar. Desipite the US being anti-metric, it is quite common to see US >> measurements for lengths or depths (e.g. snow) displayed in inches with >> decimals...WTF?!! I mean 10.63-inches...Ok give me 0.63 of an inch...What's >> that you say? You can't?...Or is it something like 1/536870912 inches (not >> the correct answer)?? horrible minute little fractions...Let's face if you >> divide an inch into 8 parts, condemn base-10 measurements, then try to marry >> the 2...Ummm I think that's just crap and maybe a touch hypocritical. At >> least if you get 10.63cm, you know 0.63 cm is actually 6.3mm. >
