Great letter Paul. I just simply sent Mr Keane the following note.
"Your anti-metric article published in the Herald recently makes you sound like a moron. Are you?" He replied simply, "Yes." I replied, "Well, at least you're honest." haha...oh well. ---------- Original Message ----------- From: "Paul Trusten" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 18:45:49 -0600 Subject: [USMA:31448] Fw: America needs to measure up to itself > Someone asked if any letters to Mr. Keane at the Herald resulted. I guess I > ought to offer > up the one I wrote, below: > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Paul Trusten > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2004 20:23 > Subject: America needs to measure up to itself > > Dear Mr. Keane, > > Thank you for your interesting and useful Boston Herald column concerning the > metric > system in America. Your article is very instructive for those like myself > who continue to > work for adoption of the metric system in the U.S.. For us, you have > catalogued concisely > the tools of fear, distortion, and jingoism employed by our opposition for > decades. > > You say that the metric system makes no sense, but you say so by using values > in the > context of another system of measurement in order to confuse, not to educate. > Twenty > degrees Celsius is in fact the start of spring, 90 centimeters is a > reasonable waist size, > and 100 kilograms might be considered overweight. Besides being inaccurate, > it is unfair > to apply these numbers to metric units as if they were associated with other > units in > order to scare people. > > The argument about dividing things into thirds is very old and tired. This > pressing need > to divide things into thirds only seems to come up when an attempt is made to > argue > against the metric system. How often has division by three ever been an issue > for you? On > the other hand, having to convert sets of measurements of feet-and-inches to > all inches, > add the inches, and then convert back to feet and inches is a most cumbersome > practice > that has bedeviled us Americans for centuries. Why should we continue to be > proud of that? > The same decimal system of arithmetic we use to add those inches could be > used instead to > add millimeters, in one fell swoop, to get the total. > > That the rest of the world uses the metric system might be instructive for > the United > States. But that is not the primary reason for us to adopt it. We should > adopt it because, > minus your verbal terrorism, and when it is used by itself, it is easier to > use than the > "system" we have been using. > > As far as orneriness being patriotic is concerned, I am attaching to this > e-mail the > obituary of a man who fought for our country and for the metric system all of > his > professional life. If, after reading his credentials, you still think that > metric is a > tool of our enemies, I'd like to know how you arrived at that conclusion. > Also, while you > deprecate the fact that the metric system is the measurement language of > science, our > country is now losing the global science pre-eminence it once had. Could this > have > something to do with the lack of knowledge of the metric system among our > students? Now, > that is something you should be scaring people with. > > Thank you very much for your kind attention. So as not to end on an adverse > note, I am a > Boston native, and with this year's Red Sox, I,too, can die in peace! > > Sincerely, > > Paul Trusten > 3609 Caldera Blvd., Apt. 122 > Midland TX 79707-2872 USA > > August 18, 2004 Wednesday > > ALL EDITIONS > > SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 027 > > LENGTH: 800 words > > HEADLINE: Op-Ed; > In America, metric doesn't measure up > > BYLINE: By Thomas M. Keane Jr. > > BODY: > > The temperature outside is 20 degrees centigrade. ``Oh,'' I think, ``I > better put on a coat.'' > > That's the problem with the metric system. None of it makes any sense. A > gallon of gas is a good amount, but sell it by the liter and I think I'm > shortchanged. Tell me my waist measures 90 centimeters and I'll go on a > diet. If my scale says I weigh 100 kilograms, I'm back to eating > whatever I want. I enjoy a cup of coffee in the United States, but what > do I drink out of in Europe? > > For almost 30 years, government officials, insisting it was good for us, > have been trying to shove the metric medicine down our throats. In all > that time, seemingly against all rationality, we've resisted, > obstinately refusing to do as we're told. > > And, I'm pleased to report, we're winning. > > The latest victory comes in Maine. For the last decade, the state has > mandated that transportation projects had to use metric: speed limits > posted in kilometers per hour, square kilometers when surveying land, > centimeters when specifying the dimensions of screws and bolts. > > And now it's retreating. > > Two years ago, Maine officials quietly decided to switch back to good > old English measurements; the move caught the public eye just this > summer. It turns out that, all the promises of the metric aficionados > notwithstanding, metric was confusing and expensive. > > True enough. Five years ago, NASA lost the $125 million Mars orbiter > because some poor souls used metric instead of English units. > > Ever since Frenchman Gabriel Mouton invented it in 1670, busybodies have > been trying to push the ever-so-scientific metric system on everyone > else. They've had much success. Even the Brits caved in 1965. The lone > holdouts are three: the United States, Myanmar and Liberia. > > This is not good company to keep. > > And for a while, it seemed we too were going to join the fold. Thomas > Jefferson was advocating metric back in 1790. The first international > treaty adopting the system was signed in 1875 - the United States was > even one of the signatories. By 1975, the metric lobby (amazingly > enough, there really is one) got Congress to pass the Metric Conversion > Act. That law was supposed to force the United States to switch within > 10 years. Mysteriously, however, the 10-year deadline somehow was left > out of the final version of the bill. Metricians got upset and managed > to get the normally skeptical President Reagan to sign an amendment to > the law proclaiming metric the ``preferred system of weights and > measures for United States trade and commerce.'' That was followed by > various executive orders mandating government agencies adopt the system. > Some did so enthusiastically - that's why Maine went metric - while > others passively did nothing. > > Aside from misguided Francophilia, why the big push for metric? Some > argue it's better because it's a lot easier to multiply and divide by > 10. I suppose that made sense back in the days when we all calculated > using pencil and paper. But computers have made most of this irrelevant, > a point Maine actually noted when it decided to revert back. > > Moreover, a decimal system isn't as easy as it sounds. One can easily > divide a foot into thirds - 4 inches. But what's a third of a meter? > 0.33333 - an infinitely repeating decimal. Try measuring that when > you're about to saw wood. > > When you get down to it, the real reason for the United States to go > metric seems to be that everyone else does it. Advocates for decades > have been relentless in arguing that we had to adopt the metric system > to keep our economy efficient and competitive in international markets. > > That kind of threat is probably why we resist. Much of America's success > lies in its own exceptionalism, its refusal to take orders from the rest > of the world and its determination to set its own course. Rather than > mere inertia, I think our collective refusal to go metric - despite the > prodding of our political elite - has more to do with our basic > orneriness. > > So far, it's served us well. We're the world's richest country and its > only superpower. I suppose some metric advocates think we could have > done better had we gone along with their schemes, but it's hard to > imagine how. > > Indeed, I wonder if metric might be a bit like Esperanto, the ``world > language'' created back in 1887. Americans stubbornly stuck with English > - heck, most of us refused to learn anyone else's language - and, lo and > behold, English has now emerged as the de facto international language > for business and science. > > Who knows? Maybe the rest of the world will eventually abandon > centimeters and kilograms in favor of inches and pounds. It should. > > A pint of beer has more character than half a liter. And crossing the > Maine border, it's good to learn that rather than 100 kilometers to L.L. > Bean's, it's just a short 65 miles away. > > Talk back to Tom Keane at [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > LOAD-DATE: August 18, 2004 ------- End of Original Message -------
