I believe that only a small minority of special interest groups in countries that are trying to adopt metric keep going on about the strictness of how to use metric (and thus scaring off 'middle of the roaders'). Comments like "it must be a single lower case g with exactly one space between the number and the unit' tend to only be heard from individuals from USA, UK and Canada - where, to most people, metric became a DCO unit.
From: "ewc" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: "ewc" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:31876] Re: "UK measures"/FFU's Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2005 10:19:54 -0000
Hi Bill
First just to say that is a really well built (& useful) web site you have on metric units - certainly the bits I have looked at anyhow.
You write:
<<The trouble with an abbreviation, such as gms, is that, according to the rules regarding SI symbols, it can be mistaken for the non-existent unit, gram meter second. That may not usually be a problem for humans, but could be a problem for software used to scan specifications in>>
I honestly have a big problem about being told to do things just for the benefit of a small special interest group. I really do fear that it is often done mainly to gratify a basic desire to bully others (bullying for its own sake).
<<Some entities (e.g., the Gulf States Cooperation Council) have very rigorous rules regarding the use of SI in specification documents.>>
I am inclined to think that the fact that the Gulf states are not democracies has a bearing on this matter.
The reason I raised Einstein was that he got expelled from school for comments like the one I quoted - and then failed to get a job as a lecturer for roughly the same reason. In a rational society contracts should surely go to innovative, efficient and inexpensive tenderers. Human nature being what it is they may well turn out to be the kind of people who find excessive rule following unbearably irksome
Seems no one out there knows anything about the history of the US ton? If so it kind of vindicates my comments on Homer Simpson I feel (a comment not aimed at Jim - but at everybody who uses 'FFU')
best
rob
(Robert Tye, York, UK)
