Hi Tom Thanks (sort of) for the post yesterday
I have been in near catatonic shock for two weeks since Pat Naughtin's 'explanation' of the activities of the British construction industry in the 1950's Your message helped pull me out of it You write: <<Do you remember pounds, shillings and pence ? Does it not seem now like an unnecessarily complicated and clumsy invention ? >> Like most traditional measures, �sd was a sophisticated system constructed to enable mathematically adept people (using precious metal currency) to make quick calculations and estimates in their heads. You would be correct to point out that it is not a good system for a mathematical incompetent who owns a pocket calculator (and uses bits of paper as money.) You also wrote <<Hats off to the Americans for inventing decimal currency.>> I guess you must have been dipping into the Homer Simpson 'big book of facts' for this one? I would think more highly of USMA in general if some of the more knowledgeable members stepped in to correct some of the more errant 'facts' from time to time. Otherwise one gets the impression that the driving philosophy is 'any publicity is good publicity' rob (Robert Tye, York, UK)
