Sounds like a very reasonable fellow, offline. And yet his online
column is critical as anything about metric. So what's it get
to?
Pandering.
I'm not faulting Mr. Frenaye specifically, because he sounds like
he's trying to be fair. But this is the larger problem: The information
producers (reporters, columnists, etc) feel they have to pander to the perceived
anti-metric attitude of the American public. The public in turn, reads
these columns and assumes the norm in Amercia today is
anti-metric.
So how do you break the cycle...?
Nat
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Pat Naughtin
Sent: Saturday, 2006 May 27 20:38
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:36858] FW: Conversion to American
I have just received a reply from John W. Frenaye at Tripso.com about my response to his article.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Geelong, Australia
------ Forwarded Message
From: "John W. Frenaye, Jr." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Organization: JVE Group, Inc.
Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 19:20:47 -0400
To: 'Pat Naughtin' <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: "'U.S. Metric Association'" <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: Conversion to American
What a bunch of fantastic comments! Thanks for taking the time to share them with me.
You are absolutely correct in that we never got on board and it is costing us in more ways than one. I remember in 2nd grade being told that in 10 years we would be metricified (is that a word?). I also remember that the Dewey Decimal system for library cataloguing was going away in deference to the Library of Congress standard--please no quotes on that as it has been a long time.
And you are certainly right in that visitors to the US are indeed at a disadvantage with our arcane systems. However, my audience is primarily the US resident traveling across one of the ponds!
Many thanks for your comments and I wish you the best!
All the best..
John
John W. Frenaye, Jr.
Travel Columnist
PO Box 4875
Annapolis, MD 21403-4875
410.280.0231 (Home Office)
443.994.3921 (Cell)
443.782.2370 (Facsimile)
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
www.tripso.com <http://www.tripso.com>
Be sure to check out our forums at www.tripso.com/forums <http://www.tripso.com/forums>
Want to know how to subscribe to our two newsletters? Of course you do! Simple, just click here http://www.tripso.com/subscribe.html
-----Original Message-----
From: Pat Naughtin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Saturday, May 27, 2006 7:11 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: Conversion to American
Dear John Frenaye,
I have just read and was amused by your article, 'Conversion tips for the
metrically challenged' by John Frenaye, Columnist, Tripso.com where you
discuss ways of converting metric units and foreign currencies back to
American measures and dollars.
My amusement came because when I visited the USA last year I confronted the
exact same problem except it was in reverse -- I had to change all of the
imperial, colonial, conventional, and customary measures that I encountered
into the metric units used here in Australia and (with only minor
exceptions) in the rest of the world.
By the way, I know that you are right about the extra costs of doing
conversions when you say:
'We have never gotten the hang of them, and we are paying for it --
sometimes literally.'
Whilst I agree with this thought of yours absolutely, I disagree with the
word 'sometimes' as I believe that you are paying for this every day of your
life and that these costs soon add to incredible amounts, see: 'Costs of
non-metrication' at http://www.metricationmatters.com/articles.html where
you will also find an article called 'USA Travellers guide to metric' that
might be of interest to the editor of Tripso.com.
It might also amuse you to read my comments (below) after a visit to the USA
from March to May in 2005.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Geelong, Australia
##
Don't use metric!
Pat Naughtin,
Geelong, Australia
(2433 words)
Might I respectfully suggest that you don't have to use the metric system?
Sit in your lounge chair and look about you, or walk about your home, and
think of the things you own or use that are metric, and those that are not.
Then you might like to go shopping while you consider the same question.
Once you have decided what's metric and what's not, simply avoid all of
those products or services where metric measures are used.
Here are a few suggestions that you might find helpful.
1 Don't use any electrical appliances whatsoever. Electricity has always
used metric units. It's a no-no. For example, don't use an electronic radio
alarm to wake you in the morning as these use the metric units: amperes,
coulombs, farads, henrys, ohms, siemens, teslas, volts, webers, and watts
(at the very least). Choose one of those old wind-up clocks, making sure
that it doesn't have a second hand because seconds are metric units too. If
you have a gas stove don't light it the chemistry of the gas is evaluated
using a metric unit (mole) so you won't want to cook with gas.
2 When you get out of bed, it's OK to wear slippers because these still
use the good old-fashioned size numbers developed in the time of the Magna
Carta in 1215. As size numbers are based on the length of a barleycorn,
shoes are OK to wear too. As most of my shoes don't fit too well, I suppose
that barleycorns must vary quite a lot. The pain of your ill-fitting shoes
will constantly remind you that your shoes are not measured in millimetres
at least you can feel good about that.
3 In the bathroom, avoid using mouthwashes, toothpaste, hair care
products, and skin care products in metric containers. Be careful, as the
toothpaste might say ozs, but these could be metric sizes such as 100 mL (3
17/32 fl oz(imp) or 3 3/8 floz. (US)). This trick is known as 'hidden
metric' and it happens when metric products are re-labelled using non-metric
units to give you an illusion of continuing contact with colonial times.
Remember, if you use these products, you are still supporting the metric
system.
4 Avoid breakfast cereals because of the metric nutrition information on
the side of the packet. Beware of eggs; the eggs probably had their
cholesterol levels measured in micrograms. And as for bacon it is probably
best to avoid it. Consider this conversation, overheard in a delicatessen,
where the bacon was packed in 250 g packs:
Old Fogey: Don't talk to me about them kilo-thing-amys things missy, I think
in pounds.
Modern Ms: I don't know anything about pounds. I went to school in the 1970s
so I'm not old enough to know what you're talking about.
Old Fogey: I want half a pound of bacon.
Modern Ms: I'm sorry Sir. This pig was killed and packed in metric, if you
want some bacon, either you ask for it in grams, or you will have to kill a
pig for yourself.
And your coffee from Brasil was packed using kilograms so your cup of
coffee has to go too. This is a pity if you've just chopped the wood and lit
the fire (no gas or electricity remember) hoping for a caffeine fix.
5 After breakfast, dress carefully, avoiding clothing from any nation in
the world except the USA. All other nations design and manufacture clothing
using metric measures. Even with garments made in the USA be careful wool,
cotton, nylon, and polyester fibres are all measured in micrometres.
6 When you go out, don't travel in any sort of motor vehicle unless it's
very old. Volkswagens, for example, have been metric since the 1930s. Now,
all cars in the world (including all those in the USA) have been fully
metric since the development of interchangeable parts for the 'world car
concept' in the early 1970s. Every modern family sedan has (about) 10 000
separate parts, each of which requires (say) 10 measurements. All cars have
been measured some 100 000 times using metric measures often to the
nearest tenth of a millimetre.
Let's suppose that the maker of a metric family sedan labels the odometer,
the speedometer, and the tyres in miles, miles per hour, and inches
respectively. These three labels (they're not measurements) out of 100 000
are sufficient to convince some car owners that they are driving an 'English
units' car in an 'English units' nation, and that all is right in this
'English units' world but not you you know about hidden metric. Don't be
fooled by this extreme example of hidden metric. Don't own, don't drive,
don't hire, and don't ride in any automobile, and it's best to be cautious
with trucks, buses, and tractors as well.
7 If you have a job to go to, it probably won't be in manufacturing
because around 60 % of manufacturing industry in the USA is already metric,
and most of the rest use imported metric components. The military is out
too; they've been using metric armaments for years. It's also unlikely that
you will work in importing or exporting. The rest of the world is already
metric and they are finding it increasingly difficult to trade with the USA.
Since every other nation in the world has already chosen to use metric, they
say:
'Why should we bother to convert back to old measures, just so we can do
business with the USA, when all the other, 180 or so, nations have already
converted to metric?'
'You only need visit internet sites of mechanical parts and machines tools
in the USA to see the magnitude of their measurement disaster.'
So the USA imports more metric goods and services than it can export using
old-style measuring units.
8 At work you won't use computers (no electricity remember): and even
laptop computers use batteries measured with volts. Even if you could use
them, modern computers are all metric. Don't be fooled by things like the,
so-called, 3 1/2" floppy or 17 inch screens; these are simply more examples
of hidden metric. According to international standard (ISO/IEC 9529-1)
floppies are 90 mm x 94 mm x 3.3 mm, with a mass of 24 g, and the magnetic
media inside is 86 mm not a 3 1/2 anywhere!
All other computer components come with metric specifications all hidden
of course. In addition to the clock speed of the computer, in megahertz, and
the size of the memory, in megabytes and gigabytes, all the fasteners and
other parts of your computer, all the way down to the substrate to make the
computer chips is metric. The makers then give your screen a name in inches
(very approximately) and the software writers use default tabs and margins
in inches, and these are enough to delude almost everyone into thinking that
they are using old-style technology.
9 At lunch, don't eat anything that might be measured using calories,
Calories, kilocalories, or the correct unit kilojoules, as these are all
metric units. It's probably best to avoid dinner on the same grounds.
Clearly, now that you don't eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, or (probably)
snack foods, your anti-metric program is going to do a lot of good for your
body mass index. You might not even need the job you haven't got any more.
10 By the way, it's OK to pay for lunch with a credit card. Credit cards
have been around long enough to have the old measurements of 3 3/8 inches by
2 1/8 in recognised by most 'hole-in-the-wall' money machines.
11 Back at work after lunch, you are probably restricted to working in
finance, journalism, or politics. These three are areas where the
participants are never quite sure about what's happening in their own
community, in their own nation, or in the rest of the world. As an example,
think of the USA financial world's change from 'pieces-of-eight' to decimal
currency in early 2001. The rest of the world began its inevitable
conversion to decimal currency when the USA changed in 1793 and the world
completed the change, approximately, in the 1960s. Most of the world's
citizens changed to decimal currency in about a month it took the New York
Stock Exchange 208 years and many (most) journalists and politicians are
still wondering how to react to the USA financiers' ill-considered haste.
When I think about it, your expertise and experience might be in one of
these three fields already. If you work in finance, journalism, or politics
make sure that you avoid things like 1 mm ballpoint pens or pencils with 0.5
mm leads.
12 At the end of the day, you had better not visit the gym. There they
are inclined to measure skin folds in millimetres and to calculate your body
mass index using your mass in kilograms and your height in metres. Don't
even watch sport on TV; all the athletes are running distances like 100
metres or 400 metres or pole vaulting over 5 metres. Even the 10 yards used
in American football are all exactly 9.144 metres long.
13 After work, drinks are out. You need to steer away from all kinds of
soft drinks, soda pops, bottled waters, wines, and hard (spirituous) liquors
as these come in metric sizes. Even beer might be hidden metric as the
calculations used to make beer are so easy to do in metric, and so difficult
to do with old-fashioned units.
14 If you decide on a holiday, be careful if you are planning to use
aircraft or ships. Remember that navigation was all the rage from the 1760s
to the 1790s when the international metric system was first set up. So the
first metric developers based their ideas on the size of the world as a
support for navigators, and now the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) regulations are all metric and have to be dumbed down
for old-fashioned pilots. Both aircraft and ships use the satellite-based
global positioning system (GPS) to find out where they are around the Earth.
Unfortunately for your travel plans, the GPS is metric. Pilots, in both air
and water, have to go to a great deal of trouble to hide the metric measures
they use even from themselves. They convert the GPS metric measures to
old-style units so they can misinform their passengers.
Personally, I worry about pilots fiddling with conversions on their
calculators when they should be flying their plane past a mountain that
might be either 29 012 somethings or 8 848 somethings (where's that
calculator?), but this won't worry you if you never use ships or planes
again. By the way, just a little south-east of this mountain, in Delhi, a
Russian plane (flying in metres) almost collided with a British plane
(flying in old measures); as I said, I worry.
15 If you do get away for your (walking) holiday, don't take a still
camera or video equipment as these, too, have been totally metric products
since the Kodak company, in the USA, made their decision to use B&W 8 mm
film for amateurs in 1910 and their 16 mm color movie film in 1929.
16 If you become ill, stay well away from doctors, hospitals, pharmacies
and any type of medicines, vitamins, and other supplements. Medicine is all
metric, and medications are often dosed in milligrams per kilogram of body
mass.
17 At home, if you have to do any renovations, be watchful for hidden
metric measures. Consider this story: 'A few months ago, a friend of mine
(in the USA) went to buy some vinyl floor covering. He was shown some
imported material that was about 6 ft 6 3/4 in wide (My friend reckoned that
they were actually 2 metres wide, but the shop person didn't know that).
'As my friend needed a little under 2.5 metres he asked for 8 ft 2 1/2 in.
'When he asked the price, he found that the assistant had to work it out to
figure a price in square yards. Now let's see: 8' 2 1/2" x 6' 6 3/4" ÷ 9 = ?
'My friend says the assistant was there, battling with his calculator, for a
long, long, time!
'In the meantime, my friend multiplied 2 x 2.5 to get 5 square metres.
As I said, be watchful and avoid hidden metric do the hard yards!
18 Of course television and video are out because they use megahertz,
another international unit (and you are avoiding electricity, remember). In
addition, 120 mm CDs and DVDs are out, and so are vinyl records, which have
been 250 millimetres or 300 millimetres since the 1930s.
19 And so to bed, after you measure it to make sure that it's not really
two metres long. Be cautious here, as the contraceptive pill has all of its
ingredients measured in micrograms and milligrams, and the quality of
condoms is assessed using ultra-sound waves measured in hertz, with the
thickness measured in micrometres.
20 Given the constraints mentioned in item 19, you will need to consider
where you will educate your children, as all schools, in all parts of the
world, teach SI, the International System of Units, which is also known as
the modern metric system.
It will be best if you don't measure anything at all. Keep in mind that all
the old inch-foot-pound measures are all hidden metric. The USA has defined
all of their measures in metric terms since the Mendenhall Order of 1893,
and the rest of the English-speaking world has used metric measures to
underpin their old units since an agreement made between them in 1959. This
means that inches are hidden metric; ounces are hidden metric; pounds are
hidden metric; and tons are hidden metric, too.
After all this, you might find it easier to recognise that we all live in a
metric world: not because someone arbitrarily decided it; not because it was
mandated by governments; but because, over the last two centuries, metric
measurements have proved simple in concept and easy to use. So far, this
simplicity and ease of use have convinced most individuals, groups,
companies, organisations, and all the nations of the world except the USA
that metric units are the way to go. Even in the USA, however, it seems that
some citizens have trouble recognising the progress that they have already
made toward metric and keep wanting to change things back that's how the
Mars Climate Orbiter crashed at a cost of 125 M$ but that's another story.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin ASM (NSAA), LCAMS (USMA)*
PO Box 305, Belmont, Geelong, Australia
Phone 61 3 5241 2008
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://metricationmatters.com
2005-12-28
P.S. You might also be interested in an article on the 'Costs of not going
metric' that you can find, as a pdf file, at
http://www.metricationmatters.com/articles
Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online monthly newsletter,
'Metrication matters'. You can subscribe by going to
http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter
* Pat is the editor of the 'Numbers and measurement' chapter of the
Australian Government Publishing Service 'Style manual for writers,
editors and printers', he is a Member of the National Speakers Association
of Australia and the International Federation of professional Speakers, and
a Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist (LCAMS) with the United
States Metric Association. For more information go to:
http://metricationmatters.com
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