Hi Ezra, Some really breath-taking pictures!
As you say, it is all in metric units. However there is no French or German version, so the writers of the article obviously deemed it not worth translating on grounds that anybody who had sufficient interest to read it could also read English. In this context, I spent a little over a year working at the Deutsche Börse (German Stock Exchange) in Frankfurt. The working language was English. I followed that up with a nine month contract leading an Italian computer programming team who were implementing a design that was produced in France. The design was written in English as that was the one language that both the French and the Italians understood. In short, English is the lingua franca of Europe, especially in business. Therefore, writers of articles that are aimed at Europe in general use units of measure that most Europeans understand - the metric system. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 21 May 2007 20:28 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:38744] Breathtaking views of Deuteronilus Mensae on Mars What I find interesting from a USMA perspective on the ESA web site is that, even though it appears that the web pages are available only in English, all of the units that I've seen are strictly metric. > http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMBS5V681F_0.html I can easily imagine a time 30 years ago when the web site would most likely include Imperial units for the sake of the UK and Ireland (firstly) and also for the US and Canada (secondly). So, thankfully, a lot of progress certainly has been made despite the issues still confronting us both in North America and the UK in progressing towards full metrication. Ezra
