Very well analysed Paul.
A few weeks ago I was looking at the list of members of the CIPM (See http://www.bipm.org/utils/en/pdf/CIPM-history-EN.pdf). The United Kingdom was not represented 1914 and 1919 (the years of the First World War). In addition, after the British metrication attempt of 1905 failed, there was no further attempt until 1965 - 20 years after the end of the Second World War. (One should remember that the 20 anniversary of the First World War was in 1938, just as war clouds were gathering over Europe for the second time in the twentieth century. On the other hand, metrication had the support of all parties in South Africa, even though it was introduced by the Apartheid Government. Generally it was well organized, the Government did its best to prevent profiteering and the population saw it as a step forward to assert South Africa's independence as a nation. I believe that there were similar sentiments in Australia and also, significantly, on both sides of the Zambezi - to the South where Ian Smith's white minority government ruled the land that they styled "Rhodesia" (now Zimbabwe) and to the North, their arch-rivals, the newly independent Zambia which was ruled by the black majority. One of the approaches that the United Kingdom Metrication Association is taking is to publicise, wherever possible, that Newton, Joule, Faraday, Watt, Kelvin and Gray were all British and that the prototype kilogram was cast in Britain. Maybe you could add Henry's name to the list and claim that they were English-speakers (Also Tesla became a US citizen). These eight men comprise nearly half the scientists and engineers who had metric units named after them. _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Paul Trusten Sent: 29 May 2007 15:16 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:38773] the metric system and U.S. ultra-nationalism Some of us who support U.S. metrication do so, in part, out of a sense of practical patriotism. We want to see our country prosper from having an improved system of measurement. But right now,many people in the U.S.seem to be fermenting an ultra-nationalism derived, perhaps, from the effects of two modern events: the mood of many Americans since the 11 September 2001 attacks, and the attitude of many over the issue of illegal immigration. Gored by these two emotional horns, the U.S. public may not be currently in a mood to entertain a changeover to what they perceive to be a new, or even perceive to be a foreign, measurement system. Just my opinion, but what do you think? I haven't experienced or read any specific verbal anti-metric outbursts based upon this theory, but I think they are possible. Paul Trusten, R.Ph. Public Relations Director U.S. Metric Association, Inc. www.metric.org 3609 Caldera Blvd., Apt. 122 Midland TX 79707-2872 USA +1(432)528-7724 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
