Dear Pat, I congratulate you with you achievement. Let's hope that it will start a snowball rolling.
One nonsensical comment in the fourth link you gave is: At 06:03 PM on 13 Jul 2007, roy malkin wrote: As any Navigator knows The entire metric system is based on a mistake. I metre was suposed to be 1/10,000,000 of the distance from the equator to the pole. They then made the metre as a fixed unit but it did not match the fraction of the distance to the pole. Therefore a metre can not be used for navigation and the SI unit of Navigation is the Nautical mile based on 1 minute of the earths arc subtended at the earths centre. Consequently miles are still used in all forms of Navigation and unless the metre is redefined always will be. Roy Malkin Master Mariner Someone has heard about an error and then seems to think it was a very big one. It was very small and the metre can indeed be used for navigation, even more so with the GPS system that can make the nautical mile redundant, if there was not that traditionalism that stands in the way. In mainland Europe aircraft navigation was metric before 1945 - km for distance, km/h for speed and metres for altitude - and the USA used the statute mile for commerical aircraft into the second half of the 20th century. That the nautical mile should be an SI-unit is laughable. > Datum: 18/07/07 11:42 PM > Van: "Pat Naughtin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Aan: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> > CC: > Onderwerp : [USMA:39096] Some reactions about the original metric system > > Dear All, > > You might be interested in these reactions to the idea that the metric > system came from England. > > http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/category/ethics-religion/humanism-secularism > / > > http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/70686/Quote_screen_sizes_in_metric > > http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/scienceandtech/mikeswain/july07/metric.htm > > And a number of thoughts on: > http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/pm/2007/07/the_glass_box_for_friday_10.shtml > > Cheers, > > Pat Naughtin > PO Box 305 Belmont 3216 > Geelong, Australia > 61 3 5241 2008 > > Pat Naughtin is manager of http://www.metricationmatters.com an internet > website that focuses on the many issues, methods and processes that > individuals, groups, companies, and nations use when upgrading to the metric > system. Contact Pat Naughtin at [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >
