On 2007/11/08, at 2:47 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Then why would NASA list Burma, Liberia, Muscat, and South Yemen as
the other countries not using metric?
http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/EDDOCS/metric.html
Note that the web page claims it was last updated on Sep 28, 2007
(bottom of page).
It also lists the responsible NASA official as John M. Kusterer.
Should he be getting a letter from Paul?
Ezra
Dear Ezra,
Thanks for the NASA reference.
This web page is such a mish-mash of half baked ideas, I don't know
where to start with my comments so I will proceed more or less at
random.
What is a millimicron and why is it the featured unit in the top left
corner. My understanding is that the abbreviation micron was
developed by fitters and turners in England as a way of belittling
the French metric system during the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. At about the same time they developed the alternative name
for thous (thousandths of an inch) and mils (for milliinches). The
millimicron arose from this English practice and it has never had a
place in any of the historical metric systems and it definitely has
no place in The International System of Units (SI) (See: http://
www.bipm.org/ ).
As for 'Most of the world uses the metric system.'
This is true but would be better stated as:
Almost all the world now use the metric system including all citizens
of the USA when they drive in a (all metric) car, drink (metric) soft
or alcoholic drinks, or use an (metric) inch/foot ruler where the
inches are calibrated as exactly 25.4 millimetres and the foot is
exactly 304.8 millimetres. (See the article, 'Don't use metric' at:
http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/DontUseMetric.pdf )
As for: 'The only countries not on this system are Burma, Liberia,
Muscat, South Yemen, and the United States of America.' This seems to
be a silly conjecture based on no evidence that I am aware of, and it
seems to be intended to demonstrate that the USA is not really the
last nation in the world to catch up to the ideas of the 1660s! (See:
http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/
CommentaryOnWilkinsOfMeasure.pdf to place this into an historical
context).
It is difficult for me to consider the spelling of: Kilometer,
Hectometer, Dekameter, Decimeter, Centimeter, and Millimeter without
sputtering all over my keyboard. Surely NASA knows that the metric
system does not use capitalised names for these.
And as for conversions, I can see no point in doing any conversions
as part of a metrication upgrade. Conversions simply slow down your
inevitable progress toward your total use of the metric system for
all of your activities. Direct metrication (at typically about a
year) is much, much, simpler and quicker than the 100 or more years
needed for a conversion process.
I also find it hard to fathom why anyone would provide a conversion
factor for Quarts (dry) and Quarts (liquid) to cubic inches as part
of a metric conversion program and I have no idea why I might ever
want to change from Feet/minutes to cent./seconds., whatever a cent./
second might happen to be.
I sincerely hope that John M. Kusterer who was responsible for the
web page that was last updated on Sep 28, 2007 (bottom of page) does
not have responsibility for any NASA flying operations.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Pat Naughtin helps people understand how to go about their
metrication upgrade– quickly and easily – by helping them avoid
mistakes that he has made himself, or that he has seen made by others
during his more than 35 years of involvement with metrication
matters. Contact Pat at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Pat specialises in the modern metric system based on the
International System of Units (SI), but he is mostly concerned with
the processes that people use for themselves, their groups, their
businesses, their industries, and their nations as they go about
their inevitable metrication process. See: http://
www.metricationmatters.com/
Pat Naughtin is a highly knowledgeable metric enthusiast, who is also
a writer, professional speaker, editor, and publisher. He spoke in
many places in the USA in 2005 and his most recent speaking tour, in
2007, included Singapore, Paris, London, Toronto, Washington,
Tennessee, Colorado, Idaho, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Recent
clients have been the United Kingdom Metric Association, The Canadian
Metric Association, the United States Metric Association, NIST in
Washington, Google in San Francisco, and NASA in Los Angeles.
