Dear Judge James P. Gray,
Congratulations on your article, Times a-changin’, let’s go metric!
By JAMES P. GRAY that was passed on to me by a friend in the USA. I
live in Geelong, Australia.
I enjoyed reading your article thoroughly as I am a student of the
metrication process all around the world and, because the USA is the
last nation in the world to recognise the value of the metric system.
I have visited your country on several occasions to directly observe
your great nation's metrication processes.
Your article was well researched within the framework of current
knowledge but recent developments might change this somewhat. To this
end, I have interspersed some remarks within your article that I
think will bring you up to date with some recent research. My remarks
are in italics.
Updated: Nov 24, 2007 - 22:07:18 PST
IT’S A GRAY AREA:
Times a-changin’, let’s go metric!
By JAMES P. GRAY
Bob Dylan was quoted as saying that “one is either busy being born or
busy dying.”
In my view, that is as true for societies as it is for individual
people.
So are we as a country still willing to improve ourselves and accept
challenges for change? Are we still busy being born? If we are, we
should join the rest of the world and convert to the metric system of
measurement.
Lorelle Young, President of the United States Metric Association,
maintains that industry in the USA is already about 75 % metric. I
have to say tat my own observations support this view with the
exception that I think that the figure might even be higher than 75
%. The current practice of many companies is to buy in metric, design
in metric, construct in metric then convert the dimensions for public
use into old pre-metric measures — a process that I call 'Dumbing
down at the door'.
There probably is no need to discuss the irrationality of our present
imperial system of weights, measures, distances and temperatures. No
one can argue that there is any logic in having 12 inches in a foot,
3 feet in a yard or 5,280 feet in a mile.
You are absolutely right — no individual, no group, no business, no
industry, and no nation that has ever used the metric system for any
amount of time ever goes back to permanently using old pre-metric
measures.
The same is true with regard to the lack of a logical relationship
among ounces, pounds and tons.
And the peculiarity of the USA arrangements where there are two
pounds (Troy and avoirdupois), several ounces (Troy and avoirdupois
plus dry and fluid), two pints, quarts, and gallons, many different
kinds of ton, and two feet, yards, and miles (statute and
international).
Furthermore, what is the logic in the Fahrenheit system in defining
water as freezing at 32 degrees and boiling at 212 degrees?
And how in today’s world can we continue to use a system that
awkwardly measures volumes in fluid ounces, cups, pints, quarts,
gallons and barrels? (By the way, exactly how large is a hectare or
even an acre of land, or a peck or a bushel of grain?)
The hectare is easy; it is 100 metres by 100 metres when it is in the
shape of a square. It's about the same size as a baseball diamond.
Let me quote from http://www.metricviews.org.uk/
Another easy-to-visualise measurement for Americans is the hectare. I
understand that the distance from the home plate to the fence on a
baseball field is between 90 m and 125 m (according to Wikipedia). If
the fence is a perfect quarter circle and the foul line is 112.83
metres, then the area enclosed by the two foul lines and the fence is
exactly one hectare.
On the other hand, there is a natural beauty and logic to the metric
system.
Does not the Centigrade system in which water freezes at zero degrees
and boils at 100 make much more sense?
Since 1948, the metric temperature scale has been known as the
Celsius temperature scale.
As a result of this sensibility, the sciences of chemistry, physics
and medicine in our country long ago shifted to the metric system.
Keep in mind that the developers of the metric system in France in
the 1780s included Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Franklin
was active in all areas of French and international science and
Jefferson was a very active proponent of the decimal system that
became a key element of the French metric system as well as the
currency of the USA (and subsequently the rest of the world).
And we have already joined the rest of the world’s athletic
communities by using the metric system in our track and field events.
When countries like Canada converted to the metric system in the
1970s, they used slogans like “Metric: 10 times better.”
In my opinion they understated the value of the metric system. The
slogan should have read: 'metric — 1000 times better!'
They were right. As a result, the phrase “Speak in English, Measure
in Metric” controls life in most of the rest of the world.
Conversely, the only countries in the world in addition to us that
are holding on to the imperial system are Liberia in West Africa, and
Myanmar Republic, formerly known as Burma. So we are not exactly in
vibrant company.
Recent visitors to Liberia and Myanmar report that these nations now
predominantly use metric units although they have not yet passed any
metric laws. The information you have appears to be old. The USA is
the last hold-out to the metric system and it stands alone.
The metric system was designed during the French Revolution of the
1790s to bring order out of the numbers of conflicting and confusing
systems of weights and measures that were then being used in
different regions within their country.
The original idea for an international system of measuring units came
from England in 1668. See my articles on this issue at http://
www.MetricationMatters.com/articles.html A good starter is the
'Commentary on John Wilkins' 'Of Measure'. This idea lay unused for
120 years until taken up by the French (and American) 'philosophes'
in the 1780s and 1790s.
Soon this system spread to other countries of Europe because
merchants, scientists and other educated people realized the need for
a uniform system among all of the nations.
The metric system has proved to be unstoppable. The adoption of the
metric system in the USA is, in my opinion, inevitable.
The basis of this new system came from Earth itself. The meter was
established as one 10 millionth of the distance from the equator to
the North Pole.
Then the other units of measurement were integrated with the meter.
For example, the liter was measured as the volume of one cubic
decimeter, the kilogram was measured as the weight of one liter of
pure water, and one calorie was defined as the amount of energy
needed to heat one cubic centimeter of water one degree Celsius.
Pretty neat.
This was the essential initial concept of John Wilkins in England in
the 1660s. It was Wilkins who coupled the concept of a 'universal
measure' with the idea that a measured amount of distilled rainwater
could be the basis for all mass measures.
By the way, the word calorie was introduced into the USA, in 1919, by
Dr Lulu Hunt-Peters who defined a calorie as 'The amount of heat
needed to raise the temperature of a pound of water by four degrees
Fahrenheit. The calorie is not part of the metric system and it never
was; the metric system unit is the joule that was introduced in 1889.
Of course, as with virtually all circumstances in which people are
requested to change away from what they have grown up with, there was
an initial resistance by the general population to this change,
especially among the elderly.
This appears to be true in the USA but it is just not so; the
citizens of the USA have largely been converted to using the metric
system without anyone telling them. All citizens of the USA routinely
use the metric system every day of their lives — but this fact is
hidden from them by what I referred to earlier as 'Dumbing down at
the door'. As an example, all car drivers in the USA drive all metric
cars but they are protected from this knowledge by having a
speedometer indicating 'mph' and a tyre pressure gauge that reads
'psi'. You might be amused by the article, 'Don't use metric!' that
is available at: http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/
DontUseMetric.pdf
As a result, the metric system was not made compulsory in France
until 1837. In fact, the first countries formally to adopt the system
were Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and that was in 1820.
But due to the expansion of the global economy and the increasingly
important study of sciences, most of continental Europe, Latin
America and many other countries around the world adopted the metric
system by the year 1900.
What you say is absolutely true but it leaves out ordinary people who
have found that the metric system is easier to use in fixing the car,
building a shed, sewing clothes, or rebuilding a kitchen. These are
the people who have made the upgrading to the metric system
inevitable in all countries including the USA.
Most of the last countries to adapt to the change were in the British
Commonwealth, where the imperial system originated. But by the 1970s
they began to make the change as well.
And where we used direct metrication rather than hidden metrication
or metric conversion we were successful in doing this in about a
year. It is the method you choose for your metric upgrade that
decides the timing. You can choose to upgrade to the metric system in
a day, or a year, or 100 years, or 1000 years. You choose your time
scale when you choose your method for metrication.
All of the countries that converted to this more rational system did
so by phasing it in over a few years.
If it is well done a metric upgrade can be done in as little as a
day. For example, all of Australia's road signs were apparently
changed on a single day. Granted there was about 2 years of
preparation for this day but the new signs were revealed and the old
signs removed on a single day. The 'road carnage' predicted by the
nay-sayers simply did not happen. The best, fastest and most
economical metric upgrades are, in my experience, similar to this.
The idea of a phased-in metric transition has not been shown to work
quickly, smoothly, or economically.
We should do so, as well. My wife lived in Canada during that
country’s change and she tells me that within two years most people,
including their parents, were comfortable with the new system.
I recommend that we begin the transition by teaching the metric
system in all of our K-12 schools right away.
Agreed, but this needs to be coupled with political forces that
reveal the truth of the reality of the metrication process n the USA.
Currently the USA is going metric behind closed doors and the
politicians are hiding behind an extremely thin veneer of old unit
names that are costing the USA roughly a trillion dollars a year in
conversion and confusion costs.
See: http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/CostOfNonMetrication.pdf
for the cost of non-metrication in the USA
Then we can adopt some dates by which all government measurements
will be issued in the metric system, including traffic signs and
packaged foods and liquids.
Ireland recently changed their road signs to metric. They followed
the Australian model and did this in a single day.
The phasing in process should begin by changing from “soft metric” to
“hard metric,” so that “1 pint (473 ml)” will become “500 ml (1.057
pint),” with the latter slowly being reduced to smaller type size and
eventually disappearing all together.
Maintaining our cumbersome imperial system of measurements has
numbers of costs in addition to our being out of step with most of
the rest of the world.
The cost of non-metrication is incredible. When I looked into this I
didn't believe how much it costs not to be metric but the figures
speak for themselves. See: http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/
CostOfNonMetrication.pdf for my calculations.
One of the most specific instances of those costs occurred about 15
years ago when one of our space probes malfunctioned and was lost
because, as was later determined, one of engineers on the project
failed to change a calculation from inches into centimeters.
Generally engineers do not use centimetres — they prefer to use
metres and millimetres to give them easier calculations and greater
precision with the added advantage that the use of millimetres means
that you don't ever have to use fractions again — no common or vulgar
fractions and no decimal fractions.
It is my observation that people who choose millimetres for their
metrication complete their upgrade within a year or two and that
those who choose centimetres for their metric transition rarely
complete their metric conversion in less than 100 years.
See the article, 'centimetres or millimetres — which will you choose?
at: http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/
centimetresORmillimetres.pdf for detailed arguments for and against
this idea.
But in general, since all of our trading partners use the metric
system, making this change cannot fail to increase our success in
world trade, and economic strength and political strength go hand in
hand.
So as we have seen, from virtually every aspect the metric system
makes sense, and we should embrace the challenge and begin to phase
it into our daily lives, and thereby allow us to join the other
countries in the world in this important area.
And besides, when it comes down to it, gas will seem cheaper at 75
cents per liter, and in addition, since half a liter is more than a
pint, everybody will get more beer!
JAMES P. GRAY is an Orange County Superior Court judge and author of
the book, “Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It
— A Judicial Indictment Of The War On Drugs.” He can be reached at
[EMAIL PROTECTED] or at his blog site at www.judgejimgray.com.
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.
