An addendum:
She emailed me earlier today, asking if she knew where she could get
some non-elastic rope. That type of rope is more commonly called static
rope or sport static rope (as opposed to the stretchy dynamic rope
favoured by rock climbers). So I mentioned that to her, and told her to
Google it for an online retailer.
The first result that came back from her Google search?
http://www.rei.com/product/737380
PMI E-Z Bend Sport Static Rope - 11mm x 46m.
Further down the page:
Weight per foot 24.9 grams
Dimensions 11mm (0.43 in.) x 46m (150.9 ft.)
Strength 26.9 kilonewtons
No, no one uses the metric system at all. ;)
(REI is a US-based retailer, by the way. Now if they'd only get rid of
that "weight per foot" measure.)
-Mike
Michael Palumbo wrote:
Paul,
A valid theory, absolutely. Once Megan apologised for yelling, I
asked her whether or not it had anything to do with the fact that it
was a baby. Her curt response was, "No, I don't care that it's a
baby, you just sound like a d**k."
And there you have it. I'm more inclined to believe that because she
can't translate from wombat to metric, that she thinks I'm insulting
her intelligence or belittling her, hence her aggressive, brash reaction.
Cheers,
-Mike
Paul Trusten wrote:
Michael,
I think Megan reacted to your metricating a /baby. /If you had
metricated a purchase of kumquats or the area to be occupied by some
new linoleum tiles, I don't think she would reacted as viciously. I
understand that, even in some metric countries, babies are WOMBATs at
birth. Somehow, people think the humanity of birth is taken away
when the child's units of mass/weight are stated in SI. When it
comes to the celebration of a new baby, pounds and ounces seem to be
appropriately warm and fuzzy, while kilograms and grams seem to be
madly scientific, or, controlled substance contraband (/Flying into
Los Angeleez, bringing in a couple of keys/) .
Thank you for posting this. It is a very important issue in our quest
for U.S. metrication. I try to be prepared for reactions like this,
but the ugly head of metrophobia surfaces so quickly upon mention of
metric in the U.S. that I surely do have to be bit prepared when I
make a metric remark. When I do it, I often am made to feel as if I
am one of the African American students who first sat at the
Woolworth's lunch counter down south in 1960.
I would that metric is as simple as our decimal dollars and
cents---or, would Megan like to return to the pounds, shillings, and
pence of our colonial days? Your goal with encounters like this is to
appear to explain this as a matter of fact, and not as a lecture, so
the recipient will feel, "Gee, where I have I been? Do my friends
know this?"
Although we in the U.S. do use the metric system,we don't use it
often enough, and the result is that we /mis/understand it, not /fail
/to understand it. The solution to misunderstanding is education.
That's why USMA supports the teaching of the metric system
exclusively (i.e., no more teaching inch-pound units) in America's
schools. If Congress says metric is preferred for commerce, it
should be preferred for learning as well.
Paul
Michael Palumbo wrote:
Has anyone else had something like this happen to them?
Last week, my coworker's wife had a child, and we did the "guess the
gender and weight" contest that we always do in our office.
I guessed an even 3000 grams, and was the closest; the baby was 2981
grams. I had to translate the numbers for a few people, but no one
really minded that I submitted my answer in metric.
Last night, I was recalling this story to my friend Megan while in
the car, and her reaction to it was *this* shy of violent. She
began screaming at me, telling me how much of a (insert various four
letters words here) I am for using a system that no one else
understands. Her basic points were, if I ascertained them correctly
in between her ranting:
- "No one" understands the metric system, therefore it's off-putting
for me to use it.
- It's "extremely rude" to speak in a manner that people don't
understand.
- It's "moronic" and stinks of me just trying to "be different and
weird for the sake of being different and weird".
I told her that I wasn't going to listen to her insult me, dropped
her at her house, and left.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand that type of reaction. My
office-mates, even when they don't directly understand it, have a
pretty good idea of what I'm talking about. Rather than try to
learn something new, Megan's reaction is what I fear may be typical
of many people in this country. Either you act like everyone else,
or you'll be branded a nut-case. Never mind that most of the world
uses this system, never mind that the foreigners in this country use
it, never mind that the doctor who delivered the baby used it, *I*
am not supposed to because it makes her think, and she can't handle
that.
Regards,
-Mike
--
Paul Trusten, R.Ph.
Acting Secretary
The Pharmacy Alliance
Midland TX 79707-2872 USA
+1(432)528-7724
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ThePharmacyAlliance
