Jerry: They design and built in metric because it's more economical and is a worldwide standard. Many of them (e.g., Ford, GM) have overseas subsidiaries, too. They advertise in metric because they apparently believe it's necessary to dumb things down for the American public. What they don't realize is that, if there were a dumb person who knew neither SI metric nor US Customary, it would be easier to teach him/her the former. Bill _____
Bill Potts W <http://wfpconsulting.com/> FP Consulting Roseville, CA <http://metric1.org/> http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jeremiah MacGregor Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 10:13 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:42451] Re: A thin veneer of dishonesty Pat, Are you sure about all this metric being used in the USA? Why would a company go to the bother of using metric units in production just to hide them from other companies and the public? Where do you get your information? Jerry _____ From: Pat Naughtin <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Cc: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 5:01:37 PM Subject: [USMA:42408] A thin veneer of dishonesty On 2009/01/23, at 7:55 AM, STANLEY DOORE wrote: During the 1970s, the NOAA National Weather Service planned to make conversion to the SI and to begin purchasing observation sensors and readouts in metric. So the NWS is ready to convert to metric in the public arena when The Congress and the President desire. Weather forecasts have been computed in metric since the late 1950s so changes in output need to be made for presentation to the public. Aviation uses metric in international aviation now. Going metric in weather, including satellite images, would simplify and streamline the whole operation. The weather information system is ready to go metric. Stan Doore Dear Stan, The more I look at metrication in the USA the more I see that the USA is now so substantially metric that all that remains is to remove the thin veneer of dishonesty. Let me give some example. I will start with yours. 1 The NOAA National Weather Service now collects, records, and calculates using SI metric units, then reports to the public in old pre-metric measures. 2 Nasa designs builds and flies spacecraft using metric units for measurement and then reports their successes or failures in old pre-metric measures for the public. 3 All cars, trucks, tractors, and motor bikes are designed and constructed using all metric units then the tyre pressure, the speedometer, and the odometer are then dumbed down to psi, mph, and ml. 4 Computers have their circuits, cases, and screens designed and made using nanometres, micrometres, and millimetres and then they are not only sold as the 17" model but software default settings are provided in inches that are subdivided in halves, quarters, and eighths of inches. 5 International trade is carried out using the International System of Units (SI) because that is the only way to deal with all other nations. Then the market figures are dumbed down for the citizens of the USA to old measures such as barrels with variable capacity and constructions such as MMBThUpmon (million million British Thermal Units per month). 6 Much military training in the USA is designed and presented using metric units because military hardware is increasingly all metric and military personnel serve in nations outside the USA that have already upgraded to the metric system many years ago. 7 All medical services are soundly based on body measurements and test results that use the metric system. The dishonest people actively seek to change the mass of babies from grams to pounds, ounces, and fractions of ounces, and to change millilitres of treatment into teaspoons and dessertspoons. 8 Last, but not least, almost all length measuring is done using the metric inch (of exactly 25.4 millimetres), the metric foot (of exactly 304.8 millimetres) and the metric mile (of exactly 1609.344 metres). Meanwhile, almost all mass measurements are carried out using the metric pound (of exactly 453.5924 grams). Basically the USA is - right now - almost all metric but some citizens choose to hide this fact from themselves using techniques that are basically dishonest. The sad part of this thin veneer of dishonesty is the cost to all citizens in the USA, see the article, Costs of non-metrication in the USA at http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/CostOfNonMetrication.pdf Cheers, Pat Naughtin PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com <http://www.metricationmatters.com/> for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected] or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe.
