Jerry, It's not optimal, but you can go through historical posts here: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
From: Jeremiah MacGregor Sent: 02/08/2009 9:04 PM To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:42963] RE: Aussie fires Because this is not a normal forum, there is no way for a new person to read old postings and thus know what was already said.. So until the people who run this forum upgrade to a modern forum style then some of you people who have been posting from the beginning will have to tolerate some repeat questions or comments. Isn't it illegal to claim a soda bottle contains 24 oz or 709 mL if it only contains 23.66 oz or 700 mL? That's cheating. Jerry -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Carleton MacDonald <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, February 8, 2009 11:23:46 PM Subject: [USMA:42961] RE: Aussie fires I think we called that “back-converting” on this list before. The error comes from rounding and works like this. Bottle of soda is 700 ml = 23.66 oz = gets rounded to 24 oz Then the 24 oz gets converted back to metric = 709 ml = gets rounded to 710 ml. Somehow the bottle got 10 ml bigger in the back-conversion. Carleton From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Pat Naughtin Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 21:24 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:42959] RE: Aussie fires On 2009/02/09, at 9:44 AM, Jeremiah MacGregor wrote: Pat, You must have missed my follow-up response to Martin. I agree with your point. But if you consider that the metric is changed to imperial, then rounded to make the imperial look user friendly and then later reconverted to metric; the reconverted metric may be different then the original figures. Hence the confusion as to which units may be more correct, even though both can be wrong to a degree. Does this make sense? Jerry Dear Jerry, I understand the point you are making. Perhaps my grandmother put it rather well when she said: 'Oh, what a wicked web we weave, when first we practice to deceive'. Cheers, Pat Naughtin Geelong, Australia From: Pat Naughtin <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, February 8, 2009 3:28:51 PM Subject: [USMA:42953] RE: Aussie fires Dear Jerry, All the original data was measured in metric units, recorded in metric units, communicated in metric units, and then dumbed down by the Yahoo journalist presumably because the journalist is catering to those he or she regards as the retarded people in the UK and in the USA who can't cope with 17th century progress. You might like to listen to the streaming of the fire emergency radio radio station at http://www.abc.net.au/melbourne for a few minutes where all official measuring is reported in metric units - only. Dear Martin and Harry, Thanks for your thoughts. It will be a hard time for us as we recover from this disaster. Cheers, Pat Naughtin Geelong, Australia 70 kilometres from the nearest fire On 2009/02/09, at 3:55 AM, Jeremiah MacGregor wrote: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090208/ap_on_re_au_an/as_australia_wildfires The link from Yahoo puts the English units first and the metric second. I think there are some conversion errors so I'm not sure which is correct, the English or the metric. Jerry 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 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.
