Stan et al., this is about procedure. Metrication is not a bottoms-up process;
it is systemic. Victory for metrication is to be found among our leaders, who
have to get together and set it in motion. Road signs cannot function as mere
billboards for metrication, but rather, as the results of metrication. Once
the starting gun for real metrication is fired, and the race is on for the
10-year transition period, we shall have an ever-increasing number of visible
and audible signs of it, as weather reports report wind speeds in kilometers
per hour and temperatures in degrees Celsius, available office space is
advertised in square meters on signs, and those pesky media style guides are
revised to specify the use of metric units only, so that every measurement we
read about is stated in SI metric units.
Metric "will win" when metrication starts in earnest. I think that, for those
of us who want a metric America, real metrication will be very satisfying,
because it will be truly ubiquitous. We will eventually get to that point where
refrigerator magnets that happen to be thermometers will be Celsius-only
thermometers, and when you go into a dollar store looking for a ruler, it will
be have millimeter scales on both edges. With true metrication, U.S. customary
units will go the way of the 33-1/3 RPM long-playing record.
Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: STANLEY DOORE
To: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: 16 February, 2009 07:27
Subject: [USMA:43031] Re: More companies primed to pounce on metric-only
labeling
Road signs are an integral part of changing to metric because they are so
visible and an integral part of all our lives. change them, weather reporting
and product display in grocery stores and metric will win.
Stan Doore
----- Original Message -----
From: Brian J White
To: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 11:53 PM
Subject: [USMA:43022] Re: More companies primed to pounce on metric-only
labeling
You know me Paul...I wasn't disputing anything. It just made me think.
Did the DOT rules relax over the past few years on the speedo km/h
requirement?
At 20:47 2009-02-15, Paul Trusten wrote:
Changing road signs can only be a small part of metrication. What about
the speedometers, odometers, driver training, federal and state traffic
regulations, statements of the heights of tractor trailers in meters so the
drivers will understand the meters-only clearance signs that will replaces the
ones that now read in feet? If there are jobs to be held for metrication, they
will be created in many areas of our lives, and each metric transition must be
coordinated with the others. There will be jobs in signage, sure, but there
will also be jobs in writing new regulations, jobs providing metric training,
jobs in designing new products or changes in old products. Once the Nation's
leadership makes the decision to go metric, all of these things will follow,
e.g., there would be a DOT requirement that, by a certain date, all vehicles
made in the U.S. will display speedometers that read in kilometers per hour
only, and odometers that accumulate kilometers only. Metrication is all or
nothing. It's a life process; a living thing.
----- Original Message -----
From: Brian J White
To: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: 15 February, 2009 22:29
Subject: [USMA:43020] Re: More companies primed to pounce on
metric-only labeling
What gets me about sign changing, is...whatever happened to the DOT
requirement that cars must be sold with both km/h and mph on the speedo?
Mercedes over the past 3-4 years seems to be getting away without
it...they are mph only it looks like.
I know GM has numbers only with a legend that switches between mph and
km/h, but the Mercedes cars look to be mph only all the time. Makes for a
suck time when driving to Canada I'm sure.
My wife's old Honda Civic (I hated that car.) had both mph and km/h
markings, but only MPH illuminated at night. Talk about a bozo design feature
right there..... I tried to talk you out of the Honda again Nat, but to no
avail. :)
At 19:36 2009-02-15, STANLEY DOORE wrote:

The NIST has drafted legislation to provide for metric only
product labeling. If Congress would pass it and the President sign it, there
would be a great move to go all metric.
If ALL people would contact their Congressional representatives,
then perhaps something would happen. No single organization can do it alone.
However, most companies want to go metric and many already have gone metric
like the auto industry has.
With the current stimulus bill recently passed and it's called a
jobs bill, it would be appropriate to have all road signs changed to metric
very quickly.
Stan Doore
