I'll not rise to the insults, and limit my response only to matters related to the article and metrication. 1) Stephen says that the article is out of context. How can a link to a stand-alone article that quotes the entire article be considered to be out of context or to leave out important factors? 2) Stephen says that his writings were an article, not a letter. What relevance does this distinction have to the fact that he wrote it, it expresses his views & it appeared on the letters page of the online version of his local paper? 3) Stephen says he didn't write the headline. Headlines in UK papers are always selected by the sub-editors, not the writer. The headline is based upon the sub-editors summary of the main viewpoint of the writer. The headline is practically a verbatim quote from the body of the article though. 4) Stephen was proud enough of this piece to boast about it on a UK based W&M site (that's how it came to my attention - not by "stalking"). He posted there as an out and out opponent of metrication. 5) As I said in my original post, I'll leave it to other contributors to judge the "pro-choice" credentials of the writer. I find it telling that he does not appear to endorse his own words now that they have appeared on this site.
--- On Tue, 17/3/09, Stephen Humphreys <[email protected]> wrote: From: Stephen Humphreys <[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:43983] RE: An example of a UK "pro-choice" (read Anti-Metric extremist) letter to the press To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, 17 March, 2009, 9:20 PM #yiv1274892622 .hmmessage P { margin:0px;padding:0px;} #yiv1274892622 { font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana;} The vendetta based stalking continues unchecked (anyone comfortable with all this?) This, of course, is out of context and leaves out some important factors - please feel free to contact me if you want more info. For example - I had nothing to do with that headline and it wasn't a letter. I would not have responded but I could not really let him get away with this one unchecked - he obviously did not like being ignored by me on other threads! Expect more from Lee Roberts, the twisted TSO from Lochgilphead! Does anyone want this sort of thread on a US based pro-metric forum? Does it help in anyway? With so many 'off list' private emails showing various levels of disgust with Lee's antics in a short period I'm not sure why he's still carrying on this 'anti-Steve' format whereas I've been enjoying this list for years and been totally welcome. Quite obviously I will keep private emails and correspondence totally private - something Lee has a knack in doing the opposite (again, message me for details on THAT particularly ungentlemanly!! behaviour). Cheers, Steve P.S. An 'anti-metric extremist' would not hold the opinion that the US is not metric enough and should really do something about teaching the populous what is in effect a very important international thing to know. But then again vendetta driven stalkers never turn out to be extremists neither do they? ;-) Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:55:06 -0700 From: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:43980] An example of a UK "pro-choice" (read Anti-Metric extremist) letter to the press To: [email protected] The following letter appeared in the Bucks Free Press around 16 months ago. I'll leave it to the other contributors to the board to judge the "pro-choice" credentials of the writer. http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/search/1868383.People_use_the_metric_system_only_when_forced/ People use the metric system only when forced Being in my thirties I was taught the metric system as the primary system of weights and measures at school. Sometimes exclusively so. This does not make me a member of a generation that does not use, or even dislikes, imperial. Outside the school gates and outside the science community I will generally (but not always) use imperial. Just like everyone else I know in all age ranges. In fact all opinion polls on the subject show a preference for, and a better understanding of, imperial over metric from every age group. Ironically, people tend to use metric only where they are forced to by uncalled for and unpopular legislation (which reminds me of an expression I once heard metric is so good they force us to use it'!). I could give examples where most people use imperial in favour of metric but the list is so long I'd rather not bore readers! Even the Government has said that changing Britain's roads to metric would needlessly cost us over £700,000,000 with the minister for transport saying, on BBC's Question Time, that he had received not one complaint by businesses or people regarding the use of imperial on UK roads. Britain also has the safest roads in Europe, with some studies showing the world. I'm not suggesting that the reason why Britain's roads are so safe is solely due to imperial, but I would question the small number of individuals who think that using imperial is old fashioned', non European', out of date', etc. Is it worth the loss of just one life caused by changing Britain's roads to a system of measures that the vast majority of people tend not to use or prefer and that would cost those same people £700,000,000 via taxes just to see signs bearing a measurement system they never asked for in the first place? Steve Humphreys, Loudwater Windows Live Hotmail just got better. Find out more!
