I didn't say it was, someone named Eric did. Did you read the 2-nd comment of his about imperial creep in Australia and New Zealand due to agreements with the US?
I'm also currious to know if those who opposed metric in the '70s and are still alive today still do oppose. Jerry ________________________________ From: Pat Naughtin <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, April 25, 2009 12:01:39 AM Subject: [USMA:44840] Re: A blast from the past - Australian anti-metric Association - revisited Dear Jerry, It was not wishful thinking on my part.. I was simply unaware of an organisation that was able to elicit two whole letters in the year and a half before it disappeared. Cheers, Pat Naughtin Geelong, Australia On 2009/04/25, at 1:28 PM, Jeremiah MacGregor wrote: Pat, There was a response to your belief that the Australain Anti-Metric Association was an April fools joke. http://forum.gometric.us/jforum/posts/list/181.page Jerry eric hecto Joined: "2007-04-18 01:50:38 +0000" Messages: 301 Offline Wishful thinking seems to cloud Pat Naughtin’s judgement when he states that Robert Parry’s letter to the Age Newspaper was an April hoax. Here is a page from the University of Melbourne Archives Database. Search. University of Melbourne Archives Database Search No. of hits: 1 Name: AUSTRALIAN ANTI-METRIC ASSOCIATION Activity: Lobbyists Date Range: 20 February 1975 - 11 June 1976 Quantity: 0.01 metres Description: Two letters from federal parliamentarians; extracts from replies to an A.A.-M.A. questionnaire. Listed: Yes listed Accession Number: 76/53 UM Number: Details University of Melbourne Archives Database Search No. of hits: 1 Accession Number: 76/53 Name: AUSTRALIAN ANTI-METRIC ASSOCIATION Sex: Group: Community and Political, organisations Activity: Lobbyists Location: Melbourne Historical Note: Group which lobbied against the introduction of the metric system. Earliest Date: 1975 Latest Date: 1976 Access: Open Quantity: 0.01 metres Description: Two letters from federal parliamentarians; extracts from replies to an A.A.-M..A. questionnaire. Persons: Lynch, Phillip Poase, Bob Organisations: Places: Subjects: Metric system Listed: Yes listed ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- eric Admittedly it was a rather short lived affair, 20 February 1975 - 11 June 1976, but nevertheless it existed. One other observation while I am at it. Australian metrication made some backwards steps since we signed the Australian Free Trade Agreement with Uncle Sam.Television is almost drowning in American crap since then and newsreaders on both government channels, ABC less so than SBS revert ever so often to imperial with whole news segments bought cheaply (SBS) bombarding Australians with USC. Ten foot waves, six feet of water, so many inches of rain/snow falling on horsepowered cars depict a dismal measurement landscape. How far that regression goes on commercial channels I do and don't want to know. US made children, teenage and adult shows have to be shown under the agreement with whatever measurements they use. It is with children shows that most of the damage is done. So much for progress! "2009-04-21 04:51:57 +0000" Subject: Re:A blast from the past. eric hecto Joined: "2007-04-18 01:50:38 +0000" Messages: 301 Offline Here is another confirmation of that sad state of affairs. PM Hawke had of course nothing to do with that ugly change. This "honour" is reserved for J.W. Howard an arch conservative prime minister, who would have rather bitten his tongue off than uttering a metric measurement. His government introduced and signed the AFTA with the US that allowed USC on imported goods. The irony is that Australia pays dearly for that privilege with annual trade in favour of America. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Re: Re: SubWay on 01/10/2009 18:33:18 MST "She looked blank and then asked "will a foot long sub be OK"??" And NZ is officially metric! That is one of the problems in Australia too - Subway is an US brand so everything is in Imperial measurements and they don't adapt their marketing for metric countries. One of the stupidest, most craven things the Hawke government did was allow American companies to use imperial in print advertisements in Australia - so now when I pick up Wild I see MSR etc ads claiming their tents "weigh just 4 lbs!!" Prior to that you weren't allowed to use imperial measurements in ads in Australia. (For the record, the other stupid thing Hawke et al did was bowing to pressure from the US and allowing foreign sunscreen brands to advertise their sunscreen as "30+". Previously the max SPF you were allowed to claim was 15+. This was because SPF is a reverse logarithmic system, so SPF30 is not twice as effective as SPF15, which is what you'd naturally presume, it's actually about 1%. But claiming SPF30 - or SPF50 as I saw recently on some clothing - really is a great marketing tool ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- eric Now, why would Yanks use such a misleading way to market their product? Pity Australia does not have the EU to protect it from such underhand practices. [USMA:44713] Re: A blast from the past - Australian anti-metric Association Pat Naughtin Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:45:20 -0700 Dear Jerry, Note the release date — April 1st — and then know that this organisation only ever existed for that one day. Here is the headline: "Australian consumers are yards behind in the move afoot to think metric". - The Age, (Melbourne) April 1st. Cheers, Pat Naughtin Geelong, Australia P.S. I was once involved in a 'debate' where some people suggested that the '90 mile beach' should be renamed. This was another story that was released on April 1st. On 2009/04/18, at 9:29 AM, Jeremiah MacGregor wrote: Pat, Can you tell us what ever happened to this organization and also can you tell us what happened to the diehards? Did they eventually give up or are they still fighting against the metric system?Are they like Stephen Humphreies who look for remnant imperial uses and have developed a fantasy world where everything is still imperial? Jerry Here is a blast from the past that should sound very familiar to Yanks today. Published April 1976 in a right wing paper it echoes not only American right wing sentiments, but British ones as well. One has to take his anti metric diatribe as a revolt against the left wing government that introduced it.The irony is had Britain metricated like Australia, everybody, except a few diehard and misguided super patriots would happily talk in metric terms now and glad to do so. "METRIC MUDDLES "Australian consumers are yards behind in the move afoot to think metric". - The Age, (Melbourne) April 1st.. Mr. Robert Parry, President of the Australian anti-Metric Association says that people are not thinking Metric, and that advertisers are now swinging back to the "old" imperial measures. Fruiterers are selling fruit and vegetables in pounds and ounces. Home and property buyers are hopelessly confused by metres and centimeters, and hectares etc. Mr., Parry is not against progress; he is a smart, modern man; a highly successful public accountant.. Mr. Parry states that the adoption of the metric system is definitely not progress - just an expensive change. Expensive for the consumer; he can give many examples of increased costs to the individual consumer from metrication.We have always "felt in our bones" that there was something phony about metrication. No one was asked about it. There was no referendum. It wasn't even discussed in Parliament. It just appeared from nowhere, and grew - like Topsy. The same with decimalisation. Who was asked about decimal currency? Were you? Was your Member of Parliament? Who was then?! It just "appeared". Some one wants decimal currency and metric weights and measures for us, and not only us. Even the U.S.A. is being pushed metric now. We say, "pushed" advisedly, for that's the real state of affairs.Decimalisation and metrication are being pushed onto Western countries where they have not been accepted before. What do we think? It's pretty obvious; the One World advocates in the Halls of Power at the United Nations, and elsewhere, have done deals all over the world to have standardisation of currency, weights and measures enforced as a necessary step along the road to World Government. But there is more to it than that. Mr.. Parry puts his finger on the pulse; he says that the old systems grew up because the measures were convenient for those that used them. They naturally were, at least in part, a reflection of the character of the people from which they sprang, and which they served. Our currency, weights and measures are part of the tradition of our race, and what ordinary decent people feel when these "new fangled" changes are rudely introduced is the confusion induced by an attack upon our traditions. The same confusion is generated when the political subversives attack our Anthem and our Flag. Mr. Parry believes that the metric system will prove to be outdated - there are better systems. He says that advanced computers use a 16 base system; the computers that control guided missiles cannot do decimal calculations; decimal calculations are too slow! Mr. Robert Parry is doing a first class job. He should be given support.Mr. Bob Parry, President of the Australian Anti-Metric Association, is an inspiring example of what a dedicated individual can achieve.. Mr. Parry has gathered others around him in his campaign to halt the metric madness. A petition asking the Federal Government to repeal the Metric Conversion Act has been signed by thousands.. Mr. Parry's commonsense approach must appeal to all those who have had enough of the metric madness. Let's go back to pre-1970 when any section of the community who wanted to go metric could do so. Those wishing to help the Anti-Metric Association can write to 50 Cardigan Street, Carlton, Victoria."An explanation of Australia's pre decimal currency and why only ardent royalists wanted to hang on to it. That simple lot came in three penny bits, florins, and half crowns which were 2 shillings & sixpence. A crown was 5 bob & the smallest paper note was 10 bob, two of which made a pound. There was only one peculiar exception, that of a guinea, this was 21 shillings allowing the auctioneer to make his 5 % commission by paying the customer in pounds. 1 penny = two ½ pennies of which 480 made one pound’ 6 pennies = 12 half pennies =sixpence 12 pennies = 1 shilling 20 shilling one pound 21 shilling 1 guinea 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 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 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.
