In "Daniel's" defense, I have to say there is considerable ignorance expressed in that thread, including by the moderator. I am surprised that an Australian would make the erroneous "correction" of Daniel that he did. It is worth attaching country-of-origin to some of the ignorance expressed therein.
The US threw its standard yard away (actually, retired to a museum) in 1893, precluding measurement. At that time, it had been decreed that 39.37", not 37.34" claimed in-thread, equals 1 m. In 1959, NBS declared for the US that 1 yd = 0.9144 m (which yields 1" = 25.4 mm exactly). This was based on a 1958 agreement by Australia, Canada, South Africa, the UK, and the US (and possibly some other English-speaking nations), and each duly made it law by their own processes. ISO may have ratified it later but was not involved. I believe the UK did not officially retire its standard yard until 1963, but I'm not sure. Earlier in that thread, some other machinist claims the UK standard yard is still hard at work measuring things and being a standard; it is a museum piece, like ours. (Credit for this value apparently goes to Canada, who had used 25.4 mm/in for some time and proposed it as a compromise between US and UK values, nearly splitting the difference.) Since 1959, there is one and only one value (well except for the US Survey foot used in land measurement) ________________________________ From: Stephen Humphreys <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Sun, June 6, 2010 7:57:51 AM Subject: [USMA:47520] RE: The Great Metric System Debate. Sometimes it's interesting to go back and see how some 'linked topics' have progressed. Re-clicking on the link again shows that "Daniel" (John P S) has managed to get the thread locked. Some things never change. ________________________________ From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:47450] RE: The Great Metric System Debate. Date: Sat, 29 May 2010 21:44:27 +0000 LOL! Did anyone notice J Schweisthall's post? (euric/kilopascal/denial/jeremiah/etc) He reads the posts here and if the post points to a website he goes to that website - actually joins the site (despite probably having no interest in 'home model engine machinists') - and then posts the normal (usual) anti-US bizarre guff. OF course he completely misses out the fact that even in Australia (and definitely in the UK) someone at the hair salon might use inches if the size fits the usage). This is what i was talking about regarding over emotional reactions to 'enemy inches' (in this 'war'). The interesting point, though, is if and how the casual use of inches in the salon pops up in English speaking countries. More interesting to me would be if they're used in non-English speaking countries - eg 'pouce' in France. ________________________________ From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:47446] The Great Metric System Debate. Date: Sat, 29 May 2010 16:52:16 +1000 Dear All, You might find this debate interesting. http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=9406.0 You might like to share it with your more conservative contacts. Cheers, Pat Naughtin Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, that you can obtain from http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html 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/ to subscribe. ________________________________ Get a new e-mail account with Hotmail - Free. Sign-up now. ________________________________ Get a free e-mail account with Hotmail. Sign-up now.
