A few years ago I had a job in Italy (even though I do not speak Italian). On one occasion I had to check that a computer screen matched the underlying code. Checking through things, I noticed that the field for "hours" did not have a label, so I noted that the word "ora" (Italian for "hour") should be added above it. When I had to sign-off the finished product, the single letter "h" was there. Of course, Italians are used to "km/h" which means "chilometri dalla ora" (I hope that my spelling is correct).
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of James R. Frysinger Sent: 23 June 2010 16:04 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:47917] USDA's hidden metric side While researching the use of drip tape (for my gardens and orchard) I came across an article that might interest you. I've mentioned before that agricultural research is most commonly done and reported in terms of metric units, in contrast to USDA's public face which is seemingly metric-phobic. The article I cite was authored by a USDA researcher and I think you will enjoy the rich use of metric units in it. Likely the use of "hr" instead of "h" to stand for "hour" will also catch your eye. I find this to be quite a common error even among people who are used to using the metric system. The article, entitled "Rodent Management for Surface Drip Irrigation Tubing in Corn, Cotton, and Peanut" was published in a 2007 issue of "Peanut Science". http://ddr.nal.usda.gov/bitstream/10113/20162/1/IND44091688.pdf It continues to frustrate me that the Executive Branch of the federal government continues to fail in meeting the requirements of EO 12770. USDA is large among those scofflaw agencies in refusing to metricate its public publications and rulings. Jim -- James R. Frysinger 632 Stony Point Mountain Road Doyle, TN 38559-3030 (C) 931.212.0267 (H) 931.657.3107 (F) 931.657.3108
