In Munich they have a similar exercise - except being a metric country, they use litres, rather than gallons, and since Germany did not have an American-style prohibition, they don't have the same hang-ups about alcohol. They use beer, not milk. There is also a special name for the German exercise - Oktoberfest!
_____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John M. Steele Sent: 07 July 2010 12:24 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:48062] The Gallon Challenge Never underestimate the ability of college kids to do dumb things: http://tech.mit.edu/V130/N29/gallonchallenge.html ------------------------------------ "Come celebrate AMERICA'S BIRTHDAY with class!" Patrick C. McDaniel '13 wrote to summer residents of East Campus on July 3. "Join us tomorrow for the GALLON CHALLENGE!" This Fourth of July, participants to the Gallon Challenge were encouraged to consume and retain a gallon of milk within one hour in order to show their patriotism. ----------------------------------- I can even accept that in the Boston area, buying gallon containers of milk is the easiest way to conduct such a challenge, so I'm not horrified by the choice of units. I am horrified to hear an MIT student say this: ---------------------------------- Johnson said that he felt more patriotic after drinking all the milk. "What better way to reinforce the imperial measurement system. Who wants to participate in the 3.7854 liters challenge? Probably a bunch of lame metric system types," Johnson said. ------------------------------- When I was there (1960's), all courses were taught in metric (at least in all the departments in which I took courses). What type of scientist or engineer will this poor lad become with an attitude like this (probably a rocket scientist).
