Pat & all, sirs: >Metrication can be done in a day. It takes about 30 seconds to learn enough >about the metric system ..... Where were such 'documents' hidden/burried for public was NOT given a chance to debate or examine, that led United States to suffer & eat up tax-payer's resources - which could have been better utilised! I take liberty to point 'once again' that Metrication be NOT mixed to mean 'decimalisation and/or multiplication/division' by 10's/100's/1000's. Units and symbols must also have some relation with the Length unit - METRE, to belong to Le Systeme Internationale d'Unites. Or else, I fear tax-payer has a reason to ask: Why not - then or even now? HAPPY HALLOWEEN and the coming of FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS, Diwali falling on November 05. Regards, Brij Bhushan Vij Sunday, 20101031H20:67(decimal) EST Aa Nau Bhadra Kritvo Yantu Vishwatah -Rg Veda The Astronomical Poem (revised number of days in any month) "30 days has July,September, April, June, November and December all the rest have 31 except February which has 29 except on years divisible evenly by 4; except when YEAR divisible by 128 and 3200 - as long as you remember that "October (meaning 8) is the 10th month; and December (meaning 10) is the 12th BUT has 30 days & ONE OUTSIDE of calendar-format" Jan:31; Feb:29; Mar:31; Apr:30; May:31; Jun:30 Jul:30; Aug:31; Sep:30; Oct:31; Nov:30; Dec:30 (365th day of Year is World Day) ******As per Kali V-GRhymeCalendaar***** "Koi bhi cheshtha vayarth nahin hoti, purshaarth karne mein hai" My Profile - http://www.brijvij.com/bbv_2col-vipBrief.pdf Author had NO interaction with The World Calendar Association except via Media & Organisations to who I contributed for A Possible World Calendar, since 1971. HOME PAGE: http://www.brijvij.com/ Contact via E-mail: [email protected]
CC: [email protected]; [email protected] From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:48736] Re: journalist Fareed Zakaria on Charlie Rose show PBS Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2010 10:56:26 +1100 Dear Ron, I have interspersed some remarks, in blue. On 2010/10/27, at 19:26 , Ron Stone wrote: i don't think that metrication need be so complicated. Metrication can be done in a day. It takes about 30 seconds to learn enough about the metric system to build any building or to manufacture anything that we use every day. Here is all you need to build the largest sky scraper in the world (or to remodel your bathroom). 1000 grams = 1 kilogram 1000 kilograms = 1 tonne 1000 millilitres = 1 litre 1000 litres = 1 cubic metre 1000 millimetres = 1 metre 1000 metres = 1 kilometre 1 metre x 1 metre = 1 square metre 1 metre x 1 metre x 1 metre = 1 cubic metre metre And that's it! Oh, and by the way, by making these choices you will rarely, if ever, need to use fractions ever again -- no decimals, and no common or vulgar fractions either. The only reason you would add any other metric system multiples or sub-multiples is if you feel a need to delay your upgrade to the metric system for as long as you can. For example, if you add centimetres to the above mix you can delay your metrication upgrade for 200 years or more. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/centimetresORmillimetres.pdf and, by the way, I am not saying that the centimetre is not a legitimate part of the metric system, I am simply reporting on my observation that to use centimetres for a metrication upgrade slows the entire process dramatically. sure, a lot more can be said about good preparation and planning. and there certainly are many different levels of government involved. Actually, I think that the federal government is the only government level involved as measurement for the USA is written into the Constitution. there has also been a lot of misinformation about metrication. True, see http://www.ukma.org.uk/Why/Myths.aspx?mid=7 there are likely roles for metrication throughout the various levels of government. Different levels of government will often do their best to interfere with the metrication upgrade in the USA, but it is still a federal government responsibility under the Constitution of the USA. John P. Kotter, a professor at Harvard who studies the process of change, writes in Buy-in that opponents of change take these forms: * fear mongering * delay * confusion * ridicule (or character assassination) No doubt, as a proponent of the metric system you have experienced all of these. For further details of John P. Kotter's writings on the process of change go to http://metricationmatters.com/ChangeProcess.html where I make some recommendations of Kotter's books. in any case, because metrication can provide a number of more economic benefits to any of our communities, i support efforts to metricate in all of the various levels of government. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/CostOfNonMetrication.pdf i also think that the cost of metrication need not be so much of an extra cost as it has been. with good preparation and planning, metrication can be accomplished as part of normal costs of operation. See http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html in addition to government, it is also important to scrutinize metrication in areas of education and business. Educators have a problem. The old measuring words required that roughly an hour a day for ten years of education be devoted to their teaching of all the old measuring names with their histories, variations, conversion factors and how to use them, etc., etc. (which was demonstrably ineffective for rough;y half of the children). Now, the metric system that is needed for industry (consider millimetres in building and construction, millimetres in computer design and manufacture, millimetres in furniture design, millimetres in car, truck, tractor, and motor bike design and construction, and so on …) can be taught in less than a minute, can become habitual within an hour, and can be mastered for all measurement activities for the rest of your life within a day. This is a major problem for educators. I predict that it will take them several generations for educators to adjust to this dramatic change. They will delay the inevitable metrication upgrade in two main ways: 1 They will encourage metric conversion. This has been shown not to be effective in numerous trials all around the world, yet it is the dominant approach by educators in the USA. This is both time consuming and ineffective. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/metric_conversion.html 2 They will favor teaching all of the units of the metric system, together with all of the prefixes, and all of the possible combinations of metric system units and prefixes whether these are used in any industry in the USA or not. Again, this is both time consuming and ineffective. 2 Educators like to teach children about the sliding and slithering decimal point. This can be useful in pure number studies but it is not necessary, nor useful, to apply it to the metric system that, with sensible use of prefixes as is done in most industrial applications, can avoid decimal fractions altogether. 4 They will favor centimetres for almost all measurements inside and outside the classroom. I don't fully understand why, or how, the use of centimetres delays the process of metrication, but it demonstrably does. I can find no evidence in any nation where the metrication process has been successful -- and fast -- using centimetres. While educators are adjusting to the threat of simplicity inherent in the metric system, it follows that business has an even bigger problem. The metric system as it is being taught in schools and colleges is quite irrelevant to industry. So much so, that industry has to bear the burden of extra time and extra cost of training all new new people they hire into using the metric system that is appropriate for their industry. For example, someone who is employed on a motor vehicle assembly line has to learn and to become familiar with the use of millimetres; and has to unlearn anything they remember about metric conversions, and slithering decimal points to get from centimetres to hectometres, and back to decimetres! metrication or WOMBAT? isn't that the question? No, I don't think that that is the question. There are two real questions; the first is: How long will the good citizens of the USA continue to hide the fact that they are already a completely metric nation? Consider the facts that many people spend most of their days working with all-metric designed and built computers. Consider the fact that most people wash their faces and apply make-up etc. using all-metric products designed and blended using the metric system. Consider the fact that many clothing items are designed and made to metric system specifications down to fibre diameters in micrometres. Consider the fact that most Asian made household items, refrigerators, washing machines, etc., are designed and made using metric system units. Consider the fact that most people in the USA drive to and from their work in all-metric designed and built cars, truck, tractors, or motorbikes. Consider the fact that after work most people in the USA go home to watch television or listen to music on all-metric televisions and radios. Consider the fact that if any citizen of the USA becomes ill they will be treated with all-metric designed, formulated, and applied medicines. Consider the fact that when any citizen tells you their height and 'weight' (read mass), they will do so using the USA metric feet and inches of 1893, the international metric feet and inches of 1959, and the international metric pounds of 1959. Consider the fact that when drivers in the USA talk about miles, and miles per hour, they are usually referring to the international metric mile. Consider the fact that the USA is completely metric but the citizens have, collectively, decided to hide this fact from each other. Once, I tried to convey the message that the USA is wholly metric in a sort of ironic humor, but I am not sure that it had much effect. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/DontUseMetric.pdf And the second real question is: When will the USA decide that it is the approach they choose for their inevitable metrication upgrade that is important? There are four approaches to a metrication upgrade that are possible. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/ApproachesToMetrication.pdf The four approaches are: 1 Direct metrication 2 Hidden metrication 3 Metric conversion 4 Ignore it and it will go away One of these works! And it works quickly! Cheers, Pat Naughtin Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY 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.
