Dear Pat: I listen to the BBC World Service via NPR (National Public Radio) which transmits the World Service live at various points in its programming, including all night long (daytime in the UK). Most of the time I hear them using metric and only occasionally do I hear Imperial (and in most cases it is a British or American interviewee who is doing this in the voice clip that they play).
Not sure why our listening experience in this regard seems to be so different. Cheers, Ezra ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pat Naughtin" <[email protected]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, January 3, 2011 2:22:49 AM Subject: [USMA:49413] Re: USA 2x4 On 2011/01/03, at 20:36 , John Frewen-Lord wrote: On the BBC news (radio) yesterday, they played an interview with a resident of Rockhampton, who stated that the water depth was already "eight point six metres and still rising - much more and we'll have to evacuate". John F-L Dear John, It surprises me that the BBC did not change the metres into feet. The BBC is one of the great holdouts to metrication in the world. I am aware of the BBC resistance to metrication because I am a radio listener and I often listen to the BBC World Service where anti-metric conversion is routine. (Note: anti-metric conversion is taking a metric system unit and changing it to one of the many millions of old pre-metric words.) Of course the BBC might use more metric terms inside the UK whereas they might be dumbing down the BBC World Service for listeners in the USA and here in Australia we're simply copping their anti-metric flak. Cheers, Pat Naughtin Geelong, Australia ----- Original Message ----- From: Pat Naughtin To: U.S. Metric Association Cc: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 6:50 AM Subject: [USMA:49410] USA 2x4 On 2011/01/03, at 07:50 , John M. Steele wrote: In my view, it is a name, not a dimension, just like a 2x4. Dear John, As a numerical coincidence, the whole of the contiguous states of the USA is a 2x4. Roughly wo megametres North to South and four megametres East to West, that is 2 Mm x 4 Mm As 2 Mm x 4 Mm = 8 Mm^2 this makes the contiguous states of the USA roughly the same size as Australia. Land area of the USA contiguous states = 7 663 942 km² Land area of the whole of Australia =7 617 464 km² To put this into perspective roughly 800 000 km² in the North-East of Australia is currently under flood waters. However, this is not a time for panic as all the other states have dedicated and moved all emergency services to the flooded areas that are predicted to peak at 9.4 metres by Wednesday next week. Cheers, Pat Naughtin LCAMS 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. S ee 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. Pat Naughtin LCAMS 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. S ee 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.
