On 2011/02/06, at 08:53 , John M. Steele wrote:
> I don't know. Stan and I have both written complaint letters. Since we did
> not receive the courtesy of a reply, I have no clue what they are thinking.
>
> It was not the deciding factor, but it was a factor. I dropped my membership
> a few years ago. Their magazine (AEI, considers itself "above" the metric
> policy which prevails in their conferences. I don't know why.
Dear John,
I would look for a crusading editor. It may even be someone employed for their
literary skills because the SAE Board of Directors considered that this was an
ability that they lacked. I often saw this when I worked for CSIRO
(Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) in Australia.
When scientists perceived that they were not getting through to the public they
sometimes employed a journalist. Often this was done without checking whether
the journalist had any scientific background, or more importantly, was
basically numerate. This set up some really strange tensions and the journalist
often didn't last long in the job.
I am reminded of a quotation from Margaret Mead that goes:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people could change the
world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
Sadly, the same is true in the inverse:
It only takes a small group of thoughtless people -- and even sometimes a
thoughtless individual -- to destroy the metric progress of many years. Classic
examples are Margaret Thatcher with her campaign to "save the mile and the pint
for Britain" in the UK, and Lyn Nofziger and Frank Mankiewicz in the USA with
their campaign to defund the Metric Conversion Board. See
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/28/AR2006032802142.html
Another example is from
http://workbench.cadenhead.org/news/2893/keeps-metric-system-down where Remek
remarks (in 2006) about an individual at the Food Marketing Institute:
The sad part is that Mankiewicz describes this as if it were a couple of high
school students playing a prank on the principal. This type of childish
behavior is still visible today with lobby groups like the Food Marketing
Institute who kill any attempts at introducing metric at the retail level. They
claim to be "happy" doing exactly that.
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. 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.
