I haven't posted anything on this list in forever, but after reading Paul Trusten's article "Getting Ready for life in the Celsius Lane" in the July/August issue of "Metric Today", I wanted to offer some comment.
First of all, I agree with everything Paul said about how, once you've "flipped that switch" to Celsius, you never look back. It's been years now, and I certainly haven't. In fact, I still annoy my co-workers all the time by reading the weather forecast off of my phone in Celsius (I don't mind their annoyance -- it helps to raise awareness about the issue in any case). I definitely don't think in degrees Fahrfehtnugen-or-whatever-it-is anymore. But for me, switching my life wasn't quite as simple as "flipping a switch", because my apartment is outfitted with an old mechanical thermostat instead of a modern, digital one. What I did was: - Cut a narrow slice of card stock about the same size as the old legend on my thermostat (but a bit larger). - Hold the slice up next to the legend and make small, light pencil marks on the slice to indicate the position of certain reference points on the old legend. - Use a ruler (metric, of course... I can't imagine the suffering of trying to do this in fractions) and some math to mark off where all the Celsius degree positions should be on the slice so as to be evenly spaced but correspond exactly to the non-metric units at the pencil marks made earlier. - Label the new Celsius marks neatly in pen. - Stick a piece of double-sided tape to the back of the slice. - Cut the slice down to just the right size to completely cover up the old legend (this should also cut the tape so that the tape now extends neatly all the way to the edge). - Stick the new legend on top of the old legend. Be very careful to line it up perfectly where it belongs. My better legend is still there to this day, and has stayed firmly stuck for years without needing re-sticking. It's set to a comfy 25.5 right now (I like it warmer than most people -- I'm skinny and Texan). I don't know how I'd survive without A/C with the streak of 40-degree evenings we had this month!
