Mr Payne. I think the letter is very well written and I too feel
annoyed by constant conversion to non-SI units. I watch Al Jazeera
news on TV because of their use of SI units. Great letter! I have
written many letters but I have received very few responses. Let us
know what becomes of this endeavor.
David Pearl MetricPioneer.com 503-428-4917
----- Message from metricmik...@gmail.com ---------
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:30:12 -0400
From: Michael Payne <metricmik...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: metricmik...@gmail.com
Subject: [USMA:52690] Letters to Media
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu>
I want to send this letter to Newspapers, TV stations, etc. I'd like
feedback as to additional data to include or exclude. Plus what to
put at the beginning to get their attention. I want to list the
considerable number of people who use metric every day at work and
don't need metric edited out of their life by TV stations and the
newspapers.
Mike Payne
Why is it that Journalists believe everyone is innumerate, when they
are in fact the only ones who are?
Read any article, watch any TV program and reference to any metric
unit is erased and replaced by American Customary units, despite the
fact that a considerable percentage of the American population use
metric units every day in their work and personal lives.
The Auto industry in the US is completely metric in design and use
of millimeter dimensioned nuts and bolts, millions of Americans work
for both domestic and foreign car manufacturers, all of whom are
metric from blueprint to final product. Millions more work on these
vehicles using only millimeter size tools, and millimeter-designated
clearances.
John Deere and Caterpillar Earthmoving equipment are 100% metric,
millions of Americans work at building these products and work to
maintain them all using metric tools.
The US Army is metric, talk to any soldier in the field and you?ll
hear him talk of how many meters to a target, and the millimeters
caliber of his weapon.
Hundreds of Thousands of Pilots work only in Celsius at US airports,
as do Thousands of Air Traffic Controllers. Meteorologists use
Celsius and meters when probing the atmosphere. When pilots travel
outside North America they are exposed to pressure in Hectopascals
and visibility in meters. When there is a hurricane, the low
pressure is in millibars (aka hPa), otherwise it?s inches of mercury.
In hospitals, millions of medical staff measure blood pressure in
millimeters of mercury, body temperature in Celsius and weigh
patients in kilograms, to calculate drug dose stated as grams,
milligrams or micrograms per kilogram of body mass. Most newborns
are weighed in grams, the results converted to pounds and ounces for
parents.
Millions in the pharmaceutical industry use grams when calculating
dosage for patients.
Millions of Scientists use the metric system exclusively as can be
evidenced by their comments on science programs where the scientist
speaks metric and the narrator speaks Customary.
Thousands of other American companies are metric or use metric every day.
Yet reading any article by an American journalist you?d think no one
understood any metric unit, they all have to be exorcized from every
newspaper and magazine.
Our athletes run 5 and 10 kilometer runs, the 100 m sprint, swim in
50 meter pools, jump meter high jumps, they are all familiar with
the metric system.
So when is your newspaper/TV station going to acknowledge that the
United States is a country that uses the metric system every day
except when reading a newspaper or watching TV?
I for one am constantly annoyed by this constant conversion and by
the ignorance of most journalists as to what their client base
knows. Leave the original unit alone; put metric units in your
publication, on your TV screen. Our students and workers want and
need to be exposed to the metric system so that we can compete in
International Commerce and communication.
----- End message from metricmik...@gmail.com -----