What I forgot! I truly believe that the modern metric system *is* in the interest of America's way of life
It is all about the freedom to measure, it is about that you can solve every measurement problem where others fail. Freedom for life - Freedom to measure! Paul Trusten, R.Ph. wrote: > Dear Mr. Lewis, > > I read with great interest your online column "In for a penny, in for > a...kilogram" (May 29, 2003), and have spent the interim preparing my > response. Since my parents did not raise me to speak and write vulgar > slang, I waited two weeks so I could calm down before writing this. > > Your article asks why the United States, after 28 years of considering > conversion to the metric system, is still "pounding and inching > along". One of the primary reasons for this, I believe, is because > people such as yourself have newspaper columns, and singlehandedly, > are in a position to publish opinions and information as prejudiced, > as narrow, and as fractured as the material you put into the > above-mentioned column. The prevalence of such dim views of a subject > make me yearn to have a newspaper column of my own so that I could at > least back up my widely disseminated opinions with facts. Does your > paper have an opening for a new writer? > > I start by saying that I am an American, native born and lifelong, > who is proud of the United States and what it has done for its people > and for the people of the world. I wholeheartedly support President > Bush in his effort to protect the United States from terrorism. And > accordingly, I condemn the French for their barbed opposition to our > efforts to eliminate a great threat from Iraq. But there is one thing > that I will always thank the French for, and that is their invention > of the metric system. > > > You say that the metric system is "boring and sterile", and "suitable > only for mathematicians and other colorless folk". I've never before > heard someone compare units of measurement for their entertainment > value, and I do not measure things to be entertained. I measure > things to accomplish some task, such as framing pictures, cutting > paper, or judging how much space I need for a carpet. Sometimes I > need to expand these measurements into larger units or reduce them to > smaller units. The American plan of measurement, using 12 inches to a > foot, etc., is so cumbersome and so silly compared to a decimal > system that I would equate it to being sterile of thought. I long to > use a measurement system in which all the units are decimally > related. That, this inch-weary American feels, would be a most > exciting and fertile change in our society. I yearn for what you > call, almost with approval, "the all-too-even 10". No, the "Way Of > Measuring Badly in America Today" (I use the acronym WOMBAT to > describe our "system" of measurement, which is unsystematic) is not, > as you say, "just fine". It is bad for the individual user, and, as > you shall shortly read, bad for America. > > You were partially correct when you observed that the United States > is one of only three nations not officially using the metric system. > However, the Congress declared in 1988 that the metric system is the > "preferred system of measurement for trade" in the United States. > Congress has long known what the American people have been reluctant > to recognize: that being alone in the world with our measurements is > a major hindrance to our global competitiveness as a people, both in > academics and in trade. American producers must produce one set of > goods with US units for domestic sale and one set of goods with > metric units for export, and this has to be a major incumbrance to > our economy. So, I must disagree with your statement that our > metrological kinship with Liberia and Myanmar is "a good thing". I > think it is a very bad thing, since much of the world looks to the > United States for wisdom, not backwardness. > > Of all the provocative statements you made in your column, the one > notion which irks me above all the others is your using that > ignorance-perpetuating old ruse about metric units, making hard > conversions of US units to metric and using them in a statement to > show how supposedly cumbersome metric is, e.g., that Newville was > 17.7028 kilometers from Carlisle. Please tell your readers that, in a > metric America, one will say that Newville is about 18 kilometers > from Carlisle, period. Once the US converts to metric, there will be > no more frequent converting. There will only be metric units being > used. Please stop spreading that kind of prejudicial venom, which I > believe is a hindrance, not just to metric conversion, but to much of > human progress. > > You may know that the United States was the first nation to introduce > decimal currency. Would you like to return to the "human touch" of > the old British system of (this may not be right) 20 pence to the > shilling and 12 shillings to the pound, the system discarded by the > British in 1971 in favor of our own decimal system? > > I'm not a mathematician, but I would not describe mathematicians as > colorless folk. On the contrary, I sense that their craft brought > much color into the world, including the color pictures of all types > we now see from around the world on our web browsers. These people > are actually the color of the world, and a few of them, a couple of > hundred years ago in France, gave the world an easy and convenient > way of measuring things. Both as a patriotic American, and as someone > who just has to measure stuff from time to time, I want to join that > world. But I can't join it if American columnists like you persist in > attempting to rob America of the measurement system it deserves. > > Please reconsider what you have written. > > > Sincerely, > > > Paul Trusten > 3609 Caldera Boulevard, Apartment 122 > Midland TX 79707-2872 USA > 432-694-6208 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > "There are two cardinal sins, from > which all the others spring: impatience > and laziness." > ---Franz Kafka
