A few observations:
- We in the UK have had weather forecasts in degrees Celsius for many years
now. I've yet to see or hear temperatures forecast to 0.1 degree precision.
- It is a common misconception that the metre has changed because it is no
longer defined as the distance from Earth pole to equator. The definition
may have changed but its length has not changed. We can't retain the oiginal
definition because that would be wrong by modern standards of accuracy.
Today we can measure the Earth far more accurately than was possible at the
end of the eighteenth century and it is now known that the original
prototype of the metre did not truly correspond to the stated fraction of
that distance.
- It is true that there are some conventions in SI that individuals may not
agree with, but on the whole it is far more stable and universal than any
other system of measurements around today or in the past. In contrast units
like the gallon are not be the same in America as they are (or were) in
Australia. Herman may not like the name 'pascal' but at least it means the
same the world over.
Phil Hall
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carleton MacDonald" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, March 03, 2006 1:55 AM
Subject: [USMA:36184] Metric vs. imperial comments from Australia
One of my other groups got off on a metric tangent. This is from a poster
who used to live in San Francisco but now lives in Australia. It seems
like his USA background still affects his opinion.
Carleton
-------------------------------------------------
Australia has switched to the metric system, Herman.
It has some advantages but constant meddling by the French and the
others make the metric system one that frequently changes.
Many of the measurements are based on engineering principles and some on
obviously logical premises like the centigrade degrees where 0 is the
temperature at which water freezes at sea level and 100 the temperature
at which water boils. That was logical and a semi-educated person could
immediately twig to the logic by the name centigrade-100 gradients, but
they fiddled that to and changed the name to Celsius which means nothing
to me. Another slight problem there is the coarseness of the metric
degree. So instead of round numbers (as is usual with the finer
Fahrenheit system) we need to put decimal places in daily weather
reports (for instance).
With other metric measurements, they have introduced hard to pronounce
and spell wog names which I simply can't be bothered with such as Pascal
as in kPa. And why should we be bothered with that kind of thing? They
could have picked easy to remember or self explanatory names (like
centigrade) but they chose to immortalize long dead people.
Then, still fiddling, they have changed the unit of measurement for
torque and others to suit engineers but which are unintelligible to the
reasonable man. They are more suited to engineering than everyday use.
I quite frankly can't be bothered referring back to formal sources but
the hubris, vanity and even narcissism displayed by those mostly
European people constantly fiddling with the metric system is mad
useless, just what I expect from them. And I guess you know about one
metric system of measurement based on the distance from the north pole
to the equator via Paris.
Please spare me that silliness.
The US has simplified the old Imperial measurement system enough so that
it works well. Simply not a problem, domestically and an extraordinarily
high (by international standards) percentage of US production is
consumed domestically.
And the continent that gave us the metric system is sinking of its own
intellectual vanity and weight. They can't even reproduce. They are in a
"death spiral" to use a common phrase and soon won't matter. The United
States and China now power the world economy with Europe and Japan
contributing little (except hot air and moral posturing on the part of
Europe). And given China's massive internal problems, their vital
contribution to the world economy could be seen as volatile.
It's quite possible that the US will eventually go metric, but there
seems to be little movement in that direction to me, an occasional
visitor to the US. Metric road signs and speedometer markings have all
but disappeared in recent years and no one I spoke to in the US recently
used or even knew metric measurements unless they were Mexican, Canadian
or other foreigners.
And even though we have gone metric here in Oz we still stay 20', 40',
48' and 53' for shipping container lengths, and still measure truck
engine outputs in horsepower and lb ft of torque, and US thread, bolt,
and nut sizes are still in wide use. And my new rainwater tanks are in
gallons (with litres in the fine print).
The Anglosphere still seems quite comfortable with imperial measurements
even those countries that have formally gone metric.
