On 2007/11/08, at 10:00 AM, Michael Payne wrote:
It's misinformation to state that Burma and Liberia avoid the
metric system. They don't, they are predominately metric. The only
reason they are on this list of non-metric countries (CIA website)
is that they don't have an 'Official Policy of Conversion'. Despite
having no official policy, they have both become predominantly
metric, including metric speed limits, signs with km/h and
speedometers with km/h, fuel sold in liters, etc. I wish we would
not give out the misinformation that they are not metric when they
are.
I wrote an article on this for Metric Today about 10 years ago
after visiting both countries.
Michael Payne
----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Trusten"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, 05 November 2007 16:55
Subject: [USMA:39678] China and Japan beat U.S. back to the moon
Dear Mike,
You might be interested in this item from the Metrication matters
newsletter of March 2006 (See: http://www.metricationmatters.com/mm-
newsletter-2006-03.html )
Given your comments (above) I will be much stronger on this point in
future than I was in the last paragraph below.
9 History
From time to time, USA business leaders and government officials
claim that the USA is not alone as the only nation in the world that
has not 'gone metric'; they adopt various linguistic gymnastics to
suggest that the US is not alone.
For example, when a software company president said, 'The metric
system is used in nearly every country in the world, with the
exception of the USA', we have to ask: 'What is the purpose of the
word 'nearly' – 'nearly' implies more than one country – but he only
mentions one nation – the USA as an exception. By inserting the word
'nearly' the speaker is trying to suggest that the US is not alone in
its stance against the metric system.
In 2002, Dr. Lester Crawford of the Food and Drug Administration in
the USA said, 'There are only two countries in the world that are not
metric: the US and Yemen'. This is an odd statement because support
for the idea that the USA is not alone usually includes two – almost
always two – of the following: Burma, Liberia, Libya, and Myanmar.
The selection of Yemen to support the USA position is quite rare.
The facts however are quite at odds with the public statements of USA
business leaders and government officials. American companies that
trade internationally are already metric. Examples of fully metric
products from the USA include: bulldozers, buses, cameras, cars,
computers, films, lenses, make-up, pharmaceuticals, television,
toothpaste, tractors, trucks, and video. As you can see from this
list, the agricultural machinery, automotive, computers, electronics,
pharmaceutical, photographic, and optical industries are already
using the metric system.
The reason that most of the citizens of the USA do not realise this,
is because many manufacturers do not see any sales advantage in
telling the public that they are committed to using the metric
system. Manufacturers seem to believe that they will only see
resistance and argument from the general public if they mention the
metric system publicly. A common example is the computer industry
where the computer chips are made with separations between components
measured in nanometres; the computer board and the case is then
designed and made using millimetres; and finally the public is told
the size of the screen (very approximately) in inches.
By the way, travellers to Burma (also called Myanmar), Liberia,
Libya, and Yemen report that metric measures are commonly used in all
of these countries.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Pat Naughtin helps people understand how to go about their
metrication upgrade– quickly and easily – by helping them avoid
mistakes that he has made himself, or that he has seen made by others
during his more than 35 years of involvement with metrication
matters. Contact Pat at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Pat specialises in the modern metric system based on the
International System of Units (SI), but he is mostly concerned with
the processes that people use for themselves, their groups, their
businesses, their industries, and their nations as they go about
their inevitable metrication process. See: http://
www.metricationmatters.com/
Pat Naughtin is a highly knowledgeable metric enthusiast, who is also
a writer, professional speaker, editor, and publisher. He spoke in
many places in the USA in 2005 and his most recent speaking tour, in
2007, included Singapore, Paris, London, Toronto, Washington,
Tennessee, Colorado, Idaho, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Recent
clients have been the United Kingdom Metric Association, The Canadian
Metric Association, the United States Metric Association, NIST in
Washington, Google in San Francisco, and NASA in Los Angeles.
