On 2009/01/23, at 7:55 AM, STANLEY DOORE wrote:
During the 1970s, the NOAA National Weather Service planned to make
conversion to the SI and to begin purchasing observation sensors and
readouts in metric. So the NWS is ready to convert to metric in the
public arena when The Congress and the President desire.
Weather forecasts have been computed in metric since the late
1950s so changes in output need to be made for presentation to the
public. Aviation uses metric in international aviation now. Going
metric in weather, including satellite images, would simplify and
streamline the whole operation. The weather information system is
ready to go metric.
Stan Doore
Dear Stan,
The more I look at metrication in the USA the more I see that the USA
is now so substantially metric that all that remains is to remove the
thin veneer of dishonesty. Let me give some example. I will start with
yours.
1 The NOAA National Weather Service now collects, records, and
calculates using SI metric units, then reports to the public in old
pre-metric measures.
2 Nasa designs builds and flies spacecraft using metric units for
measurement and then reports their successes or failures in old pre-
metric measures for the public.
3 All cars, trucks, tractors, and motor bikes are designed and
constructed using all metric units then the tyre pressure, the
speedometer, and the odometer are then dumbed down to psi, mph, and ml.
4 Computers have their circuits, cases, and screens designed and made
using nanometres, micrometres, and millimetres and then they are not
only sold as the 17" model but software default settings are provided
in inches that are subdivided in halves, quarters, and eighths of
inches.
5 International trade is carried out using the International System of
Units (SI) because that is the only way to deal with all other
nations. Then the market figures are dumbed down for the citizens of
the USA to old measures such as barrels with variable capacity and
constructions such as MMBThUpmon (million million British Thermal
Units per month).
6 Much military training in the USA is designed and presented using
metric units because military hardware is increasingly all metric and
military personnel serve in nations outside the USA that have already
upgraded to the metric system many years ago.
7 All medical services are soundly based on body measurements and test
results that use the metric system. The dishonest people actively seek
to change the mass of babies from grams to pounds, ounces, and
fractions of ounces, and to change millilitres of treatment into
teaspoons and dessertspoons.
8 Last, but not least, almost all length measuring is done using the
metric inch (of exactly 25.4 millimetres), the metric foot (of exactly
304.8 millimetres) and the metric mile (of exactly 1609.344 metres).
Meanwhile, almost all mass measurements are carried out using the
metric pound (of exactly 453.5924 grams).
Basically the USA is — right now — almost all metric but some citizens
choose to hide this fact from themselves using techniques that are
basically dishonest. The sad part of this thin veneer of dishonesty is
the cost to all citizens in the USA, see the article, Costs of non-
metrication in the USA at http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/CostOfNonMetrication.pdf
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has
helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the
modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they
now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for
their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many
different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial
and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA.
Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST,
and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com
for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected]
or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter
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