The only way I know to effect change is with lots of money. I'm sure you have heard the saying: Money talks and B...S... walks. What other then money would make the US Congress interested in metric conversion now if they haven't shown an interest in 200 years?
I've done absolutely nothing. I'm completely neutral on the matter. I know both systems equally and don't have a problem with either one. If the country changes I will go along, if they don't I won't force the issue. Your list of groups should include those who are neither for or against. Jerry ________________________________ From: Paul Armstrong <u...@otoh.org> To: Jeremiah MacGregor <jeremiahmacgre...@rocketmail.com> Cc: U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu> Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 4:20:56 AM Subject: Re: [USMA:42972] Re: Action: Economic Stimulus Package At 2009-02-14T07:38-0800, Jeremiah MacGregor wrote: > I think you are pissing into the wind. Sometimes it feels like that, but if you want to actually effect change, you need to get people to do things that cause the folks in congress to stand up and say "hey, someone cares about this". Tell me about something you're doing that's more effective than what I'm doing or tell me in very specific ways about how I can improve what I'm doing and I'll be more than happy to listen. Telling me I'm pissing in the wind isn't particularly useful. Even better, give us a hand. The more of us actually doing things on a day to day basis, the more likely we are to be seen and heard. This group falls into three categories: * Those who actually want to do something to effect change. * Those who wish it'd happen, but are mostly interested in debating technicalities. * Those who actually oppose metric and are here to see what the other side thinks/provide perspective. Everyone should be asking themselves what group they're in and if they're in the first, what they're doing each week to make a difference. If you want to make a difference but can't think of things to do, get onto gometric.us and have a read. If you've got suggestions, make an account and add them to the site. > The auto industry and Caterpillar produce in metric and I believe they > are in big trouble. Why isn't being metric helping them? You make it sound like it's some kind of magic pill that'll make you better forever. The auto industry went metric 30 years ago (for the most part). They have saved money since and would probably be in a significantly worse position today if they hadn't. Going metric unfortunately won't prevent you from making stupid mistakes in the future. The auto industry's problems at the moment largely stem from the industry changing and them not changing with it (move to cheaper, smaller and more efficient cars and higher quality). Caterpillar is mostly suffering because the building industry is in the toilet. Their problems are mitigated by being able to trade internationally, but sometimes that's just not enough. At 2009-02-14T09:26-0800, Jeremiah MacGregor wrote: > No matter how much some may wish it, metric conversion is a non issue > when it comes to the "stimulus" package. If you read the stimulus package, you'd have seen a large number of significantly less important "non issues" being given hundreds of millions of dollars. Part of getting congress to actually start paying attention to metric again is that when they do things where metric could reasonably be expected to make a difference or be part of the proposal, we should be jumping up and down saying "hey, over here; we _care_ and _we_care_about_metric_!". Sitting around talking about how it's a non-issue is not going to help it become a lime light issue. > I would not want it to be so. When the stimulus package makes things > worse for the country you wouldn't want metric to be associated with > it. Given the attention span of the greater percentage of the populace (and the general media), they'll have forgotten about the package by the time change actually takes effect (for better or worse). No matter what, it's going to take at least a year for anything done today to be felt in the economy (and probably more like 2). At this point, just making our representatives aware that we exist and want to be involved is a step in the right direction. If we get metric added to bills, that's great. If not, at least they'll be more likely to think along the lines of "hey, there's a group of vocal pro metric constituents in my area, I wonder if this would meet with their approval?" the next time they're writing legislation. But, even that won't happen if we're not constantly contacting them and letting our feelings be known. Paul -- End dual-measurement, let's finish going metric! http://gometric.us/ http://www.metric.org/
