One big plus of the USMA, I found out there were actually other people out
there who also thought the US should be metric. That was 20+ years ago, I'm
actually amazed that we in the US are not metric. I've got a movie when my
daughter was born 21 years ago saying we'll all be using grams when she's
grown up. Yeah I wish!
A definite lack of leadership and infuriating meddling by individual members
of congress have put us in the present situation of limbo.
Mike Payne.
----- Original Message -----
From: "James R. Frysinger" <j...@metricmethods.com>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu>
Cc: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu>
Sent: Sunday, 03 May 2009 18:08
Subject: [USMA:45008] Re: The true state of the USMA list......
Very good, Phil.
I would add one more serious and productive use for the USMA mail list.
This should also be a forum for folks to ask questions in order to improve
their understanding of the metric system.
Jim
Phil Chernack wrote:
I'm not one for writing much anymore but when I do contribute, I'd like
to think that what I have to say is cogent and impactful. Quite a while
back, I wrote a thread about being "nibbled to death by ducks." The
whole point of that thread was this list was becoming bogged down with
such minutiae that we were all losing sight of the big picture. I, too
find myself breezing past threads on the various subjects of late or only
paying attention to certain posters while ignoring others.
Let's look at what we should be talking about:
1. Metrication in the USA.
2. See 1.
Even though it is pretty much the hope and desire to see full
metrication here in the USA, I do not have any issue with hearing about
experiences in other places such as the UK or Australia. For the most
part, those contributions have been insightful and useful in our
discussion of metrication here. The idea is that we can learn from those
experiences. I just implore those making comments to "keep it civil" so
we may have a rational discourse. You never know, present your argument
clearly and you might swing some to your point of view! Time for the
facts:
Spelling is something we do not need to discuss. I say tomato, you say
tomahto, even the BIPM does not care. Role of the BIPM vs local metrology
labs and laws. Let's remember that it is up to each nation on how to
interpret the SI for its own use. It is agreed through treaty and other
agreements that interpretations do not go beyond overall specifications
but things like spelling and such are determined at the national level.
This also includes the use of alternate or deprecated units on a
temporary basis. In the US, that authority is given by Congress to the
Secretary of Commerce, who has designated NIST. How laws are handled in
other countries is their business.
How metricated are we? I have seen numbers in the 60% to 80% range. Of
course it depends on how you define metrication. As Pat has pointed out
on many occasions, there is plenty of "hidden metric." I would hazard to
say that we are far more metricated than many here would believe.
Industries that sell overseas are most likely metric and thus, have no
incentive to do more. Many domestic industries are also metric as they
have done so to save money, buy new equipment or eventually sell
overseas. What we don't see is the day to day usage of people. This
represents our biggest challenge. How do we get people to use metric on
a day-to-day basis? That is a discussion I am willing to continue on
this list. I do not have all the answers to this one but I do have some
definite ideas.
These are the areas I would like to see discussed. I don't need to know
what isn't being done. I want to know what should be done and how can we
as individuals, make that happen.
Thanks for your time,
Phil
On Sun, May 3, 2009 at 7:05 AM, Harry Wyeth <hbwy...@earthlink.net
<mailto:hbwy...@earthlink.net>> wrote:
Amen to what Brian wrote. I couldn't care less about the personal
disputes, which names posters use, the repeated postings of personal
junk, some store named Tesco, or the state of metric in the UK. Get
a life, Jerry. I have been a USMA supporter for years and will
continue to be, but this list is about to drop off my computer for
good.
HARRY WYETH
br...@bjwhite.net <mailto:br...@bjwhite.net> wrote:
Well, regardless (because of) of ya'll's bullshit (yes, I said
it...someone had to) this list has gone downhill quickly.
--
James R. Frysinger
632 Stony Point Mountain Road
Doyle, TN 38559-3030
(C) 931.212.0267
(H) 931.657.3107
(F) 931.657.3108
