Dear All, I have just sent Solstice Greetings to subscribers of to the Metrication matters newsletter so, at the risk of repetition, here it is again for listserv members who are not subscribers (you can subscribe for free at http://metricationmatters.com/newsletter.html ):
Dear Subscriber, Each year at the Summer Solstice I begin to think about my metrication activities for the coming year. This year the Solstice is today, 2010 December 22. Winter Solstice Greetings if you are in the northern hemisphere and Summer Solstice Greetings for us southern hemisphere folk. I often use the solstice as my prompt to consider things like my metrication plans for next year. This year my thoughts turned to the long tradition of honesty that has been built into the metric system. This mostly happened through all of the great historical leaders who sought honesty in measurement for all people. Here are some of them: * Various writers in the Bible, the Koran, and other religious texts; see Leviticus 19:36, Ezekiel 45:10, Deuteronomy 25:14 and 15, and many more. * Simon Stevin, who promoted modern decimal arithmetic in 1585. * Bishop John Wilkins, who invented, in 1668, the 'universal measure' that later became the metric system. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/who-invented-the-metric-system.html * Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington who promoted decimal currency and decimal measurements in the 1780s, firstly in the USA where they succeeded with the decimal currency, and secondly in France where, Franklin and Jefferson as ambassadors from the USA, succeeded in promoting the decimal system for all measurement. See http://metricationmatters.com/docs/USAMetricSystemHistory.pdf * Bishop Talleyrand and the Marquis de Condorcet who promoted the legalisation of the "decimal metric system" for France in the 1790s and promoted it, "For all time; for all people" making it available for all other nations. * The British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) who laid the foundations for the modern metric system, "Le Système International d'Unités (SI)", in the 1880s. * The United States Metric Association (USMA) and the United Kingdom Metric Association (UKMA) who have continued to promote the metric system from 1916 to now. My thought for a New Year Resolution is to promote the honesty of the metric system with some sort of a slogan. My first approach in looking for a slogan was to look up synonyms for honesty and I found these: accurate, candour, complete, consistent, constant, correct, dependable, ethical, exact, faithful, frankness, honorable, integrity, moral, open, precise, principled, reliable, responsible, sincere, steadfast, true, trustworthy, truthful, unfailing, unswerving, upright, veracity, and whole. However, while all of these thoughts apply quite accurately to the metric system there are a few too many thoughts here for a single, simple, slogan. So I returned to the word honesty and wrote: Honest people support the metric system. Be pro-honesty. I liked it; especially the bit about "pro-honesty", but it still had too many words. My next effort was: Metric system supporters are pro-honesty. And then: I'm pro-metric because I'm pro-honesty Or more simply — and this is my selection: Be pro-honesty Be pro-metric In 2011 I will promote this slogan wherever I can. Maybe I'll make it a T-shirt and a bumper sticker. Maybe you could help me promote this idea among your community of friends. Cheers, and best wishes for your Solstice and for all of your metrication activities in 2011 Pat Naughtin LCAMS Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY 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 to subscribe.
