Jim, It seems that your teachers had no imagination. Decimals could have been introduced gently $0.99 for example. I had no such luck at school - I was brought up using £sd (12d = 1s; 20s = £1) and it was only when I 12 that South Africa converted to rands and cents.
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of James R. Frysinger Sent: 05 June 2011 02:55 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:50556] Re: Microsoft Word 2010 Home and Student > I wonder could you share with us some of the successful examples of economical, smooth, and fast metrication transitions -- using centimetres -- that you used to make your decision: "I'm now going to change things back to centimeters!" Nope. I'm going back to a centimeter setting for my word processing programs based on personal preference, not on historical experiences metricating a country. Centimeters are just friendly. They're about popcorn-sized and thus easy to handle -- singly or by the handful (0.174 L). And, as I noted, my word processors seem to be fond of labeling every third or sixth millimeter on the rulers when set to use millimeters. That's not convenient for me. I was once scared by decimals when I was a child. When I was in the fourth grade a buddy in the sixth grade moaned about how difficult decimals were, which he was just then learning at that grade level. I asked him what "decimals" were and he said it was arithmetic done with a bunch of dots and if you got them in the wrong spot the answer you turned in would be marked "wrong". At the time I knew a blind girl and was starting to learn how to read and write Braille. She was also teaching me how to do arithmetic on a Braille tablet that used little cubes for the digits; they fitted down into an array of square holes, checkerboard fashion. (In Braille, all the digits can be written using just six dot patterns; rotate a 2 to the right by 90 degrees and you have a 3.) Well, I thought that perhaps I had an edge here, with my Braille experience. At the end of my sixth grade year the teacher asked if there were any lingering questions as she and we anxiously awaited the last bell of the year. Thinking back, I could not recall us doing arithmetic in Braille and so I stood (as kids did back then to speak in class) and asked her why she had not taught us anything to do with decimals. She gave me a mixed look of utter dispair and disdain as she said that we had indeed covered decimals. She reminded me of the period we learned to place appropriately in numbers and said, "Those were decimals and you did very well with them." Fortunately the bell rang just then, relieving me of a long period of embarrassment. But at least my dread of having to do arithmetic in Braille when using decimals was dispelled and I have been friends with decimals ever since. And today I know that a silly millimeter is simply 0.1 cm. Jim On 2011-06-04 1949, Pat Naughtin wrote: > On 2011/05/29, at 05:31 , James R. Frysinger wrote: > >> Nope. I thought of that. And I expected this reply. So, as I promised >> myself, I grinned when I saw your response. >> >> Just for grins, I opened an OpenOffice document and changed the >> settings from centimeters to millimeters. The rulers on the 100 % >> sized view showed markings and numbers every 6 mm. At 200 % they >> occurred every 3 mm. At 400 % they showed every 2 mm. But I normally >> use the 100 % view and I don't think that markings every 6 mm would be >> very useful. That of course is a problem with OpenOffice, not a >> problem with your argument favoring millimeters over centimeters. I'm >> now going to change things back to centimeters! >> >> Jim > > Dear Jim, > > I note your decision, "/I'm now going to change things back to > centimeters!/" > > You might be interested in this quote from Dorothy Rowe in her book, > "/Why we Lie/": > > /The car industry is a global industry. For instance, in the motor > industry in 2009, Fiat provide diesel engines to Mercedes for use in > commercial vehicles. GM built Fiat diesel engines under licence for use > in Vauxhall, Opel and Saab cars. Peugeot Citroen provided diesel engines > for Ford vehicles and used BMW petrol engines in its Citroen and Peugeot > cars, while running Joint Venture programmes for shared small cars with > Toyota and commercial vehicles with Fiat./ > > As you know the world car industry achieved massive economies of scale > when they adopted the 'world car concept' very rapidly in the mid-1970s > *using millimetres* (and micrometres and more recently nanometres). In > many cases these savings of, I guess, about 10 % of turnover, actually > saved some of these companies from bankruptcy at that time and on > several occasions since as these savings are annual. Their savings were > not only from engines but also from all other parts: brakes, electrical > and electronic parts are other examples; remember the effect that the > loss of small car parts factories due to the Japanese tsunami affected > the car industry in the USA. > > As you know, like the world car (and tractor, truck, and motorbike) > industry, Australia has been largely and rapidly successful when we used > millimetres for our metrication upgrade. This success with millimetres > represents about 85 % of our arts, crafts, and professions. Wherever > centimetres were used we are still struggling -- no struggling is the > wrong word -- we are failing and failing dismally in the another group > of activities where centimetres are still being tried for a metrication > transition. Sadly this second group includes school teachers where > confusion reigns between centimetres and inches and the medical > community where it leads to multiple unnecessary deaths. See > http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/centimetresORmillimetres.pdf > (search for aircraft) for a list of the successful metrication upgrades > in Australia (using millimetres) -- and the unsuccessful attempted > transitions (using centimetres). > > I wonder could you share with us some of the successful examples of > economical, smooth, and fast metrication transitions -- using > centimetres -- that you used to make your decision: "/I'm now going to > change things back to centimeters!/" > > Cheers, > > Pat Naughtin LCAMS > Geelong, Australia > >> >> On 2011-05-28 1418, Pat Naughtin wrote: >>> Dear Jim, >>> >>> Thanks for this information. You probably won't like me saying this >>> but you have given me another arrow to my bow in criticising the use >>> of centimetres instead of millimetres. I really must assemble my >>> arguments favouring millimetres over centimetre more carefully. I >>> will mull some more. >>> >>> Cheers and thanks for your prompt response. >>> >>> Pat Naughtin >>> Geelong Australia >>> >>> On 2011/05/29, at 04:08 , James R. Frysinger wrote: >>> >>>> Bear with me here, Pat. I'm still trying to find my way around this >>>> blasted "menu ribbon" that MS Office uses now. (The startup guide >>>> acknowledged that many people would find it difficult at first to >>>> use the menu ribbon. Downloadable tutorials are provided for each >>>> Office component. Also provided is a link to a video explaining "Why >>>> we made this change" -- the video file did not run.) >>>> >>>> Opening the Word component, I see an empty page. Selecting the Page >>>> Layout ribbon, I see settings for indents given in centimeters. The >>>> Margins tab provides several options (as well as a chance to >>>> customize the settings) and one of those is "boxed"; I thus assume >>>> that this is the current setting: top, bottom, and both sides = 25.4 >>>> cm. One choice is for Office 2003 Default settings: top and bottom = >>>> 25.4 cm, sides = 3.18 cm. >>>> >>>> I will change these to my personal preferences of 2.00 cm all around >>>> (or 2.5 cm on recto pages and 1.5 cm on verso pages to allow for >>>> punching or binding). For those who are up on typography...yes, this >>>> provides a line that is generally considered as being "too long" >>>> when 12 point type is used on U.S. Letter paper. I will try once >>>> again, now that I have a new computer not cluttered with personal >>>> stuff, to build a nice LaTeX suite; I miss that from my Linux days. >>>> Sigh. >>>> >>>> When I stumbled across the "preferences" menu yesterday, I saw that >>>> the program was already set up in centimeters (capitalized), but >>>> that I had the option to change that to inches, millimeters, or >>>> picas (all capitalized). >>>> >>>> I was able to figure out how to make vertical and horizontal rulers >>>> visible and did so. They obviously are marked in centimeters but >>>> with subdivisions for 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 cm. (Unfortunately, >>>> OpenOffice 3.3.0 does the same thing.) >>>> >>>> Jim >>>> >>>> On 2011-05-27 2246, Pat Naughtin wrote: >>>>> On 2011/05/27, at 11:32 , James R. Frysinger wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> I'm in the process of setting up a new computer for my business >>>>>> and discovered something surprising. While setting options in the >>>>>> subject-named program on this Windows 7 OS, I discovered that >>>>>> "centimeter" is the default value under "Display" for "Show >>>>>> measurements in units of:". >>>>>> >>>>>> That's the first office program I've seen that defaults to metric! >>>>>> I cannot think of anything I set in the Windows 7 preferences that >>>>>> would have caused that. >>>>>> >>>>>> Jim >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Dear Jim, >>>>> >>>>> What are the default settings on your new computer for page margins? >>>>> >>>>> I use the latest (2011) version of Microsoft Word for Mac and it's >>>>> default settings all came in inches. After I set my preferred >>>>> length setting for millimetres, MS Word changed the page margin >>>>> defaults to 25.4 mm top and bottom and 31.8 mm for right and left >>>>> margins. >>>>> >>>>> You may recall that I have written a short article about this issue >>>>> previously at >>>>> http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/PageBordersInchesORmillimetres.pdf >>>>> >>>>> By the way, does your new MS Word allow you to set your own default >>>>> in millimetres? Or are you stuck with a choice between inches or >>>>> centimetres? >>>>> >>>>> Cheers, >>>>> >>>>> 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] >>>>> <mailto:[email protected]> or to get the free >>>>> 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: >>>>> http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> James R. Frysinger >>>> 632 Stony Point Mountain Road >>>> Doyle, TN 38559-3030 >>>> >>>> (C) 931.212.0267 >>>> (H) 931.657.3107 >>>> (F) 931.657.3108 >>>> >>> >>> 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] >>> <mailto:[email protected]> or to get the free >>> 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: >>> http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe. >>> >>> >>> >>> >> >> -- >> James R. Frysinger >> 632 Stony Point Mountain Road >> Doyle, TN 38559-3030 >> >> (C) 931.212.0267 >> (H) 931.657.3107 >> (F) 931.657.3108 >> > > 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. > -- James R. Frysinger 632 Stony Point Mountain Road Doyle, TN 38559-3030 (C) 931.212.0267 (H) 931.657.3107 (F) 931.657.3108
