Eric Erickson wrote:
> On 25/01/2005, at 1:52 PM, Frank P. Marrone wrote:
>
>>
>> I think things will continue to progress to metric here in the states, I
>> rarely hear objections to it like when it was a political issue in the
>> late
>> 70's. Some thing I don't expect to see change from English units in
>> my life
>> time however, like gallons as a measure of fuel at the pump. Oh sure,
>> you
>> can put liters up there too but we are just too used to talking in
>> $/gal and
>> MPG for that to change.
>>
>>
>
> Well, I was a child of two dramatic eras of change.
>
> In the mid sixties we changed to decimal currency. I was young enough
> to be flexible and made the change pretty smoothly, yet I was old enough
> (6/7 years of age) to remember POUNDS, SHILLINGS and PENCE. I remember
> that one day it cost threepence to catch the bus to "the top of the hill
> shops" (as one coin it was a tiny little silver thing that also ended up
> in our plum pudding at Christmas time). The next day, seemingly, it cost
> five cents (a larger silver coin).
>
> Not much after that I remember everyone putting three dollars worth of
> petrol in their cars, which would probably last them the week.
>
> Next, I was at school when we really started the push to metric - pity
> was that I had already been learning in feet and inches (and rods,
> perches, chains, acres, gallons, pints, pounds, ounces, etc. etc.) so we
> had to make the change. A year or two later and metric would be all I
> learned.
>
> This means that I can immediately visualise someone described at six
> foot tall... but now we here to be on the lookout for someone 180cm
> tall????? My transition to kilometres was damaged by getting old cars
> with the speedo in miles. I still get confused when people quote
> acceleration as 0-100... ummm, that is quick, I think until I realise it
> is 0-100kmh (about 60mph).
>
> But worse still is fuel consumption. I just can't get a grip on
> litres-per-100kilometres instead of miles-per-gallon!!
>
> I wish I was a few years younger and none of this would have been an
> issue!! Of course, I haven't even touched on the pronounciation of
> "kilometers" :-)
>
> But then again I would not wish the complicated miles, chains, yards,
> feet, inches (pounds, ounces etc.) calculations on anyone :-) The
> change has gotta hurt a generation or two... but the long term gain is
> well worth it!
You see, I think just the opposite. I think the kids that had to
calculate pounds, shillings and pence were more intelligent as a result.
I think the metric system represents just another influence to dumb down
the already far too dumbed-down human species. ;)
-Rock http://www.rocky-frisco.com
--
Rocky Frisco's LIBERTY website: http://www.liberty-in-our-time.com/
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