Re: Metric Time (was Re: Why not 13 months? (Was La Systeme Metrique))
Robert A. Uhl (ruhl@phoebe.cair.du.edu)
11 Oct 1995 21:56:15 GMT
In article <45f466$251@cyberE.creative.net>,
Jack Fertig <starjack@creative.com> wrote:
>As an American I'm embarassed at our country's resistance to the metric
>system. I'm even more embarassed at our xenophobia, lack of a health
>care system, crime, violence... oh, well. Metrics seems a small matter
>from this side. But it's true enough. We should get with it.
Get with what? Other nations' disdain for their histories? The
changing over to a system with _no_ benefits? Do tell.
>One of the problems is that we get exposed to metric in terms of
>intimidatingly exact decimals that nobody could convert without a
>calculator.
I always thought that the problem was that there is no reason for us
to convert. The fact that the rest of the world uses it doesn't
matter; the rest of the world also lies awake at night hoping that we
don't decide to reduce it to radioactive grit...
>I think it's quite enough to know that a meter is a bit more than a yard.
>A centimeter is a little less than half an inch. A Kilometer is about
>2/3 of a mile. (Or for more than a few, 5/8 is a closer fraction.) A
>liter is a little more than a quart. A decilitre is a tad less than a
>cup. It's really as easy as pie, and a lot easier than 3.1416.
That's how I remember it. But I only use it to convert from metric
to real; never the other way around.
--
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| Bob Uhl | Spectre | `En touto nika' + |
| U of D | PGG FR No. 42 | http://mercury.cair.du.edu/~ruhl/ |
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