Re: Metric Time (was Re: Why not 13 months? (Was La Systeme Metrique))

INEN/W94 (acerase@acs.ryerson.ca)
10 Oct 1995 15:24:47 -0400

Joseph Francis Nebus (nebusj@theorem.math.rpi.edu) wrote:
: aax@ix.netcom.com (ANDREW GRYGUS) writes:

: >And yet one more of them. The >>>only<<< advantage of the metric
: >systems is the sliding decimal point for conversions, so the >>>only<<<
: >thing any of you guys can come up with is obscure conversions that
: >no-one would ever need to do. Since we have units appropriate to their
: >use, we seldom need to convert much of anything in day-to-day life.

: Fine. True story, and among the reasons why I pray for the U.S.
: to get some sense and go metric:

I'm in an engineering program here in Canada and because the US is too
lazy to enter the 20th century, we have to have 2 sets of every measuring
instrument we have. We use the metric system sets because when trading
and sending products within Canada and overseas we use metric, but we
also have to use the old inches sets because the US is Canada's largest
trading partner! Hey, America, welcome to the 20th century!

Angelo

: My parents were having friends over and were making snacks. They
: sent me out to find a suitable roadside farm stand (we do live in the
: Garden State, of course) and purchase one pint of strawberries and one
: quart of raspberries.

: I get to a suitable stand. All the containers of fruit are sold
: in 6-ounce packets.

: I could not remember how many ounces make a quart, or a pint, nor
: could I remember whether a pint or a quart is larger, nor by how much, and
: neither could the poor person working at the stand. And a person who came
: up to the stand to buy something else didn't know either. I ended up
: guessing at how much of what to buy, and my parents weren't sure of
: whether I was close to a pint and a quart either; they just fit it into
: the measuring cup.

: Now, if they'd told me, say, "get a quarter of a liter of
: strawberries and a half a liter of raspberries" I'd never have had the
: slightest trouble figuring out of which I was supposed to buy more, nor
: of roughly how much that should be (every U.S.ian knows precisely how
: much "2 Liters" is; metrics are painless if you just shut up and
: convert already). I think we ended up with too many strawberries and
: not enough raspberries, and there is no telling how many other times such
: an hors-d'ouvre-related clamity has overcome well-meaning people. It won't
: be stopped until the U.S. goes metric.

: Joseph Nebus
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