Michael, you can't say people not wanting to change miles to kilometers, feet to meters, inches to centimeters, etc., is equivalent to your stepsons refusing to do something just to be contrary. And are you saying we should get in trouble when we stick to our native measurements? Peer pressure from people who don't know what they're takig about -- I don't understand that comment. Please give me a specific example. So here's a challenge: show how the life of an ordinary person -- not a doctor working in nuclear medicine -- would improve if he were forced to switch to a metric system. Would the difficulty be worth any advantage to him? I can easily see the trouble of trying to learn new units, but I certainly don't see any advantage for an ordinary person forced to change. Who's being contrary -- the people who prefer the system they grew up with, or the people who are trying to force difficult, non-beneficial changes on them? Thanks, Joe ________________________________ From: Michael Wells <eyeonyouproductions@gmail.com> To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Sent: Saturday, December 8, 2012 6:11 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] OT, metrics -- was Re: Patrick scores again! It's an issue with my stepsons when they refuse to do something just to be contrary. They get in trouble when they do that. People here did it not because they had good reason, but because of peer pressure from people who didn't know what they were talking about. As for there being "no benefit", try doing some things so simple as cooking, and then make adjustments and start switching from oz. to cups, up to gallons, back down to pints and over to quarts. As for 3 Mile Island, there are plenty of examples of archaic holdovers in location naming that have survived many measurement unit changes. -------- Original message -------- From: Joe Bauman <josephmbauman@yahoo.com> Date: To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] OT, metrics -- was Re: Patrick scores again! Michael, you seem to think there's something wrong with "the stubborn American factor" -- should we be yielding on things where we don't need to? Should we rename Three Mile Island to Four and Eight-Hundred-Twenty-Eight Thousandths Kilometer Island? I'd be pretty stubborn about that, especially since most Americans would have a lot of hassle and ABSOLUTELY NO ADVANTAGE in switching. You have to have a compelling reason to force such widespread social changes. -- Joe ________________________________ From: Michael Wells <eyeonyouproductions@gmail.com> To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Sent: Saturday, December 8, 2012 5:02 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] OT, metrics -- was Re: Patrick scores again! Pure and simple, metrics is a scientific system of measurement, it's not some kind of dirty trick. There is no reason to use SAE except for the stubborn American factor. -------- Original message -------- From: Joe Bauman <josephmbauman@yahoo.com> Date: To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] OT, metrics -- was Re: Patrick scores again! Yes, of course Patrick is right, I was joking about not knowing what the metric system is; I can even convert metric figures into our own system, usually. But it's time for metric-centrics to realize that they lost that battle long ago. And they lost with good reason, in that it's not native to our country and nobody should try to foist a foreign system onto us. If the rest of the world does it differently, so what? I haven't seen any big loss to our economy because of it. If it's easier to figure out volume using metric, again, so what? I'll happily use fluid ounces instead of mm. My point is, this is a little like the rotten attempts at Indian schools -- which children from reservations were forced to attend -- to make students speak English, which included punishing them for using their own languages. The argument undoubtedly was made that the children couldn't succeed in America if they didn't understand English. It was still a cruel practice and has been pretty much universally contemned. Well, there's not even that argument to be made for metric: we do very well, thank you, without using it.Thanks for letting me blow off steam -- Joe PS: That is a great picture of Pahvant Butte and a fine write-up. I've hiked inside it, and I remember the remains of some huge windmill are there. _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options". _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. 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