Many U.S. scientists tend to
be "bilingual" when it comes to the metric system. Considering there
aren't any scientific disciplines I can think of at the moment that don't have
some sort of international community, we need to be. As a geologist this
certainly applies to me. As far as meters go, you could consider geology
"converted". Because I don't see it as often, Kilograms is what messes me
up, but distance measurements are no biggie. My sister, a doctor, has no
problem with Kilograms! To apply this to endurance riding, my ideal
endurance horse would be about 14.3 hands tall, which is actually 1.4986
meters. I am a mere 1.57m tall (after a good night's sleep!)
:))
Karen
Tulsa, OK
On Wed, 9 Aug 2006 17:03:16 -0700, "Barbara
McCrary"
<bigcreekranch@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>Our government
tried to initiate the whole metric thing in the USA and some of us never caught
on...that is, we couldn't translate. I guess the government gave up.
We're still using our own bizarre method of describing distances and volume,
etc. Maybe metric makes more sense, but we're used to our methods and it's
a lot of work to learn a new "language." <g>
"The gummint"
did a poor job, as usual. The PR ads made metric sound
more complicated
than English units, when they are in fact much easier
to use. It is
only the unfamiliarity of metric that scares people.
Metric will
eventually dominate, slowly. It is not only already
common in beverage
bottles, but nuts & bolts for automobiles as well,
and in
computers. And kids are taught metric in school, it won't
seem
unfamilar to them as they get older.
Never fear, expressions like
"foot-long hot dog" and "a miss is as
good as a mile" will be around long
after those units have fallen into
general disuse. They still measure
flat-track races in furlongs!
Hmmm, I once stated the average speed to drive
in a car rally I put on
in "furlongs per fortnight." And once specified
the length of
something in "gallons per acre."
--
Joe
Long
jlong@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.chiprider.com
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