Metric essay

[Regnirps at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/5/99 6:09:23 AM, c95fsg at cs.umu.se writes:

>On Sat, 5 Jun 1999 Regnirps at aol.com wrote:
>This is really funny. Since when did you use the definition of things
>when you are messuring. If I'm out on a walk I surelly not count the steps
>I take..and I can't believe you do either. And the body measurements are
>unusable since noone is the same size as another. I guess they were
>alright a few hundreds of years ago, but in this modern world they don't
>mean a thing as far as precision is concerned. 
>Being in a machine shop you measure your thumb and start folding a paper
>to get the 3/16th of an inch you have to cut the pipe? Give me a break.
>You use a ruler, right?

I don't get your point. I'm talking about the origins of measurements and 
their relations to human scale.

>And Fahrenheit....even the americans don't know how
>it works. Alot of people I have talked to on the internet don't know the
>exact Fahrenheit for boiling water...and I don't blame them...there are
>not logic whatsoever in the scale.

You and they found Fahrenheit confusing because you are making a wrong 
assumption. Centigrade is based on freezing and boiling of WATER. Fahrenheit 
is based on extremes as felt by the human body! 100 is HOT and 0 is COLD. 
Freezing water is no big deal for a woolen clad Northern European, but 0 is 
uncomfortably cold.

>As far as precision goes you are allowed to use like 20.5 degrees, is that
>too hard?

You think people have trouble knowing 212 is boiling in degrees F but decimal 
degrees C will be no problem?

>And about the kilo. You americans use that all the time. In car adds it
>says 200k miles and I can buy it for 30k$. So I guess you know what it
>means.

Yes, it means either 1000 or 1024 depending on context.

>You really have to come up with alot better arguments than this.
>I do understand that it is very hard to change, and that it is expensive.
>But don't start with this human body crap it is just ridiculous.

I'm not arguing, just saying I don't want to pay for something I already have.

>The metric system is by far the most logic and easy to use system.
>Just my opinion.

I have no problem with it, I use CGS/MKS in physics and engineering all the 
time. But why should I use it to buy pickles?

BTW, how big is a child's milk glass in metric?

Charlie Springer