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Phil McKerracher

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Nov 5, 2003, 1:19:28 PM11/5/03
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In case you have not already seen it:

We are trying to set up a new newsgroup

misc.metric-system

dedicated to discussions about the metric system and its introduction
in areas where it is not yet widely used.

Related threads have flared up in this group in the past. So if you
are interested in this topic and group, please participate in this
ballot. (At least ~150 votes are necessary before a group has a
realistic chance of being created.)

The "Call for Votes" with a description of the proposed group and
exact instructions on how to vote has just been posted to

news.announce.newgroups

It is also available by sending an email to

metric-cf...@netagw.com

and it can be downloaded from the USENET Volunteer Votetakers website
on

http://www.uvv.org/cgi-bin/getmsg/2440

Votes have to be submitted by email, formatted exactly according to
the instructions given in the "Call for Votes". Your vote has been
counted only if you receive a confirmation reply.

The ballot closes 25 November 2003.

Thanks for your time,

--
Phil McKerracher
www.mckerracher.org


JD

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Nov 11, 2003, 4:21:58 PM11/11/03
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"Phil McKerracher" <ph...@mckerracher.org> wrote in message
news:Qabqb.1169$AD.10...@news-text.cableinet.net...

> In case you have not already seen it:
>
> We are trying to set up a new newsgroup
>
> misc.metric-system
>
> dedicated to discussions about the metric system and its introduction
> in areas where it is not yet widely used.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! We don't want it. We don't need it. We can't afford it.

Stop wasting our time.


>
> Related threads have flared up in this group in the past. So if you
> are interested in this topic and group, please participate in this
> ballot. (At least ~150 votes are necessary before a group has a
> realistic chance of being created.)
>
> The "Call for Votes" with a description of the proposed group and
> exact instructions on how to vote has just been posted to
>
> news.announce.newgroups
>
> It is also available by sending an email to
>
> metric-cf...@netagw.com

Can I vote NO?

Michael G. Koerner

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Nov 11, 2003, 9:49:57 PM11/11/03
to
JD wrote:
>
> "Phil McKerracher" <ph...@mckerracher.org> wrote in message
> news:Qabqb.1169$AD.10...@news-text.cableinet.net...
> > In case you have not already seen it:
> >
> > We are trying to set up a new newsgroup
> >
> > misc.metric-system
> >
> > dedicated to discussions about the metric system and its introduction
> > in areas where it is not yet widely used.
>
> NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! We don't want it. We don't need it. We can't afford it.

That 'we' most certainly does NOT include me.

> Stop wasting our time.

Weeding through the 'Olde Englishe' measures that we are stuck with now
wastes an INCREDIBLE amount of my time. I would love to be able to
interpret things such as construction zone road signs that use different
units on the fly by only having to move a decimal point.

Among many other things, my mind also wants to know how many degrees
above or below freezing the outside temperature is, NOT a quick thing to
do with 'Olde Englishe'.

--
___________________________________________ ____ _______________
Regards, | |\ ____
| | | | |\
Michael G. Koerner May they | | | | | | rise again!
Appleton, Wisconsin USA | | | | | |
___________________________________________ | | | | | | _______________

George Conklin

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Nov 12, 2003, 2:36:19 PM11/12/03
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"Michael G. Koerner" <mgk...@dataex.com> wrote in message
news:3FB19FD5...@dataex.com...


Forgive Koerner. He has to feel he is up-to-date. Progressive. In
favor of anything which most people could care less about. We don't export
the weather, but then, what the heck, we must admire anything they do in
Europe as superior.


Pat Norton

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Nov 12, 2003, 4:28:35 PM11/12/03
to
JD wrote:
>We don't want it. We don't need it. We can't afford it.

Define 'we'.

This is an international newsgroup. The proposed newsgroup is
international. If you are the worldwide representative for all
scientists, automobile manufacturers, or urban planners, please
specify.

JD

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Nov 12, 2003, 7:24:53 PM11/12/03
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"Pat Norton" <pat.n...@iname.com> wrote in message
news:4d4b14.031112...@posting.google.com...

Take it however you want. The OP said the purpose of his new group is to
install metric where it does not now exist. So, I say "we" for all who live
and work with imperial units.

The U.S. has done just fine for over 200 years. A while back, some fools
decided we should change. So, some companies, most notably gas stations,
started changing over. In the end, it was a waste of time and money. I
haven't seen a gas pump with the litre conversion in a very long time.

As for "WE", I speak for everyone I've ever worked with. WE have no need to
convert. WE don't want to convert. WE are fine with feet and inches.

All you have to do is follow the money. Who is really going to push for such
nonsense? Every copier, fax, etc will have to be replaced or modified.
Odometer, speedometer, textbooks. Everything.

Entire workforces will have to be retrained. Time will be wasted.
Productivity will go into the toilet.

Converting is a make work venture. Bureaucracy and corporate waste at their
best.

Forget it.


Gene Nygaard

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Nov 13, 2003, 11:20:20 AM11/13/03
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"JD" <da...@worldwidepants.com> wrote in message news:<pbAsb.217$wb.13...@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com>...

> "Pat Norton" <pat.n...@iname.com> wrote in message
> news:4d4b14.031112...@posting.google.com...
> > JD wrote:
> > >We don't want it. We don't need it. We can't afford it.
> >
> > Define 'we'.
> >
> > This is an international newsgroup. The proposed newsgroup is
> > international. If you are the worldwide representative for all
> > scientists, automobile manufacturers, or urban planners, please
> > specify.
>
> Take it however you want. The OP said the purpose of his new group is to
> install metric where it does not now exist. So, I say "we" for all who live
> and work with imperial units.
>
> The U.S. has done just fine for over 200 years. A while back, some fools
> decided we should change. So, some companies, most notably gas stations,
> started changing over. In the end, it was a waste of time and money. I
> haven't seen a gas pump with the litre conversion in a very long time.
>
> As for "WE", I speak for everyone I've ever worked with. WE have no need to
> convert. WE don't want to convert. WE are fine with feet and inches.
>
> All you have to do is follow the money. Who is really going to push for such
> nonsense? Every copier, fax, etc will have to be replaced or modified.
> Odometer, speedometer, textbooks. Everything.

Don't forget replacing all those 14 oz hammers with 400 g hammers.

You get some really wild cost estimates, as long as someone thinks
they can get Uncle Sam to pay for it.

Of course, you also overlook the benefits in calculating those costs.

Every printer and every copier I've ever had will handle A4 paper with
no modification. Talking about paper, it was pretty damn stupid not
to swetch to the worldwide standard when the U.S. government changed
its standard paper size in the late 1970s, at considerable expense in
the form of new desks and the like, because the old ones designed or 8
inch by 10.5 inch paper wouldn't hold 8.5 inch by 11 inch.

Gene Nygaard

George Conklin

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Nov 13, 2003, 2:04:54 PM11/13/03
to

"Gene Nygaard" <gnyg...@nccray.com> wrote in message
news:df336888.03111...@posting.google.com...

This is all a non-issue.


Gene Nygaard

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Nov 13, 2003, 3:06:51 PM11/13/03
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Europe? What's that nonsense?

There is exactly one country in the world where official weather
reports are given in degrees Fahrenheit--and even in that one country,
aviation weather reports are in degrees Celsius.

We may not export the weather, but we do waste a lot of time in our
schools teaching difficult conversion factors, which involves a
mixture of addition and multiplication. We need them, of course,
because even in the United States, most scientific work uses degrees
Celsius or kelvins.


Gene Nygaard
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Gene_Nygaard/

trop...@nospam.hotmail.com

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Nov 17, 2003, 1:00:15 AM11/17/03
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In article <df336888.03111...@posting.google.com>, gnyg...@nccray.com (Gene Nygaard) wrote:
[Stuff deleted]

>>
>> Take it however you want. The OP said the purpose of his new group is to
>> install metric where it does not now exist. So, I say "we" for all who live
>> and work with imperial units.
>>
Why not give it a try?
I find it slightly annoying when I need bolts for my trusty Snapper
ride-on mower....
Some of us old guard imperial-converted-to-metrics cheerfully mix the units up
anyway, e.g. "3.6m of 4 by 2"
Corbusier (The Modulor) observed that the metre (as a fixed percentage of the
circumference of the earth) didn't mean much, whereas the imperial system was
related to the human form and thus much more appropriate for the design of
human spaces, and maybe designers should switch from metric to imperial ...
Won't solve the problem of space shuttle engines and horses' arses though ...

kilopascal

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Dec 23, 2003, 4:34:16 PM12/23/03
to

>
> NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! We don't want it. We don't need it. We can't afford it.
>
> Stop wasting our time.


The metric system is in use by 95+ % of the world. We in the world design,
engineer, produce and market metric products all over the world every day.
The metric system is a part of our lives we take for granted.

The fact that the US has made no official comittment does not stop the
nations of the world from flooding the US market with metric products. The
Americans claim they can't afford metrication, maybe so. They spend
billions already trying to adapt the metric products they buy from the
world. Just think of all the time wasted just doing conversions or having
to own a second set of tools.

The Americans are the only people that actually get angry when someone
speaks metric around them. They must be upset because the world refuses to
go backwards and use their obsolete units.

Maybe America doesn't want metric, but the world doesn't want FFU (Fred
Flintstone Units) either. Maybe America doesn't need metric, but the world
doesn't need FFU either. And maybe America can afford to change, but the
world can't afford to accommodate FFU either.

We in the world will continue to flood the US with metric goods, how America
deals with the situation is America's problem.

Lon Stowell

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Dec 23, 2003, 4:46:02 PM12/23/03
to
Roughly 12/23/03 13:34, kilopascal's monkeys randomly typed:

>>
>> NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! We don't want it. We don't need it. We can't afford it.
>>
>> Stop wasting our time.

> The metric system is in use by 95+ % of the world.

As is Microsoft Windows. Need we persue this further?


> We in the world...,

That almost sounds like a song title.

> The metric system is a part of our lives we take for granted.

So is the daily need to eliminate digestive byproducts.

> The fact that the US has made no official comittment does not stop the
> nations of the world from flooding the US market with metric products.

And nobody cares.

> The Americans claim they can't afford metrication, maybe so.

That is *not* why we told you to go pound sand. To borrow
a line from Pink Floyd: "We don't need no metrification..."

> They spend
> billions already trying to adapt the metric products they buy from the
> world.

Why bother adapting? And a cite for your claim of billions would
possibly raise your credibility level to single digit negative
numbers.

> Just think of all the time wasted just doing conversions or having
> to own a second set of tools.

Or a single set with the *three* variants.


>
> The Americans are the only people that actually get angry when someone
> speaks metric around them. They must be upset because the world refuses to
> go backwards and use their obsolete units.

Naw, we really just don't give a rip. And have been known to bloody
noses when some supercilious fuck insists on forcing an issue we
really really really don't give a rip about.

>
> Maybe America doesn't want metric, but the world doesn't want FFU (Fred
> Flintstone Units) either. Maybe America doesn't need metric, but the world
> doesn't need FFU either. And maybe America can afford to change, but the
> world can't afford to accommodate FFU either.

Ah well, they can always borrow money from America to cover their
costs...


>
> We in the world will continue to flood the US with metric goods, how America
> deals with the situation is America's problem.

Precisely, now leave it the fuck alone.

tnuc

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Jan 8, 2004, 2:19:31 AM1/8/04
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how many meters are in a gram? lol
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