Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/08/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Of course, as any European who comes to live in the US (as I did in 1983) one needs to get used to all those silly measurements, so I got pretty handy at converting in my head, and still am, 15 years after returning to Europe. My trick was to just use round numbers in my head and accept an error in non-critical applications: so an inch would be 2.5 cm, 3 feet to a meter (=1 yard), 1.5 km per mile, 4 liters per gallon etc. In daily life it works fine. With temperatures, I just have some fix points in my head, e.g. 30C=86F, 40C=104F, 0C=32F, -40 is bloody cold on either scale and so on. But the silliest memory I have is of some right wing groups in the 1980s who were convinced that Coca Cola and Pepsico were part of some conspiracy to make Americans into communist Europeans because they started introducing the 2 liter bottle sizes. And I am NOT making this up. Nathan Nathan Wajsman Alicante, Spain http://www.frozenlight.eu http://www.greatpix.eu http://www.nathanfoto.com PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog YNWA On Aug 9, 2010, at 5:39 PM, Aram Langhans wrote: > Ah, to be metric. I sure remember the ill-fated attempt in this country > to "Go Metric". I had just started teaching in this little town in > Washington, Odessa. I was teaching 6-8th grade science. The law gave all > kinds of money and materials to schools to teach the kids metric. The > school looked around at the staff and classes they had and asked, "Hmm. > Who should we give this task to. I know. Science teachers. They use > metric anyway." So the task was mine. But they also looked at all the > materials that were send and saw that there was a "lot" of math involved, > so the said the math teachers could assist the science teachers. Let the > fun begin. The materials, or at least the ones that I got, were all > conversion based. Lets teach our kids how to convert from the English > system to the Metric (or should I say SI) system. I looked at that and > said, forget that. They will never learn it that way. So, the math > teacher and I devised an immersion curriculum. For 15 minutes each day > (at the start. It expanded as time went on), we started talking in just > "metric". We would hold up objects and ask what length, volume, mass, > etc. they were. Just "Think Metric". We went on metric field trips > around town, walking about and asking how far that was, sizes, masses, > etc. The kids were really learning the metric system. Of course, after > they left our classes, they were back in the English world again. It > didn't take many years and the school district said stop. Too bad. I > felt we were really making progress and the students were bilingual in > measurement. > This country has always been afraid of change. From things as benign as > metric to civil rights. If I remember correctly, when Canada changed, > they just said this is the way it will be and did not teach how to > convert. As Nike says, Just Do It. Change all the signs, order forms, > product labels, etc. Just Do It. Mass confusion for a bit, but if you > have to, you will. Of course, any politician who votes for something like > that would not be reelected. > So, as a scientist and science teacher, I just plug along an in my class, > we Just Do It until it is second nature. > > Aram > > Aram Langhans > Semi-retired (retarded?) Science Teacher > & Unemployed photographer > > "The Human Genome Project has proved Darwin more right than Darwin himself > would ever have dared dream." James D. Watson > >> Date: Mon, 09 Aug 2010 08:07:57 -0400 >> From: Rei Shinozuka <shino at panix.com> >> Subject: Re: [Leica] Today is 8/9/10 >> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org> >> Message-ID: <4C5FEF9D.40406 at panix.com> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed >> >> On 08/09/2010 03:34 AM, Jeff Moore wrote: >>> While I don't want the world to be boringly culturally homogeneous, >>> there are some things we should all just get with the program on: >>> >>> >>> - Use the metric system, dammit. >>> >>> >> Metric? We might as well dissolve the NFL and watch guys in shorts >> maneuvering black and white Archimedean Buckyballs using only their feet. >> >> :-) >> >> But any American born in the 1960s should remember this: >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Metric_Marvels >> >> The article closes: >> >> "Ultimately, /The Metric Marvels/ failed to convince Americans to >> convert to the metric system. ... Americans largely ignored governmental >> attempts to push them in the direction of metrication, and the USMB [ >> (U.S. Metric Board <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Metric_Board>) ] >> was eventually disbanded in 1982 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982>." >> >> -rei >> (the ugly american, whose favorite lens is the 1.97 inch noctilux) >> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >