Re: Kanji for 'ishi' (stone) can be pronounced 'koku'

On 2006-09-04 07:25:42 -0700, mtfester@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx said:

Sean <sean@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 2006-09-02 17:08:39 -0700, mtfester@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx said:

Sean <sean@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

As far as I know, "gallon" is only in official use in one backwater country. The rest of world has long since gone metric.

Lemmings, anyone?

It's a bit difficult to see your point.

Terribly, terribly sorry.
How 'bout; just 'cause everyone's doing it doesn't mean it's necessarily
a great idea?

It is equally true that just 'cause everyone's doing it doesn't mean it's necessarily a bad idea. It's interesting that aversion to the metric system is a pretty accurate indicator of an American person's views on other matters. The greater the aversion to the metric system, the greater the likelihood that the person's views coincide with those of Ann Coulter.


Using a common, logical, efficient measuring system is akin to rodents throwing themselves from cliffs?

How is this measuring system more "logical, efficient"?

1. Decimal system. Calculations are simple. That's why the American revolutionary leaders opted for a decimal currency. It's also why Thomas Jefferson, a guy who had one or two ideas, suggested a decimal system of measurement (with 10 inches to the foot and so on). It's why celsius is better than fahrenheit.
2. Too bad Jefferson didn't hit on the idea of using a regular system of prefixes; maybe his system would have caught on if he had. Having this regular system of prefixes: milli-, centi-, kilo-, etc. makes the system easier to learn. You get a nice symmetry too, with a gram of water occupying a volume of one cubic centimetre (a millilitre), a kilogram of water is a litre (of course, temperature and air pressure make a difference) and so on.
3. International: In a world relying on global trade, having one system just makes sense.
4. In the USA a foot is legally defined as 0.3048 meter (by which they mean metre), and a pound is legally defined as 453.59237 grams. So in a way the USA has gone metric anyway. < http://museum.nist.gov/exhibits/ex1/room4.html >
5. The Mars lander crash underlines the silliness of not moving to the international system. http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric/

Actually, when it comes to rushing headlong towards disaster, that gallon-using country would seem to take the prize.

Right. I'm certain that if that nation's economy sneezed, no other
nation's would catch pneumonia.

Hmm. Methinks that is one of those straw men one I've heard so much about.
--
Always be sincere, but never be serious.
Allan Watts

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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Kanji for ishi (stone) can be pronounced koku
    ... system easier to learn. ... water occupying a volume of one cubic centimetre, ... I believe this is the "Ann Coulter" school of international politics. ... gallon-using country would seem to take the prize. ...
    (sci.lang.japan)
  • Re: Matchpoints
    ... country in the south Pacific. ... David Stevenson writes: ... It's a joke. ... The International System of Units. ...
    (rec.games.bridge)