Date:         Tue, 31 Jan 2006 09:37:25 -0800
Reply-To:     Don Williams <williams@FIRE.BIOL.WWU.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Williams <williams@FIRE.BIOL.WWU.EDU>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

From: Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Subject: Re: Metric this, metric that
 >Sure, plywood that is 2.5m x 5m???? That is what, eight feet x fifteen?
 >Sorry Florian, but you've just proved my point!
Not at all... that must be an error. Here in NZ the standard sheet is
2.4x1.2m.
--
Regards
Andrew


It's kind of funny how arrogant US citizens are regarding their vaunted
weights and measures.
I was out in the garage the other day and a neighbor  came over and was
watching me work on my vanagon.  A GM products wannabe mechanic for the
last 40 years, he laughed and laughed at my metric wrenches  all lined up
on a backingboard at the back of my workbench.  He called out "6, 7,8, 9
mm" in mock German, as if there was something funny about integral
increments in numbers for different sized wrenches,  and said he much
preferred  7/16, 21/32, 5/8 inches for measurements, although he had
difficulty in expressing himself as to why that was to be preferred.

One of the shameful failures that will eventually come back to haunt us
will be our unwillingness to convert to metrics.  It's already cost us
billions in lost sales to a world which is largely metric.  For me, it's
symptomatic of  a country that can do no wrong,and  that attitude gets us
into a lot of trouble.

Don