Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Title: Re: [RC] Other nations and endurance

Many U.S. scientists tend to be "bilingual"  when it comes to the metric system.  Considering there aren't any scientific disciplines I can think of at the moment that don't have some sort of international community, we need to be.  As a geologist this certainly applies to me.  As far as meters go, you could consider geology "converted".  Because I don't see it as often, Kilograms is what messes me up, but distance measurements are no biggie.  My sister, a doctor, has no problem with Kilograms!  To apply this to endurance riding, my ideal endurance horse would be about 14.3 hands tall, which is actually 1.4986 meters.  I am a mere 1.57m tall (after a good night's sleep!)  :))

 

Karen

Tulsa, OK

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From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx on behalf of Joe Long
Sent: Wed 8/9/2006 10:08 PM
To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [RC] Other nations and endurance

On Wed, 9 Aug 2006 17:03:16 -0700, "Barbara McCrary"
<bigcreekranch@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Our government tried to initiate the whole metric thing in the USA and some of us never caught on...that is, we couldn't translate.  I guess the government gave up.  We're still using our own bizarre method of describing distances and volume, etc.  Maybe metric makes more sense, but we're used to our methods and it's a lot of work to learn a new "language."  <g>

"The gummint" did a poor job, as usual.  The PR ads made metric sound
more complicated than English units, when they are in fact much easier
to use.  It is only the unfamiliarity of metric that scares people.

Metric will eventually dominate, slowly.  It is not only already
common in beverage bottles, but nuts & bolts for automobiles as well,
and in computers.  And kids are taught metric in school, it won't seem
unfamilar to them as they get older.

Never fear, expressions like "foot-long hot dog" and "a miss is as
good as a mile" will be around long after those units have fallen into
general disuse.  They still measure flat-track races in furlongs!
Hmmm, I once stated the average speed to drive in a car rally I put on
in "furlongs per fortnight."  And once specified the length of
something in "gallons per acre."
--

Joe Long
jlong@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.chiprider.com

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