Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: brochure templates for letter and A4 sizes

Virgil Arrington wrote:
> I'm old enough to remember the push back in the '70s to move to the
> metric system in America. At the time, it made a lot of sense to me
> simply because everything metric is in multiples of 10. But, I think
> the biggest bugaboo for Americans was that we just couldn't get the
> handle of visualizing and conceiving the actual size of things in
> metric units. I can visualize and estimate a foot, a yard, even a
> mile. I have a harder time estimating a meter or kilometer.

Every country that switched went through that.  Are Americans dumber 
than everyone else?
> In terms of absolute size, there is nothing about an inch that is any
> more or less arbitrary than a centimeter. Both are identifiable and
> equally arbitrary spans of space. A yard is no more or less arbitrary
> than a meter. It's just that a meter is broken down into subparts
> measured in multiples of ten, whereas the yard is broken down into
> units of three feet and 36 inches. Certainly, the metric system makes
> more sense internally, but for those of us accustomed to inches, feet,
> and yards, we see no problem with it.

The metric system was based on actual physical units.  For example, the 
metre was originally 1/10,000,000 the distance from the equator to the 
poles.  The celcius temperature scale was based on the freezing and 
boiling points of water etc.  Now compare that to how inches, yards, 
miles (which one?) etc. were determined.  Why is there a difference 
between U.S. & Imperial gallons?  There's even a difference in the size 
of the fluid ounce, so that the U.S. ounce is bigger than the Imperial. 
 Then we get to a U.S. gallon is 4 quarts, a quart is 32 ounces (but 
bigger ounces than Imperical) and an Imperial gallon is 4 quarts, but 
that quart is 40 (smaller) ounces.  Makes for a lot of fun, doesn't it.
> And, I think that is the reason things won't change here. Until we
> perceive our system as broken, we won't look for ways to fix it,
> especially if it costs money to do so. It works for us just fine,
> thank you, even if it is goofy.

The problem is that some people, such as Reagan, refuse to acknowledge 
the problem.  On the other hand, Carter, a professional engineer, could 
certainly appreciate the benefits of the metric system.  When you work 
in science or engineering, the metric system leaves the old units in the 
dust.  There is simply no comparison.





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