[PLUG-TALK] Fwd: Newspapers and Fluoride

John Jason Jordan johnxj at comcast.net
Sat May 11 02:58:58 UTC 2013


>On Fri, May 10, 2013 at 03:11:52PM -0700, glen wrote:

>> Ha!  Yeah, that sticks in my craw more than purposefully
>> contaminating water.  I've been on a quest to use metric for years,
>> now.  It's like language, though.  Without immersion, it's very
>> difficult to become fluent.  <snip>

I was  born in the US, but spent ages 8-11 in Mexico. I can think in
either system, just as I can think in either Spanish or English. You
say "room temperature" and I think 21 or 72. I never convert one to the
other, either one just "means" to me.

So yes, it's like speaking a language. Once you gain enough fluency to
think in the new language you no longer use the present language as a
crutch.

Sadly, most USans are not aware how quickly and painlessly they would
become fluent in the new system. Hence, they oppose any attempt at
changing to the world standard. At the same time it seems to me that US
industry is more metric than English. I have a 15 year old Ford, and it
is impossible to work on it without a set of metric wrenches. Industry
discovered that it was essential to use metric measurements if they
wanted to sell their products outside the US.

A side benefit of conversion would be to give the local fishwraps
something to write about. We'd be treated to endless articles and
conversion tables.



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