metric system (was Re: [thechat] Jan 18 peace march)

[aardvark]

> From: Erika Meyer <emeyer at lclark.edu>
>
> The metric system is absolutely easier.  I never had a problem
> switching.

depends on perspective... if you're a craftsman raised on our
system, the metric system *is* a problem to switch to... base10 or
not, you still have to buy lumber and other things in feet and
inches... also, you've learned measurements in relation to your own
scale, using your own body as a quick measuring stick... try to
change them mid-life, and it's a lot harder...

and since those kinds of industries need to change before it
becomes a de facto standard, you can see that whether or not you
or i can conceive 1km as easily as we can conceive 1m (or 1in vs
1cm) doesn't really matter when it comes to those who ultimately
make the decision...

> But USA is like this big stubborn island.  We do not do things
> because they make sense... we do them because we are Americans.

really, it's because people don't like change... the fact that we're
americans is incidental... our geographic distance just makes it
easier to maintain...

> Soccer is another example of a sport that has a history of being
> despised by Americans (though it's gained a bit more acceptance at
> least among certain economic classes over the past 20 years) Cycling,
> same thing.

hmmm... so soccer is to metric system as football is to yards?

> There is the sense that soccer and cycling are "gay."  And "gay" is
> effeminate and that is bad. In my high school, soccer players were the
> "fags" who sported flattops and listened to punk music.  Whereas "Real
> American" men had long hair, played football and listened to metal and
> butt rock.  -- How hardcore punk (ala Black Flag) was "gayer" than
> hair metal (ala Twisted Sister) I have no clue, it just is.

whoah, sounds like both your soccer geeks and metal heads had
some issues... none of the soccer jocks in my school listened to
black flag -- that was the domain of the skate punks... the "real"
men listened to any top40 crap and played football... the long-
haireds were either hippies or metal heads... and the soccer jocks
had big, floppy hair...

> Cyclists are clearly gay because they wear tights and they are a
> threat to auto traffic.

no, the tights make them gay, not the traffic... that makes them
overt... parading around like that...

> I think that to Americans, the metric system is a bit "gay."  Because
> it's Euro, and it has funny little names like "kilometer" and
> "millimeter."  It panders to non-Americans at the expense of
> Americans.  It is a Euro threat.  Like bicycles,  pointy shoes, and
> french berets, metrics are "gay."

wait...

bicycles aren't gay -- unless we're talking tour de france, and even
then, it's a good ol' american winning, who's beaten cancer *and*
the french... double win there... so, his isn't gay...

pointy shoes aren't gay, they're either pimp-daddy or sweet italian
accents to a zoot suit... unless they're on a chick, and then they'd
better be sling-back... *knowing* that is gay...

french berets are gay... cuz they're french.

army ranger berets are hardcore... definitely *not* gay...

metrics aren't gay, they've just dehumanized something as fun as
measuring, sucking life out of another one of our historical oddities,
the little mundane pleasures we all used to share...

and that, my friend, is a real euro threat...

which is not gay...

just an oxymoron...

--
my latest book project:
  Web Graphics for Non-Designers
  http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1904151159/evoltorg02-20
  ISBN: 1904151159