I am watching the Euopean Space Agency video, and audio stream event for the Rosetta's historic visit to Lutetia today. Neither the interviewer nor the scientists show the least concern for translating metric to old English measures. Not even England uses that antiquated system.
I am lucky I am Mexican, we have adopted this modern system invented by the French more than 200 years ago.
Americans, hit the books!
If you prefer though, support science as in the past, to bring NASA, to the first place it used to have, before the religious right took over the purse strings of government support of science.
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2 comments:
Unfortunately, Americans won't hit the books any time soon. Maybe after it disintegrates; but then there won't be any point in calling them
"Americans".
Most Americans don't care about the European Space Agency.
Those who are interested in that news will get it from a source that allows them to forget that the metric system even exists. (take any American news channel, TV science program, newspaper, or magazine; in fact Popular Mechanics and Popular Science religiously remove all metric units (other than the ones they cannot avoid like those used for electricity))
The remaining few are already familiar with the metric system from their work, personal interest.
So, in essence, Americans are no going to "hit the books" to learn the metric system from this or any other video or press release that doesn't have non-metric conversions.
I really wish your wishful thinking were true, and that those of us who would like to see the metric system used more (at least where it matters most) people would be motivated to learn it somehow.
But, this is not how. And in fact, this is exactly what would de-motivate them, especially when they can simply ignore it.
Of the many weapons anti-metric lobby uses, that the metric system is "someone else's system", that the metric system is being "forced" on Americans, and xenophobia (at the moment Mexicans are the favorite targets).
In this post, you have handed the anti-metric lobby yet another piece of ammo to attack adoption of metric usage.
Please, show us (those of us Americans who would like to see more adoption of the metric system) some consideration and not make comments like this. Comments like these are counterproductive, and used by the anti-metric lobby to retard the adoption of the metric system.
Sanity,
I am sorry I did not see your post before.
Excuse my ignorance. I did not even know there was an anti metric lobby!
I am sorry, I was not sensitive to American feelings.
I apologize.
Your comments are thoughtful.
I will try to improve.
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