Hello Wayne,

On Wednesday August 19 2020 04:33, you wrote to me:

 >> Bj”rn asked what could possible go wrong and I gave two examples of
 >> something actually going wrong. I didn't make that up, these are
 >> real life examples. Sure I am serious.

 WH> I believe you and concede.  However, we could surely argue here that
 WH> it's really not clear the units are the problem.  If you work with
 WH> multiple units, it becomes your job to verify.  Still, see below.

We could argue but...

o When a plane crashes, there is an investigation.

o If the investigation shows that the crash was due to it running out of fuel.

o And the investigation reveals that the captain ordered 5000 kg of fuel.

o And the investigation shows that 5000 pounds of fuel were loaded.

o And the investigation shows that the location of the crash is consistant with
the plane taking off with 5000 pounds of fuel.

... What is there to argue?

 WH> But let's ask this.  Must the population change their units because
 WH> pilots might get things wrong?  I'd think the pilots should change
 WH> join the standard and let people drink their pint of beer.

Pilots are not a seperate species genetically isolated from the rest of the
world. Neither are anethisists who could mistakenly deliver the patient 5
Gallons of NOx instead of 5 litres.

Kids who learn about units of measurements today are the next generation
pilots, doctors, engineers and cooks 30 yaars from now.

 >> People often do not see the benefits until they actually are in the
 >> situation. I sure see the benefits of not having to deal with of
 >> local measuring systems and I am very glad my predesessors of a 100
 >> years ago did see it that way too and acted on it by doing away with
 >> local measurements and adopting a universal system.

 WH> That sounds reasonable. If an American puts himself in your shoes,
 WH> he'd grow up in a culture that's using a universal system.  He would
 WH> perhaps be thankful as you are.  If you put yourself in an American's
 WH> shoes, you'd have grown up in a culture that's using the imperial
 WH> system. Perhaps you'd want to change it!  That's very likely to happen
 WH> because that is happening!  Indeed, you wouldn't see the benefits of
 WH> _not_ changing because you're not their situation! :-D (Don't take it
 WH> personally.  I am having fun, but not at your expense.  Seriously.)

Whatver. If I grew up in a situation where I was using a system that was only
used by a small minority of the world's population, I would certainly see the
benefits of change.

I was born with a native language only spoken by less than one percent of the
worlds population. If I had a choice in the matter, Dutch would not be my
native language.

 >> You know, here in Europe two or three hundred years ago, we had
 >> local measuring systems. We had "Rijnlandes voet, "Utrechtse voet",
 >> "Amsterdamse duim". Etc, etc. Napoleon ended that and he introduced
 >> the meter end the kg. And science, technology and trade accepted it.
 >> I sure see the benfits.

 WH> That makes perfect sense.  Let's take UTF-8 --- if you're the Internet
 WH> type of person.  Nearly everyone in Western countries are using it.
 WH> It makes a lot of things work well.

Yes, I am an UTF-8 evangalist. I am actively promoting its use in Fidonet.

 WH> I was remarking just the other day that I can never quite understand
 WH> which encoding Bj”rn is using. Sometimes it displays just fine, but
 WH> there are places in Bjorn's own messages that do not.

See FTS-5003.001

 >> From a global POV, you guys across are still using local
 >> measurements....

 WH> You think I'm an American! :-)

You live on the continent of North America don't you? ;-)


Cheers, Michiel

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