Re: CHAT: browsers

I liked the Japanese method (putting all the signs up over the course of
time, and then taping the old ones over and revealing the new ones
overnight).  Gives you a sense of transition, ensures that everything is
really ready on time (by giving a lot of lead time to the work crews), and
doesn't confuse people by making them move between areas that have
transitioned and areas that have not.  I thought I read somewhere that they
actually were switching from driving on one side of the road to the other,
but I don't think I'm going to believe it until I see it again from a
reputable source.

I still doubt we're going to switch here in the US.  I think it's more
likely that some other revolution in transportation will happen first.
Especially since amongst most people I know my own age, the sense is very
strong that consumers/citizens end out with the short end of the conversion
stick (2 liters is less than a gallon; half a liter/litre is less than 20
ounces, etc.)  In speeds, especially -- a lot of us are revelling in our
expanded ability to go fast, with speed limits in the 65-75 mph range.
60mph, I believe, corresponds with 100kph, which is entirely too convenient
a number to assume that it wouldn't get picked as the new typical speed
limit (especially since no one wants to convert 110 or 115 kilometers to
miles, ESPECIALLY while travelling at 115kph!)  And no, those little numbers
on the inside of my speedometer  do NOT help.  The only metric conversions I
can do in my head involve meter/yard sticks, the 2.5 thing for centimeters
to inches, and remembering which metric-converted liquid measurements end
out making things worse off for consumers.  I am still annoyed with Coke and
Pepsi for selling six-packs of plastic bottles that are half-liter/litre
size, or around 16oz, instead of 20oz.  The math for determining the
relative cost of 20oz and 12oz sizes was bad enough...

Sarah Marie Parker-Allen
lloannna@surfside.net
http://www.geocities.com/lloannna.geo
http://lloannna.blogspot.com

"I will never buy an apple from peddlers plying their craft in remote places
where the customer base could not possibly support a full-time merchant." --
Rules for the Hero's True Love

> -----Original Message-----
> Behalf Of Tristan
> *Apparently the speed limits were all changed over in practically one
> night---and if before metrication they had all the indication of
> measurement as they do after (that is, none), they'd have to have for it
> to have been even remotely safe. (The before and after designs are
> apparently extremely similar: big black number in red circle on white
> background.) Rule no. 1 of converting: just do it. I guess Nike don't
> exist in England.
>
> Tristan.
---
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