Re: measuring systems (was: Selenites)

Tom Wier wrote:
> Here's the second misconception:  nothing would be in the old system.It would be stupid to
> have some in the new and some in the old;
But, how could you prevent that?  Even today, you'll see some things
measured in metric, and some things measured in customary.  Some people
would continue to use the old system, while others would use the new.
If someone tells you that something is 3 feet long, how do you know how
long it is?  Is it 75 centimeters ("new"), or 91.44 centimeters
("old")?  That's a big difference.

And WHY keep the old names at all?  You've still not answered that.  If
we're going to change, what's wrong with the metric system?  Over time,
perhaps, pound, etc. might remain in colloquial speech, and be
redifinied accordingly (half-kilogram, etc.), but why try to force it?
Why give ourselves a *new* system, which would lose the advantages of
the old (tradition, easy division among others), have no more advantages
than the metric, and make us *still* different?  If we want to be
different from the rest of the world (and I don't see why), let's keep
the old!  But if we want to make it easier to deal with the rest of the
world, let's just conform to their system - metric!

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