On Fri, 24 Oct 2003 15:41:25 GMT, Gene Nygaard wrote:

You also underestimate the effects of systematic miseducation. The
mere existence of a conversion factor from pounds to kilograms on a
calculator isn't going to undo the fact that some favorite teacher has
drummed into someone's head the notion that pounds are always units of
force and not units of mass, so you can't really convert between
pounds and kilograms. In fact, in today's screwed up world, there are
a number of textbooks which tell you just exactly that.

If everyone standardised on SI units, and used kg whenever they
meant mass, and N whenever they meant force, there would be no
misunderstandings.

Same with the Gimli glider. Why in the world were U.S. gallons ever
involved in that improbable, couldn't-be-written-as fiction string of
errors, when you had a Canadian airline on a domestic flight? It's a
lot easier to mix up gallons and gallons than it is to mix up gallons
and litres.

Indeed.

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