Go Metric Blog

Go Metric Blog http://gometric.us Go Metric Blog en This site is licensed under a <html:a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0/">Creative Commons</html:a> license Paul Armstrong Paul Armstrong XWiki Logo http://gometric.us http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/download/LOCAL/Skin/gometric%2Dlogo.png Gas Metering http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/2010-07-21-GasMetering?language=en Ever really looked at your Gas bill? Chances are that it shows you your usage in Therms. Now, what percentage of the population know what a Therm is let alone its relation to other measurements of energy you might otherwise come across? I bet you don’t and if you do a quick poll of those around you, you’ll find none of them do either. For the average householder, the most common energy usage is electricity which is measured in kilowatt hours (kWh). Wouldn’t it be nice if you could see your usage in the same measurement base for both of your common household forms of energy? Then you might be able to do something like compare prices and usage efficiently rather than having to rely on Google (although it doesn’t understand Therms either, you have to convert to BTU first and that only works if you know how many BTU are in a Therm). As many of you already know, one of the great things about SI units is that the common bases mean it’s easy to compare between different items and a Watt is a Watt no matter where in the world you are. With the hopes of encouraging PG&E to use something reasonable I sent the following letter: <blockquote class="quote"> I just looked up my gas usage using your smart meter system and got a rather annoying surprise. For some odd reason you’re displaying in Therms, a unit of measure that is not commonly used and I have no way of relating to. Could you please show gas data in kWh so it can be easily related to kWh as quoted for electricity? At a minimum, it’d be nice if you stuck to the international system of units and either quoted usage in Watts or Joules. Thanks, Paul </blockquote> For the curious, a Therm is 29.30 kWh. After 2 decimal places, it depends on which of the 3 different definitions of Therm you’re using as to the value. Letters 2010-07-21T10:33:08+00:00 Paul Armstrong Paul Armstrong Metric Cooking On Oprah http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/MetricCookingOnOprah?language=en Ever wanted to see a metric cooking segment on Oprah? Well, <a href="http://myown.oprah.com/audition/index.html?request=video_details&response_id=12519&promo_id=1">here’s your chance</a>. Oprah is holding a competition for a segment on her show and Sally Mitchell wants to run a metric cooking segment. Want to help make this a reality? Here’s how: <ol> <li><a href="http://myown.oprah.com/audition/index.html?request=video_details&response_id=12519&promo_id=1">Go to the OWN page for Sally’s segment</a></li> <li>Click on the Vote button</li> <li>Tell all your friends about it</li> <li>Go back to 1</li> </ol> You can vote as many times as you like and, as such, this is really a race to see who can get their supporters to vote the most (rather than getting the most supporters). In order to make this happen it’s important that you vote regularly. News Action 2010-06-22T05:11:15+00:00 Paul Armstrong Paul Armstrong National Geographic Feedback http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/NationalGeographicFeedback?language=en A letter written to the National Geographic News editors: <blockquote>In reference to the article at <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070226-sinkhole-photo.html:"><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070226-sinkhole-photo.html:">http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070226-sinkhole-photo.html:</a></a> Since Guatemala, along with all but a very small minority of countries in the world, is a fully metricated country, I sincerely doubt that "Police established a 500-yard (457-meter) no-go zone around the sinkhole...." I suspect that police actually "...established a 500-meter no-go zone around the sinkhole...," or even, "...established a 500-meter (546-yard) no-go zone around the sinkhole...." Careless conversions can lead to misunderstandings on the part of your readership, including a nearly 40 m conversion error difference in the reality of the no-go zone and the distance conveyed by the article. But, since you’re a scientific magazine, why bother converting from metric into US Customary Units which further confuse your readers? The only time you should provide supplementary measurements, as a scientific magazine, is when you are quoting someone who has provided the original quotes in US Customary units.</blockquote> You can provide feedback on this article using the following email address: <a href="mailto:newsdesk@nationalgeographic.com">newsdesk@nationalgeographic.com</a> Letters 2010-07-20T10:53:22+00:00 Bill R. Washburn Remek Kocz National Geographic Feedback http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Main/NationalGeographicFeedback?language=en A letter written to the National Geographic News editors: <blockquote>In reference to the article at <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070226-sinkhole-photo.html:"><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070226-sinkhole-photo.html:">http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070226-sinkhole-photo.html:</a></a> Since Guatemala, along with all but a very small minority of countries in the world, is a fully metricated country, I sincerely doubt that "Police established a 500-yard (457-meter) no-go zone around the sinkhole...." I suspect that police actually "...established a 500-meter no-go zone around the sinkhole...," or even, "...established a 500-meter (546-yard) no-go zone around the sinkhole...." Careless conversions can lead to misunderstandings on the part of your readership, including a nearly 40 m conversion error difference in the reality of the no-go zone and the distance conveyed by the article. But, since you’re a scientific magazine, why bother converting from metric into US Customary Units which further confuse your readers? The only time you should provide supplementary measurements, as a scientific magazine, is when you are quoting someone who has provided the original quotes in US Customary units.</blockquote> You can provide feedback on this article using the following email address: <a href="mailto:newsdesk@nationalgeographic.com">newsdesk@nationalgeographic.com</a> Letters 2010-06-02T07:04:16+00:00 Bill R. Washburn Bill R. Washburn Common Educational Standards http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/2010-04-02-Common-Educational-Standards?language=en The <a href="http://www.corestandards.org/">Common Core Standards Group</a> is soliciting feedback on their <a href="http://www.corestandards.org/Files/K12MathStandards.pdf">draft mathematical standards</a>. If you haven’t already, please take a moment to read the standards and <a href="http://ccss.survey.sgizmo.com/">supply feedback today</a> My feedback is quoted below: <blockquote class="quote"> By continuing to both teach and encourage the teaching of customary measurements we are holding our children back significantly in comparison to the rest of the world. While our kids struggle to memorize things like how many inches are in a yard, feet in a mile or fluid ounces in a cup, the rest of the world just teaches the gram, the meter and the liter and the common prefixes. They can teach in a few days the concepts that are spread over several years in these standards. Once we get to more advanced things, the advantages of the metric system shine (for example, it’s easy to calculate the mass of water in an area 1 mm x 1 mm x 10 cm as 0.1 cm^3 is 0.1 x 1 g = 0.1 g; it’s a whole different level of problem to teach 1/32 in x 1/32 in x 1/3 ft). Not only does it take a lot longer to teach such things, but they have to be taught later so we lose the foundational aspect of some very important measuring tools and concepts that are useful in daily life. There are several research papers on the difficulties of teaching customary measurements and this is just compounded by things like teaching our children to convert between the accumulation of customary measurements and the metric system. Associated issues such as teachers telling students that they’ll never need metric and that all conversions should use customary as the main system (thus not actually showing children the advantages that are inherent in the metric system) do not advance a students education either. Not only does this do a disservice to our children, but it leads to them re-learning measurement in order to complete university level studies or to get a job in the real world (even companies like Genentech required metric usage exclusively in the workplace). Unfortunately, there are also cases of students being so dissuaded about metric measurements that they look at science and decide it’s too hard because they’ve been fed that metric is hard rather than being taught metric. As long as the educational standards allow teaching customary measurements, we will have teachers who apply fear based politics along with their measurement education. We should be using the time that would be wasted teaching customary measurements and their interrelations to either teach more advanced concepts in other fields or to solidify other concepts. Teaching using exclusively metric measurements is the best thing for our children and the future of our country so please adjust these standards to either use metric measures exclusively or to only give a basic introduction to customary measurements with all other work being exclusively in metric. </blockquote> News Letters Action 2010-04-02T11:21:57+00:00 Paul Armstrong Paul Armstrong NPR Feedback http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/2009-12-11-NPR-Feedback?language=en A letter to NPR on the Sarkozy carbon tax story: <blockquote class="quote"> While listening to Sarkozy Wants To Tax France’s Carbon Footprint I noticed that the figure 24 cents per gallon was quoted. Given that no European country uses gallons for fuel (let alone US gallons which are different from UK gallons), I checked to see what people who weren’t converting the figure were saying. That figure is 4 cents per liter. This is quite different from the 6.3 cents per liter that you’re quoting (after conversion back to international standards). Please leave measurements in stories in metric rather than converting them and making errors. </blockquote> You can send feedback to NPR via <a href="http://help.npr.org/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=5670&task=ticket">this form</a> Letters 2009-12-11T07:00:59+00:00 Paul Armstrong Paul Armstrong Applications for Monitoring Health http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/2009-11-15-Health-Monitoring?language=en I’ve been trying to lose weight over the last few months and as such have had reason to review several tools for tracking diet and exercise on the iPhone. The first one I took a look at (because it is free) was Lose It. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get past the first screen as it’s all US Customary units (no option for metric at all and lots of complaints in the feedback that seem to be being ignored) so that just loses straight out. The next three are: <ul class="star"> <li>Lean Me (Pro)</li> <li>My Net Diary</li> <li>Map My Fitness</li> </ul> General Features <table class="wiki-table" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><th>Feature</th><th>Lean Me</th><th>My Net Diary</th><th>Map My Fitness</th><th> </th></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Uses metric in the background</td><td>Yes</td><td>Unknown, if it does it doesn’t show.</td><td>No. Prepare for inaccuracies (e.g. kg mass entries are turned into pounds and rounded to the nearest whole pound).</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Track exercise</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Track food intake</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Charting</td><td>Percent body fat Weight</td><td>Weight BMR BMI Blood Pressure Resting Pulse Rate Hip Size Waist Size Sleep Nutrients Weight vs various energy types (food, activities, carbohydrates)</td><td>None</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Social networking</td><td>No</td><td>Twitter</td><td>Facebook</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Date formats</td><td>Uses iPhone profile</td><td>MDY DMY (only 2 digit years)</td><td>YMD MDY DMY</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>24 hour clock</td><td>N/A</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Select week start (Sun/Mon)</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Change day start (after midnight consumption is allocated to the day before)</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Calendar view and selection</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Free trial</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Web interface</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Track sleep</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Track blood pressure</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Track heart rate</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Move items between days</td><td>Yes - bulk or item by item</td><td>No - requires re-entry</td><td>Yes - item by item basis</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Cost (USD)</td><td>$15</td><td>$9/month $24/3 months $42/6 months $60/year</td><td>Free $6/month - bronze $12/month - silver $20/month - gold</td><td> </td></tr></table> Food Features <table class="wiki-table" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><th>Feature</th><th>Lean Me</th><th>My Net Diary</th><th> </th></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Intake expressed in kilojoules</td><td>Allows for kJ in input</td><td>No</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Total expressed in kilojoules</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Allow for input in non base units</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Print remaining energy intake as badge on icon</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Group foods that are commonly eaten together (create recipes)</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Scale back target energy intake linearly</td><td>Yes</td><td>No, requires scaling back individual parts by hand</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Basic metabolism (BMR) calculation</td><td>Harris-Benedict Katch-McArdle (uses lean percent body mass so is more accurate)</td><td>Estimated Energy Requirements from Food and Nutrition Board (Harris-Benedict)</td><td> </td></tr></table> Exercise Features <table class="wiki-table" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><th>Feature</th><th>Lean Me</th><th>My Net Diary</th><th>Map My Fitness</th><th> </th></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Energy usage expressed in kilojoules</td><td>No</td><td>Yes, but converted to kCal</td><td>Yes</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Mapping</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>GPS tracking of exercise path</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Custom exercise</td><td>Time and kCal</td><td>MET kcal/lb/hr kCal/unit</td><td>Enter custom descriptions instead of using the drop down</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Gear replacement tracking</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td> </td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Total kilometers traveled</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td> </td></tr></table> Issues <ul class="star"> <li>Lean Me<ul class="star"> <li>The interface for changing data is difficult to use (you need to touch a small spot on the line you want to change and that can be difficult).</li> <li>The interface adjustments to allow for entering units that aren’t the base constantly get in the way (e.g. allowing entering US fl oz).</li> <li>Many liquids only have options for entering data in either US liquid measures or grams. This makes it rather annoying to enter values for a 350 ml bottle.</li> <li>The default for entering a new item has both 100 g and 1 oz. Getting rid of the oz measurement is painful due to the aforementioned issue.</li> <li>The splash screen is annoying and slow.</li> <li>Logs are sent in a rather annoying format and it’s difficult to manipulate the data.</li> </ul></li> <li>My Net Diary<ul class="star"> <li>Odd issues with date formats that are browser dependent (e.g. YYYY-MM-DD doesn’t work consistently in Safari).</li> <li>Limited support for entering information in kilojoules.</li> <li>The demo is only available in US Customary measurements and they seem to be unwilling to allow for using metric in the demo.</li> <li>Data is stored on their servers and you can’t get the raw data out again (although they have better tools for manipulation).</li> </ul></li> <li>Map My Fitness<ul class="star"> <li>Rounds data in odd ways (e.g. if you have a 7.6 km route planned, it’ll be logged properly via the web interface but logged as 8.0 km via the iPhone interface and it’ll round kilograms to the nearest pound).</li> <li>Data is stored on their servers and can’t be retrieved easily.</li> </ul></li> <li>All<ul class="star"> <li>They use a US based generic set of descriptions for many things so you get speeds and distances in mph even if you’re configured for metric. This leads to such oddities as selecting a pace of cycling based on 15-20 mph and then telling it you’ve travelled 20 km.</li> <li>If you eat anything more interesting than fast food and staples/pre-packaged meals (My Net Diary has UK supermarket pre-packaged meals as well as those from the US, but it’s still fairly lean) you’re going to spend a lot of time either guessing or in the recipe planner (for those tools with that feature). For instance, scrapple is an option but tom kha gai is not. This is particularly frustrating if, like me, you live in a very multi-cultural area (in my case, the SF Bay Area).</li> </ul></li> </ul> Overall My Net Diary was far and away the best overall. It’s got a number of annoyances (including their support being confused about why one would want to use the WHO recommended kilojoules instead of kCal) but the user interface is a lot better and it’s got a wider selection of foods. Unfortunately, all the text on the site is riddled with US Customary measurements. My Net Diary also provides a lot of extra useful information on their site that’s useful for both keeping track of and losing weight. However, there’s also cost to be considered and there’s something to be said for the one off cost of Lean Me and the ability to enter data when you’re not connected to the Internet. Map My Fitness is only useful if you need something that can map your routes, otherwise I recommend avoiding it. Opinion 2009-11-16T04:27:25+00:00 Paul Armstrong Paul Armstrong Metric Day http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/2009-10-10-MetricDay?language=en It’s Metric Day. Please take a few minutes today to mail your senators and congress folk requesting they use metric exclusively when writing laws. The best form for this is a story telling them of some way you’ve been ripped off or severely inconvenienced by customary measurements or our mixed use of systems. Sally Mitchell gave a <a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/east_syracuse-minoa_teacher_to.html">talk today</a> about moving to metric as part of her 2009 James Bryant Conant Award speech. As she says, instead of losing time teaching multiple systems, we should be teaching our kids one easy to use system of measurement. There’s not enough time in schools to teach them everything they need to know so getting rid of a difficult to use measurement system in favor of the universal measurement system would help everyone (particularly the kids when they go to get a job at, say Genentech which, even as a US founded company, requires all employees to use metric). News 2009-10-10T07:31:27+00:00 Paul Armstrong Paul Armstrong Health Care Reform http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/2009-08-22-HealthCareReform?language=en Q: How is health care reform like metrication? A: We’re still stuck in the dark ages while the rest of the world has moved on to better, cheaper, ways of doing things. Extended Answer: Moving to state run health care similar to the UKs <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Health_Service_(England)">NHS</a> or even to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_Netherlands">well run regulated private system</a> like that of the Netherlands will make us better off and save tax dollars. Like metrication, once we move to the better system, people will look back and say "why did we ever used to do that insane thing?". There’s bickering now, but 5 years after the reform is completed most people will be up in arms at the suggestion of going back. This "debate" has gone down hill while people who haven’t <a href="http://potentialandexpectations.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/this-americans-experience-of-britains-healthcare-system/">experienced multiple systems</a> throw slurs and serious falsehoods around, millions of people across the nation are suffering because we don’t have decent health care. Sometimes it’s because they can’t afford it, other times it’s because they <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/7/7/751100/-How-I-lost-my-health-insurance-at-the-hairstylists">contracted a serious disease</a> and <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/7/22/756163/-Joining-Ranks-of-Uninsurable....">became uninsurable</a>. Meanwhile, we continue to spend twice the amount per resident in federal tax dollars as the United Kingdom and they have cradle to grave health care for 100% of their residents (and anyone else who happens to walk through the door, yes it’s free or close to it if you’re visiting) while our system only covers a tiny percentage of the population (most people are covered by their employer). Even worse, about <a href="http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.w5.63/DC1">half of the bankruptcy filings</a> each year are because of illness (and most of them were covered to some extent to start with). Instead of arguing about all the things that can go wrong, we should be looking at the best way forward. We might not get it right the first time, but iterative improvement is better than sitting around whining and dying with our current mess. Let’s start thinking progressively rather than in terms of hysterical fatalism. So, let’s summarize: Pros: <ul class="star"> <li>It’s cheaper (well, unless some half-assed solution gets put in place).</li> <li>No one can become "uninsurable".</li> <li>Everyone is covered.</li> <li>We stop sending money overseas as those who can afford it take <a href="http://www.tnj.com/personal-finance/surgical-vacation">medical vacations</a> (and those who can’t die or go bankrupt).</li> <li>We reduce the number of our citizens who we’re bankrupting (and all the add on benefits that brings)</li> <li>Businesses can concentrate on doing their core business rather than working through the morass of health care (and possibly not being able to hire people because they can’t afford the insurance premium associated with that person).</li> <li>Businesses don’t have to divert significant amounts of their revenue to health care instead of to growing.</li> <li>Employees don’t get stuck at a job because they can’t afford to change for medical reasons.</li> <li>The private insurance systems will have to clean up their act. It shouldn’t take 12 months to work out the bills for minor surgery, nor should it cost more for the uninsured than for an insurance agency (oh wait, there won’t be any uninsured any more).</li> <li>We can take the opportunity to make other much needed changes like moving our health care system to use <a href="http://ts.nist.gov/WeightsAndMeasures/Metric/upload/Austin-Medical-Center-Goes-Metric-2008.pdf">exclusively metric measures</a> as it’s <a href="http://ts.nist.gov/WeightsAndMeasures/Metric/upload/Vanderbilt-Childrens-Hospital-Metric-Conversion-2008.pdf">safer for patients</a> (yes that means safer for you!).</li> </ul> Cons: <ul class="star"> <li><del>Bureaucracy</del>. No, our current "system" has far worse bureaucracy.</li> <li>Businesses can’t attract people by having better health care options.</li> <li>It involves change.</li> <li><del>Various interest groups are going to have to actually think about how to earn money rather than hiding in the inefficiencies of the system.</del> Oh wait, that’s a pro not a con.</li> <li>The initial costs will be high, although we’ll save money in the long run (just like metrication).</li> </ul> You know, it’s extremely hard to come up with a real con here. Our current system is so bad that any change will make things better. The government is already heavily involved, so there’s actually little change there. This is just an opportunity for us to clean up the mess, get rid of some of the bureaucratic mess and cover more people. All the fear mongering is just that fear mongering and should be ignored. For those who say that it might undermine the private system, almost all countries that have public health allow for private health too (even in the UK, private health is available and flourishing) and removing private health just isn’t an option from our law makers perspective (there’s too much lucrative fund raising money there). Really, this is much the same problem as metrication. We should fix it, we know we should fix it, but a lot of people are scared of change and a small number of people are able to inject enough fear to bring our political system to deadlock. Call your law makers from both houses and let them know it’s time for change. News Opinion 2009-08-23T12:36:32+00:00 Paul Armstrong Paul Armstrong Strong Middle Class=Strong America http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Main/StrongMiddleClassStrongAmerica?language=en Here is a letter I wrote to Vice President Biden. He has been charged with creating a Middle Class Task Force, to help bolster the middle class. Which we all know is the life blood of the country. Please consider following suit and writing him a letter. It can only help our cause. Here is a link to the website. <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/StrongMiddleClass/"><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/StrongMiddleClass/">http://www.whitehouse.gov/StrongMiddleClass/</a></a> Dear Vice President Biden, I would like to suggest an education idea. As you well know we are the only industrialised nation in the world that doesn’t use the Metric System (SI) as a standard in everyday use. I would like for us to begin a 5 year plan of educating and conversion. I suspect that if we did this, then we would have a much stronger GDP. American products would be more desirable around the world. We will no longer be dumbing down our youth and future leaders of this country by burdening them with 2 measuring systems. One of which is archaic, hard to use, and hard to understand. The Metric System is where we need to be in 5 years. It isn’t hard to do. Just look at good example of Australia. They converted with ease. They Set a plan, Educated the populous, and Stuck with the plan to completion. They have lived comfortably with the Metric System now for 30 years. Please make this request a serious consideration. Thank you. Sincerely, Bruce M. Herbertson III Erwin, TN Letters 2009-08-01T04:35:48+00:00 Bruce Herbertson III Bruce Herbertson III Bay Area Meeting http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/2009-07-13-Bay-Area-Meeting?language=en The first SF Bay Area <a href="http://metric.org">USMA</a> meeting will be held at <a href="http://gene.com">Genentech</a> on July 16 at 16:00 Pacific thanks to <a href="/xwiki/bin/view/XWiki/metric_nut">James Scott Hudnall</a> This aims to be a bi-weekly meeting of those interested in progressing metrication at Genentech and in the USA as a whole. Anyone who can make it in person is welcome to attend and for those who can’t it will be available via WebEx as well as phone conference. We will also post a recording of the meeting at <a href="http://gometric.us">gometric.us</a> for those who are unable to make the meeting at all. Those planning to attend in person on the Genentech campus will need to contact Scott Hudnall via e-mail (metricnut AT mac com) in advance in order to make arrangements with campus security. The agenda will be posted once we’ve got it solidified, but for now here’s the details so you can add it to your calendar: <ul class="star"> <li>Topic: USMA - Genentech Chapter</li> <li>Date: Every Thursday, from Thursday, July 16, 2009 to no end date</li> <li>Time: 4:00 pm, Pacific Daylight Time (GMT -07:00, San Francisco)</li> <li>Meeting number: 595 742 597</li> <li>Meeting password: metricusa</li> </ul> Please click the link below to see more information, or to join the meeting. <a href="https://genentech.webex.com/genentech/j.php?ED=117182967&UID=1071870327&PW=e383f2b1ee594807160f0947030e"><a href="https://genentech.webex.com/genentech/j.php?ED=117182967&UID=1071870327&PW=e383f2b1ee594807160f0947030e">https://genentech.webex.com/genentech/j.php?ED=117182967&UID=1071870327&PW=e383f2b1ee594807160f0947030e</a></a> Teleconference: Participant Passcode: 331819 Dial-In Numbers <ul class="star"> <li>Toll free: 1-888-442-7245</li> <li>Toll: 1-719-955-1372</li> </ul> For technical support call: 888-542-5112 or 719-867-1291. Alternatively, during a teleconference using Premiere Conferencing, press *0 to be connected to an operator. To update this meeting to your calendar program (for example, Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes), do the following: <ul class="star"> <li>For all calendar programs (except Lotus Notes), click the following link, or copy the link and paste it into your Web browser:</li> </ul> <a href="https://genentech.webex.com/genentech/j.php?ED=117182967&UID=1071870327&ICS=MRS3&LD=1&RD=2&ST=1&SHA2=sr/k/rs0QUfHi4hWgFcgXoLXwVP85kmHVtMnGRG6Chc="><a href="https://genentech.webex.com/genentech/j.php?ED=117182967&UID=1071870327&ICS=MRS3&LD=1&RD=2&ST=1&SHA2=sr/k/rs0QUfHi4hWgFcgXoLXwVP85kmHVtMnGRG6Chc=">https://genentech.webex.com/genentech/j.php?ED=117182967&UID=1071870327&ICS=MRS3&LD=1&RD=2&ST=1&SHA2=sr/k/rs0QUfHi4hWgFcgXoLXwVP85kmHVtMnGRG6Chc=</a></a> *For Lotus Notes, follow these steps: <ol> <li>Right-click the attached iCalendar format (*.ics) file, and then choose View.</li> <li>Click Import All. A new broadcast email message is added to your Inbox.</li> <li>Open the new message.</li> <li>Click Respond button. A menu appears.</li> <li>Click Accept.</li> </ol> The playback of UCF (Universal Communications Format) rich media files requires appropriate players. To view this type of rich media files in the meeting, please check whether you have the players installed on your computer by going to <a href="https://genentech.webex.com/genentech/systemdiagnosis.php"><a href="https://genentech.webex.com/genentech/systemdiagnosis.php">https://genentech.webex.com/genentech/systemdiagnosis.php</a></a> News 2009-07-13T03:44:32+00:00 Paul Armstrong Paul Armstrong Open Government http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/2009-06-19-OpenGovernment?language=en The Obama administration has an open government dialogue initiative. This is currently being run via <a href="http://opengov.ideascale.com/">Idea Scale</a>. The site is taking submissions until the end of today. Here are the current metric submissions: <ul class="star"> <li><a href="http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/5814-4049"><a href="http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/5814-4049">http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/5814-4049</a></a></li> <li><a href="http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/5774-4049"><a href="http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/5774-4049">http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/5774-4049</a></a></li> <li><a href="http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/5380-4049"><a href="http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/5380-4049">http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/5380-4049</a></a></li> <li><a href="http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/4059-4049"><a href="http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/4059-4049">http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/4059-4049</a></a></li> </ul> Please take a few moments to vote and add to the discussion. News Action 2009-06-19T06:29:45+00:00 Paul Armstrong Paul Armstrong NASA Puts Astronauts At Unnecessary Risk With Measurement Policy Bungle http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/2009-05-30-NASA-Puts-Astronaughts-At-Risk-With-Measurement?language=en Dear NASA, in case you’d missed it, President Obama’s slogan for the last election was "Change we need" not "Going back to the dark ages". The last time measurement was mentioned in terms of NASA, it was when you were explaining to congress why you’d just <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter">blown $327.6 million of public funds</a> and who knows how much in lost research and opportunity cost by crashing the Mars orbiter into the side of said planet. In case you’ve forgotten, this was caused by a <a href="http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/unit-mixups.html">measurement mixup</a>. One subcontractor (Lockheed Martin) used our customary system of measurements instead of SI like they were told (and everyone else did). Now, you’re proposing <a href="http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=31353">codifying this insanity</a> because the subcontractor who did this last time told you they didn’t want to change (otherwise known as over quoting for metric because they don’t like it). Maybe it’s time to get a new contractor? The rest of the world uses metric and so does the majority of our industry (they have to, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to trade internationally) so you’re guaranteed to be using two systems of measurement and we all know this is both expensive and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_system#Conversion_and_calculation_errors">error prone</a>. In case you haven’t noticed (probably because it’s hidden in internal processes and people who just shrug and say "that’s the way it is"), common failure points and costs for using two systems of measurement are: <ul class="star"> <li>Conversion errors.</li> <li>Interoperability errors.</li> <li>Time wasted due to the time it takes to do conversions.</li> <li>Extra checks needed to make sure that all conversions are correct.</li> <li>Extra tooling as you need one for each measurement system.</li> <li>More complex design work as some parts are SI and some are Customary so design engineers need to work in both (which slows them down) and design tools need to operate in both simultaneously (which makes them more complex).</li> <li>Extra training as all staff need to be familiar with both systems (and any staff visiting from the rest of the world need to be trained in our complex and confusing customary system).</li> </ul> While your documentation says it should be primarily Customary you’re going to end up making use of the exceptions listed in the proposed standard a lot as all international parts are SI and many locally produced ones only come in SI as well. You say English in the document, but lets hope you don’t mean that otherwise there’s going to be confusion when someone uses a British gallon and another uses a US gallon which means you’ll have three systems of measurement not just two. Last time you did this it was just a few hundred million dollars, this time you’re proposing putting human lives at risk by defining the Constellation Program in terms of a measurement system only used in the USA instead of the internationally accepted standard (SI). Please, for the sake of our space program and the people who’s lives you’ll be putting at risk by having a shuttle that uses multiple measurement systems, don’t do this. NASA should be all metric, not <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/08jan_metricmoon.htm">metric for the moon<a/> and mixed for shuttles. Regards, Paul For those of you reading this who are appalled as I am that NASA is proposing putting our astronauts lives in unnecessary danger by building the shuttle replacement using mixed units instead of all SI, <a href="http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/">contact your federal representatives</a>, <a href="mailto:brian.k.muirhead@nasa.gov">brian.k.muirhead@nasa.gov</a> and <a href="mailto:public-inquiries@hq.nasa.gov">public-inquiries@hq.nasa.gov</a> to stop the insanity and unnecessary risk to the lives of our astronauts (not to mention the wasted time and money while people struggle with conversions and other issues dealing with multiple measurement systems). News 2009-05-31T10:39:31+00:00 Paul Armstrong John Steele White House Open For Questions http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/2009-03-25-WhiteHouse-OpenForQuestions?language=en NB: Voting stops at 09:30 Eastern (06:30 Pacific) _Thursday_. <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/openforquestions/"><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/openforquestions/">http://www.whitehouse.gov/openforquestions/</a></a> Search for metric and vote. Sorry for the short notice, I only found out about it tonight. News 2009-03-26T06:29:18+00:00 Paul Armstrong Paul Armstrong Stimulus Package Reconciliation http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/2009-02-13-StimulusPackageReconciliation?language=en Currently, the stimulus package is being reconciled by a committee appointed from the House and Senate. This committee is made up of 10 members and in order to get metric into the package we need to contact them before the bill is reintroduced into the house. The best way to do this is a personal phone call followed by a fax or email. Please do this as soon as you can and pass this note on to your friends and family. Here’s the contact details: House: <table class="wiki-table" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><th>Name</th><th>Phone</th><th>Fax</th><th>Web Form</th></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>David Obey (D-WI)</td><td>+1 (202) 225-3365</td><td> </td><td><a href="http://www.obey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=637&Itemid=187"><a href="http://www.obey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=637&Itemid=187">http://www.obey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=637&Itemid=187</a></a></td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Charles Rangel (D-NY)</td><td>+1 (202) 225-4365</td><td>+1 (202) 225-0816</td><td>* <a href="http://www.house.gov/rangel/contact.shtml"><a href="http://www.house.gov/rangel/contact.shtml">http://www.house.gov/rangel/contact.shtml</a></a></td></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Henry Waxman (D-CA)</td><td>+1 (202) 225-3976</td><td>+1 (202) 225-4099</td><td>* <a href="http://www.henrywaxman.house.gov/contact.htm"><a href="http://www.henrywaxman.house.gov/contact.htm">http://www.henrywaxman.house.gov/contact.htm</a></a></td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Dave Camp (R-MI)</td><td>+1 (202) 225-3561</td><td>+1 (202) 225-9679</td><td>* <a href="http://camp.house.gov/WriteRep.aspx"><a href="http://camp.house.gov/WriteRep.aspx">http://camp.house.gov/WriteRep.aspx</a></a></td></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Jerry Lewis (R-CA)</td><td>+1 (202) 225-5861</td><td>+1 (202) 225-6498</td><td><a href="http://www.house.gov/jerrylewis/IMA/WritetoRepresentativeLewis.htm"><a href="http://www.house.gov/jerrylewis/IMA/WritetoRepresentativeLewis.htm">http://www.house.gov/jerrylewis/IMA/WritetoRepresentativeLewis.htm</a></a></td></tr></table> Senate: <table class="wiki-table" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"><tr><th>Name</th><th>Phone</th><th>Fax</th><th>Web Form</th></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Harry Reid (D-NV)</td><td>+1 (202) 224-3542</td><td>+1 (202) 224-7327</td><td><a href="http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm"><a href="http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm">http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm</a></a></td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Max Baucus (D-MT)</td><td>+1 (202) 224-2651</td><td>+1 (202) 224-9412</td><td><a href="http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/emailForm.cfm?subj=issue"><a href="http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/emailForm.cfm?subj=issue">http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/emailForm.cfm?subj=issue</a></a></td></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Daniel Inouye (D-HI)</td><td>+1 (202) 224-3934</td><td>+1 (202) 224-6747</td><td><a href="http://inouye.senate.gov/abtform.html"><a href="http://inouye.senate.gov/abtform.html">http://inouye.senate.gov/abtform.html</a></a></td></tr><tr class="table-even"><td>Thad Cochran (R-MS)</td><td>+1 (202) 224-5054</td><td> </td><td><a href="http://cochran.senate.gov/contact.htm"><a href="http://cochran.senate.gov/contact.htm">http://cochran.senate.gov/contact.htm</a></a></td></tr><tr class="table-odd"><td>Chuck Grassley (R-IA)</td><td>+1 (202) 224-3744</td><td> </td><td><a href="http://grassley.senate.gov/contact.cfm"><a href="http://grassley.senate.gov/contact.cfm">http://grassley.senate.gov/contact.cfm</a></a></td></tr></table> A * indicates email is only accepted if you live in the district Talking points: <ul class="star"> <li>Moving to metric would provide a solid stimulus for the economy and get rid of the dual measurement drag for the future.</li> <li>We can improve exports if we use the measurement system everyone else expects (and there are many countries, of which the number is increasing, that forbid non-metric measurements for labeling and sometimes entirely).</li> <li>Education has enough issues without having to deal with multiple measurement systems.</li> <li>We can no longer afford to waste money just to be different. Examples include $360 million on a mars probe which crashed because of a measurement mix up, $25,000 on carbon credits for congress because they attempted to purchase in customary tons instead of the global market standard of metric tonnes.</li> </ul> Requests: <ul class="star"> <li>Require that new infrastructure built with the stimulus package is done exclusively using metric measures</li> <li>An joint industry/government board be setup to oversee the conversion to metric</li> <li>That we have a solid plan by the end of the year that specifies how we will be 95% metric within 5 years and 100% metric in 10 years.</li> <li>Government departments that have had a plan to fo metric in the past implement that plan within 2 years if they have not done so already. Departments that have flipped between the two systems must be fully metric by the end of 2010.</li> <li>Education requirements be changed to teach metric exclusively. Get rid of the requirement to teach customary units.</li> </ul> Calls for metrication in the news: <ul class="star"> <li><a href="http://cjcs.com/tib/2469/president-obama-give-us-a-yard-and-well-take-a-meter/"><a href="http://cjcs.com/tib/2469/president-obama-give-us-a-yard-and-well-take-a-meter/">http://cjcs.com/tib/2469/president-obama-give-us-a-yard-and-well-take-a-meter/</a></a></li> <li><a href="http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/2009/jan/31/convert_and_be_saved/"><a href="http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/2009/jan/31/convert_and_be_saved/">http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/2009/jan/31/convert_and_be_saved/</a></a></li> </ul> Letters Action 2009-02-13T08:20:35+00:00 Paul Armstrong Paul Armstrong Letter To Congress http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/2009-02-09-LetterToCongress?language=en I haven’t had a chance to call them yet, but here’s the letter I sent to Barack Obama, Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, Anna Eshoo, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elaine Alquist and Paul Fong. <blockquote class="quote"> The economic disaster brings us fresh opportunity to think about the things that aren’t working and make fixing those things part of our economic stimulus. A great example of this is our broken customary measurement system needs to be done away with in favor of metric. Currently, we use a confusing and out dated system of measurements rather than the easy system the rest of the world uses. This is one of the factors that makes our economy less efficient than that of other countries and makes our exports less desirable (no one outside the USA wants to know about our customary measurement system). The confusing nature of this system leads to substantial losses such as the $360M Mars orbiter and the $25,000 congress wasted last year because of a conversion error when buying carbon credits. It also leads to errors in medicine (children ending up in E.R. because of conversion errors and errors involved with parents using teaspoons out of the drawer rather than a measuring spoon if given a prescription in teaspoons instead of milliliters) and extremely valuable time wasted in our classrooms as we have to teach our children a difficult set of units and then even more difficult calculations using those units (as they involve conversion from metric) rather than the much more straight forward metric version. Our children come out of school unprepared for the global economy because they’re unable to effectively use the global language of measurement. It’s time to fix this mess. Please require that new infrastructure built with the stimulus package is exclusively built using metric measures and that conversion to metric is one of the goals of the stimulus. </blockquote> You can send a letter to your representatives too by entering your ZIP in the box below and following the prompts on congress.org: <form method="get" action="http://www.congress.org/congressorg/officials/gateway/"> <input type="hidden" name="lvl" value="C"> <input type="text" name="azip" size="10" maxlength="10" class="leftInput"> <input type="image" src="http://images.capwiz.com/congressorg/images/go_btn.png" name="submit" value="GO"> </form> Letters Action 2009-02-11T05:40:24+00:00 Paul Armstrong Bruce Herbertson III Economic Stimulus Package http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/2009-02-09-EconomicStimulus?language=en The economic stimulus package is still being debated. This is an excellent opportunity for us to finally make the switch over to the metric system. We’re about to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure improvements and we could use that opportunity to do the improvements in metric and make other concrete steps towards getting onto the international system of units. This will not only provide stimulus to the economy now, it’ll help us in the future as we’ll finally be on a single system of measurement and we’ll be building in the same measurement system as everyone else so our exports will be more attractive. What can you do to help make this a reality? Call your federal and state representatives today and let them know you want metrication in the stimulus bill! The US Capitol switchboard number is +1 (202) 224-3121 Don’t know who your representatives are? Enter your ZIP here: <form method="get" action="http://www.congress.org/congressorg/officials/gateway/"> <input type="hidden" name="lvl" value="C"> <input type="text" name="azip" size="10" maxlength="10" class="leftInput"> <input type="image" src="http://images.capwiz.com/congressorg/images/go_btn.png" name="submit" value="GO"> </form> This will take you to congress.org which has additional ways you can contact your representatives (and direct links to their mailboxes if you want to email/snail mail them). If you can, please call instead of emailing them. It’s fare more effective (but don’t despair if you don’t like the phone, your voice will still be heard if you mail them). Snail mail is apparently the most effective, but it’s a bit slow at this point (unless you overnight it). News Action 2009-02-09T08:24:03+00:00 Paul Armstrong Paul Armstrong Economic Stimulus Questions http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/2009-02-03-EconomicStimulusQuestions?language=en Just a reminder, <a href="/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/2009%2D02%2D02%2DEconomicStimulus">economic stimulus questions</a> need to be submitted tonight or early tomorrow. I just got out of the OFA meeting and the video with the answers will go out Thursday morning! <a href="http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/meetingquestions">Here’s a direct link to the question page for those who need it</a>. See the above link if you want to template from my question. Action 2009-02-04T03:25:06+00:00 Paul Armstrong Paul Armstrong Organizing For America Meeting http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/2009-02-03-OFA?language=en Tonight I participated in the 45 minute Organizing For America teleconference. Here’s my raw notes from the meeting, which don’t include various introductory parts about Mitch and Jeremy: Run By: <ul class="star"> <li>Mitch Stuart, director of OFA</li> <li>Jeremy Bird, deputy director</li> </ul> Meeting: <ul class="star"> <li>Poll for best call day</li> <li>First call for OFA since founding</li> <li>Real change only comes if Americans are pushing, Washington won’t change itself without a lot of pushing from the general populace</li> <li>This is important to Obama</li> <li>Grass roots was the most important part of the election</li> <li>Need people getting out to build support in the community<ul class="star"> <li>Get people talking about what’s going on in Washington and the changes we need</li> <li>Ask everyone to get involved</li> </ul></li> <li>Only going to succeed if American are pushing for change both short and long term</li> </ul> Principles: <ul class="star"> <li>If you build it, they will come (more infrastructure (offices etc) in local community)</li> <li>Have a house party/meeting host in each state<ul class="star"> <li>Central person to bounce ideas and get information from</li> </ul></li> <li>Training is incredibly helpful<ul class="star"> <li>Two way street</li> <li>How to more effectively organize (this particularly is a two way street)</li> <li>Issue and message training</li> <li>Feedback really matters: people are driving the agenda, tactics such as communication as well as strategy such as who should reach out to</li> <li>Will always ask for feedback and use it to drive the organization</li> </ul></li> <li>Need the support of the local leaders<ul class="star"> <li>Provide leaders with all information possible both as a thankyou and to help drive change</li> </ul></li> <li>Want to have conference calls once a month</li> </ul> This weeks house meetings: <ul class="star"> <li>Americans need to know how the stimulus will effect their lives<ul class="star"> <li>Need to know that help is on the way</li> </ul></li> <li>Ideally parties hosted on Saturday but some are on Sunday or later in the week as people have time</li> <li>Go online and sign up, on barackobama.com site</li> <li>Aim to push the conversation out of Washington</li> <li>House party guide for running the party</li> <li>On Thursday morning, will email out final houseparty kit (including signup forms and video)<ul class="star"> <li>Submit questions online</li> <li>Link will have the ability to either download or directly show the video</li> <li>Invite 50 people in your social network personally, expect 15-20 people or so to show up</li> <li>Packet will include next steps we need to take</li> </ul></li> </ul> News 2009-02-04T03:13:00+00:00 Paul Armstrong Paul Armstrong Economic Stimulus http://gometric.us/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/2009-02-02-EconomicStimulus?language=en There’s <a href="http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/economicmeetings/">house parties</a> running this weekend to learn about and discuss the economic stimulus plan. Along with this, is the opportunity to <a href="http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/meetingquestions">ask questions</a> and have them answered by the administration. Please take a few minutes to post a question asking how metrication is built into the plan. For reference, here’s mine: <blockquote class="quote"> Please discuss how the plan involves metrication. Or, if it does not involve metrication, why not and when we can expect a metrication plan. This is a golden opportunity for us to finish moving to exclusively metric measures. Such a move will provide significant stimulus now and help us in in the future by improving the attractiveness of our exports and getting rid of the dual measurement drag on our economy. </blockquote> There’s a <a href="http://forum.gometric.us/jforum/posts/list/179.page">forum post</a> for those interested in posting their own questions to the administration or discussing the plan. Action 2009-02-03T05:58:39+00:00 Paul Armstrong Paul Armstrong