If the U.S. is to go metric, the first place to start would be the system of weights, going from pounds and ounces to kilograms and grams. Foods are already labelled in grams so most people have at least seen the units, although they may not have paid attention to it. Businesses would be the first to convert to using metric weights. Later consumer items would be fully marked in metric weights.
The conversion of volumetric units from english to metric (gallons to litres) should start at the gas pump and the milk carton. (Actually it has already started with the soda bottle. If the U.S. gov says that all service stations must display gas prices in per litre prices, this will be a quick change. Most people will get used to it in a matter of weeks.
The conversion from feet and inches to meters, mm would mostly affect those in construction. If people were first taught metric length. measurements in school, and only metric measuring devices used in the lower grades, the conversion to metric measurement (for small dimensions) would be easier. Those going into construction trades would learn the old english units later on.
Conversion to using kilometers instead of miles, however, would never happen. Land in many parts of the U.S. is laid out in sections of 1 mile square. The natural unit for distances in this country will always remain the mile because of this.
English weights to metric - not all that painful.
Liquid measure to metric (litres instead of gallons) - not too painful either.
Small length measurments to metric - more resistance.
Miles to kilometers - ain't gonna happen.
My plan is even bolder. I propose that what is needed is for there to be exactly 364 days per year instead of the 365 1/4 we have now. To do this I propose that we alter the earth's orbit, reducing the diameter so that it takes 364 days to complete a revolution about the sun. There would be exactly 52 seven day weeks in a year, to be divided evenly into four 13 week quarters.
I'm still working on the details of a plan to accomplish this. Of course the cooperation of some world or extra-world superpowers would be necessary to accomplish this reduction in orbit.
There may, of course, be some effect on global temperatures. But I'm sure that, in light of the current warming now being experienced, it would not be noticable.
Dir Sir/Madam:
Thank you for submitting your idea for calendar reform, the so called 'Gregorian' calendar. However, we must reject it for the following reasons:
* ( ) It has a day or days that are not in a month causing problems for writing dates, etc.
* (X) Month's do not start on the same day of the week each year, making it difficult to ascertain the day of week from the date and visa versa.
* (X) One or more months have significantly more or fewer days than the others causing problems for monthly fees, etc.
* ( ) The number of days in a year varies greatly from some years to others.
* (X) The number days in a quarter varies by an excessive amount.
* (X) The number of weekends in the holiday shopping season varies form year to year.
* (X) The number of working days and weekend days is inconsistent from year to year.
Actually, year-over-year comparisons would be simplified and made more consistent with this system. Ther would always be the same number of weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The same number of shopping days. For each quarter of the year, there would be the same number of days and the same number of weeks. This would simplify comparisons. The 'Newton' week that would be inserted every so often would be accounted for separately.
The number crunchers would more easily discern the effects of something like a hurricane or a tomado. They wouldn't need to factor in things like one quarter having more days in it than another.
It may not change out of convenience, but it may change because it reduces costs. A calandar such as the one proposed would reduce costs for business. Don't laugh at it too hard.
Myself - I'ld prefer a calander with 52 seven day weeks, plus New Year's Day and Leap Year's Day (which are not any of Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat,or Sun). So, for Instance Dec 31 would be say, Saturday, New Year's Day would be just 'New Year's Day'. and Jan 1st (The day after New Year's Day) would be Sunday. Similarly for Leap Year's Day.
Every year Jan 1st and all the rest would fall on the same day of the week with this system as well.
So let me get this straight. They sent a Beagle named Rover to Mars and after his spaceship crashed he pissed on the wheel of some robotic Rin-Tin-Tin the Americans had sent up. And when that robotic contraption detected the piss, it sent back a message saying they'd discovered water on the planet.
How about:
Scientists achive first sustainable fusion reaction (still 30 years away after 35 years)
Solo round-the-world, nonstop, nonrefueled flight
Scientists develop method for regrowing nerves
Variety of some oil-seed crop developed with 50% more yeield per (hect)acre.
New drug cures certain rare form of cancer.
Autonomous vehicle takes DARPA challenge prize.
if you have 100 men and 1 woman you can only produce 1 child every year (give or take).
but if you have 100 women and 1 man you can create 100 offspring - and 1 happy man.
As much as I'm loath to bring up biblical topics, I've always pondered this. Regarding the story of Moses' birth in the bible, the Egyptians were killing off the male Israelite babes to control their population. This seems like a dumb thing to do, as it would have been vastly much more effective had they killed the female babies. How could they not have realized this?
I was laid off a week and a half before Christmas once. It wasn't a surprise, though, and I'ld been prepared for it. Don't know if that was the case for some of the other people who were also laid off at the time. I was of the opinion that the slow performance of the software we'ld been working on was a major flaw. The sw architect and managment didn't seem to think so. I was right. When the sw was beta'd to several potential customers the first part of December, they all gave it a big thumbs down. The revenue stream the company was counting on didn't materialize, hence the layoffs.
Because the rate of increase in average temperatures is so much greater than what has happened historically during warming cycles, scientists conclude that much of the warming is likely due to human activities in the recent century.
The earth is warming substantially in time frames as short as 50 years, far faster than the thousands of years the cycles normally take.
It is a term that was used during Bush's campaign so as not to invoke negative connotations and contraversy of 'global warming'. This has been reported on by the media. During the presidential campaign, Bush and supporters alway spoke of 'climate change', and avoided the term 'global warming'.
Iowa, as well, ranks near the top in test scores and near the bottom in per pupil spending. Study after study has shown:
There is essentially NO CORRELATION between student achievement and the per student spending on education.
Students in inner cities do very poorly because of the inner city culture and higer percentage of immigrants, and, in a few cases, corruption of high level school authorities. The public schools in the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are, on the whole, the worst in the state of Minnesota for student achievement and are at the top of the list when it comes to per student spending.
Slashdot Mirror
The conversion of volumetric units from english to metric (gallons to litres) should start at the gas pump and the milk carton. (Actually it has already started with the soda bottle. If the U.S. gov says that all service stations must display gas prices in per litre prices, this will be a quick change. Most people will get used to it in a matter of weeks.
The conversion from feet and inches to meters, mm would mostly affect those in construction. If people were first taught metric length. measurements in school, and only metric measuring devices used in the lower grades, the conversion to metric measurement (for small dimensions) would be easier. Those going into construction trades would learn the old english units later on.
Conversion to using kilometers instead of miles, however, would never happen. Land in many parts of the U.S. is laid out in sections of 1 mile square. The natural unit for distances in this country will always remain the mile because of this.
English weights to metric - not all that painful.
Liquid measure to metric (litres instead of gallons) - not too painful either.
Small length measurments to metric - more resistance.
Miles to kilometers - ain't gonna happen.
I'm still working on the details of a plan to accomplish this. Of course the cooperation of some world or extra-world superpowers would be necessary to accomplish this reduction in orbit.
There may, of course, be some effect on global temperatures. But I'm sure that, in light of the current warming now being experienced, it would not be noticable.
I thought the Vernal equinox was in March and the Autumnal equinox was in September. Are you from Australia?
* ( ) It has a day or days that are not in a month causing problems for writing dates, etc.
* (X) Month's do not start on the same day of the week each year, making it difficult to ascertain the day of week from the date and visa versa.
* (X) One or more months have significantly more or fewer days than the others causing problems for monthly fees, etc.
* ( ) The number of days in a year varies greatly from some years to others.
* (X) The number days in a quarter varies by an excessive amount.
* (X) The number of weekends in the holiday shopping season varies form year to year.
* (X) The number of working days and weekend days is inconsistent from year to year.
Congratulations on getting 5 out of 7!
The number crunchers would more easily discern the effects of something like a hurricane or a tomado. They wouldn't need to factor in things like one quarter having more days in it than another.
It always bothered me that the date we celebrate Easter is dependant on the phase of the pope's moon.
Myself - I'ld prefer a calander with 52 seven day weeks, plus New Year's Day and Leap Year's Day (which are not any of Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat,or Sun). So, for Instance Dec 31 would be say, Saturday, New Year's Day would be just 'New Year's Day'. and Jan 1st (The day after New Year's Day) would be Sunday. Similarly for Leap Year's Day.
Every year Jan 1st and all the rest would fall on the same day of the week with this system as well.
If September had more days we'ld celebrate SEPT 34.
That means he had connections to people in IBM so he could work out a deal with them to use his Basic Interpreter (and Seattle Computing's O.S)
So let me get this straight. They sent a Beagle named Rover to Mars and after his spaceship crashed he pissed on the wheel of some robotic Rin-Tin-Tin the Americans had sent up. And when that robotic contraption detected the piss, it sent back a message saying they'd discovered water on the planet.
They've made 2 knowkcout mice. Now they're working to make a pair of knockout chicks.
How about: Scientists achive first sustainable fusion reaction (still 30 years away after 35 years) Solo round-the-world, nonstop, nonrefueled flight Scientists develop method for regrowing nerves Variety of some oil-seed crop developed with 50% more yeield per (hect)acre. New drug cures certain rare form of cancer. Autonomous vehicle takes DARPA challenge prize.
Why not. The existance of T. Rex was for many years based on a single (incomplete) fossilized skeleton that had been found.
Ah, yes. Poor innocent Poly Nomial, lost her convergence in a vector field by some smooth operator.
but if you have 100 women and 1 man you can create 100 offspring - and 1 happy man.
As much as I'm loath to bring up biblical topics, I've always pondered this. Regarding the story of Moses' birth in the bible, the Egyptians were killing off the male Israelite babes to control their population. This seems like a dumb thing to do, as it would have been vastly much more effective had they killed the female babies. How could they not have realized this?
Anything that's comparable to Verilog and VirSim in their toolbox? What are peoples opions on icarus?
How accurate have his predictions been?
I wonder how many of them have loaded Linux on their machines.
Maybe its more like pre-stressed. That's what makes concrete beams on bridges and overpasses stronger.
Visualize whirled peas!
I was laid off a week and a half before Christmas once. It wasn't a surprise, though, and I'ld been prepared for it. Don't know if that was the case for some of the other people who were also laid off at the time. I was of the opinion that the slow performance of the software we'ld been working on was a major flaw. The sw architect and managment didn't seem to think so. I was right. When the sw was beta'd to several potential customers the first part of December, they all gave it a big thumbs down. The revenue stream the company was counting on didn't materialize, hence the layoffs.
The earth is warming substantially in time frames as short as 50 years, far faster than the thousands of years the cycles normally take.
It is a term that was used during Bush's campaign so as not to invoke negative connotations and contraversy of 'global warming'. This has been reported on by the media. During the presidential campaign, Bush and supporters alway spoke of 'climate change', and avoided the term 'global warming'.
It's rapidly becoming that way, helped along by the policies of the current administration.
Iowa, as well, ranks near the top in test scores and near the bottom in per pupil spending. Study after study has shown: There is essentially NO CORRELATION between student achievement and the per student spending on education. Students in inner cities do very poorly because of the inner city culture and higer percentage of immigrants, and, in a few cases, corruption of high level school authorities. The public schools in the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are, on the whole, the worst in the state of Minnesota for student achievement and are at the top of the list when it comes to per student spending.