Perhaps I can give you some light about what this thing really is all about. I live in Costa Rica, and I was born here.
Our country has always tried to present to the world an image of us as the "ecologically perfect, hi-tech paradise", which we are not. Not yet in the tech field, anyway.
Then, they launched last week this crazy idea of everybody having access to e-mail. Since a few days back, you can go to any post-office, your local Municipalidad (kind of a City Hall), and some other government offices, and get five minutes in a computer to write e-mail.
But this could have some rather political significance down here. You see, both telecommunications and the postal service are run by government-controlled institutions (or even worst, they're in their own right monopolies). Internet Access is controlled by RACSA, the only ISP allowed here; and the postal service is controlled by CORREOS DE COSTA RICA.
The two institutions were commissioned by the President to carry out his plan of giving access to e-mail to every citizen. Both operate quite independently, but in the end, they're always governement firms. Since the President announced his e-mail idea, three different publicity efforts have shown up in local papers. RACSA has repeatedly announced that this is an example of their "hi-tec, cutting edge service" (pretty false, IMHO). CORREOS has been stating that this shows how they contribute to ou country's development. And the government has been telling everybody the rumors that finally found their way to Slashdot.
So, these three institutions are trying to get the most out of this situation. But none of us really know if their expectations will become real. Our government clearly doesn't have the resources it needs to create e-mail centers all around the country. As I write this, perhaps only a few of these centers really exist. And it may take decades before they appear in the farthest towns of our country. The Internet has only recently started to become popular among the people here; and RACSA executives probably want the people to have a nice opinion of them, because there are laws being discussed in our Congress which threaten their existence as a monopoly.
All of the above are simply my own opinions. Anyway, if you want to have a glimpse of paradise while you dwell on this world, come visit us. Here's what the local institutions and papers say about this:
I believe yout point of view depends completely on your personal experience. I'm a 20-year-old mechanical engineering student in a country which adopted the metric system almost at the time of my birth (C.R.). Therefore, I have used the metric system my whole life.
Most of my college textbooks were written in the U.S., and I've had practice solving problems in both unit systems.
The metric system does prove to be the perfect choice for scientific and technical needs, yet I don't think my life would be any easier if I had to think how tall I am using feet and inches, or translating ounces into pounds in a grocery store.
Where in the world do people learn to multiply in base-twelve numbers (in the Western Hemisphere, at least)? How useful would twelve fingers be in a world where you add and multiply numbers using base-ten numbers?
The point isn't really if the English system is better than the metric one; what's really important is that all systems used in a country should be compatible with each other. And since there's no place where you add in base-ten or base-twelve numbers, the metric system turns out to be *extremely* convenient...
Slashdot Mirror
Our country has always tried to present to the world an image of us as the "ecologically perfect, hi-tech paradise", which we are not. Not yet in the tech field, anyway.
Then, they launched last week this crazy idea of everybody having access to e-mail. Since a few days back, you can go to any post-office, your local Municipalidad (kind of a City Hall), and some other government offices, and get five minutes in a computer to write e-mail.
But this could have some rather political significance down here. You see, both telecommunications and the postal service are run by government-controlled institutions (or even worst, they're in their own right monopolies). Internet Access is controlled by RACSA, the only ISP allowed here; and the postal service is controlled by CORREOS DE COSTA RICA.
The two institutions were commissioned by the President to carry out his plan of giving access to e-mail to every citizen. Both operate quite independently, but in the end, they're always governement firms. Since the President announced his e-mail idea, three different publicity efforts have shown up in local papers. RACSA has repeatedly announced that this is an example of their "hi-tec, cutting edge service" (pretty false, IMHO). CORREOS has been stating that this shows how they contribute to ou country's development. And the government has been telling everybody the rumors that finally found their way to Slashdot.
So, these three institutions are trying to get the most out of this situation. But none of us really know if their expectations will become real. Our government clearly doesn't have the resources it needs to create e-mail centers all around the country. As I write this, perhaps only a few of these centers really exist. And it may take decades before they appear in the farthest towns of our country. The Internet has only recently started to become popular among the people here; and RACSA executives probably want the people to have a nice opinion of them, because there are laws being discussed in our Congress which threaten their existence as a monopoly.
All of the above are simply my own opinions. Anyway, if you want to have a glimpse of paradise while you dwell on this world, come visit us. Here's what the local institutions and papers say about this:
CORREOS' page about this e-mail initiative.
What RACSA says about this.
La Nacion, in Spanish.
La Prensa Libre, also in Spanish
I believe yout point of view depends completely on your personal experience. I'm a 20-year-old mechanical engineering student in a country which adopted the metric system almost at the time of my birth (C.R.). Therefore, I have used the metric system my whole life.
...
...
Most of my college textbooks were written in the U.S., and I've had practice solving problems in both unit systems.
The metric system does prove to be the perfect choice for scientific and technical needs, yet I don't think my life would be any easier if I had to think how tall I am using feet and inches, or translating ounces into pounds in a grocery store.
Where in the world do people learn to multiply in base-twelve numbers (in the Western Hemisphere, at least)? How useful would twelve fingers be in a world where you add and multiply numbers using base-ten numbers?
The point isn't really if the English system is better than the metric one; what's really important is that all systems used in a country should be compatible with each other. And since there's no place where you add in base-ten or base-twelve numbers, the metric system turns out to be *extremely* convenient
Give it a try yourself