The metric system isn't a "European" system. Plus high-speed rail

High-speed rail is great. Can't wait for the day when we can go from one end of the world to the other (except across the Atlantic of course) using high-speed rail alone.

Two links for those interested in progress regarding systems of measurement and technology:

First a letter to the editor here at a newspaper in the Castro Valley, California complaining that an article had the gall to give the measurements of something in millimetres:

Do you believe the majority of your readers understand mm? I don’t think they do, as Americans are taught in fractions, inches, feet, yards, and the biggy—miles!

Why convert to a European measurement? How many people in Castro Valley could tell you what a meter is? Not me.

Er...a meter is like a yard, but a wee bit bigger. A mm is 1000th of that. That was easy.

Luckily a lot of other readers had the same opinion as me:

The Metric System is as American as apple pie. The Metric Act of 1866 authorized its full legal use in the United States.

The Metric Conversion Act of 1975 designed the Metric System as the “preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce.” This designation was confirmed by the America Competes Act of 2007.

Today, not only Europe, but North and South America, Africa, Asia, Australia and even Antarctica, all use the Metric System as their official measurement system. It is taught as the predominant system of measurement in the school systems of all 50 states.

Exactly. The next time you deal with someone that stubbornly refuses to use metric, give the measurements for something in traditional measurements like pyeong or jo or something else. You could give the weight of something in batman for example (1 batman = 7.544 kg). I'll be damned if I give up weighing things in batman for soulless metric!


The other link is an article on the Huffington Post about high-speed rail, which also mentions Taiwan's relatively new high-speed rail and the wonderful effect it's had on domestic traffic:

Taiwan's recently-completed HSR system, while enjoying spectacular growth, is presently strangling domestic carriers: Most air routes between Taipei City and the island's western cities have been discontinued. The trains are simply easier and more comfortable that the planes, for about the same fare.