> > Give me a break. If you want to accuse metric advocates of paranoia, I'd read that paragraph again.
>
> Obviously I was exaggerating for the purposes of humor. But it is true that there are a ton of people out there who genuinely believe that people should be forcibly prevented from using Imperial units -- that's not paranoia but simple fact -- and I don't know any Imperial proponent that's any more extreme than "I don't like metric, and cut out telling me to use it."

Yeah, I guess I should have known better. ;-)

Although I do think sites like freedom2measure do show that the paranoia isn't completely one-sided.

>
> > Having *any* standard of measurement means not having another standard. . . . The society will impose one or the other system on us.
>
> Not true.

Why not? When I get in the car, road signs tell me how many miles it is to Baltimore, give me the speed I may travel at in miles per hour, and my height and weight are in inches and pounds on my driver's liscense. It sure *feels* like the system is imposed on me.

> > How is it right that I had to learn the Imperial system in grade school, but wrong that my children may learn Metric?
>
> Both are wrong, because neither one of you were taught both.

So you're advocating a dual system? I suppose I can't oppose that on the same level (it doesn't violate the rights of Imperial or Metric users, or at least it violates them equally), though it does seem terribly inefficient. But that point is already covered fairly adequately on this thread and others, so I won't beat a dead horse (too much).

Bal "Personally, I like to measure my height in angstroms; it makes me feel taller" anthalus