The Off Topic Topic

[Grey Fox]

You're all idiots.

[Capetan Mihali]

Title 15 U.S.C. Chapter 6 §(204) 205a - 205l
METRIC CONVERSION LAW
(Pub. L. 94-168, §2, Metric Conversion Act, Dec. 23, 1975)

§ 204. Metric system authorized. - It shall be lawful throughout the United States of America to employ  the weights and measures of the metric system; and no contract or dealing, or pleading in any court, shall be deemed invalid or liable to objection because the weights or measures expressed or referred to therein are weights or measures of the metric system. (14 Stat.339, Adopted July 28,1866)

§ 205a. Congressional statement of findings. - The Congress finds as follows:

    (1) The United States was an original signatory party to the 1875 Treaty of the Meter (20 Stat. 709), which established the General Conference of Weights and Measures, the International Committee of Weights and Measures and the International Bureau of Weights and Measures.

    (2) Although the use of metric measurement standards in the United States has been authorized by law since 1866 this Nation today is the only industrially developed nation which has not established a national policy of committing itself and taking steps to facilitate conversion to the metric system.

    (3) World trade is increasingly geared towards the metric system of measurement.

    (4) Industry in the United States is often at a competitive disadvantage when dealing in international markets because of its nonstandard measurement system, and is sometimes excluded when it is unable to deliver goods which are measured in metric terms.

    (5) The inherent simplicity of the metric system of measurement and standardization of weights and measures has led to major cost savings in certain industries which have converted to that system.

    (6) The Federal Government has a responsibility to develop procedures and techniques to assist industry, especially small business, as it voluntarily converts to the metric system of measurement.

    (7) The metric system of measurement can provide substantial advantages to the Federal Government in its own operations.

§ 205b. Declaration of policy. - It is therefore the declared policy of the United States-

    (1) to designate the metric system of measurement as the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce;

    (2) to require that each Federal agency 2 ,by a date certain and to the extent economically feasible by the end of the fiscal year 1992, use the metric system of measurement in its procurements, grants, and other business-related activities,except to the extent that such use is impractical or is likely to cause significant inefficiencies or loss of markets to United States firms, such as when foreign competitors are producing competing products in non-metric units;

    (3) to seek out ways to increase understanding of the metric system of measurement through educational information and guidance and in Government publications; and

    (4) to permit the continued use of traditional systems of weights and measures in non-business activities.

[DGuller]

Does anyone want between 1 and 3 cats?

How much do you want for them per pound?

[Ed Anger]

Title 15 U.S.C. Chapter 6 §(204) 205a - 205l
METRIC CONVERSION LAW
(Pub. L. 94-168, §2, Metric Conversion Act, Dec. 23, 1975)

§ 204. Metric system authorized. - It shall be lawful throughout the United States of America to employ  the weights and measures of the metric system; and no contract or dealing, or pleading in any court, shall be deemed invalid or liable to objection because the weights or measures expressed or referred to therein are weights or measures of the metric system. (14 Stat.339, Adopted July 28,1866)

§ 205a. Congressional statement of findings. - The Congress finds as follows:

    (1) The United States was an original signatory party to the 1875 Treaty of the Meter (20 Stat. 709), which established the General Conference of Weights and Measures, the International Committee of Weights and Measures and the International Bureau of Weights and Measures.

    (2) Although the use of metric measurement standards in the United States has been authorized by law since 1866 this Nation today is the only industrially developed nation which has not established a national policy of committing itself and taking steps to facilitate conversion to the metric system.

    (3) World trade is increasingly geared towards the metric system of measurement.

    (4) Industry in the United States is often at a competitive disadvantage when dealing in international markets because of its nonstandard measurement system, and is sometimes excluded when it is unable to deliver goods which are measured in metric terms.

    (5) The inherent simplicity of the metric system of measurement and standardization of weights and measures has led to major cost savings in certain industries which have converted to that system.

    (6) The Federal Government has a responsibility to develop procedures and techniques to assist industry, especially small business, as it voluntarily converts to the metric system of measurement.

    (7) The metric system of measurement can provide substantial advantages to the Federal Government in its own operations.

§ 205b. Declaration of policy. - It is therefore the declared policy of the United States-

    (1) to designate the metric system of measurement as the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce;

    (2) to require that each Federal agency 2 ,by a date certain and to the extent economically feasible by the end of the fiscal year 1992, use the metric system of measurement in its procurements, grants, and other business-related activities,except to the extent that such use is impractical or is likely to cause significant inefficiencies or loss of markets to United States firms, such as when foreign competitors are producing competing products in non-metric units;

    (3) to seek out ways to increase understanding of the metric system of measurement through educational information and guidance and in Government publications; and

    (4) to permit the continued use of traditional systems of weights and measures in non-business activities.

Sounds like a commie plot to fluoridate our water.

[Josquius]

Thinking....this year has been pretty shitty for bad guys hasn't it?
Gadaffi, Kim, Bin Laden. Some Arab overthrows.
Yet it hasn't quite been a win of a year what with the economy...

[Lettow77]

 Someone around here will think this is as neat as I do, right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjb2AB1cbeQ

Unfortunately, the musical is hard to find entirely in english, and the plot is primarily a love story. It needs more songs about intrigue in the twilight of the Empire 

Have you heard of this, Tamas?

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

...I do not recall that.  I remember there were spokespeople for Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana telling us how great the Gulf was.  Maybe we saw a different version.

The commercial I saw had a spokesman for Panama City.  I thought it had one for Galveston, too.

[Tamas]

Someone around here will think this is as neat as I do, right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjb2AB1cbeQ

Unfortunately, the musical is hard to find entirely in english, and the plot is primarily a love story. It needs more songs about intrigue in the twilight of the Empire 

Have you heard of this, Tamas?

I haven't heard of this movie, but if it's an emo lovestory, I'll pass.

[Lettow77]

 I sort of agree, unfortunately. Chess as a musical overcame its romantic focus- I don't think this does.

[Zanza]

Germans address people they don't know well by their last name ("Herr Smith"). However as far as I can tell, in most other cultures people are addressed by their first name. So when we have a meeting at work with people from other countries, we'll usually address them by their first name, but often keep addressing the Germans by their last name. Or even worse you call the Germans by their last name when talking or writing German, but use the first name in English. It's weird.

[Capetan Mihali]

Sounds like a commie plot to fluoridate our water.

That damn Gerald Ford.   

[Lettow77]

 Japan does that too, zanza. it's endearing- society needs more degrees of separation, hierarchy, indications of distance & intimacy, and so on.

[Admiral Yi]

Germans address people they don't know well by their last name ("Herr Smith"). However as far as I can tell, in most other cultures people are addressed by their first name. So when we have a meeting at work with people from other countries, we'll usually address them by their first name, but often keep addressing the Germans by their last name. Or even worse you call the Germans by their last name when talking or writing German, but use the first name in English. It's weird.

Koreans can't cope with that level of familiarity so in English they usually refer to someone as Mr. [First Name].

So somewhere in western South Korea a middle school prinicple is talking to Mr. Timmy.

[Zanza]

One more detail that I just remembered. Germans with a PhD are often called "Dr. Smith" instead of "Herr/Frau Smith", so when I worked in Singapore, my local colleagues there sometimes adressed our German boss as Dr. Jane, which she hated.

[The Brain]

Germans address people they don't know well by their last name ("Herr Smith"). However as far as I can tell, in most other cultures people are addressed by their first name. So when we have a meeting at work with people from other countries, we'll usually address them by their first name, but often keep addressing the Germans by their last name. Or even worse you call the Germans by their last name when talking or writing German, but use the first name in English. It's weird.

Koreans can't cope with that level of familiarity so in English they usually refer to someone as Mr. [First Name].

So somewhere in western South Korea a middle school prinicple is talking to Mr. Timmy.

Principle?