[lug] OT: Metric vs English

[rm at fabula.de]

On Sun, Nov 11, 2001 at 08:57:48PM -0700, Rob Nagler wrote:
> > periods.  My personal opinion is that, *in ordinary life*, the metric
> > system offers nothing whatsoever as an advantage over a time-wrought,
> > practical system.  Temperature scale is a good example.

Hmm, i don't think that there is a "better" system per se, the benefit
lies in the fact that a certain system is widely used (standardisation).
In times before the metric system in my home area (upper Rhine valley,
probably comparable to the Denver/Boulder/Fort Collins area) there where
more than a dozent length systems -- often with units of the same  name
but different size. Also the metric system is a "unified" one, the different
units (length, weight, energy, temperature etc.) are defined with just
a handfull of base units. 

> [...]
> believe.  It wasn't RJ11.  It wasn't German.  It was, well, Swiss!

hey, i remember this ;-) It meant that i couldn't use my german cables
_and_ couldn't use my american ones .... 

> It's very unique.  Naturally, you have to have a converter from the
> TT87 (Swiss) to RJ11 plugs, because all modems, faxes, etc. offer RJ11
> jacks.  If you connect a flat cable between the RJ11 and the TT87, the
> pairs are either on the left or the right of the RJ11.  No good.  So
> these cables have to be manufactured specially to shift the pairs to
> the middle on the RJ11.  There, however, Swiss phones with RJ11 jacks
> which accept the pair on the first two pins.  This means you have two
> cables: telephone and modem.  They look completely the same.  It would
> be quite funny, if you didn't have to debug which was which every
> other day...  If you ask a Swiss why they introduced this crazy
> system, they answer "Wirtschaftsankurbeln" which literally means
> "Economycranking".

Yes, protecting a market by _not_ following the standards. Linux users
should know this. 

Ralf