Evolution

I took great pleasure to read the history about ''Why Brits drive on the left''. All the good reasons given to do so, seem to fit perfectly with the prevailing conditions at that time.
But '' Times they are a-changin' '' (Dylan).
Look at the same right handed man, in a wide space, with no fear to be attacked.
-He will go on his natural side.
-He enters a building, and walks in the hallway on the RH side.
-He goes up the stairs on the RH side, grabbing the handrail with his right hand.
-People don't ride horses anymore, they push grocery carts. They do it on the RH-side to get their stuff off the shelves.
-If someone launches an attack, gun in hand, he will follow the wall on his right, flattened against it like an Egyptian picture, his left hand trailing behind.
Driving on the RH side is natural.

Revolution and Metric system

So ... since apparently everybody was going on the LH-side before Napoleon, we wonder why the Swedes waited so long ( in the sixties ? ) to switch side, since their King Charles IV was a French officer named Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, appointed '' Maréchal d' Empire '' by Napoleon.

But the real issue is not which side is the right side. The appropriate question is: what is needed to-day and to-morrow to make things easier?

Japan, with no link to the continent kept the LH drive but soon figured out the interest in going metric.

The metric system is one of the superb tools ordered to scientists after the Revolution by the République:

1-The republican (laic) calendar :
-the year starts at the autumn equinox.
-it is12 months of 30 days plus 5 days off.
-each month is divided in 3 decades.
-days are identified with incremented numbers.
As a result, the calendar is the same year after year.
So neat !!! But Napoleon dropped it in 1806.

2-The metric system (became legal in 1799 and mandatory in 1840: 19 years after Napoleon's death):

For Brits and Yankees, this system has a major drawback: it is "made in France".

Metric advantages:

-it is an homogeneous system. This means that each unit is linked to the other thru a simple mathematical formula.
-it is decimal (not long ago, Brits converted their money to decimal, sign of evolution).

Actually, it is very difficult to explain simplicity. Look at "metrical system" (Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary). All you see is the unit 1, and a bunch of zeros on one side or the other, depending if you want multiples or submultiples. Each of them is named using a prefix in the powers of 10. Many are already well known: kilo, mega, milli, micro , etc...

Since it's much easier to show the difficulties, hang-on, here are some from the Imperial system:
You soon will realise that the Imperial system is an aggregate of independent units definitions.

Imperial (and US) difficulties

- Definitions

How many John Smith can give a definition of the 0°F ( 0°C is the temperature of melting ice) or tell exactly how many feet are in a mile (1000m in a km)? Not to mention all the other weird length units.

- Decimal
Try to calculate the circumference of a circle 1' 2 1/16" or ( 35.7mm) diameter, in both systems.

- Gage system

1) for metal sheets and plates.
You want to buy a 10ga sheet metal:
a 10ga sheet is:
.1019" thick if it is aluminium or brass.
.1345" thick if it is hot or cold rolled steel.
.134" thick if it is copper.
.140625" thick if it is stainless steel.
.1382" thick if it is galvanized steel.

When the gage number is big, the thickness is small.
Thicker than gage 3 you order in fractions of inches ( Drummond McCall spec book )

Metric ? order the size in mm

2) And, "dulcis in fondo", the drill bits "system":

For the big sizes, use the fractional inches.
For small sizes, choose between fractions, letters or numbers: HOLD-ON!
- letters A to Z fit between 7/32" and 27/64"
- numbers 80 to 1 fit before 1/64" to letter A
- amount of numbers is not the same within same fractional gap.
- difference in size between 2 consecutive numbers is not the same (Starret drill size chart).
Elementary dear Watson!

Metric ? use the size in mm

Stop! You may have enough of this, like I did have enough, when I first got in Montreal from France, in 1969.
Gladly, somebody in Ottawa saw the light ( by SEV- Marchal ).

Conclusion:

Rejecting the metric system is as smart as rejecting the rabies vaccine because it comes from Pasteur.

"Honni soit qui mal y pense"

©VEA