Subject: Re: [lojban] (from lojban-beginners) pi'e

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 21:52:10 EDT

In a message dated 9/13/2001 8:29:28 PM Central Daylight Time, 
[email-masked] writes:

> (After all, if it wasn't for the braindamage of MM-DD-YY, do you think the
> ISO would have even bothered mandating YY-MM-DD? It's the only reason
> there's any ambiguity to dates at all.)
> 

Probably true, which makes me wonder when the Brits and their pups switched, 
since they were clearly still using the one we inherited from them in the 
19th century.

<The YY-MM-DD format which the ISO has prescribes is what I've been using
for the past ten years; I was taught it as an engineering student. There's
a lot of it about. The kind of "noone else
is doing it, quasigovernmental whim" stuff pc brings up is (a) bogus
(though characteristically libertarian :-) ), and
(b) the reason why the metric system will never happen in the States.
It's nonsense, but it's you guys' loss.>

As yes, engineers probably do use it -- its a nice geeky thing. What I 
meant, of course, was that no national government or major organization with 
similar clout has officially adopted it, so far as I can find (Burkina Faso 
and the Society of Civil Engineers (possible a double oxymoron) don't count). 
And I do resent "libertarian," a good term ruined by bad people, as most are. 
As for the joys of the metric system, it is odd to see it raised in that 
area where will not and never can be applied. If God had meant us to have 
neat ways of numbering things, he would have made a couple of natural 
measures fit together. None do. (I wouldn't mind a nice rational metric 
system, but so long as we remain decimal rather than duodecimal, that ain't 
gonna happen either.)