Good Things, Bad Things: Measurements and Distances

This post is the last and belated part of the Good Things, Bad Things series.

The USA is the only industrialized country to be using a systems of units that differs from the international standardized, or metric, system. In fact, the World Factbook by the CIA, in Appendix G, states that:

At this time, only three countries - Burma, Liberia, and the US - have not adopted the International System of Units (SI, or metric system) as their official system of weights and measures. Although use of the metric system has been sanctioned by law in the US since 1866, it has been slow in displacing the American adaptation of the British Imperial System known as the US Customary System. The US is the only industrialized nation that does not mainly use the metric system in its commercial and standards activities, but there is increasing acceptance in science, medicine, government, and many sectors of industry

This issue about units of measurements causes many differences, both for the good and for the worse. The system now called American Customary Units was derived from the English and later Imperial Units, but even that is not entirely correct or accurate. For example, an American Wet Pint is much smaller than its British counterpart (and even the Amreican dry Pint for that matter, but who the hell drinks a dry beer?!), and the only explanation for that might be that no one wants to drink more than an American pint of domestic beer, especially when compared to a nice smooth pint of Guiness. Anyway, I digress.

One problem with American Customary Units is that they hold true only at a certain location on Earth, specifically at latitude 45, which is roughly where the USA is. This is so typical of Americans: to invent a set of units that can be true only at a certain location in the universe. As usual, as long as Americans keep to themselves and don't try to meddle with the affairs of others that is not a problem. However, they rarely do, and at some point they even decided to venture to space. Now, on space, as everyone knows, there is no gravity. As a result, there is also no definition of weight, which is the force that stems from the product of mass and gravity, hence no gravity - no weight. Since the American Customary Units assume a weight of 1 lb as its basic unit of measurement, and calculates the mass that produces this weight at latitude 45 and sea-level, this entire system of units is useless in space. Thus, for scientific purposes, it makes more sense to use Standard International units, i.e. the metric system, whose base unit is the Kg for mass, and not weight. Mass is invariant no matter what the gravity acceleration is. Why am I telling you all this? For two reasons: 1) it's virtually impossible to teach American students to distinguish between mass, weight and the units used for both. They know that some multiplication or division is required, but not exactly which is what. 2) it's the cause of one of the most colossal failures in NASA's history.

There are also positive sides to using American units. For example, we still think about temperature in Celsius, but if you look at Fahrenheit it makes more sense: the weather in Cincinnati this year ranged from really cold when it was zero Fahrenheit to hot when it was 100 Fahrenheit. On the other hand, spatial distances are shrunk or expanded as needed: for example it's much nicer to live in a 1000 sq. ft. apartment than in a 100 sq. meters apartment. It's easier to drive 500 miles to a party than it is to drive 800 Kms, as we did on the weekend of the 4th of July. ;-)

Cincinnati Bell's service

We have our internet connection with Cincinnati Bell. At first it was great: high speed fiber optics. However, we had to disconnect the fiber optics because of our move to another apartment (where we will have a new non-fiber optics internet with Cincinnati Bell). Therefore, we scheduled a time for a technician to come pick up the old equipment. It was between 8 and 12 today. Naturally, no one showed up. It's a working day, and they just didn't give a damn about people being left at home and missing work.

So, I called their office. It took a Cincinnati Bell representative 18 minutes just to answer the phone! This is such a bad service I am now considering disconnecting from them altogether.

A technician finally called. According to him no one told him it was supposed to be in the morning. He said that it happened a lot with the office mixing orders.

This company is a disgrace to American service standards.

Continental

This part was written before I boarded the plane to Israel:
Our last flight was to Las Vegas, with Delta Airlines. I wrote about that horrible flight and how I detest the way Delta treated us on both our flights (in and out of Las Vegas). After I had written that post, a friend told me that his experience with US Airways had not been any better. So, when it came down to booking today's flight to Israel, I decided that I would not use either Delta or US Airways, and instead I chose Continental Airlines. To my pleasant surprise this flight was significantly better than my previous experience. Although the flight was much shorter than the flight to Las Vegas, we were given snacks, and not just one. It was actually a small meal (though my stomach ache prevented me from enjoying it, but that is not the airliner's fault), and not just a small pack of peanuts. They also served beverages. And lo and behold! they even did it free of charge. Who would imagine that?!

If the flight to Israel, which I am about to take, is as good as the one I just came down off, I think I will have found my airliner of preference.

This part was written after my return from Israel
I am now after completing the entire itinerary. The flights to Israel were okay as well. My only complaint is that Continental learned too well from El-Al's method of packing passengers into small spaces. The leg-room was horrible. On my flight to Israel at least the seat beside me was empty, so I could maneuver a bit. On the flight back it was impossible. When I got off the plane, my knees hurt from sitting like this. On the other hand, the video on demand system was absolutely great, and superior to any VOD system I saw in any airline. It had so many choices of movies and shows, and I enjoyed it very much. So much, that I even didn't get to sleep on the flight to Israel (also because of the leg-room). Kudos for the VOD system.

Home is where your heart is

D and I have been in the USA for almost a year now. As a result of our relative social seclusion, and since we're both here for each other, our bond has become very strong, so it seems to me. Today I left D behind at the CVG terminal, and since then I have been feeling somewhat disoriented. The further I get away from D, and closer to Israel (AKA "home"), the worst it gets. How is she doing? How will she manage without me? What will she do? Will she be lonely?

I know it's only a week till I see her again, and that we just said our farewells, but I already miss her. Home is not where you're born. Home is not where you were raised. Home is also not necessarily where your family and friends are. Home is where your center, your balance, your orientation, and your love are. Home is where your heart is. My home is D.