RE: New A3 Epson Photo 1270 (actually completely off topic metric war)

[Mark Swinkels <MarkSw@Attachmate.com>]

Not to start a Metric vs. Imperial war Jerry but that's like saying "Its so
much easier to imagine 68 degrees F than it is to imagine 20 degrees C". I
grew up at the time that Canada was switching to metric and know how hard it
is to change that instant familiarity that one has with measurements. I can
say that I now 'think' completely in metric for temperature, volume, long
distances, speeds, weights but that I still don't 'think' in metric for
short distances (like paper sizes). Why the difference? Mostly because the
alternative miles, ounces, quarts have disappeared so there isn't much call
to convert between them. On the other had for short distances we have
constant reminders of the imperial system since construction supplies,
hardware fixtures, paper sizes etc. never changed over. Constantly
converting between the two is a pain so I tend to visualize home renovations
and furniture making in feet and inches even though the rest of my world is
metric. If the government hadn't chickened out at the last moment with the
construction and machine industry I suspect I would be 100% metric. It was
fun for a few months when the lumber industry started changing over and
plywood was available in 2400x1200 sheets which was just 1.5" short of a 4x8
sheet and would just miss that last joist.

A more direct answer to your specific issue that metric page sizes are hard
to imagine. I'm forced to use imperial paper because that is what is carried
in the office supply stores but I've seen enough A* sized paper to know what
it looks like and like the other poster I find it very convenient that the
proportions of the paper stay fixed. Its nice to be able to compose an image
to fit on an A4 sheet of paper and then just enlarge it to A3 if you want it
bigger. Its a pain when you have that perfect 8.5x11 composition which then
doesn't fit properly on an 11x17 sheet of paper. Interestingly pictures I
had printed while in Europe were printed on 4x6" paper, just like when I get
them printed locally, even though the proportions of A* paper are very close
to 35mm format.

-- Mark 

-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Olson [mailto:jerryolson@rrv.net]
Sent: February 2, 2000 9:54 AM
To: epson-inkjet@leben.com
Subject: Re: New A3 Epson Photo 1270


Greg: Yah, its SO easy to imagine the exact size of a 297x420mm sheet of
paper. EVERY one on the list can do it instantly!  I wish they'd shove
the entire metric system where the sun has NEVER shone before!
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