David Sekella

What is the deal with one of your writers lack of familiarity with proper English? "Do you want to come with?", is not proper English. You should never end a sentence with a preposition. We all learned it in fourth grade, if not from our parents. Director Vance did it in Season 16, episode 18, "Mona Lisa" the very last line, but we, my wife and I have heard it before. To someone who actually took English in school, it is like hearing nails on a black board. According to the internet, that episode was written by David J. North & Brendan Fehily. As professional writers they should know better

I have been a Mechanical Engineer and involved in the design and manufacture of machinery for over 40 years. I was disappointed in the one sided report on converting to the Metric system. Your guest apparently wrote a book on a subject he has little or no first hand knowledge. Designing equipment on a CAD (Computer Aided Design) system is much easier in Metric, precisely because of the use of base 10 units wherever possible. Choosing which system to use is as easy as flipping a switch and I can't remember when I last time I saw anyone working in Inch units. The real holdup to converting to Metric has been by the practice in the USA of requiring machinists in small shops to supply their own measuring tools. The advent of computer controlled machine tools in the 1970s and 80s and CNC inspection equipment in the 90s made the hand held inspection tools the last items that were not supplied by the machine shop. Finally those tool too are available in an electronic version that will measure both Inch and Metric at a price the average machinist can afford. More importantly, if we are going to compete in a world market, we have to supply products that are easily maintained using the tools that are available around the world. Boeing, Ford, GM, Caterpillar, John Deere and thousands of other products are designed in Metric, using Metric fasteners and Metric components. When it comes to heavy machinery the US still builds the best. Buick is one of the leading suppliers of Premium autos in China. They have a large manufacturing plant there. There is still a contingent of people who are resisting the complete move to Metrics. They are comprised of tradesmen who build and repair homes and infrastructure. They see the need to buy new measuring tools a bother. Three countries which are not using the metric system are Liberia, Myanmar and of course the USA.