Antony’s Personal Opinion

Recently I asked myself, why does North America use different system of measurement than the rest of the world? They measure length in mile, while the rest of us use meter. They measure weight in pound, while the rest of us use gram. They measure volume in gallon, while the rest of us use liter.

Basically we have two systems of measurement, i.e. metric system and English system. The metric system, a.k.a. SI (Système International d’Unités) is the most widely used system of measurement. The base units include meter and gram. The English system, a.k.a. British system, was originally introduced in the United Kingdom. They use familiar objects or parts of the body as the basic units of measurement. For example, distance on the ground is measured with foot. Volume is measured with gallon (the old name of pail is gallon).

When I moved to North America for the first time, I was a little bit confused. I am more familiar with SI and many people here are more familiar with English system. They say something like “It’s only five miles from here”, “The baby’s weight is 10 pounds” or “The area of this apartment is 800 square feet”. Although I had a lesson how to convert English system to SI in the high school, I have forgotten most of them.

Why does North America still use English system while the rest of the world uses SI? Actually the US government has required the use of SI in all business activities. Read more information at NIST web site. Unfortunately this mandate is easier to say than to realize. Americans are still using English system in their daily life.

How do we convert English system to SI (or vice versa)? The “no brain” way is to use Google Calculator. You can type the following expression in Google search box:

• 5 miles in meters
• 10 pounds in kilogram
• 800 square feet in square meter

I have also compiled a table of conversion between English system to SI:

• 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters
• 1 foot = 0.305 meter
• 1 mile = 1.609 kilometers
• 1 ounce = 28.35 grams
• 1 pound = 0.454 kilogram
• 1 (square foot) = 0.093 square meter
• 1 gallon = 3.785 liters
• 1 mile per gallon = 0.425 kilometer per liter

There is an interesting fact about 1 ounces. Some Indonesian people believe that 1 ounce = 100 grams. They even use this “standard” to buy something in the traditional market. Interesting, huh? In fact, when I was a kid, I was taught that 1 ounce = 100 grams. I don’t know the history and background of this. For all Indonesian people who read this blog, let’s tell our friends and relatives to correct this mistake.

Personally, I hope that Americans are willing to adopt SI. It’s too difficult to live with different standards with the rest of the world. Just an example in the mobile phones industry, Americans who use CDMA network for their mobile phones will find difficulties when they are traveling to Europe or Asia. The rest of the world is using GSM network, and many countries don’t support CDMA network.

Updated: I have comments from my readers that 1 ons in Indonesia is actually from Dutch measurement system. They use 1 ons = 100 grams. This is not the same as ounce in BTU. Thanks to Supique and Tedja for the comments.

Everyone is talking about China’s economy. Their economic growth has been constantly more than 8% per year. There is no sign that their economic growth will be slowing down. We see “Made in China” products everywhere. Our clothes, our electronic devices, our furniture, our office equipments, our kids’ toys, ….

When I ask my friends about “Made in China” products, most of them say the price is very cheap although the quality is questionable. My mother bought a washing machine from China and she was disappointed with the quality. My friend bought a motorcycle from China and he complaints a lot because of many small problems. Another friend of mine bought a DVD player from China and he was upset too. What’s wrong with China’s QA (Quality Assurance)? Are they producing only cheap products with low quality?

In fact, many products from China are made with good quality too. Usually they are products from ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) and CM (Contract Manufacturer). What are ODM and CM? Basically they are companies that manufacture products under the brand of other companies, in many cases for American or European companies. For example, mobile phone companies, like Nokia and Motorola, manufacture their handsets in China to cut production costs. They really control QA of their products very carefully. They want to cut production costs but of course, they don’t want to destroy their own brand by producing “yet another Made in China products”.

What I am more curious now is, will we see world-class brand from China? Will we see the “next” Sony and Samsung in the electronic industry? Will we see the “next” Toyota and Hyundai in the automotive industry? My personal opinion says, may be but not soon. Still a long way to go…. At least, they have the power to do that. Let’s wait and see….

I have talked to many people about education, and surprisingly many of them don’t know that we can study in Germany for free. Yes, it’s true…. public universities in Germany are tuition free. The good thing is that it is free for international students too. It’s even cheaper than tuition fee in Chinese universities, isn’t it? As a matter of fact, many Chinese students are studying in Germany nowadays. When I was studying in Germany five years ago, 1/4 of my classmates were Chinese.

Do we need to speak German to study there? Short answer is no. Many universities are offering English-instructed Bachelor and Master programmes in English. We can learn German while studying there (just like me). Just for your information, Germany has actually its own degree, called Diplom. Originally they didn’t have Bachelor and Master Degrees. The Diplom degree is the combination of Bachelor and Master. They introduced Bachelor and Master a few years ago to attract more international students.

Although German public universities are tuition free now, the situation will change next year. I heard that some public universities will start to charge tuition fee. Fortunately, it applies only to certain conditions. You can find more information about it at DAAD’s site. What is DAAD? DAAD (Der Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst) is an organization that helps students, teachers, researchers and scientists, especially from developing countries, to study and do research in Germany.

Why isn’t Germany popular as destination country to study? I don’t know either. The first country that pops in many of my friends is the United States. May be because the US is the only super power country in the world now. I have written a blog about American Dream too, because many people are dreaming about America.