[speaker001:] I think my daughter talked to somebody in Carolina what is that is it a school up there that uh
[speaker002:] yeah North Carolina State
[speaker001:] oh great great that's wonderful yeah
[speaker002:] yeah yeah I I didn't know that we were going to be talking to mostly TI folks I thought it was all scattered out among graduate schools or something yeah
[speaker001:] is that right yeah we uh we thought the opposite we thought well it's going to be TI people and I think they went to customers you know people that use TI computers and everything which is fine
[speaker002:] yeah yeah one of one of our professors went down to a seminar you guys had uh sometime last year and got the information and brought it back and
[speaker001:] uh-huh actually they don't talk about much uh of what it's for but my wife keeps keeps ask asking me and I'm saying well your computer is eventually going to just answer your voice you know they're they're of course it's very obvious for people with handicaps but in general I guess it would be faster
[speaker002:] that's right sure yeah you you yeah you could just sit there and talk
[speaker001:] than typing and everything so oh yeah it's it's uh around the corner
[speaker002:] reminds me of something I read in an Isaac Asimov science fiction thing one time uh-huh
[speaker001:] right well I mean it's so uh TI's uh been the pioneer on a little advertising for TI not that I know that much about the uh voice synthesis but they've been working on it for years and years you know they have the Speak and Spell and all of that of course but they're
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] they're going to take it much further and I guess in aircraft and all that a lot of it is going to be like you talk to the computer like two thousand one or two thousand ten ten when you talk to the computer and yeah
[speaker002:] yeah yeah like Hal yeah
[speaker001:] Hal right that was great well what do you think about the metric system you well what do you do out there are you a professor you say
[speaker002:] no I'm a I'm a student here um yeah I think we should adopt it I I think we're a little bit backward as far as the rest of the world's concerned
[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] um I know it causes a problem for industry in a little in a small way but nothing that won't be overcome in a little bit of time
[speaker001:] yeah well we're not going to have much to fight over because I do too uh being an engineer most General Motors have pretty much and I'm not too sure about the rest of the cars I'm sure all the Japanese cars
[speaker002:] oh yeah
[speaker001:] I'm somewhat of a car buff almost all of it is metric
[speaker002:] uh-huh what what what bothers the heck out of me is uh one of these so-called American made cars where part of it's put together in Japan and what you've got is you've got standard and metric
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] you know you go in there with a wrench and you know oh golly it's not a metric it's a standard
[speaker001:] right right well I I work on GM cars only and I haven't noticed that that much usually the metrics will fit they're so close there's an overlap
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh you know there's something funny that I haven't really resolved with metric I've got to really go to the store and see if it's true I can't remember the size I think it's uh eighteen or something like that I have a set of metric and and the old wrenches too and I think that's an exact size of the three-quarters and they don't make it in metric they just skip over it and it
[speaker002:] yeah you're right you're right because mine goes from seventeen to nineteen yeah
[speaker001:] right and I was thinking I've got to get an eighteen because I don't I don't like I'm so used to when I'm grabbing tools for my car to grab for the number you know
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] because I don't even bother with the unless I'm working on a bumper or something but the engine parts and all are all metric you know
[speaker002:] yeah a friend of mine's got a a Colt and I was doing something to it and golly half of it was standard and half of it was metric it was the most irritating thing
[speaker001:] I haven't noticed it mostly being yeah well I mean well on General Motors cars it was all metric I use my metrics essentially when I work on the cars I don't well I guess uh in changing the oil I guess that's uh I don't even know a nine sixteenths or something like that I don't even remember
[speaker002:] yeah I don't either I can't convert them I'm hope
[speaker001:] uh but I was thinking I just had a cheap set of metrics in fact uh I thought well I guess either I lost the eighteen and then I I started to see it in stores and I noticed that the cheaper sets again I'm calling it cheaper sets minus the eighteen I thought well I've got to go to an expensive place go to Sears and get Craftsman tools there and see if I can't get that eighteen I want a full set you know
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] I still haven't checked out to see if they do make the eighteen I I'm sure they do
[speaker002:] they don't uh you think so I've I've I've never seen one I've never seen one I've never seen one
[speaker001:] well I guess they do I don't know why they wouldn't oh you haven't really I just thought it was my set so I just didn't have a a good quality set you know
[speaker002:] no as a matter of fact I don't think is there a sixteen I don't think there's a sixteen either
[speaker001:] uh I think it's what number did I just say eighteen something that is the same as a three-quarter and it that I I'd rather have it all metric
[speaker002:] yeah I would too I mean we we're just about the last holdout in the world to to hold on to this old archaic system I mean even England's gone metric
[speaker001:] right Texas uh Texas Instruments makes equipment for the semiconductor business you know we make not a lot of but we make we were making a lot of our own manufacturing equipment and I bet they have a lot of metrics there I think that uh the only emotional part might be in miles you know mile signs but that that's could be last anyway maybe pick a year two thousand say okay we'll slowly change but I think
[speaker002:] yeah yeah and and even changing the things I mean first off I I mean you need to address do you even need to change the signs because for so long people are going are going to be able to equate miles to kilometers I mean when you drive around Europe you do the same thing
[speaker001:] right right well I think the speedometers don't the cars have them both now am I not mistaken I I I look at mine I don't even know I read it
[speaker002:] yeah most of them do they have the uh yeah they have the the kilometer inside and the and of course the miles per hour great big so you can see it um
[speaker001:] upper and lower yeah right
[speaker002:] yeah I I I it's silly I don't I don't think that we ought to be any different it causes a lot of problems a lot of times between uh different countries in their manufacturing stuff and
[speaker001:] oh no I don't think so either I don't even know how many businesses are actually doing it without an order I'm not too sure that the government needs to order it although I guess they would have to in again mileage signs but uh it
[speaker002:] well you know even even uh interstate signs and stuff you you can reprint the number of kilometers on on that reflective uh stick on tape stuff that they use to uh
[speaker001:] yeah yeah right
[speaker002:] uh stick on those things and they can just all that's all they have to do I mean that wouldn't cost a great deal of money and uh
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] I I I just don't see any problems with it I think it's just uh obstinate Americanism
[speaker001:] oh yeah I think that I I guess it was uh five years ago or more than when they it failed and I guess people just got tired of talking about it I'm not too sure I guess there was no one really pushing it and no one saying that it was going to mean business to us I think nowadays
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] we all would say who are in industry and everything we'd say hey this means business we ought to
[speaker002:] that's right
[speaker001:] uh make everything metric and I just and I see no problem with it at all
[speaker002:] that's right exactly right I mean
[speaker001:] uh
[speaker002:] I I I can think of one for instance you take a you take a textile industry and they're selling stuff by the by the yard you know now now there's a big difference between a yard and a meter when you're talking about fabric
[speaker001:] uh-huh right yeah right
[speaker002:] and I don't
[speaker001:] well I I I'm ready to convert I I we probably all thought it was strange you know again five years ago but I don't think there's that many people with reservations anymore I don't know if uh
[speaker002:] no I mean look at all the all the food containers are labeled uh with both systems I mean that's no problem
[speaker001:] sure right in fact they said it failed and then I guess it has failed but I in in general there was still a lot of people that I I I'm not sure it's a total failure because so much has converted you know
[speaker002:] yeah well
[speaker001:] and I'm not too sure that it's actually not a success more than a failure you know I don't know what percent has actually converted
[speaker002:] yeah I I I just I just chock it up to this obstinate Americanism because they sit there and and they just don't want to learn a new system you know it's just like they they won't learn foreign languages they go some you know they expect everybody to speak English yeah
[speaker001:] uh-huh oh you're absolutely right you that that's a pet of mine too I just wish we all and us down here in Texas of course should all speak Spanish
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] we should have six and eight years automatically of Spanish and I I push my daughters I've got two daughters and
[speaker002:] sure
[speaker001:] uh one is taking Latin and one has taken Spanish but not enough of it and uh I think we we down here especially should speak and California New Mexico and all that really
[speaker002:] sure sure I mean you you look around at all these other countries I mean I mean you look at Japan not only do they learn the metric system they also learn the our system you know and and they also take three languages
[speaker001:] right right
[speaker002:] I mean well I mean it's no wonder that we're getting beat out on everything in the world because those people those other people out there are working
[speaker001:] oh yeah yeah they're working they're out they're studying harder and they're working harder
[speaker002:] yeah I mean look who's taking the the engineering jobs and the and the math jobs and the science jobs you know they're all Orientals
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] I mean we've got loads of uh Asians here in school just like we do at every other school around this country
[speaker001:] yeah what are you taking in school by the way you say you're in school
[speaker002:] uh what am I taking uh Master's in public administration
[speaker001:] yeah oh well you know my wife's uh a well I have a daughter in college you know and uh who's got down at UT University of Texas I mean and my wife also has gone back for a teaching and English and English as a second language uh which is you know just teaching kids that are have have their native language and not English
[speaker002:] right yeah
[speaker001:] and so she's going back for that and so I I I've got three people I'm supporting in in school now and I guess I ought to go back myself I'm getting enthusiastic because they they're having so much fun you know
[speaker002:] uh I I don't hold out much hope for anything coming out of this Master's I I'm taking it more or less just because I'm interested in it but I'm I'm also taking a uh paralegal course and I I really want to
[speaker001:] oh that's great
[speaker002:] do that more than anything else I I went to law school for a year and a half and uh decided well I don't really want to be a lawyer I mean I knew that going in I just wanted a law degree because it would open all kinds of doors but
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] it's just too much work for a uh a degree you're going to hang on the wall and never use so I said well maybe I ought to save some money here
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] so I got out of that and got back into the Master's and then decided well paralegal is really the nuts and bolts of the law and that's what I really like yeah
[speaker001:] sure politics and everything you ought to do what you like uh you I'm an engineer and even when I was going through engineering school halfway through they said up don't need any more engineers we've got too many they go through this phase all the time but I think you still should do what you want because uh
[speaker002:] sure
[speaker001:] if you're good at whatever you are you know and there's employment
[speaker002:] yeah I mean