[The last two paragraphs are the important ones. --Martin Morrison]
NEW YORK TIMES
BACK STORY
What do the U.S., Liberia and Myanmar have in common? They are the only
nations that do not mandate the metric system as their official
measurement standard.
Its not for lack of trying, at least in the U.S. Forty years ago today,
the Metric Conversion Act required the federal government to endorse, if
not adopt, the system.
That law followed at least five other legal efforts to go metric since
1866, as well as numerous informal attempts since the time of Thomas
Jefferson.
Officially, not much has happened since then. Many federal agencies now
use the metric system exclusively, but many others particularly those
involving transportation and construction do not.
Most recently, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island made converting to metric a
centerpiece of his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Apathy is most often cited as the cause of Americans attachment to inches
and pounds.
Yet even without legal mandates, the metric system surrounds us.
Medicines are measured in milligrams, soda bottles in liters and dental
floss in meters. Even marijuana and cocaine come by the gram.
Some experts estimate half of U.S. business is conducted in metric,
leading them to predict its eventual adoption, by law or not.
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