Re: Metric Time (was Re: Why not 13 months? (Was La Systeme Metrique))

Jim Carr (jac@ds8.scri.fsu.edu)
20 Oct 1995 17:52:44 -0400

kai@khms.westfalen.de (Kai Henningsen) writes:
>
>Anyway, my point was that all products I know about that are produced in
>the US, *don't* use metric measures, or only as an afterthought. That
>definitely includes those "where it really matters" by whatever
>definition.

How do you define "afterthought"? If the dies are in metric, as they
are for the tires I buy from BFG (admittedly part of Michelin here in
the US, but made exclusively in Ohio), it is not an afterthought.

Liter liquid measures are quite common, with the english numbers on
as an afterthought. It does not get any more American than Kentucky
bourbon, and it is sold by metric measure. We all suspect they do
it since the bottles are smaller for the same price ...

You might be surprised to learn that all US highway construction is
now done in metric, and that the US is officially a metric country.
Our 'common' units are defined in metric terms, not the other way
around. And I don't know what you think "really matters". Guns?
Guns matter in the US. ;-) There are many US made guns that are
fully metric, including ones preferred by the police and the folks
who the police are chasing.

-- 
James A. Carr <jac@scri.fsu.edu> | What a long strange trip it's
http://www.scri.fsu.edu/~jac/ | been.
Supercomputer Computations Res. Inst. | Jerry Garcia
Florida State, Tallahassee FL 32306 | 1942-1995