posted 04-19-2004 10:10 AM                       

I am all for the US adopting metric units of measurement (International System of Units). Yet I recognize that there are some "die hards" who still cling to "English" units of measurement (including my wife ).

http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/

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The U.S. Metric Association (USMA), Inc., with headquarters in Northridge CA, is a national non-profit organization, founded in 1916. It advocates U.S. conversion to the International System of Units which is known by the abbreviation SI (ess-eye). SI is also called the modern metric system. The process of changing measurement units to the metric system (i.e. SI) is called metric transition or metrication.

This site contains information on the SI metric system and information on the status of metric transition (metrication) in the United States. Information is also available on USMA's accomplishments, activities, and resources, as well as links to non-commercial Websites with additional metric system information.

Conversions between unit systems are a poor way to learn the metric system, and conversion factors can make the metric system look complicated. Therefore we do not support or directly link to any unit conversion utilities. However, conversion utilities are available through some of the non-USMA metric sites in the links section near the bottom of this page.

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The United States is now the only industrialized country in the world that does not use the metric system as its predominant system of measurement.

Most Americans think that our involvement with metric measurement is relatively new. In fact, the United States has been increasing its use of metric units for many years, and the pace has accelerated in the past three decades. In the early 1800s, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (the government's surveying and map-making agency) used meter and kilogram standards brought from France. In 1866, Congress authorized the use of the metric system in this country and supplied each state with a set of standard metric weights and measures.

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posted 04-19-2004 04:48 PM                       

quote: Steve

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...I've yet to year shot film referred to as "meterage"

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posted 04-21-2004 08:36 AM                       

Here are some websites that claim metrification is a foreign conspiracy:

http://www.freedom2measure.org/

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The imposition of the metric system without recourse to the democratic process is wrong. It is an affront to our basic rights. How we measure is part of our heritage and our way of life. Don't let unelected unaccountable bureaucrats and careless unresponsive legislators sacrifice it under the steamroller of World "harmonization".

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http://www.metricsucks.com/ (humor)

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Although the metric system is slowly creeping into US culture, we have stood up to the French more than most other nations. Even though our monetary system is decimal and many stuffy old scientists may prefer the grams and meters, the US luckily retains her independence from the invasive French metric system.

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The world is slowly being forced by governments, civil servants and multi-national industries into adopting the metric measurement system in place of the traditional systems which have been in use for centuries, for millenia in fact. The use of metric units has been legally acceptable in the UK since 1897 and in the USA since 1866 and yet the traditional system prevails in spite of this option. If metric were an improvement on traditional measurements then it would have been universally adopted long ago. The truth is that metric offers no advantages to people in their daily lives and will never be used unless it is forced upon us by criminalising the use of imperial measurement, something which is happening now in the UK and has happened in every other country where metric is used. In fact, the people of other countries have never voluntarily adopted metric, it has always been imposed upon them against their will by politicians and bureaucrats.

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The metric system is just another example of the French forcing their way of doing things on eveyone else. We think that everyone should go the extra mile and avoid using the metric system. Our allies in the War Against Saddam And Terror, the UK, uses the Pints, Pounds and Ounces, and our enemies, the French, don't. Why should we?

Compulsory metrication is undemocratic. In the USA we are free to do what we like, say what we like, but not measure how we like! Did you ever vote for the metric system? Our American weights and measures are units that we know and use. They are part of our heritage. Metrication will destroy part of our cultural inheritance and also weight us down with a difficult and meaningless system. The metric system is already creeping into the USA right now!

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