Tuesday, December 16, 2014

The U.S. switchover to metric

By Jack Brummet, Measures Ed. 

This is a map of countries not using the metric system (it's puzzling, yes, but I'm OK with it).

I was in that generation of 60's kids who were completely indoctrinated in the metric system in Elementary School--our teachers were trained, and schools were given all sorts of metric teaching tools, and metric trash and trinkets.  We were ready for the big switchover.  Ever since, I can convert back and forth in my head pretty seamlessly.  But along the way we faltered, and ended up really only converting wine and whiskey to the new system (and, as someone noted when I posted a version of this on Facebook, the packaging of street drugs taught entire generations about  people about micrograms, grams, and kilograms).  

Liberia, Myanmar, and the U.S.A.--keep rocking your system!








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