Peter said "Without wanting to stir up a hornets nest - I cannot understand
why individuals still work in non metric units. Dollars and cents seem to
have been accepted as a going concern."

In the early 70's, when I was a part of a multinational manufacturing
company, the US corporate world was well on its way to metrics and we were
enthuasiastic.  However, it was clear that little real progress would be
make without a congressional mandate.  That was also going well, with the
then President's support expressed as 'keeping America competitive in a
changing world'.  But there came a day in the House when a Democrat (I think
it was Ted Kennedy) got up on the floor and said (approximately) 'why are we
discussing this'?  'We have the strongest economy in the world, but we are
talking about retraining and reeducating 150 million people presently
communicating very well using inches, feet, pounds, ounces, bushels, and
pecks.'  'It seems the only ones who want this change, and who will
benefit, is Corporate America, and why should 150 million of us accomodate
those few?"

That populist speech shut down the discussions...to this very day.

It seems clear that to some we should not consider metrics until such time
as our nation is destitute.  Remember...elections are near.

Lloyd

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