This one is simple. Let’s Go Metric! I love it that there’s an organization for just about everything, even going metric.
From today’s The Writer’s Almanac:
It was on this day in 1975 that Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act and started the “go metric” campaign with school activities, bumper stickers, public service announcements, and wall charts. But in 1982, Ronald Reagan disbanded the Metric Board and canceled its funding. The metric system was developed 200 years ago, during of the Age of Reason, and is based on numeric intervals of 10, while the U.S.’s measurement system is based on seeds and body parts. Today, the United States, Liberia, and Myanmar are the only nonmetric countries in the world.
From my previous blog entry about this topic: This map makes me laugh. Only Myanmar and Liberia (those bastions of democracy!) join us in being non-metric. We have this.
The US government won’t implement metric here at home, but will on the moon. It’s painful to think about the money that is being wasted because we’re not metric, and the lost business opportunities as well.
In case you’re wondering, as I’m writing this it is 12 degrees, and today’s high will be 19. When I lived in England, I used to think 25 was a really hot day. Since then, I’ve been to the Imperial Sand Dunes when it was 45 degrees.
Hmmm. This conversion to metric may take some doing. We’re going to need this handy tool.
(seen at Caltech)
Previously in this series:
Great Ideas 1 – Let’s Keep Church and State Separate
Great Ideas 2 – Let’s Free Health Care From the Shackles of Capitalism
Great Ideas 3 – Let’s Get Rid of the Electoral College
West Coast Grrlie Blather 