Monday, January 08, 2007

Metric

Use metric. I don't know why the Americans are still using the customary units. I'd like to ask, if a pound of meat costs $3.45, how much does one ounce cost? Who can compute 3.45 / 16 without aid? How much does one ounce of water weigh? Ah ha, there are many different ounces, such as American fluid ounce (29.57 ml), British fluid ounce (28.41 ml), avoirdupois ounce (regular weight system, 28.35 g), and troy ounce (31.1 g). When the United States achieved independence, Thomas Jefferson promoted a decimal currency, as opposed to the British 1 pound = 20 shillings = 240 pence system. There are a series of acts in the States to promote the metric system, such as the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 and its amendments. But the voluntary conversion is useless. Because the metric is not yet adopted, Amazon has encountered problems when transmitting product information with other companies. Yes, habits are hard to change, and it will cost a great deal. But the earlier the better. If Canada and Australia can, so can the United States.

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