To be, or not to be - metric
Hello BillyGates,
Metric or Imperial - US gallons or Imperial gallons. One world standard perhaps. Measure things by cubits (not really but valid thousands of years ago). USA holding on to Imperial measurement systems probably shows independence from the rest of the world along with the United Kingdom. Australia changed to metric in 1974 but old habits still cling on for some of us, "oldies". I still think in feet and inches and sometimes miles per hour and most certainly miles per gallon. The Imperial system of measurements ties itself in knots when dealing with anything to do with nuts and bolts, screws, anything mechanical. The Whitworth thread for nuts and bolts totally different to SAE. In lots of ways metric is a better proposition for anything mechanical. Back a few decades ago America bought the English Electric Canberra bomber from Britain to to be then manufactured by Martin as the B-57. Hoo what a surprise. Every Imperial nut, bolt, screw and fitting did not match the USA Imperial system. Martin Aircraft had a massive task in converting everything to the USA Imperial measurement system. Millions of dollars.
America's decision to remain with the Imperial system probably does make sense when considering that the population is ? near 400 million and the sheer cost of converting everything to metric would cost billions over at least twenty years. Every factory, every manufacturer, and the long process of learning.
Browsers usually give a choice of Metric or Imperial. Some web sites do also. Even in the 40 years since Australia converted to Metric we still have some issues with the simplest things. Older classic cars are an example, all built to Imperial measurements, every nut and bolt. I still keep some Imperial measurement spanners and sockets.
Still, all this is just my opinion and probably way off track with your original question.
Cheers,
Aunty Jack.