Joe, I sent your message to Valerie and Lorelle to seek their opinion. The whole issue of how to decide whether a country is metric or non-metric is never 100% clear. Depending on what the decision is based, even England might be listed as non-metric because of road signs and pints of beer (and milk?). And, many Caribbean countries might be non-metric due to use of Fahrenheit and a mixture of other units. How do we decide? I believe your message suggests we should remove Burma from the non-metric list. I remember Mike Payne's message about metric usage in Burma. On the other hand, it's just nice to place the U.S. in the same category as these other countries when it comes to metric. Kind of like shaming us into conversion. The USMA list was complied by someone years ago. I would have liked to see the details of that survey. How do we change that in a logical and systematic way? Don -----Original Message----- From: Joseph B. Reid [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, 2001 August 21 18:57 To: Hillger, Don Subject: Myanmar and Liberia. I had by chance reviewed the USMA page on Metric Usage in other countries. It listed Myanmar and Liberia as not metric. Burma (Myanmar) made the use of metric units legal in 1920, according to "Le Syst�me M�triqie" by H. Moreau, published by Chiron, Paris, 1975. Searching the Internet I found that Burma uses 3 systems: its own, imperial, and metric. Travellers to Rangoon airport report that the road signs are metric. The situation in Burma is evidently similar to that in the USA since 1866. I have been unable to find an official government statement on the situation in Liberia. However, travellers report that commerce tends to be metric, because Liberia is surrounded by metric countries, but, no doubt through inertia, the government still functions in inches and pounds. Joseph B. Reid 17 Glebe Road West Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071
