At 06:50 AM 5 September 2002 +0800, Mike Joy wrote: >I don't think you're going to get much joy out of these media >organizations. There's obviously some Congressman in Washington that's >telling them to "keep it American" (to the detriment of the future of all >Americans).
American news organizations are intensely independent from the US government. What you suggest would send most of them into fits. A congressman might offer a suggestion, but in no way could they do more than that. And I doubt that there are any congressmen who care about units of measure enough to even make a suggestion -- they are far more worried about upcoming elections. A far simpler explanation, and one that does not require visions of conspiracies, is simply that US news organizations respond to their audience, and, like it or not, most Americans don't really care about metrication. I do NOT mean they are against it: a small number are pro-metric, a small number are anti-metric, and for 90% or more it is not an issue of concern. As more and more Americans take an interest, the news media will get more and more letters and emails asking for metric units, then the media will respond. The only question is: how long is that going to take? Jim Elwell, CAMS Electrical Engineer Industrial manufacturing manager Salt Lake City, Utah, USA www.qsicorp.com
