Saw an interesting show on Animal Planet tonight about the latest set of giant pandas at the National Zoo (which I used to go to when I lived in metro DC) and the work they did to get a baby panda born.
 
The one down side was observing all of the keepers and curators taking measurements of the baby in US Customary units only. I would have thought (naively?) that, as scientists who would later share the information with other scientists, they would have taken their measurements directly in metric (even if they later converted the data for the general US public on their web site to US Customary units). The video was unambiguous, however; they measured mass and length directly in pounds and inches directly.
 
Guess we have more of a ways to go here in the States than even I would have thought ....
 
(Still wishing for a happy -- and more metric -- new year. :-)
 
Ezra

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