I should also mention that even US government institutions that should be metric are not. I talked with a good friend in the National Weather Service who said that hmself and his coworkers still measure temperature in farenheit and pressure in inches.
Much of the bucking against metric conversion comes from the local contractors who refuse to work in SI when building roads and other government structures. I know a friend who works in the department of transportation for my state who spent some time trying to get contractors to accept his bid for a highway which he designed in SI. He said he got passed up by many many contractors and eventually because of product deadlines redesigned it and then had a ton of bids on it. Since there's no law that requires the contractors to build in SI they won't. He was quite surprised because the contract was for a fair amount of money but the contractors told him it wouldn't be worth the time and effort of retraining or using new tools. Other than government entities the consumer sector seems to be continuing its inevitable march towards metric in a much more accomodating fashion :). On 11/18/06, Mike Millet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I'm guessing that the biggest driving force in the US is industry now. As far as a timeline I don't know. If the FPLA passes I would expect a ten to 15 year period before full metrication is complete and that's if the government and industry move with uncommon speed. If the FPLA doesn't pass and it's still being resisted I would expandd that window to 20 or 30 years. I hope for the former but somehow I think the latter might be closer to the truth. Still, it's increasing everyday so maybe I'll be proved wrong :) On 11/18/06, Bernard Rachtmann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > A piece furniture in my home needed some repair work recently. It is a > recliner, whose parts are manufactured in China. The chair had broken a > bolt and needed replacement. At first I assumed any bolt would slide in > > as a support, but it soon became apparent that only a specific bolt > would do, obviously the bolt was metric sized. > > This got me to thinking-- how many products require metric for > servicing? Anything thats imported will be designed and manufactured in > > exclusively SI/metric, as well as serviced. This forces all repair > industries to maintain dual inventories. This must be a heavy cost > burden on the suppliers and they probably see the benefit of completing > metrication. I bet this will really push conversion, especially since > more and more products are imported. > This is some great progress and an area that many consumers are > unexposed to. Sure they still buy gas in gallons food in lbs, but how > are the scales calibrated? What kind of equipment checks and services > them? Its all metric behind the scenes. > > So my question for the other posters is: What do you think is the > biggest driving force behind metrication today and how long do you think > > it will take for a "critical mass" to be achieved, where theres far more > metric than not. It appears already underway. > Once you attain that critical mass the pieces begin falling into place > on their own. Market forces will make metric compulsory. > -- > Bernard Rachtmann > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -- > http://www.fastmail.fm - Faster than the air-speed velocity of an > unladen european swallow > > -- "The boy is dangerous, they all sense it why can't you?"
-- "The boy is dangerous, they all sense it why can't you?"
