Hi everybody,
I guess today, being the anniversary of France officially adopting the
metric system, is a great day to introduce myself and my first post
after following the conversations on this listserv for many years.
Anyone who lives or lived in Seattle during the 1970s may be
interested in this post from Seattlest:
Seattle, meet the Metric System
Calling all metric system nerds and Seattle history heads: today is
the 217th anniversary of the day the French National Assembly said
"Go!" to an official effort to create a metric system. In 1795, France
voted the new "meter" into effect as the national unit of measurement
and hasn't looked back since; it took the U.S. of A. until 1988 to
pass a similar resolution and, 20 years later, we're still not exactly
embracing kilometers on our highways and byways.
Where does Seattle come into all of this? That's what we're asking
you! We heard a rumor this morning that Seattle was somewhat of a hub
for the metrication of our nation back in the 1990s. This rings some
bells in the dusty claptrap of a brain we call home, but we have
searched the entire internet from top to bottom without uncovering a
single trace of evidence for that rumor.
Got anything for us? Any clues at all about what was happening in
Seattle 15, 20 years ago with regards to the hallowed, mathematically
gorgeous metric system?
==========
http://seattlest.com/2008/05/08/seattle_meet_th.php
I'm not old enough to remember what was happening back then but if
anybody does remember, I think it's a good opportunity to share your
experiences.
Oran
-------------------------------
Oran Viriyincy, Student
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Transportation Engineering & Planning
University of Washington
