I'm in the Federated States of Micronesia this week visiting Chuuk and Pohnpei and thought I'd forward some observations. This state has a loose alliance with the United States having been administered by the US since the Second World War. Independence was gained in 1986. According to a driver we had today the Official measurement system is metric, the actual situation is a mess. Grocery stores weigh and price items by the kg on digital scales with only kg on them and prices per kilogram. All the speed limit signs are US mph signs but many of the vehicles are imported from Japan and only have km/h speedometers. These latter vehicles are all Right hand drive but all vehicles drive on the right as in the U.S.
The airport weather is the same as the U.S. Metar, Visibility is in Statute miles and feet, Altimeter settings in Inches Mercury with the temperature and dew point in Celsius. All the TV stations show the regular US TV stations with the odd situation that the news is sometimes 2 or 3 weeks later than the actual occurrence. There was a news article on a Tsunami warning in Hawaii which gave the impression it was yet another Tsunami, it's only later you realize it's the same one from last month, I'm not sure how this works, unless it's just filler. I would imagine the TV signal here is via Satellite. Another odd situation is that the whole place has a US Zip code (96942) despite being an independent nation. There does not seem to be a local TV station. I need to point out that for some reason (since I went to a new email address) I've not been able to receive posting from the USMA Listserve, still trying to figure this out, but I do receive mail from all the private email addresses. So I may not reply to some emails if I don't get to see them. Mike Payne
