[USMA:50553] Australia metric

[Harry Wyeth]

I recently spend a month in Australia, and thought readers might be interested in the below photo of a poster seen in a bookstore. Aussies have SI almost totally correct, but I did notice various forms of the plural of "km" on signs, including some posted by the national park service.  There is an overpass near one of Sydney's famous beaches posted with an old clearance sign in feet as well as meters.  Scuba diving depths are in meters; tank air pressure is measured in bars.  The captain of our scuba boat informed me that we were "50 kilometers, or 27.6 nautical miles" off the coast.  The Aussies we heard spoke of kilometers using both pronunciations , about equally.  Even when talking to obvious Americans, Aussies almost never resort to our "customary", which was very refreshing. It's a big country! HARRY WYETH IMG_1571.JPG