[USMA:51856] The Olympics, and on and on....

[Harry Wyeth]

I have watched both summer and winter Olympics for years now, and am 
convinced that there will never be any changes in the reporting.  In the 
winter events, the announcers always tell us that there are so-and-so 
miles to go for the skiers in the 50 km cross country event.  And the 
way things were reported for the summer games are not different from the 
way I remember them at the Atlanta games.  It just isn't going to 
change, much to our disgust.

I have said for years that the /only--only/--way things are going to 
change in this sometimes-advanced-sometimes-backward country is for 
metrication to be mandated by the government.  It need not be all at 
once or even obvious, but it has to come from on high.  For 
instance....the Weather Service could fix their website so that temps 
are always displayed in degrees C, and the viewer would have to select F 
manually every time he viewed the page. Topographic maps could be 
published with meter elevations only. Milk sold in military PXs could be 
in liter containers only (as in Canada).  And so on.

And there is the terrible AP, as we all know.  They aren't going to 
change unless someone else leads the way.  And can you imagine the 
political nonsense that would result if a candidate for national office 
were to say he favored metrication?  The Tea Party would come unglued.

Sorry to be so pessimistic, but I have watched this for years now and 
not seen much progress.

HARRY WYETH