There should have been two stickers on each bottle of Mexican Coca Cola: one enables the product labeling to comply with the FPLA and states the volume in fluid ounces as well as milliliters, and a second "Nutrition Facts" label to comply with the FDA requirement for nutritional information. s We get that Coke product here in Texas, too, and it has those added, stick-on, labels on each bottle.
Australia's soft drink industry seems to have settled upon 375 mL as the "standard" can size. But there is also a 600 mL size from vending machines, just nine silly milliliters more than our 591 mL bottles (which are also 20 fl. oz.). Paul Paul Trusten, Registered Pharmacist Vice President and Public Relations Director U.S. Metric Association, Inc. Midland, Texas, USA +1(432)528-7724 www.metric.org [email protected] > On Aug 17, 2015, at 13:58, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: > > I was reminded today that sometimes we metricators lose sight of the forest > for the trees. We're always talking so much about how the U.S. is not > completely metricated that we overlook the increasing number of areas in > which it is becoming metricated. > > Some of you may have heard on the national news this morning of a moderate > earthquake that we had in Oakland, California. I happened to be watching > Oakland's local TV news station at the time. The experienced traffic > reporter, who has been with the channel for many years, must have immediately > gone onto the U.S. Geological Service site to get the information, which is > available these days in just a couple of minutes. > > The USGS site is metric, with no conversions and no apologies. The traffic > reporter stated that the epicenter of the earthquake was 1 kilometer from > Piedmont, California. He did no conversion. Later, the anchormen announced > that the earthquake was 1 kilometer, "or a little less than a mile," from > Piedmont. Later broadcasts used the mile figure. > > I follow golf a little on television. I have noticed that the European > tournaments, where the distance of the holes is signed in meters, are > described by American commentators in meters. Occasionally, they they will > give a quick conversion to feet (probably with those new distance-meters that > golfers use), but most of the time they stick just to meters. I haven't once > heard an objection. > > I think that we can learn some things from these incidents. > > 1) Americans may be more familiar with the metric system than we give them > credit for, so more of them feel comfortable using kilometers. > > 2) People are intrinsically lazy, so they will grab information in whatever > form it comes. If it is in metric, so be it. > > 3) Because of the international nature of news these days, with cable > channels coming into the United States from Canada, France, Russia, and the > Middle East, and more people getting their news off of the internet than from > U.S. TV stations, people are hearing metric units more and more as a matter > of course. I haven't once heard an objection. > > 4) News wire services (AP, AFP, Reuters) are international in scope. It is > easier for them to use metric for a worldwide audience. Sometimes they put > U.S. Obsolescent Units in parentheses afterward, but less and less as time > goes on. > > Remember when incandescent light-bulbs were replaced by compact fluorescents? > There was a major conversion when this happened from watts to lumens. > (Actually, watts are a metric unit too, but CFLs uses less wattage for the > same luminence.) This was a much more radical change than miles to > kilometers. I doubt that very few but scientists and us metricators even > knew what a lumen was! Yet, I heard no outcry. There were some conversion > charts and labels that indicated the equivalent wattage for legacy bulbs, but > eventually these will go away, and the proper unit for luminence, the lumen, > will be the only unit used. > > Today I noticed in the grocery store a Coke in the old-style glass Coke > bottle. It came from Mexico (when Cokes come from Mexico, you know that the > U.S. economy is in trouble!) As I happened to look at the nutrition label, I > noticed that the bottle was marked "355 ml." I guess that was supposed to be > 12 U.S. fluid ounces, but I looked all over the bottle, and I could find no > ounce equivalent given. Will it be long before these bottles are 350 ml, or > even 375 ml, to equate to a standard size of wine bottle? > > What is the moral of the story for us at USMA? I'm not completely sure at > the moment. Don, Paul, and the rest will have more insight, but what I do > know is that we need to rethink our approach, just as Don and Paul are doing > now. The old saw about the U.S. being the only non-metric country except for > two tiny Asian states is the wrong message, and -- worse -- it is false. We > are metricating, faster than ever before, but the impetus is not coming from > government, for the most part. > > There is an advantage in this. When the government does things, all the > ignorants rev up the anti-metric political nonsense. When private industry > and media do it, there is essentially no resistence. It just happens. In > this context, I am very happy to see the U.S. Metric Association's new motto: > "Advocating the Completion of U.S. Conversion to the Metric System." That > nails it! > > Martin Morrison > Metric Training and Education Columnist > Metric Today > >
