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Re: pounds



Au contraire, Chuck. To quote from a recent article in the Dallas
Morning News by Jim Landers, "standards leaders" (whatever that
means) held a Standards Summit last week in DC to discuss ways to
"keep US competitiveness in touch with global practice." They agreed
on four points, including the need to finally bring the metric system
into daily use in the USA.

Pressure for change today comes from the global economy. The EU has
already issued an edict for exclusively metric labeling by the start
of the next millennium. US trade negotiators won a delay but at the
cost of worldwide sales.

US auto makers went global years ago. How long can our aircraft,
computer, and office supply manufacturers hold out against world
opinion?

Of course, we might always take the attitude of the old Texas Aggie,
"If I see a centimeter, I'll step on it."

But I agree with Landers. It can't be too much longer before our
school children and wood workers use centimeters rather than
inches. Strangely enough, in 1779 the infant USA was the first nation
in the world to adopt decimal units -- but only for currency. Now if
only we could convince the NYSE to quote stock prices in decimal
dollars rather than fractions.

Poj