Poems and Thoughts    by Frank Maurer

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The Metric Conversion Act. I arrived to live near Davis, California, in 1979. I shall always remember the State sign on I80. The sign indicated the distance to Sacramento and the East Coast, But not in a usual manner--there were two systems used! One was the normal 'mileage', the other, the metric. What was going on? Metric in the US? Yes indeed. The US was the last country to attempt to go metric. In the 1970's, President Ford put forward the Metric Conversion Act. This was an attempt to at last convert this country to the metric system. Of the many entities needing conversion, road 'mileage' signs were one. This, as we know, did not succeed. However, to match the rest of the metric world, Much of our food and drink, automobile and aircraft dimensions, And our medications are also measured metrically. But our children are stuck with the British System. How many feet in a mile? (5280). How many meters in a kilometer? (1000). How many inches in a yard? (36). How many centimeters in a meter? (100). I won't even ask how many feet in a rod? (16.5 feet or 5.5 yards)! Ok, a Chain is 66 feet or 22 yards. Ten Chains in a Furlong! Oh, and there are 100 Links in a Chain. (0.66 feet or 7.877892 inches equals one Link). Do you see my point? The metric system is built on base 10. For a child to thoroughly (which they don't) learn the British System, It takes about three years of school time to perhaps learn this system. Can you imagine how many other important things could be learned instead? The metric system uses basic names (centi, milli, deci, kilo)--no Furlongs! And conversions are accomplished by merely moving a decimal point! Need I say more, considering the precious learning time available? We, as a people, are absolutely stuck in our ways. (Just as our British cousins were for so long!) Frank Maurer 27 December 2025 1310 Hours.