The Advance Of The Metric System

The SMH's Column 8 has been talking about measurement lately, in particular which countries are stuck in Fahrenheit for measuring temperatures, but it looks like the discussion will be broadening out.

Still on matters of measurement, Richard Macey, of Pendle Hill, refers us to a marvellous 2007 NASA press release, announcing that the United States had finally agreed that the moon should be measured in metrics by all nations. Hailing this as a victory, NASA said the metric system had increased its coverage of the ''land area in the solar system by 27 per cent'' but it had yet to include the US, Burma and Liberia.