Give A Guy An Inch, He Thinks He's A Ruler

Governor Lincoln Chafee has announced for President.  That barely qualifies as news.  But one part of his platform has got a lot of attention: he wants America to go metric.

I remember when I was a kid being told the U.S. would make the transition before very long. I memorized the conversion formulas (2.54 centimeters is an inch, a kilogram is 2.2 pounds, a mile is 1.6 kilometers, a healthy human body is 37 degrees Celsius) and waited. Nothing happened.  It was just around the corner, but I guess we haven't hit that corner yet.

Would the metric system be a good idea?  Sure.  Rather than worrying about ounces to pounds, or inches to feet, etc., having everything be in tens of each other makes it easy.  But then, some people say there are more efficient typewriter keyboards, but we've learned QWERTY and I don't want to change.

Truth is, down deep, I like how ornery the U.S. is.  Who cares what the rest of the world does?  Our leaders may think they know better, but we're in charge, and it's too much of a hassle to change.  So that's that.  Live with it.

Or as Grampa Simpsons put it: "The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it."