On May 17, 2005, at 3:32 PM, Rick wrote:
I can just see the United States trying to do a mass
conversion of highway signs. Each state would have to
sign off on it, and many would not just out of "the
federal government can't tell us what to do."
That's pretty much what actually happened.
1975: Federal projects are required to start moving to metric.
1978: The law is updated to ban the use of federal funds on metric
road signs (that's how the few that were installed managed to
disappear over time).
1979: It's allowed again, but only in Puerto Rico.
1991: Metric signs are no longer banned.
1995: States are still allowed to install metric signs (and in a
startling innovation, are now allowed to build roads to metric
dimensions!), but the Feds are prohibited from requiring them to do so.
The rest of the world is now welcomed to join in yet another chorus
of "what is *wrong* with those people?"