Metrication, was Re: WQPH Correction ...

[Ric Werme]

> How is it the official system of units in the United States?  Last I 
> heard, Jimmy Carter started a program to convert the US to the metric 
> system, but Reagan killed it.

It may not be official (except for wine, liquor, meds, and Feds), but it is
legal.

>From http://js082.k12.sd.us/Notes_and_Wrkshts/Metric_Factor-Lable/metric_system_info.htm
A better variant is  http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/dates.htm

1866 The use of the metric system made legal (but not mandatory) in the
United States by the Metric Act of 1866 (Public Law 39-183).  This law also
made it unlawful to refuse to trade or deal in metric quantities.

1975 The Metric Conversion Act of 1975 (Public Law 94-168) passed by
Congress. The Act established the U.S. Metric Board to coordinate and plan
the increasing use and voluntary conversion to the metric system. However,
the Act was devoid of any target dates for metric conversion.

1979 BATF requires wine producers and importers to switch to metric bottles
in seven standard [liter and milliliter] sizes.

1980 The Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
(BATF) requires distilled spirits (hard liquor) bottles to conform to the
volume of one of six standard metric [liter and milliliter] sizes.

1982 President Ronald Reagan disbanded the U.S. Metric Board and canceled
its funding. Responsibility for metric coordination was transferred to the
Office of Metric Programs in the Department of Commerce.

1988 The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-418)
amended and strengthened the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, designating the
metric system as the preferred measurement system, and requiring each
federal agency to be metric by the end of fiscal year 1992.