NASA, which went all metric in 1996, isn't alone with a bumpy conversion. In 1983, a Canadian jetliner nearly ran out of fuel after someone pumped 22,300 pounds of fuel into its tanks rather than 22,300 kilograms. The plane safely landed. But not everybody is willing to jump on the bandwagon. Seaver Leslie, chairman of the Americans for Customary Weight and Measure, says the metric system isn't natural and conversion is a waste of money.
People can guess the length of a foot, for instance.
It's 3.28083989501312 feet. We don't need errors created by people fumbling around with two measurement systems. The best measuring system is the one you know. There are a few signs that the United States is inching toward some acceptance of the metric system. Supermarkets stock soda in 2-liter bottles and cameras take 35 mm film.