When does 212 finally equal 100?

So it's official. I'm preggies. Yep, it's all of 6 weeks away from the due date, which of course, means that this little one is due between one and two months from now. It'll be exciting to have three little ones running around. Right now we've two girls, 5 3/4 (one can't forget that added fraction!) and 3. Of course the 3 year old insists that she's 100. It makes sense, of course, to be a centenarian, as there is no way that her older sister can surpass that measure by her next birthday.

Which leads me to my first question of this blog. We are a society that has frowned upon the metric system, insisting that water boils at 212 degrees, rather than 100, while simultaneously embracing (gorging ourselves upon?) vitamin supplements by the milligram (or is it kilogram?) Yeah, that makes sense. So how did it happen that we became mixed up about our measurements? I could blame Lockheed Martin for this, but that would be childish.

In his book "Measuring America: How an Untamed Wilderness Shaped the United States and Fulfilled the Promize of Democracy," (Walker Publishing Co, NY; 2002) Andro Linklater writes about the process by which we, in our infinate strive for modernity, actually were to be one of the first countries to adopt the metric system, or 'International System of Units,' it's official title.

Back in 1857, the American Customary System of Weights and Measures, our very own 12 inches equal one foot method, was adopted as the federal system. No surprise. But just nine years leter, as Linklater writes,

"Congress passed the Metric Act allowing metric measurements to be legally used alongside it. In 1875 the United States became one the the original signatories of the Treaty of the Meter, and an increasingly influential scientific and technological community pushed the government towards adopting the system...At this point, the intellectual battle should have been over--the American Custory System no longer has any indepdenent basis for its standards." (249)

So, what happened? We buy soda in 2-liter bottles (haven't seen one of the 3-liter mamoths for years) and run 20 meter races. And, in my current state, there's the ever-important 10 centimeters. (I won't elaborate, but anyone with children I'm sure understands!) When visiting the doctor's office, why are my children measures in pounds and inches, rather than kilos and centimeters?

According the U.S.Metirc System's FAQ website http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/faq.html#metric, the Federal government has already made the switch. "The federal government, realizing the necessity to produce "world class" products so they can be sold worldwide, is providing leadership in helping industry make the transition to metric. This is being accomplished by the government's switching to metric usage and requesting its contractors to supply metric products when the government buys goods from our industries."

This is all well and good, but the process by which we are making this swich isn't so smooth. Back in 1999, NASA's 4th expidition to Mars crashes as a result of two different teams of scientists each using a different system. Or, rather, one new team of scientists, screwed up. I'll let Linklater explain:

"The new team taking over responsibility for the Orbiter at the manufacture, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, was accustomed to dealing in American Customary units, rather the metric as specified by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which was responsible for managing the Mars missions. In writing the software for the Orbiter's thruster engine...Lockheed engineers specified its force in pounds instead of newtons." (258) 1 pound-force = approximately 4.448 newtons, Linklater notes.

Yep, Lockheed Martin did screw us again. But that's another blog.

During my few years as a lab assistant (one situation in which I was working for one of the most amazing plant science prof out there, George Elliot http://www.canr.uconn.edu/plsci/f_gce.htm) we used nothing but the metric system. Labware dried at 65 degrees C, not 149 degrees F. Pippettes are categorized by mL not ounces. And yet, we measure our food by the ounce and our deionized water by the pint. Pretty soon, however, we may need to buy kilos of flour rather than pounds.

In three years, the European Union will require that all of its member countries use exclusively metric measuresments. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology,

"[b]eginning January 1, 2010, the European Union Council Directive 80/181/EEC (Metric Directive) will allow the use of only metric units, and prohibit the use of any other measurements for most products sold in the EU. The Metric Directive will make the sole use of metric units obligatory in all aspects of life in the European Union, extending to areas such as product literature and advertising. " (NIST Metric Informations and Conversions page, http://ts.nist.gov/WeightsAndMeasures/Metric/mpo_home.cfm)

Where does this leave us? And what about our friends across the pond, who skirted the Euro issue, and managed to keep their pound sterling? According to the European Commission Press Office's Fact Sheet, the switch will not lead to the end of the pint glass or the the 12 inch pizza in the UK. "Since 2000 the UK has been fully metric with four exceptions (miles for traffic indications and speed measurements, pints for draught beer and milk in returnable containers, acres for land and troy ounces for precious metals.)...Ireland has metricated its road traffic signs distance and speed measurements in January 2005, but both it and the UK will need to set dates for all of the changeovers." (ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/press/doc/metrication.pdf ) Still, the Commission's Fact Sheet reads, "the metric system does not necessarily spell the end of the British pint. The Commission sees no reason why pubs should not be able to continue selling pints." At least they've got their priorities in order, eh?

It appears that the jury is still out as to how this will affect the US trade market. Stiff fines have been imposed (I've read $200,000 per infraction, but can't varify this) for selling items to EU-member countries labeled with any non-metric measurement. Perhaps that's why everything, even my shampoo bottle, has both US and Standard measurement systems represented; to initiate us slowly. Not that Americans have ever been a people who take kindly to change.

Whatever the case, it'll be nice to have some sort of standard that is in constant use, both in the laboratory and the supermarket. As long as Lockheed Martin deosn't have anything to do with the programming, of course.