The
internet is really increasing standardization. Language is becoming standardized around English and even odd English
acronyms like IMHO and LOL are becoming commonplace.
But I would
have thought that, by now, the U.S. would be closer to adopting the metric system. Here is an area that America is far behind the rest of the world in …
I wrote
five years ago:
why, o’ why, do we still use
inches, feet, miles, pounds, acres, leagues, ounces, Fahrenheit, tons, gallons,
bushels, hogsheads, horsepower, pints, and teaspoons?
I’m still
not sure. but I have a proposal to
Google … help us slowly move to the metric system.
Here’s the
logic:
First —
the old English system of measurements (that even the English don’t use
anymore) is evil. It is incredibly
inefficient and hard to grapple with. So
here is a small proposal on how Google can help rid some of this evil …
Very
simple:
Just
deliver information in both the English system and the metric system. In Google maps (which for American users
displays all distances only in miles) also display distances in
kilometers. If I type in "weather
san Francisco" into Google, also display the results in
Celsius. Etc.
Very
simple. A few small changes could help
the American public slowly acclimate to this "crazy" metric system.