Re: One DoD programmer's hostility towards Ada and the Mandate

[cis.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!howland.]

In article <26guhl$jni@schonberg.cs.nyu.edu> dewar@cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar) wr
ites:
>There was not, and has never been, a "mandate" for the US to convert to
>metric measures. The issue has often been discussed, but as a result of
>popular opposition (and blatant ignorance on the part of our politicians,
>the transcripts of the hearings make amusing reading), no legislation
>was ever passed that I am aware of.
>
>Anyone know enough to contradict this?
>

Well, not that this has much to do with Ada ;>

The Metric System is the _only_ system that has received specific
legislative _sanction_ by Congress in the Law of 1866, which states
in part:

     "It shall be lawful throughout the United States of America
      to employ the weights and measures of the metric system; and
      no contract or dealing...shall be deemed invalid or liable to
      objection because the weights or measures expressed or referred
      to therein are weights and measures of the metric system."

The Trade Act of 1988 called for the federal government to adopt metric
specifications by Dec 31, 1992, and mandated the Commerce Dept to
oversee the program. "Sorry, folks, back in Arkansas, we all buy
our groceries in good old patriotic pounds. Only a citified
easterner would buy a 2.26 kg sack of potatos."

I personally believe it is an Illuminati conspiracy to inflict the
old furlongs/fortnights/stone system on impressionable youngsters,
thereby instilling in them a life-long frustration and resulting
fear of math and science ("Jason, will you be good enough to please
put down your Beavis and Butthead comic and tell the class how many
tablespoons there are in a gallon? You don't know? Well, Jason, I
just don't see how you're going to make your way in the world if
you are unable to master symbol basics like that.")

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