Word: metrication
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...pride of Campania, a lush farming region that stretches from Naples to the slopes of Vesuvius. At the height of the harvest two weeks ago, deliveries of tomatoes to canneries were abruptly suspended by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture. Reason: suspicions that much of a 200,000-metric-ton crop, perhaps 30% of a bumper harvest, contained the poisonous insecticide aldicarb. Marketed by Union Carbide under the trade name Temik, this is the chemical that contaminated California watermelons in July...
...against cocaine. Our commitment is very clear. Colombia confiscated nearly 16 metric tons of cocaine last year, compared with 14.97 tons seized by U.S. authorities. We dismantled the biggest cocaine laboratories in international history. We have confiscated hundreds of airplanes, ships, boats and automobiles belonging to drug dealers. Despite all kinds of threats, including personal ones, we will continue to intensify our action. We are at the point of no return. We would like to see more drastic penalties against those who produce, process, distribute or consume drugs, especially in the U.S. The U.S. is the principal world market...
...skeptical view of many Americans, plans to convert the U.S. to the metric system of measurement is an idea whose time may never come. Nonetheless, in the ten years since Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, the country has undergone a quiet metrical transformation. Although the public still talks about ounces rather than grams, and quarts instead of liters, U.S. business is inexorably going metric. From computer parts to cosmetic creams, American goods are increasingly designed and packaged in metric units. So smoothly has this transition been accomplished that consumers now routinely buy wine in 1.5-liter bottles...
...biggest push for metrication has come from American exporters. Since the U.S. is the only major nation that has not embraced the metric system, companies must adapt to the rest of the world's standards if they wish to sell abroad. About two-thirds of the 1,000 largest U.S. manufacturers now use metrics to some extent, and all U.S. cars are currently designed to metric specifications...
...before the camera picks it up. "Welcome to Homework Hotline," he says. "I'm Ira Moskow ... I have John from Hughes Junior High on the line." When John, whose last name is Kellenberger, explains that he is having trouble converting 397 millimeters to meters, Moskow holds up a metric chart and asks, "Can you find meters on the chart, John?" Silence. "John?" "Yes." Gradually Moskow leads John out of his quandary, never providing the solution directly but taking him through the steps of moving the decimal point until John hits the answer...