Word: metrication
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Since Jan. 1, when wine and liquor bottlers began observing a federal mandate to switch to metric measurement, the cost of boozing has been confusing. Pints, fifths, quarts, half-gallons and gallons are being replaced in stores by new-size bottles. The quart, for instance, is being supplanted by a container holding 1 liter (a good slurp more than the old bottle); a half-gallon jug of vino now comes in a 1.5-liter size, while the half-gallon of hard stuff has become a 1.75-liter container. Judging the better buy between sizes is enough to drive an Einstein...
...Grain exports are measured in metric tons, equal to about 2,205 Ibs. A metric ton of soybeans contains about 37 bu., of wheat about 37 bu., of corn about...
...Department of Transportation dispatched two big 378-ft. Coast Guard cutters, the Midgett and the Rush, to keep watch over Soviet trawlers fishing off Alaska. The Soviet catch in U.S. waters will be limited to the 75,000 metric tons allowed under permits issued by the U.S. in November; the Soviets had counted on netting about 435,000 tons of fish in American waters this year, about 3% of their annual consumption...
...Administration quickly found itself with some unofficial support. Acting on its own, the International Longshoremen's Association declared a boycott in ports from Maine to Texas on all cargo to or from the U.S.S.R., leaving Moscow with no way to obtain the 3.4 million metric tons* of U.S. corn that is exempt from Carter's embargo. The corn is part of the 6 million to 8 million tons that the U.S. had promised to sell to the U.S.S.R. each year under a long-term agreement signed by both governments in 1975; at least an additional 4 million to 6 million...
...Carter Administration has been trying to persuade other wheat-exporting nations to cooperate with the embargo and not sell the Soviets the 17 million metric tons of grain eliminated by the U.S. So far, Canada and Australia have given "pretty firm" commitments to go along with the embargo, while Argentina is a question mark. Even if these nations do cooperate, the Soviets may still find other ways to get their grain. Says Verel Bailey, an Iowa corn grower: "The Russians are very effective in manipulating international pipeline supplies. It would not surprise me if a lot of grain starts heading...