Word: metrics
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...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...
Relief agencies tried to rush food to the starving country by diverting grain shipments from other destinations. The World Food Program rerouted a freighter carrying 28,000 metric tons of grain to an Ethiopian port. Even so, the ship will not arrive until Dec. 12. Another vessel, carrying 10,000 metric tons of U.S. Government-donated grain to India, changed course and headed for the beleaguered country. In all, 80,000 metric tons of food were bound for Ethiopia last week. Yet even that was far from adequate. The Ethiopian government estimates that 1.2 million metric tons of grain will...
...Reagan Administration has promised 195,000 metric tons of food to Ethiopia, but not all of it has been shipped. In contrast, the Soviet Union has given the country little more than 300 trucks, 24 helicopters and 12 planes to deliver the West's food and supplies. The Soviets have donated only 20,000 metric tons of rice. Says a British official: "They came in late and probably decided it wasn't worth their while to catch...