For more on this subject, I recommend "Time Lord" [subtitle: Sir Sanford
Fleming and the creation of Standard Time] by Clark Blaise ISBN
0-375-40176-8

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375401768/qid%3D998411713/107-612154
7-7574109



"Wirt Atmar" <[log in to unmask]> wrote in message
news:9ls2ac0362@enews4.newsguy.com...
> Jeff writes:
>
> > We
> >  should all just use UTC (or some equally global time system) and time
> >  references at every level (from computer databases to what time the
movie
> >  starts) should be listed in that system.  On the other hand, what
decade
> >  was it that the US officially decided to adopt the metric system?  That
> >  makes just as much sense... and we're still acting not only like it
won't
> >  ever happen but that it shouldn't.
>
> On the subject of when did America adopt the metric system, P.J. O'Rouke
said
> that drugs have recently taught an entire generation of American children
the
> metric system.
>
> Otherwise, officially, the US became a metric-based nation during Thomas
> Jefferson's tenure as Ambassador to France. The metric system was
originated
> in France. As one small item made in promise for enlisting France's help
was
> Jefferson's avowal to convert the US to the metric system (as opposed to
the
> "English" system of weights and measures). Jefferson made the promise in
all
> earnestness and continued to promote its advantages all during his time as
> President and beyond. For the duration of Jefferson's presidency, the US
> *was* a metric nation.
>
> Similarly, the US adopted Daylight Savings Time because of Benjamin
> Franklin's stay in Paris immediately after the Revolutionary War, during
> which he helped work out the final peace treaty between England and the
newly
> formed country of the United States of America. Again, Daylight Savings
Time
> was a French notion, but this time there was no pressure to adopt it.
> Franklin merely thought that it was an excellent idea.
>
> Wirt Atmar
>
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