Back in the late 1990s, NASA launched the Mars Climate Orbiter to further explore the mysteries of the red planet. The satellite cruised for close to a year, then fired its main engines to enter orbit around Mars. It disappeared behind the planet and never reappeared. The Orbiter had crashed into Mars. {Listen}
Efforts to metricate the U.S. were left stranded halfway between old and new. In a typically American way, the market decided who went metric and who didn’t and so the U.S. now sits on what’s called a “metric continuum.” The fields of science and medicine are almost fully metricated, and with little controversy. But in the business realm, it’s a mix. Some businesses are fully metricated, others not at all, and a lot are left somewhere in between.
