John;

I thought the UK – etc. drove on the “wrong side of the road”? England created a perfectly good measurement system and then abandoned it. We Americans (United States) continue the tradition of the English System even though our Congress in 1865 passed a law allowing our nation to go metric.

There is one area where ANSI (American National Standards Institute) has defined the English Measurement System to be superior to the Metric System. That has to do with screws and bolts. The number of threads per inch or cm and the pitch and depth of each thread determine its ability to “hold”. The English System wins out by a large margin as far as “holding strength”. So if the motor of your metric system automobile or jet plane falls off just remember you have been warned! :)

Tom


>Mike
>
>Depending what sort of freedom you are after, take it from one who has travelled to a fair few places that as a North American you won't find it much freer than in the USA or Canada.
>
>I'm sure you'd also enjoy places like UK, Australia, New Zealand that speak English and are very free in a different way, but they will persecute you by driving on the wrong side of the road and doing everything in metric- except that the UK will still use miles but will charge almost as much for a litre of petrol as you pay for a gallon. < g >
>
>Depends what you want. But be aware that once you leave the American Continent, Immigration Authorities will impose all sorts of rules on you and place big thumping stamps in your passport limiting your freedom in various ways.
>
>Regards
>
>JR