US Resistance to Metrication (the real reason)

On September 3 1999, after a 286 day journey from Earth to Mars, a $125 million NASA probe called the "Climate Orbiter" plunged through the Martian atmosphere on a trajectory that was about 100km closer to the surface of the planet than had been planned. The resultant heat caused by atmospheric friction damaged the probe's systems to such an extent that it became completely dysfunctional. The probe was never heard from again but is assumed to be currently somewhere in space orbiting the sun; a very expensive testament to America's refusal to adopt the metric system.

The reason the probe was 100km closer to Mars than it was supposed to be was that Lockheed-Martin, the spacecraft's manufacturer, used the archaic U.S. traditional system of measurement (the system currently widely-adopted in the U.S.) to program navigational information into the probe, while NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California used the metric system (used throughout the rest of the world). The mismatch prevented navigation information from transferring between the spacecraft team at Lockheed-Martin and NASA's JPL team, resulting in the $125 million bungle.

There are only 3 countries on Earth that have not officially adopted the metric system. They are Liberia (in western Africa), Burma (also known as Myanmar, in Southeast Asia) and the United States of America.

The US Metric Association are working to try and convince Americans to change to the metric system (principally to ensure U.S. exports are not harmed by foreign unwillingness to work in inches and pounds), and the U.S. Government has adopted a pro-metric stance with the Metric Conversion Act (1975) and a 1991 Presidential Executive Order, but average Americans are still resistant to this change for 3 major reasons:

1. The metric system did not originate in America - Americans do not believe there is a world outside America.
2. The Metric system is French - America is afraid of France.
3. Americans are special

But seriously, the real reason for American resistance to the metric system is rooted in popular entertainment. If America went metric, all those songs where people are prepared to traverse 1000 miles in the name of their love would now have to present 1609.34 kilometres as the required distance. Instead of your lips hovering an inch away from your lover's, they'd now be 2.54 centimetres away, and how cool would Eminems movie; "8 Mile" have sounded if it was called "12.87 kilometres"? It all just fails to roll off the tongue in any lyrically satisfying way.

So while there may be all kinds of compelling reasons why America should adopt the same system of measurement used by the rest of the world, until someone finds a way to make 0.114 kilograms sound sexy, the quarter-pounder is going to remain, the quarter-pounder.