[joetek]

> Since the 1890s, U.S. customary units (the mile, pound, teaspoon, etc.) have all been defined in terms of their metric equivalents.

I don't know what the "official" definition is, but pounds are most often defined as 0.45359 kg. The problem is, pounds and kilograms are fundamentally different.

A pound is a measurement of weight (or the force that gravity exerts on an object), while kilograms are measures of mass. When you are measuring different things, we run into all kinds of issues of translation. You almost never hear of a pound being converted to "newtons" which would probably be more accurate.

The US needs to join the rest of the world. http://www.joetek.ca/the-list-of-countries-that-dont-use-the...