[Wikipedia-l] Metric v. English

[Magnus Manske]

Jimmy Wales wrote:

>One side note is that Tarquin changed 9,000,000 square miles to
>23,000,000 square kilometers.  This move was apparently
>uncontroversial.
>
>Is that right?  As an American, I frankly confess that the metric
>system is a curiosity to me.  9,000,000 square miles, I can grasp,
>because I know how long a mile is intuitively.  The kilometer, on the
>other hand, is non-intuitive, just an arbitrary length from a
>textbook.
>  
>
As a Eurpoean, I never touched miles, yards, etc. until I worked in the 
US for a few month. Always missed these highway exits ;-)

As a scientist, I have to insist that the metric system is to be the 
main system used on Wikipedia! (Of course, feel free to mention 
miles&co. somewhere too;-)

Magnus