> So you're advocating a dual system?

I'm advocating what we've got now. Use the measurement units that are most convenient for whatever purpose you need them for at any given time. Basically, this whole thread is stupid, except insofar as it exercises debate skills, because we shouldn't be fixing what isn't broken. Other that some people's brittle personal irritation, there is absolutely no good reason why it's somehow bad to say Boston is about 3000 miles from San Francisco, then turn around and calculate a physics problem using meters, newtons, and joules.

If, in time, one system or the other falls out of favor, so be it. But there's no rational reason to force the issue either way. For now, people should be educated in both systems, know how to convert between the two, and feel free to use whichever one they wish to when the need arises.