US finally giving boot to official foot measurement
WASHINGTON (AP) — Change is afoot for the official measuring stick used to size up big places in America.
The reason? There are actually two different definitions of the 12-inch measurement known as a foot.
Some land surveyors use what’s known as the U.S. survey foot. Others use the definition that’s more accepted by the broader world: the international foot.
The difference between them is so tiny that you can’t see it with the naked eye on a 12-inch ruler. But over big distances, it matters. So, to reduce the chance for errors and confusion, the federal government has announced it’s finally giving the boot to the survey foot.
The international foot is the smaller one — adding about an eighth of an inch of difference when measuring a mile. That means the United States is 28.3 feet wider when measured using the international foot instead of the survey foot.
Read more: https://dentonrc.com/ap/washington/us-finally-giving-boot-to-official-foot-measurement/article_ef042383-22d8-5e48-9cd1-a8b8b16793f4.html
(Denton Record-Chronicle)
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But you're right, everything that I did in the lab dating back to the 80s required me to measure in the metric system. 
I certainly enjoyed being the lab assistant to the incoming class of first year students when they took general chemistry and the one summer session when I was the lab assistant for "baby chem" even though it was at the god-awful 8 a.m. time. I was also the only student that was successful in making a certain polymer, It turns out that the reagents involved in the experiment reacted differently in high humidity conditions--when an unopened canister of that chemical was used then there was success! Please pardon the non-technical jargon since it was over 30 years ago.
My experience as a student in the lab was a bit different. My first semester in general chemistry involved quantitative analysis. The lab was crowded with the pre-meds who would eventually wash out and change majors. Most of my lab experiments would be considered as a "B" grade, but my classroom grades pulled me up to an "A" for the class. The irony was that when I took chemistry in high school I made a "B" and that professor had a reputation throughout the state for washing out the pre-med majors. He reminded most of the students as the Tom Baker version of Dr. Who.
When I was in organic chemistry, my lab partner only showed up for 2 of the 12 lab sessions, so that meant long times in the lab and it would have helped to have an extra set of hands to set up the lab apparatus. I'm still friends with the missing lab partner and his absences gave me a small advantage in the second semester when we worked alone.
The class that killed me in the lab was adsorption spectroscopy--having to learn how to use the nmr and gaining more experience on infrared spec and the gas chromatography was difficult. To top it off, I took the wrong unknown chemical for the field trip to the University of Texas for mass spec. because the trip was relatively early in the semester--I was still in the process of purifying the unknowns when the field trip occurred. At the end of the semester I had to use the melting point to choose between nonadecane and icosane--having the molecular weight would have helped make my determination.
By the way, I finally thought of one possibility where a chemist might use an English system measurement: anything that might involve taking pressure readings and I believe that PSI is still the normal measurement units. Please correct me when I'm wrong though.
I'm glad that you find your time in the lab so fulfilling. My experiences were mixed and I was also having vision problems--my prescription changed about 2 diopters within a six month period during junior year and I was probably pre-diabetic in hindsight. I also inherited a slight tremor that affected my abilities in the lab. I occasionally see both my general chemistry and organic chemistry professors at various campus events. They both remember me and in some ways, I feel like I may have disappointed them since my career only peripherally touched upon the sciences. However, I don't have any regrets taking the chemistry and physics classes. If nothing else, I learned how to write procedures and use the scientific methods in my career.
My only regret is that they didn't offer software engineering as a major when I was in college because I would likely be filthy rich at this point in my life. My closest friend has three sons who graduated from UT with software engineering degrees and all of them are starting their careers earning more than either of us achieved at the peak of our careers (yes, there is some envy).
