The new Highway Code is an example of the consequences of the Britain’s measurement system muddle. Its mixture of units from the imperial and metric systems brings confusion, when clarity should be a foremost requirement. The UK Metric Association (UKMA) has looked forward to the completion of the metric changeover, and produced a simplified, metric version of the Highway Code to illustrate the clarity that one system makes possible. (Press release issued on 27 September) (more…)
Archive for September, 2007
Britain’s new Highway Code. Updated but outdated – a victim of the measurement muddle
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007The Four Thirds system
Monday, September 17th, 2007In response to a misconception voiced in another article, http://www.metricviews.org.uk/2007/08/28/photo-paper-sizes/#comment-4192 , it may surprise some readers to learn that the image sensors in Four Thirds digital cameras do not have a diagonal size of four thirds of an inch.
[Article by Martin Ward] (more…)
Metric and the decline of UK manufacturing industry
Thursday, September 13th, 2007Metric Views’ attention has been drawn to an article recently posted on the “Weekly Gripe”. This links the decline in the 1980’s of the UK’s engineering and manufacturing industries to their failure to embrace metrication in the decade before.
No return to pounds and ounces
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007Today’s announcement by the European Commission that it is to propose that “supplementary indications” (such as lbs and oz) should be allowed indefinitely does NOT mean that traders can go back to weighing and pricing in imperial measures – so says the UK Metric Association (UKMA) In fact it will be business as usual. Just as they do now, traders will have to weigh or measure goods in metric units (kilograms, litres or metres) at the checkout and also display prices in metric units – with the option of a supplementary indication in non-metric units. [Press release issued on 11 September}