If you are thinking of visiting the moon, you will now need to take only one set of spanners. (News item reported by two UK Metric Association members). Continue reading “NASA opts for a metric moon”
Month: January 2007
A call to legalise distance signage in metres on UK roads
Road signs in Britain closely follow international norms as laid out in the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals. Where possible, language-independent symbolic signs are used so as to be as universally understood as possible. (Article contributed by Martin Ward).
Continue reading “A call to legalise distance signage in metres on UK roads”
Steering a wrong course on the highways?
The Government’s reluctance to consider decimal measurement of distance on UK roads ignores a successful precedent at sea. (Article submitted by Derek Pollard).
A hard time with beds
Our correspondent reports problems matching the size of a new bed, mattress and bed linen. (Reported by m_t, and edited by Derek Pollard). Continue reading “A hard time with beds”
Measurement muddle damages education
I recently received the following enquiry expressing concern about imperial conversions in school.
“My daughter brought home some homework last week which included learning some constants – e.g. 1kg = 1000g. Included in the list was 1kg = 2.2lb and 1 mile = 1.6km. I think it’s out of order for a school to be spending time on metric/imperial conversions. Imperial is dead and the school should help to bury it. Do I have a point, and should I talk to the teacher?”
[article by Phil Hall]
