After celebrating the arrival of decimal currency in the UK 50 years ago, Metric Views now goes back to basics on decimal measurement. No, we shall not be looking at nautical distances or Gunter’s chain! Continue reading “How metric units fit together”
Tag: units
Metric reminders for your holiday
As we approach the summer holiday season, Ronnie Cohen looks at the familiar metric units that we are likely to encounter wherever we go on holiday. And, yes, that includes the USA, although its exceptionalism is likely to provide us with a few problems.
Diaries, and a glimpse into the past
Many of us have probably bought a diary for 2018 recently. Ronnie Cohen takes a look at the conversion tables found at the front of many sold in the UK.
Autumn watched
UKMA has received a message from a viewer of BBC’s ‘Autumn Watch’. This article includes the message and the response.
Pricing, profits and customer confusion
Inevitably, the referendum result has led to calls for a return to some of the measurements that Britannia used when she ruled the waves. Ronnie Cohen suggests an underlying reason.
No flight information please – we’re British
Ronnie Cohen wonders why at least one budget airline flying from the UK targets its flight information at continental and American passengers.
Continue reading “No flight information please – we’re British”
Planned upgrades to the SI
We kick off 2017 with an article for metric geeks.
Quirks of US Customary Units
Some would argue that the decline of manufacturing industry in the USA contributed to Mr Trump’s surprising victory in the Presidential election*. Others might say that manufacturing’s decline was due in part to the tardy adoption of the international system of measures. Here we look at some of the quirks of ‘English measures’, a throw back to the USA’s colonial past and still widely used in America today.
