In an apparent admission that cycle route signs showing distances in miles are not meaningful to cyclists, the Department for Transport is proposing to allow authorities the option of using signs that show journey times in hrs and mins instead of distances in miles and fractions of miles.
Continue reading “Chaos comes to National Cycle Network signs”
The Transport Department’s current review of traffic signs has so far avoided any mention of the “m” word and is likely to be a failure. UKMA has therefore produced its own proposals.
Continue reading “Traffic Signs Review produces INACTION plan”
According to Legible London, an initiative led by Transport for London, all existing pedestrian direction signs in London will be replaced by 2015 with new wayfinding signs. The enamelled monolith-style signs will have maps as well as directions and distances in “minutes”.
Continue reading “All distances on London pedestrian signs to be shown in “minutes””
In an attempt to reduce packaging waste, Sainsbury’s has begun selling milk in 2-pint plastic bags. It is claimed that the bags will reduce milk packaging waste by 75%.
Continue reading “Sainsbury’s chooses non-metric jug system”
But seriously folks. The article below was an April fool joke but the decimal tape measure is real. In Britain surveyors did use the decimalised foot before going metric. Clearly they recognised the advantages of a decimal system but realised that the metric system proper had much more to offer. The tape featured in the article is in fact American where they still use old fashioned units of measurement. They too clearly see the advantages of decimal in measurement, so the next step is …
Continue reading “Decimal measures to oust inches and miles”
An item on a BBC Radio 4 programme today included some interviews in a Tyneside market. A market trader was heard selling his wares with the cry, “Best bananas. Two pounds for a pound!”
In response to a misconception voiced in another article, https://metricviews.uk/2007/08/28/photo-paper-sizes/#comment-312, 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]
The naming of the Four Thirds camera system is a good example of a practice that is often used when a manufacturer wants to hide the true size of a product from the consumer. Namely, an obscure or deceptive imperial measuring convention is used instead of the original metric design size. The image sensors in Four Thirds cameras are actually 18 mm x 13.5 mm (22.5 mm diagonal), with an imaging area of 17.3 mm x 13.0 mm (21.6 mm diagonal) – quite a lot smaller than a diagonal size of four-thirds of an inch (33.9 mm), and significantly smaller than the 22.5 x 15.0 mm and 23.6 mm x 15.8 mm sensors used in the equivalent cameras of competitors Canon and Nikon.
The practice of describing image sensors in this deceptive manner continues from the days when all image sensors consisted of vacuum tubes and were described by the physical diameter of the glass tube, which was always larger than the “diameter” of the image sensor inside. Thus the imaging area of a Four Thirds camera sensor (17.3 mm x 13 mm) is the same as the imaging area of a hypothetical vacuum image-sensing tube of 4/3 inch diameter.
As with LCD and plasma TVs, technology has changed beyond the point where it makes any sense to continue using the old measuring conventions. It would be far more useful to modern consumers to describe the sizes of TV screens and camera image sensors in terms of width x height in standard metric units, than in terms of the diameters of hypothetical vacuum tubes, especially when these products now come in different aspect ratios. But, as is often the case, the needs of consumers do not always coincide with those of the marketing departments of manufacturers.
Further information on the Four Thirds system can be found at https://www.four-thirds.org/en/
In last night’s “University Challenge” (BBC2) between St Cross College, Oxford and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, the following question came up …
“Imperial measures. How many ounces in two and a half pounds?”
According to a BBC story, Dennis Hope, the self-proclaimed (imperialist?) owner of the moon, is selling plots of lunar real estate by the acre.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6533169.stm
BBC2 – Horizon – 2007-04-10 21:00
This story comes just weeks after a decision by NASA that all future manned moon missions, and permanent lunar bases, will use metric measurements exclusively.
http://www.metricviews.uk/2007/01/13/metric-moon-says-nasa/
So just how will future lunar landowners measure out their 1 chain by 1 furrow long on the moon?
By 1 January 2008, speed limiters will have been fitted to all recently registered, and many older, buses, coaches and goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes.
Continue reading “New motorway speed limits for goods vehicles?”
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