A few days ago, a news story appeared about the possible redefinition of the second. The BBC reported that scientists have invented a clock that loses just one second in 300 million years.
Category: General
What did the royal baby really weigh?
One of the most infuriating practices of the British media is to translate the proper medical data recorded by the hospital (in kilograms, naturally) into the obsolete units that were once used by our grandparents or great-grandparents. Thus, our future head of state is described as weighing in at “8lbs 6oz”. So how much is that, and is it a lot or a little?
Metrication in Australia
As the UK approaches the fiftieth anniversary of the commencement of its prolonged metric changeover, we draw attention to an article about a country that succeeded in making the transition in little more than a decade.
Forgotten British and Irish units
Magna Carta, signed on 15 June 1215, said, “Let there be one measure …”. This week, we illustrate the consequences of ignoring this principle by looking at some old measurement units whose meanings have now largely been forgotten.
Was the metre invented by the Ancient Egyptians 4500 years ago?
One of our readers, John Frewen-Lord, speculates that the metre may be the modern version of a measure that was familiar to the Pharaohs.
Continue reading “Was the metre invented by the Ancient Egyptians 4500 years ago?”
Panama catches up
Readers may have come across news stories concerning the conversion of petrol pumps in Panama from US gallons to litres. In this article, Metric Views aims to provide some background information.
DfT guilty of making unfounded claims
Yesterday, the National Audit Office (NAO) criticised the UK Department for Transport (DfT) for its unfounded claims about the benefits of the proposed high speed rail project HS2. In this article, Ronnie Cohen identifies another unfounded claim by the DfT – one that relates to the change to metric units on road signs.
A statement from UKIP
UKIP’s recent electoral successes have resulted, quite rightly, in increased scrutiny of its policies. Here, we take a look at a recent statement by the Party’s Trade spokesman on the subject of measurement units.
It’s trade or bust for Britain
This is the title of a recent article by Robert Peston, the BBC’s Business Editor. Clearly, successive UK governments over the years have failed to steer the country away from the latter and towards the former. We suggest a simple step that would help.
Familiar with imperial? Do you know that…?
Miles, yards, feet and inches, pints, pounds and stones. Yes, fifty years after the UK embarked on the metric transition, we still need to be familiar with some of those old units. In this article, Ronnie Cohen looks at some of the less well known and largely forgotten features of the imperial system.
Continue reading “Familiar with imperial? Do you know that…?”
