The Department for Transport wants to reduce sign clutter. Very commendable, you might think. So why don’t they adopt an obvious measure that would make many signs smaller, simpler and easier to read – and thereby reduce clutter? Continue reading “DfT misses another trick”
Category: General
Cabinet Office gets its kilowatts in a twist
Visitors to the Cabinet Office website will see that this branch of the Government is measuring its energy use in “kilowatt-hours per hour”. It is a sad reflection on the quality of civil service support given to this crucial part of the Government machine that such an incongruous and scientifically illiterate measure should be published.
Continue reading “Cabinet Office gets its kilowatts in a twist”
Metric traffic signs – an issue that goes round in circles but will not go away
The reply to a recent parliamentary question prompts thoughts about joined-up government in relation to measurement units.
Continue reading “Metric traffic signs – an issue that goes round in circles but will not go away”
Supersized Earth
A new series on BBC1 shows how our planet is being “re-engineered”, and it provides pointers to the future, some of them unexpected.
Thinking of buying a fridge?
A recent survey of their web sites leads us to speculate on where retailers see themselves: most plump for the present, but a few appear to favour the last century.
50 years of Celsius weather forecasts – time to kill off Fahrenheit for good?
Fifty years ago, on 15th October 1962, British weather forecasts switched over from the Fahrenheit scale to Celsius. Fifty years on, some parts of the British media inexplicably cling on to Fahrenheit measures, and the UK Metric Association (UKMA) says it’s time to kill off Fahrenheit for good.
[Press release issued on 15 October 2012]
Continue reading “50 years of Celsius weather forecasts – time to kill off Fahrenheit for good?”
Aggregation of marginal gains – a way forward for the ailing UK economy
The recent performance of our Olympians, in particular the Team GB cyclists and their support team, is in stark contrast to that of the UK economy. We ask if there are lessons for the British government.
Continue reading “Aggregation of marginal gains – a way forward for the ailing UK economy”
London 2012 – winners and losers
As the Games draw to a close, we take a look at some of the winners and losers.
UK metric myths tumble during the Games
Metric Views revisits some of the myths around the metric system, and asks readers to suggest how many of these might have lost credibility as a result of the welcome given in the UK to the Olympic Games of 2012.
NASA’s Curiosity rover lands on Mars
A recent comment on UKMA’s Facebook page has prompted Metric Views to look into NASA’s latest mission to Mars. This is reported to have landed at 06:32 BST on Monday 6 August.
