The following article appeared in March/April 2016 edition of Metric Today, the newsletter of the US Metric Association (USMA). It is being re-posted with USMA’s permission.
Continue reading “Notable anniversaries in the last hold-out of irrational measures”
Metric Views has come across a personal view on the use of the metric system in Germany that may surprise some of our readers.
In this article, Ronnie Cohen looks at lists of plausible conversions in both directions between imperial units still in use in the UK and metric units.
In December 2015, television weather forecasters expressed our record rainfall in millimetres while the national newspapers stubbornly stuck to inches. Apparently, the use two different measurement systems for the same phenomenon is alive and well in the UK. Ronnie Cohen looks at other aspects of British national life where two competing systems are used for measuring the same thing.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has recently published a report entitled “Building Skills for All: A Review of England”, part of the OECD Skills Studies series of reports. Ronnie Cohen considers its findings.
Continue reading “OECD report highlights problems with numeracy in England”
In this article, Ronnie Cohen writes about a UK publication involving measurement that is aimed at a global readership.
Continue reading “Pocket World in Figures: A common booklet for a global readership”
Ronnie Cohen reviews the 2015 Edition of the The Official Highway Code to comment on what has changed since the last edition and what has remained the same.
Continue reading “Review of The Official Highway Code 2015 Edition”
OR A Tale of Over Forty Years of Dimensional Co-ordination in UK Kitchens
An article in the recent UKMA newsletter by the Editor on renovating his kitchen has prompted one of our regular contributors, John Frewen-Lord, to relate his own recent experiences doing the same thing, and how the use of metric units has saved enormous amounts of time and money in the process.
Ronnie Cohen has observed several similarities between successive governments’ policies on airport expansion and metrication. Although they are completely unrelated issues and there is no link between the two, it speaks volumes about the inability of the British government to act in the national interest and to face down opposition where necessary.
Continue reading “Parallels between metrication and airport expansion policy”
The 1975 Metric Conversion Act (MCA) was signed into law by President Gerald Ford on December 23, 1975. To mark the 40th anniversary of this event, Ronnie Cohen looks at the introduction of the Act and its effect on metrication in the USA.
Continue reading “An anniversary for the US Metric Conversion Act”
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