There is a new board game, about measurement, called “How Many What?!”. Or rather it is about describing the size of things without the benefit of a universal measurement system.
The game’s blurb says, “Some people will use anything but the metric system to measure things! How Many What?! is the ridiculous party game of absurd comparisons.”
Recent Metric Views articles have discussed the poor awareness of the meaning of driver location signs amongst the general public, and argued that despite their inclusion in recent editions of the Highway Code, there is still a need for a new public information campaign about these signs.
However, could there be another reason why driver location signs are poorly understood? And is there a solution that would both increase public awareness and increase their use?
Continue reading “Do our motorway junction numbers hinder the use of driver location signs?”
When four new SI prefixes were added to the International System of Units (SI) in November 2022, one of the main reasons cited for their need was for their use in data science, where the numbers involved in describing quantities of information have become ever larger. e.g. The amount of data generated by the internet is projected to hit 175 zettabytes by 2025.
Today in Parliament, the House of Commons is scheduled to debate a Bill, introduced on 22 September by Jacob Rees-Mogg, entitled, Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill. The innocuous sounding title belies the disruptive, and potentially devastating, effects that it could have on all walks of life in the UK, including metrication.
Over the weekend, various news items announced (again) that it was the Government’s intention for us to return to the use of imperial units.
Continue reading “Queen’s Jubilee celebrations to include return of imperial units?”
Should the UK have one measurement system or two? We highlight a paradox in UK government policy.
Continue reading “A paradox of our measurement muddle”When arguing against the completion of metrication, opponents sometimes claim that the UK’s current muddled use of metric units for some things, and imperial for others, gives us an advantage that should be envied when it comes to measurement, in that it somehow makes us ‘bilingual’ in both systems.
Continue reading “Does the UK’s mixed use of metric and imperial give us a unique ‘superpower’?”
A recent visitor to UKMA’s web site has made contact with us explaining that, when clearing out a loft, she had discovered what appeared to be proposals for a “Think metric” campaign aimed at the general public. She says, “It would be interesting to know if they were used or not and where”.
Continue reading “Found in a loft”Yesterday, the Government published its response to the so-called TIGRR report. It was reported in some newspapers as announcing the return of pounds and ounces.
Continue reading “Government’s return to imperial set to make UK a laughing stock”
This article looks at the first report of the Commissioners appointed early in the nineteenth century to consider weights and measures. It gives examples of the reasons why the Commission was appointed, comments on some of its recommendations, and then speculates on an alternative outcome had the Commission taken a different view.
Continue reading “1819 – a massacre and a missed opportunity”
Metric Views 