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UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements

newcivilengineer.com

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Re: UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements

#31

Post by Reason077 »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #15

Observation as a Canadian: Until the US decides to finally convert (e.g. never), the rest of the anglo-sphere will be forever stuck in an awkward inbetween zone anyways. We supposedly converted to metric in the 70s but it's only ever been half-hearted, as many trades (especially construction) continue to work in imperial measurements, and most people work in an awkward combination of the two. As Canadians we typicall…

> "As Canadians we typically measure our height and weight in ft and lbs. But temperature in celsius and travel distances and speeds in kilometres and km/h. Except for cooking/recipes, where oven temperature is measured in fahrenheit and we have to deal with recipes with cups and ounces and so on. ... But recipes are also often in litres and grams. So.."

As British we typically measure everything in metric, including oven temperatures and recipes. Except for road distances and speeds, which are miles and mph. Unless it's an e-bike which always seem to be km/h. And most modern cars do have dual units, showing km/h in case you drive over to Ireland or the continent.

Oh, and a few things like milk and beer are sold in pint-sized containers, but must clearly state 568 ml on the bottle.

Re: UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements

#33

Post by irdc »

cstross wrote: post #14
ikt wrote: post #11

is this an out of season april fools joke?

Nope, it's a genuine proposal from Jacob Rees-Mogg's department. Leaving aside that, in his mid-fifties, Mogg is probably too young to have learned imperial units at school ...

Isn't that the point? It'll be familiar to older people, thus proving how they're super to today's youth. (/s)

Re: UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements

#34

Post by mytailorisrich »

Just to be precise, they have not proposed to switch back to imperial, they are proposing to allow imperial units to be used (so for instance a supermarket would be free to sell potatoes in pounds instead of kilos if they wanted to).

Either way, this is indeed a distraction and it has very little chance of going anywhere.

Re: UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements

#35

Post by dcminter »

spoiler wrote: post #27
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #15

Observation as a Canadian: Until the US decides to finally convert (e.g. never), the rest of the anglo-sphere will be forever stuck in an awkward inbetween zone anyways. We supposedly converted to metric in the 70s but it's only ever been half-hearted, as many trades (especially construction) continue to work in imperial measurements, and most people work in an awkward combination of the two. As Canadians we typicall…

> As Canadians we typically measure our height and weight in ft and lbs. But temperature in celsius and travel distances and speeds in kilometres and km/h. Except for cooking/recipes, where oven temperature is measured in fahrenheit and we have to deal with recipes with cups and ounces and so on. ... But recipes are also often in litres and grams. So... These statements always amuse me, as someone who grew up in a pu…

Brit here. Second nature. It's either clear from context ("doing 70 in a 40" -> mph) or you instinctively make the units explicit. Metric is better though ;)

Re: UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements

#36

Post by zoltrain »

andrewstuart wrote: post #23

This is an example of the dead cat strategy, named by an Australian political strategist “throwing a dead cat in the table”. It’s a distraction so shocking that it can’t fail to divert media attention. It’s a favorite technique of Boris Johnson who is even mentioned in the Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_cat_strategy The imperial measurement thing is a dead cat Boris threw on the table during his…

100% this, all smoke and mirrors. But you can’t argue with it’s effectiveness.

Re: UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements

#38

Post by cmrdporcupine »

Reason077 wrote: post #31
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #15

Observation as a Canadian: Until the US decides to finally convert (e.g. never), the rest of the anglo-sphere will be forever stuck in an awkward inbetween zone anyways. We supposedly converted to metric in the 70s but it's only ever been half-hearted, as many trades (especially construction) continue to work in imperial measurements, and most people work in an awkward combination of the two. As Canadians we typicall…

> "As Canadians we typically measure our height and weight in ft and lbs. But temperature in celsius and travel distances and speeds in kilometres and km/h. Except for cooking/recipes, where oven temperature is measured in fahrenheit and we have to deal with recipes with cups and ounces and so on. ... But recipes are also often in litres and grams. So.." As British we typically measure everything in metric, including…

Yes I always find this funny. England is kind of totally opposite from Canada. Distances and speeds in miles, everything else metric.

Our speedometers can all switch, too these days. For travel into the US. Even Google maps will switch units right after you cross the border.

FWIW MPH has the advantage that it's easier to estimate travel times based on typical 60MPH hwy speed. A minute per mile more or less. 100KMH is more easily divisable etc. but doesn't map to time units as well. So in a way, I kind of enjoy driving in the US.

(In terms of localization stupidity, I find it obnoxious that Google's navigation can smoothly handle the transition into the United States, but cannot handle the mixed French/English nature of signage in Canada. I suppose I should have raised this as a bug when I worked there, but I find it awful that after over a decade of having text-to-speech facilities in both languages, Google can't handle bilingual countries and butchers mixed signs and gets completely fucked when driving into Quebec. Also Google photos thinks "thanksgiving" is end of November, despite me being in Canada.)

Re: UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements

#40

Post by Ekaros »

tremon wrote: post #37

How many 180° turns can a prime minister manage before they fall down?

I would guess that in British system quite many. As the members of party have no interest to move with new election when they aren't sure they are going to win. So PM needs to end up pretty unpopular before they make any moves for replacement.

Also considering current situation, I don't think there is too many that want to be in the shoes just yet.

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