On Wednesday, 9 May, the air waves and the prints were full of fanciful stories about Brussels caving in and allowing Britain to carry on using lbs, oz and other imperial units. The so-called “metric martyrs” * (Oh no, not them again!) declared a victory for their campaign. So what has really happened?
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Today I notice an item in “The Sun” newspaper a headline (approx from memory)
“Marathon runner collapses in 73° heat”
Mention ‘k’ to this economist, and it’s not only the size of investment capital that he’s thinking of..
According to a BBC story, Dennis Hope, the self-proclaimed (imperialist?) owner of the moon, is selling plots of lunar real estate by the acre.
Of all the traditions that are kept alive today the acre for land measurement has to be one of the daftest.
(Article by Phil Hall) (more…)
Sky News are currently giving weather forecasts for individual cities on their morning show in the form of icons in the corner of the screen.
When converting metric units into imperial units, journalists (or more likely sub-editors) are apt to make mistakes, especially if they are dealing with subjects with which they are not very familiar. On the 9th December 2006, The Times managed a hat-trick of blunders. [article contributed by MV]
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Viewers of “Match of the Day” on 9 December had the unusual experience of hearing football commentary in metric. Was this an aberration or a straw in the wind? (asks Robin Paice)
This programme used a combination of computer graphics, physical modelling, and actual ultra-sound images to create stunning pictures of the foetus of a dolphin, an elephant and a golden retriever developing in the womb. There was a commentary, but for much of the time the amazing images spoke for themselves. [Article contributed by Derek Pollard]
Although the NHS uses grams and kilograms, the media often dumb down the information, and politicians do nothing to help [article by Roz Denny]