Maybe it's time to step back - breathe a little - and recognise the real scale of this change.
It really is not the end of the world and nothing is being 'trashed'. In response to Ezra's more measured (pun not intended) message - No - I don't think this is to do with sign sizes etc - I believe it is just to do with the specifics of speed, distance etc (ie, what is *on* those signs). Bear in mind *his* idea of 'common sense' - it *must* be to do with where - say - a bus route is 20 miles long but in documents it gets translated to km (probably to a silly degree of accuracy we have all been witness to). Having said that, you really did light the fuse on this one Ezra ;-) ;-) CC: secret...@metric.org.uk From: pat.naugh...@metricationmatters.com To: usma@colostate.edu Subject: [USMA:47556] Re: UK Transport Minister banishes metric in all official communications Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 11:29:35 +1000 On 2010/06/08, at 05:13 , ezra.steinb...@comcast.net wrote: Is this barmy or what? Hammond has clearly gone 'round the bend ... http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/179560/This-U-turn-on-metric-is-miles-better Ezra Obviously the Minister is showing his opposition to the English metric system. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/who-invented-the-metric-system.html and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY How sad. I don't suppose that Secretary Phillip Hammond has considered the complete trashing of the entire English teaching of mathematics he has just put in train. As we know teaching multiple methods of measurement will have the effect of requiring all UK children to spend an extra year studying mathematics at school to achieve the level of mathematics needed to become a public servant in Secretary Phillip Hammond's Department. As a foretaste of the difficulty the UK education system might face see the article: 'The Case for U.S. Metric Conversion Now' (1992, December 9) by Richard P. Phelps where he states that: 'It (USA education system) teaches two systems of measurement in the schools and, the confusion from learning two systems aside, there is a cost to the time spent in teaching two systems. A full year of mathematics instruction is lost to the duplication of effort. You can view Richard P. Phelps' article after you register on the Education Weekly database at: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1992/12/09/14phelps.h12.html Leaving aside Secretary Phillip Hammond's sabotage of all UK schools, he is also attempting to sabotage all UK industry. His 'leadership' toward the use of Roman soldiers 'feet' and Roman soldiers 'miles' instead of using the metric system invented in England will, I have no doubt, re-generate all of the massively time wasting discussions and disputes about choice of which measuring methods to use for all jobs in all industries. It will only be very strong company and industry leadership that will be able to withstand Secretary Phillip Hammond's government leadership – sadly, the response to the 'Express' article suggests that many outside his department will take his direction back to Roman times seriously. If anyone knows Secretary Phillip Hammond's email address, I would appreciate it if you passed on these two references to him: http://www.metricationmatters.com/who-invented-the-metric-system.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY Cheers, and thanks to Ezra for passing on this reference, Pat Naughtin Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, that you can obtain from http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com for more metrication information, contact Pat at pat.naugh...@metricationmatters.com or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe. _________________________________________________________________ http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/197222280/direct/01/ Do you have a story that started on Hotmail? Tell us now
