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Showing posts from 2012

The absurdity of the use of kph

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  First and foremost I apologise (yet again) for such a long gap in between blog posts. The return of freedom over the past year has kept me away from screens. They say it takes 66 days to develop a new habit. Running is a habit I developed over lockdown, but the return to the office (and I intend to never work from home again) and frequenting the pub has reduced frequency of this.  It is, however, not completely bleak for my physical well-being. Cramming a number of social events in after work has led to me doing a lot more walking around central London. I don’t have an Apple Watch, (other brands of smart watch exist), but my iPhone records my steps and a lot of really interesting data on my walking and running. As would be no surprise, I’ve configured everything in metric units. Thankfully, gone are the days where Apple would dictate to you , based on your location, the units of measurement you use. You have a chose whether to specify distances in miles or kilometres....
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The one (and only) good thing about Apple Maps

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A few posts back I lamented about the inability to use metric units on the maps feature of an iPhone. With the launch of iOS6 and the new Apple maps, this bug is now gone. iPhone users who prefer to use sensible (metric) units finally have the option to do so. It's just a shame, that the maps themselves are rubbish.
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Olympic Units

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For the Olympics, signs such as these were erected in most stations. It was nice to see the use of kilometres for distances (rather than just miles) but a a grievance which I hold is the measurement of walking distances exclusively in miles per hour. At minimum, for the sake of consistency, the speeds should have been given in km/h as well – or even better, only in km/h. Personally, I find it impossible to gauge walking/cycling speeds in mph. It's a lot easier to use metres per second, which is easily convertible to km/h - a lot more accurate too! I guess it's just the country we live in.
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km/h at Wimbledon?

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I've always wondered what it would be like to see serve speeds stated in kilometres per hour (km/h) at Wimbledon, as it is in every other tournament. Fortunately, the Olympics has given me the opportunity to see it and it is a considerable improvement! Moreover, I've not seen any bemused faces. Let's hope next year IBM decide do ditch the archaic miles per hour in favour of km/h! (and if they do, let's hope they use the correct symbol and not kph or KM/H or any other variant) MPH at Wimbledon km/h at Wimbledon To Close: CONGRATULATIONS ANDY MURRAY!! LET's GO TEAM GB!!!!
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The Olympics Have Come and Metric Signs Have Graced the Streets

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Whilst walking through London's East End, I came across some closed pedestrian crossings. To my (pleasant) surprise, the signs showing the next closest crossing were specified in metres. Although this is a positive, it shows the British muddle at its finest. With yards showing distances from underground stations (although some are in metres) and these new signs exclusively in metres, it is inevitable that confusion will be caused. In addition to this, the issue of m being used for metres, as well as incorrectly for miles also comes to the forefront. I shan't dwell on this though, as the folks at www.metricviews.org.uk tend to have this covered.
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Why Do We Not Have Metric Signs in the UK?

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I have posted this before, but I think the issues that I raised in this document (three years ago) are still relevant. I shall endeavour to write a more up-to-date report if I can find more current information and data. Why, Unlike the Rest of the Civilised World, has the United Kingdom not Adopted Metric Road Signs?
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An App-auling Failure

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Anyone who has ever had to consult their iPhone for directions would notice one catastrophic failing - their failure to use metric units on their map feature. When I first got my iPhone (almost two years ago now), just like a child with a new toy I was very keen to test out the new features. My first order of business was to find the settings to change the units to metric and lo and behold, there was no option to change it. It seems like Apple use miles exclusively for the Anglophone world, despite the fact that the majority of the English-speaking world officially uses metric units. A bit of research shows that on the original iPhone, the map only featured metric units. These were replaced with exclusively imperial units (probably due to complaints from the overly vocal 'Imperialists') In any case, it is a shame that, at least there is no facility to at least switch units. I suppose only time will tell, but let's keep our fingers crossed that Apple do sort thi...
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Graduation Gowns - A Pleasant Surprise

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I am just about to graduate from University and am ordering my graduation gown from the prestigious Ede and Ravenscroft. Naturally, when ordering something from a company which has been making ceremonial dress and fine suits for well over 300 years, you just have to bite the bullet and accept that you will have to quite your height, chest size and head circumference in feet and inches. Upon landing on the 'measurements' page, greeted by a drop box which allowed me to change units between metric and imperial. To add to this surprise, the default units were, in fact metric. A small bit of progress it may be, but as they say 'Every little helps'.
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It's Been a While... Lord Howe on Metrication

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I do apologise, it has been a while since I've posted here and I would be astonished if I had anyone actually reading this. However, there's not really been a whole lot going on in terms of metrication in this country of late apart from this video where Lord Howe proposes metrication to the House of Lords. I shall endeavour to post more frequently now.
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