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Showing posts from September, 2020

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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Social distancing - easy adoption of the metre

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 Anno Domini MMXX The year 2020 has been a year like no other. Thanks to the novel coronavirus and the associated illness Covid-19, the world has been turned upside down. Actions which, only a matter of months ago, would have been seen as ludicrous are now routine. The use of masks, the frequent and almost obsessive application of hand sanitiser, and the treatment of other people like disease-carrying rats would have been unthinkable in 2019.  A tool that governments have employed in response to the spread of the virus is social distancing. Simply put, it is the act of maintaining a safe distance between people to reduce the spread of the virus through aerosols and droplets.   The government's public health campaign of hands, face, space notes (as below), that you should stay 2 metres from people or 1 metre with extra precautions. I appreciate that there's no conversion to feet and inches, creating a simple, clear message.  The NHS website   also do...
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How much detail is too much?

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In many facets of life, clarity is key. Relationships, situationships, or anything in-between usually work better when there is clarity. Everyone knows where they stand. What makes these things work better is when the rules only go as far as they need to and no further.  It's much the same with signage. Nobody wants a sign with too much detail. A fundamental rule of clarity is to say what you want to say in as few words as possible. Imagine going to a bar or restaurant and having these two options for signs: Toilets ➝ Toilets straight ahead. Men's toilets at the first door, women's toilets at the second door.  While the second one gives more detail, the first one tells you enough and can be processed more quickly. The first one is all you need and therefore more efficient. The same goes for road signs. Particularly the example below:  First and foremost, I'm glad it's a sign that shows the height restriction in metres, and gives metres priority over feet and inches,...
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Showing a bit of kindness to the imperial system

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I've been out of the blogging game for a while and I do apologise for that. Quite frankly, there's been little to write about that our friends at the UK Metric Association haven't already covered in their blog. In the world of metres and kilograms, there have really only been two things on my mind. None of them has any immediate impact on getting the UK to be rid of miles and yards on road signs. In fact, neither of them is even getting a mention in this post - you'll have to come back for those. In recent times, my views on the imperial system have softened ever so slightly. For one, I've grown fond of the pint as a unit of measurement for beer. I'm sure this comes as no surprise. In my visits to the US, I often find myself explaining the difference between an imperial pint  and a US customary pint. My fondness however, has not extended to other archaic liquid measurements, and I explain both pints in terms of millilitres and not fluid ounces (568 ml in the UK ...
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Location: London, UK
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