Britannia triumphs over Johnny Metric
Pints all round as EU crumples before imperial forces
What you need to know about cloud backup
The EU will abandon all pretentions to enforce its filthy metric system on Britain, thereby guaranteeing once-and-for-all an Englishman's right to sup ale in pints, buy spuds by the pound, and measure the distance between the greengrocer and the boozer in miles.
That's according to the BBC, which says the European Commission will, in future, leave all decisions regarding weights and measures to the British Government, which "had been due to set a date for phasing out all its imperial measurements within three years".
The decision is a triumph for the so-called "metric martyrs", inspired by late Sunderland grocer Steve Thorburn, who refused point-blank to sell goods in garlic-tainted kilograms, in the process earning himself a criminal conviction for flogging bananas by the pound.
The surrender was offered by European Commission's industry commissioner Gunter Verheugen, who admited to the Beeb "the EU had been making itself unpopular on an issue that didn't really matter".
A humiliated Verheugen offered: "I organised a huge consultation, and the result was that industry told us there was no problem with the existing system. I want to bring to an end a bitter, bitter battle that has lasted for decades and which, in my view, is completely pointless. We're bringing this battle to an end."
While the EU's backdown will preserve for future generations the ounce, the quart and the furlong, it also opens the door for the adoption of Vulture Central's own standards, including the grapefuit (gf), linguine (lg), the nanoWales (nWa) and, of course, the maximum speed of a sheep in a vacuum, viz: 2997.5 km/sec for those of you still measuring these things in old money. ®
COMMENTS
I don't think this is right...
"The sentimental attachment to pints is an utter nonsense. My favourite bar in Glasgow serves in 500ml glasses and 1L steins. Pints are an option, but why would I buy 568ml of beer?"
It's illegal in britain to sell (loose!) beer in anything other than the imperial pint or half-pint. Hence the closure of the Australian bar that tried to sell in half-litre glasses.
I quite like the Cologne "Koelsch" which they serve in a 200ml glass - but with enough space to allow for the head - unlike bloody britain with its undersize 568ml glasses!
its to do with culture
thats why e have a different measurement system. Its the same reason why a lot of things english are different from Europe, mainly because we invented it first.......personally, i like being different to Europe, because being the same is just one more nail the coffin of national identity....
Unsuccessful vs successful metric
For a moment take away the argument of whether metric/SI is good or bad ....... In Australia and New Zealand beginnning in 1966 and ending in late 1970s, currency was changed (1966), then temperature (1969), ALL road signs changed (1973) in NZ in conjunction with the Oil shock which meant 60 mph was temporarily replaced by 80 km/h (50 mph) which we had to put up with for many years afterwards until in the late 80s when we finally got 100 km/h as a max. speed limit. Metric weights and measures were phased in for a few years only from 1974 to 1977/78 and absolute compliance was expected after that. Builders changed to metric, land has been measured in metric since 1975 or so ..... Holy smoke, was it popular? Not always probably, but it was done successfully with no double-up mess like you have in the UK. Since the late 70s the Imperial system has faded out in various spheres, stones are forgotten forever, miles are units used elsewhere (in the USA/UK), pounds are gone .... the fade out has been gradual. In the 90s a rugby player's vital stats read: Jim Honey - 6'2'' (188 cm), 105 kg - whereas now the even the feet and inches have gone. What the UK needs to do is complete the changeover and allow the Imperial 'fade out' to happen naturally as it does and has done here.
IT infrastructure monitoring strategies
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner
Enabling efficient data center monitoring
Requirements Checklist for Choosing a Cloud Backup and Recovery Service Provider
