Sweet shop has a weighty problem!
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| Refusal : Jean McDermott refuses to sell sweets in metric measures. |
SWEET toothed folk could be without a traditional treat
-as trading standards officers 'weigh in' on a Stalybridge
shopkeeper.
Jean McDermott has been serving loose confectionery for the past 18 years
using pounds and ounces. But under the 1994 Metrication Regulation (of the
Weights and Measures Act 1955) shops such as E&J McDermott in Market
Street, Stalybridge, must he able to serve in kilos and grams.
And Jean says converting from her imperial scales to metric will cost at
least £180. "Why should we change over?" protested Jean. "We've not
agreed to it, we've not even had a say and we're certainly not get any
contributions from the government for the new scales. "The cost of new scales
would take such a long time to make up, I'll just have to stop selling the
sweets."
Jean adds nobody has asked her to weigh goods in metric units,
and even children, who are taught to use the European system at school, prefer
their sugared goodies in 'quarters'. But one trading standards officer said
they don't want to make life difficult for business owners.
"The last thing we want to do is prosecute, we're offering
as much advice as we can," said senior trading standards officer, John Davies.
"We realise it's difficult for smaller shops to afford the changes and they
would benefit from some kind of grant, but the pubs changed to the metric
system in 1996 and there was no help for them.
"The alternative for Mrs McDermott would be to sell prepacked
goods" Mr Davies says Tameside Scales (on 0161 3396501) can adjust a 'fan
scale' to have metric measures for £75. Currently traders must indicate
the price food using metric measures, but until 2009 they can also display
prices using imperial measures.
The
Advertiser August 31 2000
Fishmonger joins the metric rebels
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| Scales of justice: Peter Ellis has gone back to using imperial weights |
HAVING spent thousands of pounds on new equipment to comply
with new regulations enforcing the EU's compulsory metrication directives,
Peter Ellis, whose Network Seafood in Newhaven, East Sussex, supplies fish
to hundreds of hotels, restaurants and catering firms, was horrified to see
business slumping.
His customers couldn't understand that salmon now being
sold by the kilogram - more than 2lb - hadn't actually doubled in price.
Dozens told Mr Ellis that they hated the new metric system, so he has now
told Keith Pogson, head of East Sussex trading standards, that, to save his
business, he has gone back to selling his fish in pounds and ounces.
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| Balancing act : No kilos |
His customers are delighted. Terry Shurman, landlord of the
Greyhound pub at Keymer, says: "Mr Ellis is right. To take English fish out
of the English Channel and weigh them out in kilograms is outrageous. Those
officials are not only despots, they're tosspots." Mike Bingham, a caterer,
says: "We're all fed up with Brussels bureaucrats pushing things down our
throats. Every day someone dredges up something else."
Last Wednesday Dave Stephens, the Essex butcher in the forefront
of the growing campaign against metrication, led a delegation to the Department
of Trade and Industry, accompanied by the UK Independence Party MEP Nigel
Farage, challenging officials to allow a prosecution to test the law.
He has had thousands of messages of support, including one
from the comedian Max Bygraves, who wrote: "Count me in to be your cellmate
in prison." But the officials fear a test case because of legal opinions
suggesting that, for procedural reasons, the UK regulations might be ruled
illegal.
The Sunday Telegraph March 12 2000
| READERS Martin and Stephanie Burton had a disagreement
about measurements when they were decorating their house. They wanted to
put up a dado rail in their living room, so Stephanie measured up the space
in feet and inches. But Martin pointed out that even in Britain "everything
comes in metric these days", so she measured it all again in centimetres.
When Stephanie got to the builder's merchant, she asked for the length of
wood and was promptly asked: "What's that in feet and inches?" Luckily there
was a calculator in the office, but they handed it to Stephanie because she
was the only one who knew that 1 inch equals approximately 2.5 centimetres.
Hoping she'd got the right amount of wood, she took it to the checkout, paid,
and took the bill. It read: "Thank you for your custom. 2 x 12ft dado rails
@ £1.72 per metre. Please call again."
[New Scientist 28 June 2002] |
My comment : I would like to ask
Mr Ellis and Mrs McDermott how many fingers they think they have on each
hand. Metric is much more sensible than imperial measure. Just because a
load of old ostriches stick their heads in the sand and try and hang on to
what they know rather than embracing change (which is typical of conservative
Britain),doesn't mean that sooner or later metric will inevitably come to
rule (so to speak),and so it should. The metric system as it is being based
on powers of ten,makes kilometres more sense than the imperial system.
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| Decimal pointless? Recall the confusion that greeted the new monetary system in 1971. |
The measurements in physics are streamlined by using metric,and currently
even scientists are wandering between the two systems when speaking. Use
of two measuring systems increases the chance of error,and no doubt clock
turners like the duo above would be the first to complain if some accident
occurred because of an error brought on by mixing units of measure in some
critical instance.
The reaction of the two people here is
typical of Britons who refuse to accommodate change,even when it makes sense
to do so,and become xenophobic about the origins of metrication and patriotic
about their own idiotic system. This reaction no doubt is because of their
inability to count in tens,something which should be second nature to
everyone,and having to accommodate something new. This is similar to the
averse reaction to technology encountered amongst those who have no clue
how it works and become frustrated at their own inadequacy.
When the currency was decimalised there
was the same attempt to kick and scream and make a fuss because those with
limited brain matter couldn't cope with having to change how they calculated.
This is indicative of the mentality people have towards mathematics.They
see it as a necessary evil,rather than the beautiful and powerful thing that
it is.
It's no wonder that in a country having
such basic problems with maths skills we're prone
to believe mystical ideas and hanging on to old
systems of calculation.Mr Shurman might ask himself who in fact is the "tosspot"
since the officials are only trying to institute a sensible system and get
rid of an antiquated one. Such tradespeople are only showing their "math
phobia" and indicating their fundamental ignorance. If someone offered two
choices,one of putting your head in the oven and the other of using an oven
for it's given purpose,then why would any sane person choose putting their
head in the oven, just because a load of other people do it?
Staying with imperial measure is for post-war
clock turners who stick their feet in the mud,out of some misplaced
patriotism.Imperial measure is anachronistic and irrelevant to today's world.
The modern metric weights are defined with atomic precision.Does anyone know
where the defining yard exists,as we do the metre and kilogramme? I bet
tradespeople do not know,and much less do they care.For their accuracy need
only be measured with limited precision. Modern engineering
techniques required a modern system of weights and measures,and Imperial
- isn't it.
The king's thumb and more imperial fun |
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My comment : Let's answer some questions
- what is wrong with dual marking products? Supposing someone uses the
wrong measurement for taking medicine? Supposing an accurate measurement
is needed on an aircraft ballbearing and the wong measurement is used -
I guess Mr Parry will be the one in the queue waiting to sue
his doctor or the airline because they were stupid enough to put TWO measurements
on a product when only one was needed. Not to mention all the extra cost
and confusion involved.What happened to the Burton's (above) is indication
enough of why we do not need TWO measuring systems.
Mr Martinez and Mr Jamil are exactly correct - today's science needs Metric
and the old has-beens who prefer imperial are only hanging onto such things
out of misplaced patriotism and fear of learning something new. To Mr Elliot
the "meaningfullness" of the measures is all in the mind - if you have used
metric - 250g of flour is just as meaningful as 4 ounces - meaning is a personal
subjective response - measures are an objective discernment of actuality
- the "right sort of numbers" are those that accurately reflect what is in
front of someone - and metric does this better than imperial -which is why
all scientific notation is metric - only silly old Blighty hangs onto imperial
along with its US cousins - as Mr Jamil says - we are stuck in the medieval
times over this - let's move into the 21st century with the correct mensuration
system. As Mr Kwateng points out - a yard is something where you keep your
yardbrush - we do not have 12 fingers - we have 10 - why is it so hard for
Britons to use tens?
Why not look at the
LENGTHS to which science goes to provide accuracy and then you will
see just how defunct the imperial system is.