Hi Terry, Stephen Three cheers for Swindon council! Not only that they adversise 4 by 2 to those who like to think that way - but also because their metric eqivalent is 100 by 25 and not 90 by 44 or whatever it is you get off the shelf at Jewsons these days.
I'm kind of neutral on mertrological systems. SI seems to me to reflect many aspects of English Troy - which in turn reflects the ancient 'great pound' of cca 500 grams that seems to be favoured by everybody outside the ancient Roman empire (Persians, Germans, Vikings, Anglo-Saxons). So it kind of maintains a sort of 'honesty' that is lacking from Roman, French, Spanish and Italian standards. Where I suspect I do have common ground with some BWMA folk is to do with the sort of changes that have gone hand in hand with the drive towards metrication in the UK over the last 50 years. At a basic level this has often seemed to be be an organised rip-off of the consumer. But that in turn has been hand in hand with vertical and horizontal integration of retailing in almost all sectors. And government and big industry frequently colluded over this matter - especially in connection with VAT matters. And this has gone hand in hand with an institutional view of the individual as a consumer rather than a citizen (ie someone to be 'trained' rather than 'educated'). And (though here people will maybe switch off and lable me a nut case) when you dig back about 50 years into the basic philosphies of all this stuff then the names that genuinely start to pop up are Rockefeller, Ford, Rothschild and Warburg, British Military Intelligence and the CIA etc etc. I'm not talking here about a simplistic conspiracy - just a vast convergence of interests......... best rob (Robert Tye, York, UK) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Terry Simpson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 7:56 PM Subject: [USMA:31959] Re: Deliberate chicanery > > Of Stephen Humphreys > >Am I not correct in mentioning that the only reason why they > >might not be able to sell you a piece of 'four by two' is due to > >being forced not to by regulations? > > It is perfectly legal to sell 'four by two' in the UK. The regulations that > you may be thinking of relate to the words that follow 'per'. > > > >I honestly have to admit I know almost nothing about this > >particular example, so its difficult to comment. > > I am glad you added that caveat. UK law is not quite what you may think. > Everything is allowed except that which is forbidden. > > Swindon Council in the UK sells 'four by two' quite legally. See: > http://www.swindon.gov.uk/publicservices/gardenproducts/public-enterpr isewor > ksmiscellaneoustimber.htm > > > > >
