Replies

They used the abacus at school to try to explain decimal theory to us because we were at the switch over.

I know you're in the UK and during the 60's and 70's, there was this big push for the metric system over there. I know from here in the States, we did have a similar push for the metric system in the early 1970's and when I was in first, second and third grade, we had these things called "centimeter strips" from one centimeter to 10 centimeters and each were a different color, I think 1 cm was white, 2 cm was red, 3 was orange, 4 yellow, etc., IIRC. I remember when Satuday Morning cartoons used to have PSA's educational films (I believe in the UK, they are called PIF's, Public Information Films from what I know of British TV) where you had things like "SchoolHouse Rock" on ABC television explaining simple math, grammar and U.S. history (it was the BiCentennial coming up then too) in animated shorts. NBC had some PSA talking about the metric system in much the same way as "Schoolhouse Rock," and CBS had like a 90 minute snippet of "In The News" where it discussed current events of the week, explain Daylights Saving Time, and so forth. I think by about 1980, the big metric push died out. I know you said a siple sentence but that started a floor of memories being a kid back in the 1970's.

BTW, we host the thread on July 7, 8 and 9th, so I think we need to come up with a theme. I know that weekend, we also have a big airshow here in Pittsburgh as well as July 8th is my birthday, I turn 40. B-P B-)