Some very nice information design going on in the top example from Ken Garland’s Portfolio.
When I was in grade school the U.S. was trying to convert to the metric system. Obviously, it didn’t quite work out as planned. We used to have metric study sessions for a few years when the conversion attempt was at it’s strongest, but it seemed to sort of lose steam by the time I got to middle school. It’s really a shame; inches suck, and so do quarts. The conversions and units never really make sense, they’re always these arbitrary ratios. Metric is so clean, you can deduce any conversion based solely on the latin prefix and you don’t have to factor in the length of some king’s foot when you’re trying to measure things. But I guess that all goes without saying. Everyone else also have way cooler plugs than us, but that’s a whole other post.
aww, come-on… you don’t like our dejected emoticon of a plug socket? Actually Denmark’s looks much more well-adjusted, and probably helps to battle Seasonal Affective Disorder up there.
I second that, Scott! Blows my mind that we never could make the switch to metric.
Over here in the UK we also managed to stop halfway with the metric system… the roadsigns and speeds are all still in miles…
Our plug sockets may look quite nice, but our plugs suck! They’re massive!
http://www.thebookyard.com/images/ukpsulead.jpg
Well… can’t help it but your miles, yards and inches always confuses me and I always have to use wikipedia and calculator when I want to buy some clothes from USA.
But I have never heard of using other than DPI resolution system all over Europe – So I guess that’s plus for ya:)
@Rob McDougall, Yeah, i grew up in the UK. Once, while my sister was plugging in a lamp, the plug back fell off… touched the metal… hilarity ensued.
When I came to the States, I couldn’t imagine that the little, fuse-less, plugs were even close to safe.
A rusty old brazilian plug. I believe its compatible with american and european standards both at once:
http://flickr.com/photos/olde/647094774/