> Martin has degrees from the Universities of
> Manchester and Natal, is a Chartered
> Information Technology Engineer and a
> European Engineer.

Is this "our" Martin?

SteveH

Grow up!

If the person identifying himself as martin was prepared to answer your question he would have done so by now.

re (SteveH): "a European Engineer".

REPLY: Never come across one of those before. Does the definition mean (or include):

1) A British Engineer?
2) An engineer with some kind of European Union qualification?
3) A engineer from Europe who happens to work, say, in South America or Timbuktu?
4) Engineers from Switzerland, Iceland and Norway and other countries outside the European Union?

Would love to know the precise definition

Tony Bennett wrote

<<
re (SteveH): "a European Engineer".
>>

Try looking up "European Engineer" on one of the search engines such as www.yahoo.com or www.goggle.com

I notice Martin that you are still not answering a very simple question. I don't know why not- it isn't as if there is anything particularly incriminating about the question.

I should point out that posters on this forum are entitled to be anonymous, so there is no obligation on Martin to answer the question.

Absolutely! However, Martin did tell us several things about his life, and these seem to match the thing Steve quoted. Although... I don't know quite why Steve is so obsessed with making sure this IS our Martin.

Here's one Martin that *might* be 'our' Martin:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Martin Smith (President)

Back to "Contact List"

Eur Ing Professor Martin Smith, BSc MSc CPhys MInstP SMIEEE CEng FIEE FCybS FRAS FRSA FRI

Martin is Professor of Robotics at the Technology Innovation Centre, a faculty of the University of Central England. He moved there from the University of East London, where he was Head of the Mobile Robots Research Unit, Principal Lecturer, and Deputy Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Martin was formerly Chairman of the Engineering Council London Regional Organisation, a member of Council of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, Chairman of the IEE London Centre and a member of the Robotics Professional Group Committee. He was the IEE Silvanus P. Thompson lecturer from 1996 to 1998 presenting "From Homo Sapiens to Robo Sapiens - the Future of Artificial Life, Robots and Humans" to thirty universities and institutions in the UK, Eire and at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland. He and his students have provided robot displays for the Model Engineering Exhibition, the Year of Engineering Success, the Robot Olympics, Robotix, Science Engineering and Technology (SET) week, "Tomorrow's World" live, and the IEE. He has appeared on over 100 different engineering and robot-related television programmes, including "Tomorrow's World" and the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, and 15 radio programmes, and has been featured in 25 newspaper and magazine articles. He is a judge on BBC2's "Robot Wars", Channel 4's "Scrapheap Challenge", guest presenter on BBC2's "Techno Games" and technical presenter on Granada’s “Mutant Machines”.

As well as being a Fellow of The Cybernetics Society, Martin is a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the Royal Astronomical Society, the Royal Society of Arts, and the Royal Institution. He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (USA), a Member of the Institute of Physics, the Royal Television Society, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the American Association for Artificial Intelligence. He is a Chartered Engineer, a European Engineer, a Chartered Physicist, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Engineers, a Member of the Guild of Freemen of the City of London and a member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham.

In 2001 he received a Public Awareness of Physics Award from the Institute of Physics for his work promoting physics and engineering.

If this is "our" Martin it would appear that he might know a bit more about measurement than somebody with a BA in Geography and a MA in Social Work !

That is irrelevant. Because the man is a scientist means his views are better re: W&M than someone who is not is something we often hear. Pure garbage, of course.

Being a scientist (or engineer) doesn’t make someone’s views “better” with reference to weights and measures. However, it does give them more of an understanding of exactly what is involved.

This goes much, much further than how you buy your bananas or what the signs on the A1 say!

But if one is confining one's activity to buying banana's or driving, what good is the extra knowledge?

For the same reasons that we don't kick kids out of school at the age of eleven anymore!

Knowledge is power and having a basic understanding of the world around you is a good thing in itself.

You can’t divorce science from the rest of the world and using a separate measurement system from everyday life is akin to only allowing the bible to be written in latin.

But just because the metric system is best for science (if you accept that) does not mean that it is best for other purposes. Scientists need certain qualities in a measurement system in order to facilitate their work. For non-scientific work, those same qualities may not be beneficial or may even be a nuisance. Cooks, for example, have totally different needs when it comes to measurements than scientists.

re "akin to only allowing the Bible to be written in Latin".

REPLY: A bit like the Roman Catholic Church used to do, to stop their people reading and understanding the Bible for themselves

Stan: <<<Grow up!
If the person identifying himself as martin was prepared to answer your question he would have done so by now>>>

Ta for the insult but there are reasons for my question, and possibly why said "martin" has not answered. Martin, like myself, is an old timer to these boards and therein lies my interest.

BWMA: << I should point out that posters on this forum are entitled to be anonymous, so there is no obligation on Martin to answer the question>>

Absolutely, and you may even know why I asked it. The intent is not meant to be threatening or malicious.

Bryan: <<<... I don't know quite why Steve is so obsessed with making sure this IS our Martin.>>>

Right - my answer to the riddle - It's because the quote is part of a greater quote put forward by the UKMA. And my reason for asking was merely to see if martin still is a member of the UKMA - that's all.
I don't have any problem with him being a member, btw. If the UKMA ever had the guts to start their own disussion board I would happily put across my membership of BWMA over there if I posted there.

As I said - no malice was intended, just a healthy interest in fellow (long time) posters background when their intention was to make it public anyway.

See?

*agrees with Tony's above post*

<<
... If the UKMA ever had the guts to start their own disussion board I would happily put across my membership of BWMA over there if I posted there.
>>

If you look at their web site you will see that UKMA are a campaigning group who's only interest is getting the UK to fully adopt what they describe as a "single rational system of measurement".

They are not going to advance that cause by holding a dialogue with the likes of BWMA etc who are determined to undermine any attempt to bring it about.

It seems, again from their web site, that they are trying to reach the general public in the UK, most of whom may not think in or use metric at the moment, to help them to recognise and understand the issues.

It's about winning hearts and minds of those who are willing to listen, not wasting time doing battle with those who are doomed to remain entrenched in an anti-metric stance for the rest of their lives.

re (Stan): "They [the UKMA] are not going to advance that cause by holding a dialogue with the likes of BWMA..."

REPLY: What clearer proof could there possibly be of who is really in favour of freedom of choice. The UKMA are so unsure of their case that they duck any debate

re: "It's about winning hearts and minds of those who are willing to listen, not wasting time doing battle with those who are doomed to remain entrenched in an anti-metric stance for the rest of their lives"

REPLY: ROTFL! Mind you, according to the ICM survey in 2002, the UKMA has won the 'hearts and minds' of 8 out of every 100 people in Britain, at least when it comes to miles and yards vs. kilometres and metres. If the UKMA can 'convert the hearts and minds' (no compulsion, mind you, that wouldn't do and simply wouldn't be cricket) of around another 20 million people, then good luck to them!

UKMA actually does have a discussion board, but it is virtually dead.

Post the link, Bryan - however I believe you are referring to another pro-metric group's website.

BTW- I have had dialogue on other threads with martin about various things and I think we can assume he is a member of the UKMA - and we should have ABSOLUTELY no problem with this as its part of the "mix". In a way its a healthy things. *PLUS* any questions like this could probably be answered by him, if he can be 'less shy' ;-)