2001-03-25 An article appeared in today's (Sunday) Cleveland Plain Dealer entitled: Growth spurt elevates Scandinavia. Even though the AP left the millimetres intact (they did include a line that an inch was equal to 25 mm), they converted every other measurement. Also, they made a very big error in converting kilograms per square metres to pounds be square yards. In the following paragraph you read: During the last ice age, ice sheets almost two miles (maybe originally 3 km) thick covered Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and the Gulf of Bothnia, pressing down with a weight of about 6.6 million pounds per square yard, researchers say. Apart from the fact that "pressing down with a weight of" would require the use of the unit newton, it is obvious that the unit mass of the ice was originally 3 million kilograms, or 3 Gg. As usual, the AP just changed the name of metres to yards, not taking into account that this may be close enough for linear measure, but area measure, the difference is profound. 3 Gg/m^2 is closer to 5.5 million pounds then 6.6. This is why it is important not to convert. By violating their own rule, they created a significant error in reporting. To the common masses, this is meaningless anyway, but to a scientist, this would be unacceptable. The reporters name was Paul Recer. John Keiner ist hoffnungsloser versklavt als derjenige, der irrtümlich glaubt frei zu sein. There are none more hopelessly enslaved then those who falsely believe they are free! Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
