Posted a few minutes ago... I am including all the names and addressees NOT to encourage anyone here to send "me too" messages (thus diluting any effects my diatribe might have), BUT to show the coverage achieved by the wide-open choke setting I used on my scattergun. Clearly, when I read Ms. Battle's reply I was not amused. Jim ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Subject: Re: Units used on EIA web pages Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 19:05:21 -0400 From: James R. Frysinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Battles, Stephanie" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], Jim McCracken <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Dear Ms. Battles, Thank you for replying to my comments. Please allow me to respond to your reply. It would seem that you are confused about the laws and the executive order that pertains here, both of which I cited below. You state that you are unsure when "the federal government in particular will finally move to the metric system". The answer to that question is "a decade ago" -- 1991. Your agency is delinquent in complying with the directives and the result is frustrating this user in particular, as well as countless others undoubtedly. I have no idea why you refer me to the NIBS CMC home page, but in a few weeks I may be seeing Bill Brenner, Vice President for Development/NCEF at NIBS. When I do, I'll ask him why EIA thinks that NIBS controls their work. Also, I'm quite familiar with the Metric Program Office (MPO) at NIST and know their staff very well. I feel safe in saying that they also would like to see EIA get on with metrication. None of us knows of any law that says EIA must be the last Americans to metricate. I'll be glad to ask Bill Brenner and Gerry Iannelli to send you a message if that will make you metricate more quickly. By the way, a better link to the MPO than the one you provided is http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/200/202/mpo_home.htm Again, it seems backwards to me to force the general user to be able to convert industry-specific units for a multitude of industries to SI in order to make general sense of the data. Better that people in those industries learn to convert SI data to whatever arcane units they still like to think and work in, ignoring of course the other industries' units. Why put the burden on the general user to become an expert in many fields? The SI is the universally common and international system of measurement. Most importantly, it is the system that our national law and the related executive order direct federal agencies to use. If all of the data were presented in SI, then logical comparisons and calculations would be greatly facilitated. So, when are you going to do that at EIA? What is your agency's goal date? regards, James R. Frysinger On Monday 30 July 2001 1734, you wrote: > Hi, > > I am not in any position of deciding when the U.S. as a whole and the > Federal government in particular will finally move to the metric > system. You are so correct that the laws are on the books. You may > want to visit http://www.nibs.org/cmchome.html and ask the question > of this organization. Also the National Institute of Science and > Technology has an office dealing with this issue. > http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/200/202/4858.htm > > My particular office published data in Btu for easy comparison. > However many of our data users still want the physical units also and > so when we can, we usually publish both. > > Best regards, > > Stephanie Battles > > > -----Original Message----- > From: James R.Frysinger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2001 8:00 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; > [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Units used on EIA web pages > > > Dear Ms. Battles, > > I'm going nuts trying to glean the information I need from your EIA > web pages. It's a real chore involving conversion tables and a > calculator everytime I want to look something up and comprehend it in > SI units of measure. Until I convert your data to SI, I cannot > compare information across the energy content of fuels (BTU, therm, > kWh), production amounts (tons, pounds, barrels, cubic feet), or > location (the U.S., the rest of the world). > > All of this was supposed to have been fixed as a result of the > Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 amendments to the > Metric Conversion Act of 1975 and Executive Order 12770, "Metric > Usage in Federal Government Programs" (1991). When is the Department > of Energy going to complete their metrication as required by these > references? > > I know better than to believe that we need to wait for the various > industries to do this. Obviously they won't provide the data in SI > form until the federal government (that's you!) requires it. In the > meantime, I would appreciate it if my agents in Washington (you > again!) would do the conversions prior to posting the data. I happen > to be capable of doing the conversions, though it slows my work down > tremendously, but what about normal Americans? How can they make any > fair comparisons when every category uses its own arcane units? And > please don't tell me that Americans understand TBTU/BB better than > they understand J/kg. > > Have mercy on us, please! When can we expect to see your data in SI > form? What are you telling the President about your progress in your > annual report via the Department of Commerce? > > regards, > James R. Frysinger -- James R. Frysinger University/College of Charleston 10 Captiva Row Dept. of Physics and Astronomy Charleston, SC 29407 66 George Street 843.225.0805 Charleston, SC 29424 http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cert. Adv. Metrication Specialist 843.953.7644 ------------------------------------------------------- -- James R. Frysinger University/College of Charleston 10 Captiva Row Dept. of Physics and Astronomy Charleston, SC 29407 66 George Street 843.225.0805 Charleston, SC 29424 http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cert. Adv. Metrication Specialist 843.953.7644
