2002-02-09
It is obvious that the rule book was not written by one person, or at one time. The various contributors most likely did their own thing. Those from countries where national practices are the same as SI rules, got it right. Those from countries who practices deviate from to rules or where there is no emphasis on correct usage, and thus usage is sloppy, end up with the results you noted. And those who felt that there is a place in the world for the FFU users, felt an urge to include FFU, and thus did so. And it could also be that as the book was amended, the preference of the amender was used. If the proof reader saw no offence in the inclusion of FFU or bad style, then the FFU and bad style stuck. It would be nice if the editors would strive for consistency. Why does it seem that spelling mistakes reflect badly on a person, but SI style rules don't? And maybe, if the book was written in a language other than English, the "translators" might have made changes to what they conceived as national practices in English speaking countries, or more Correctly, the USA. John ----- Original Message ----- From: "James R. Frysinger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, 2002-02-08 20:06 Subject: [USMA:18068] Re: Olympic event geometries > I see that I omitted the key words "ski jump" below. Those are the runs > referred to in my first paragraph. > > On the USOC site, I did find an pdf file on Olympic events with rules, > etc. These contain a mixture of SI and American Hodgepodge units, > depending on event. The style of writing the SI units varies as well; > sometimes commas are used as decimal point markers and sometimes periods > are used. One page pluralizes kg to kgs! The file is organized > alphabetically by sport and there is no index! One must page through the > document to find the desired sport. This file is to be found at > > http://www.olympic-usa.org/education/general_olympic_education/sportsummarie s.pdf > > Jim > > "James R. Frysinger" wrote: > > > > Our local paper has a neat graphic in the sports section today. The > > graphic gives the basic layout of the runs and the scoring system. All > > dimensions are in meters with no conversions provided. The only fly in > > the ointment is that the text states the altitude of this venue as 7000 > > feet. The graphic was prepared by Associated Press (yes, really!). > > > > For example, the normal hill has an 83 m inrun (the path taken by the > > jumper prior to take off) and the K point (the scoring reference point, > > similar to "par" I suppose) is 90 m past the take off point, which is at > > the end of the inrun. The figures for the large hill are 98 m and 120 m > > respectively. Skiers gain 2 points on their starting value of 60 for > > every meter beyond the K point that they land and lose 2 points for > > every meter short of the K point that they land. Style points are also > > available. > > > > I have searched www.ksl.com, www.wintergames2002.com, and > > www.saltlake2002.com without success in an attempt to see similar > > geometries for all the events. The summer games in 2000 had such things > > on the official website as I recall. I'll try the IOC and USOC web sites > > next. > > > > Jim > > > > -- > > Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!" > > James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/ > > 10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789 > > -- > Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!" > James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/ > 10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789 >
