Gene Mechtly wrote:
>
> Jim,
>
> That's a great message to AP with one exception.
>
> The luge runs take only a few seconds, certainly not hours, and luge
> athletes and fans certainly do not think in units of hours when planning
> or comparing luge runs.
>
> Wind speeds, an important influence on luge speeds, are posted in m/s
> as the "official" Olympic unit of speed.
>
> Luge speeds, also, are more appropriately discussed primarily in the *SI
> unit of speed*, m/s, with, possibly, km/h in a *secondary* position, and
> preferably mi/h third or purged entirely.
>
> Are you persuaded?
No, I'm not persuaded, Gene. As good writers do, they were undoubtedly
considering their audience. Most of the people around the world with
access to automobiles can relate to "145 km/h" or to "90 mph" because
those are the units they use when reading their speedometers. It's the
feel for the speed that the writers tried to convey, not a piece of data
so that people could estimate completion times. The scoreboards take
care of the run times.
Perhaps fewer than 5000 people in the entire world have a gut feel for
speeds in meters per second. And I doubt that very many of those 5000
would be expected to read that AP article.
Let's not make SI impractical, Gene. It appears to be a tough enough
sell here in the 'States as it is. If you keep packaging a lesson on the
distinction between the SI's position on seconds and hours in your SI
sales pitch, you ain't gonna sell any. Let's convert them first;
afterwards we can work on their sainthood.
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
