Good discussion, this one. Let's take a look at it (more below). On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 19:45:18 John S. Ward wrote: >I agree that as far as passengers on commercial airlines are concerned, it >makes sense to quote all speeds and distances in km/h and km.
? Well... If it does make sense (and I fully agree), why in the world make an "exception" for the crew??? Aren't they ALSO part of the "public"??? The problem is that Americans wreaked havoc in the world of aviation by insisting on pushing THEIR units onto us and forced us to switch since WWII to this mediocrity of feet, miles and the rest of it! > That said, >metric advocates need to understand why nautical miles are so important that >the BIPM made the decision to accept them for use with the SI. > With all due respect, but... *nonsense*! This thing of calling it "important" is totally besides the point. BIPM did NOT have to put up with this thing. They could have simply ignored it and stick with being pragmatic on this issue on the side of science, as they should. >Most of the world measures angles in degrees, and geographic location in >degrees, minutes, and seconds of latitude and longitude. And so do they with regards to time reckoning with this idiocy of 24-60-60... So what?... Should science be held hostage by such arcane concepts??? Heavens forbid! So, the problem is NOT with the scientists but with people's reluctance to accept progress, period!!! > Since one nautical >mile is an arc minute of latitude, and 1 degree is 60 nautical miles, one can >immediately grasp distances on a map directly from the coordinate grid. Not exactly! This would ONLY work, mind you, if one is going *exactly* N-S, or S-N, or W-E, or E-W!!! But what are the odds of one doing *precisely* that??? I'm a pilot, too, and *never* EVER found this correspondance useful in ANY WAY! I just wished cartography projections would simply come in the simple straightforward km grid. This whole thing is a myth perpetrated by those who want to find ANY justification NOT to change, or keep the status quo. I've developed what I called the UNS (Universal Navigational System) proposal and am working with a friend of mine who produces avionics equipment to see if there is interest in providing this to the aviation world. This proposal is revolutionary in that it does away with 'NM', 'feet', 'kt', 90 degrees, 24 hours, *E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G*! It's a proposal that is supposed to replace this whole nonsense and would NEVER need to be changed in the future, EVER. Simply because it's all *decimal* for starters, and, aside from the time construct, is totally in harmony with the SI system. One day I'll share that proposal here, when I have the time... ;-) > This >is a whole lot quicker and easier than trying to use a scale in km. Of course, if a scale is given in lb, it would be a lot easier to "read from it" in those units!!! But offer cartography in km and ask the question again to see what would be 'quicker and easier'!... AHA! :-) >... >It's obvious from the definition of the meter that the French had intended to >replace the NM with the km by using decimal angles for maps and navigation. And that's why I incorporated the grad/gon in my UNS proposal!... ;-) The use of decimal angles would certainly be very helpful towards building an everlasting NS. >In conclusion, the "problem" is not nautical miles: it's the crazy way we >measure angles. > I agree, but with a minor addendum that this goes a little beyond that; ft, lb and the rest of it are also part of that equation. >I wish the world had embraced decimal angles and the 1/100000 day second. B-I-N-G-O!!!!! You basically caught the essence of my UNS proposal, boy... He, he, he... >Then kWh and km/h would be directly related to the SI units J and m/s by >simple shifts of the decimal, and the geographic coordinates and grids on >maps would already be tied to kilometers. > >John >... Very well put, John! Therefore, how about rooting for the success of UNS?... ;-) Cheers, Marcus ____________________________________________________________ Get 25MB of email storage with Lycos Mail Plus! Sign up today -- http://www.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus
