A SI course on the Internet for the whole world to use would help to converge to a single SI style and use. Emphasis should be placed on teaching kids K-12. This should be sufficient for people of other ages and education background to use also.
Game platforms such as Sony's PlayStations would be ideal for this purpose since there are so many units in people's homes now for all to use. They are inexpensive and multipurpose :- CD music, DVD movies, games - and can be connected to the Internet. They now are used everywhere and NOT tied to classrooms. Moreover, game platform capabilities are converging on to PC applications already. SI use and style will not happen overnight. This forum is an indication why. However, at least there would be a single learning point of departure for all to use and to copy freely. It should be an open source similar to the Linux operating system. Simple every day examples need to be included like I put into the Make Metric Meaningful guide like 1 mm of rain in one square meter equals one litre etc. Also knowing that one litre of water has a mass of 1 kg. etc. Same for energy, power, etc. Stan Doore ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brij Bhushan Vij" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2004 10:12 PM Subject: [USMA:28692] SI on Internet RE: RE: Metric in Montgomery Co. > Stan, Bill & friends: > I have tried to 'home on to this aspect since mid 2002' and now see USMA > 286874: > " >You say 'Most people well versed in SI would recommend the spelling > "metre" and "litre" rather > >than "meter" and "liter".' > While sufficient labour has gone into correction of *spellings and the > confused ststus about -re & > -er* use among various parts of world; is it too late to DECIDE what the > Systeme Internationale d'Unites has been or *should be* using to make SI(in > all languages) to be the world language of measurements?" > >.....with "Make Metric Meaningful" and MAKE IT AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET > >without copyright restrictions..... > I recall my meeting Director, National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi a few > days ago and expressing: India has been unfortunate NOT to have facilities > 'promoting SI cause'; and should have simmilar website. I am glad that > availability of SI 'freely on INTERNET without copyright restrictions' shall > go a long way in promotion of SI useage in US/Canada among all classes..... > down to students and the lady in kitchen. > Yes, India is a growing economy and might take some more years to venture > into this. > Brij Bhushan Vij <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 20040215/08:70(decimal) AM(IST) > Aa Nau Bhadra Kritvo Yantu Vishwatah -Rg Veda. > *****The New Calendar Rhyme***** > Thirty days in July, September: > April, June, November, December; > All the rest have thirty-one; accepting February alone: > Which hath but twenty-nine, to be (in) fine; > Till leap year gives the whole week READY: > Is it not time to MODIFY or change to make it perennial, Oh Daddy! > > And make the calendar work with Leap Week Rule! > ***** ***** ***** ***** > > >From: "G. Stanley Doore" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Subject: [USMA:28678] RE: Metric in Montgomery Co. > >Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2004 03:17:52 -0500 > > > >I agree that it would be better to use the SI spelling of metre and litre. > >However, the printed press style manual standards of writing mandate that > >liter and meter spelling be used. The press style manual must be changed > >to make the SI spelling acceptable. > > > >Whoever translated my initial email of my "Make Metric Meaningful" pages > >to what you see on the Montgomery Web Site may have found some things > >technically a problem. I must take some responsibility for some of the > >errors however. > > > >Since you and others have such a great interest in promoting and getting > >the SI implemented, why don't we get together and provide a web site which > >is devoted to teaching the SI like I was trying to do with "Make Metric > >Meaningful" and MAKE IT AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET without copyright > >restrictions. It would be a great resource for everyone around the world > >and particularly good for going metric in the US. It must NOT be copyright > >restricted. I offer my "Make Metric Meaningful" pages like the MCPS used. > >.How about it? > > > >Thanks for your assistance. > > > >Regards, Stan Doore > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Bill Potts > > To: U.S. Metric Association > > Sent: Friday, February 13, 2004 6:49 PM > > Subject: [USMA:28666] RE: Metric in Montgomery Co. > > > > > > Bill: > > > > Just a couple of points: > > 1.. You say 'Most people well versed in SI would recommend the > >spelling "metre" and "litre" rather than "meter" and "liter".' > > That's not necessarily true. The Germans, the Dutch, the residents of > >the Scandinavian countries, and others would not agree with you on that. > >Nor would most of the U.S.-based SI advocates in this list. The IEEE/ASTM > >SI 10 document uses "meter" and "liter." Although, in an ideal world, my > >personal preference would be for "metre" and "litre," I decided, long ago > >(even when I lived in Canada) that my preference was, overall, for American > >spelling. I subsequently decided that there was no point in making an > >exception for "meter" and "liter," especially as I now live here (and have > >done so for 27 years). > > > > 2.. HTML has no problem with superscripts or subscripts and there is > >nothing special about including them, so Mr.. Szesze should have no problem > >correcting his web site. As this message is HTML, there is no problem here, > >either: e.g., cm3. However, I had to cheat to do that, in that I did in in > >FrontPage 2003, then copied it into this message. (Outlook 2000 doesn't > >include superscripts in its font formatting options. I could describe how > >to do it with Notepad and one's browser, but I'll only do so if someone > >asks. MS Word should work, too.) > > > > [Although many encoding schemes allow the use of the prime versions of > >1, 2 and 3, usage inconsistencies make it difficult to guarantee (as you > >indicated, with the �) that they'll appear correctly at the receiving end. > >The �, itself, is a reliable exception, by the way -- as long as the > >encoding isn't 7-bit ASCII.] > > Bill Potts, CMS > > Roseville, CA > > http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] > > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Behalf Of Bill Hooper > > Sent: Friday, February 13, 2004 11:09 > > To: U.S. Metric Association > > Cc: USMA > > Subject: [USMA:28660] Metric in Montgomery Co. > > > > > > Mr. Szesze: > > > > Mr. G. Stanley Doore directed me to your excellent metric pages of the > >Montgomery County Public School web site starting at: > > http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/science/instr/metric.htm > > I applaud your actions to prepare your students for the real world by > >emphasizing metric measurements in your curriculum. > > > > I hope you will not object to my making a couple comments on the page > >on unit symbols. My references are to the English version of the official > >document entitled "The International System of Units (SI)" 7th addition > >1998 (and its 2000 supplement when necessary) published by the Bureau > >International des Poids et Mesures (International Bureau of Weights and > >Measures). > > > > Under "Mass" I find: > > Mg=T = megagram = Tonne (metric) > > which is not correct. The SI symbol for tonne is a lower case "t" not > >a capital "T". (ref: page 105, table 6, "Non-SI units accepted for use with > >the International System") > > > > The names of the units like tonne (and litre) are not proper names and > >so should not be capitalized except where you would capitalize other words > >(such as at the beginning of a sentence or in titles or when all caps are > >used). > > > > Most people well versed in SI would recommend the spelling "metre" and > >"litre" rather than "meter" and "liter". > > > > In the various places where exponents are needed, those exponents are > >not written as superscripts, as they should be. Examples are the symbols > >for cubic metre and cubic decimetre. Other examples are in the list of all > >the prefixes. I admit that it is possible that your web page DOES produce > >the required superscripts and that my web browser just cannot reproduce > >them. > > > > (I can't produce the superscripts in my email message either, but I > >would hope that your web page would be sufficiently sophisticated that it > >could. Either that, or add a note explaining that such exponents should be > >written as superscripts even though your software is not capable of doing > >so. I often use the caret mark (^) to indicate exponentiation, thus: m^3 > >for cubic metres and 10^-6 for ten to the minus 6 power.) > > > > Under SI Base Units, the word length is misspelled, a purely > >typographical error, apparently. > > > > Under SI Prefixes, I find: > > 10 -6 micro u > > in which the symbol is not correct. The symbol for 10 to the -6 power > >is the lower case Greek letter mu, not the lower case Latin letter "u". The > >l.c. mu looks like this � (I hope). I have produce it correctly on my copy > >of this email message but I cannot guarantee the you will receive it > >correctly. That is unfortunately the case for a number of special > >characters when they are transmitted from one computer to another by email > >or internet. > > > > I am curious about your choice of prefixes to show in your list. It is > >not complete although it is so long that it appears that you intended it to > >be complete. It is missing the prefix and symbol for 10 to the plus 24th > >power, which is yotta (symbol: capital Y). Also missing are the prefixes > >for 10 to the minus 21st power and 10 to the minus 24th powers. They are > >zepto (symbol: lower case z) for 10^-21 and yocto (symbol: lower case y) > >for 10^-24. (Ref: page 103, Table 5, "SI prefixes") > > > > I hope my comments above are helpful. I'm sure you agree that those of > >us who are responsible for teaching the SI system need to be especially > >diligent about getting the details correct. > > > > William Hooper > > Certified Advanced Metric Specialist > > _________________________________________________________________ > Easiest Money Transfer to India. Send Money To 6000 Indian Towns. > http://go.msnserver.com/IN/42198.asp Easiest Way To Send Money Home! >
