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To AP, Washington State:
In today's story, "St.Helens Lava Dome Still
Growing,", your reporter stated:
"The overall lava formation began building last month and has
grown to roughly the size of an aircraft carrier, 900 feet long and 250 feet
wide. Magma is reaching at the surface at the rate of 7 to 8 cubic meters --
about one large dump truck load -- every second, Wynn said."
Why weren't the lava formation dimensions also
reported in metric units?
I understand that it is good style practice to use
only one system of measurement in reporting and in technical writing, and
in the United States, the preferred system is metric. By federal law
(Metric Conversion Act of 1975, as amended 1988), The metric system is the
legally preferred system of measurement for trade and commerce in the United
States, and this ought to apply to journalism as well. I
hope you will use the metric system in reporting all measurements. This will not
only comply with federal preference, but it will also make the story
understandable to your non-U.S. readers, who do not understand feet, miles, or
pounds.
I do applaud your use of the dump truck load
analogy to demonstrate to your readers the magnitude of the lava flow rate in
cubic meters, and I encourage you to continue to use such analogies of scale,
without resorting to analogies to U.S. customary units of
measurement, to illustrate metric dimensions.
Sincerely,
Paul Trusten, R.Ph.
3609 Caldera Blvd., Apt. 122 Midland TX 79707-2872 USA |
