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Rob:
You are correct in saying that you don't
have specific knowledge of the Conf�rence G�n�rale. The people who attend the
CGPM are not French academics, but are representatives of their respective
countries. I don't believe France has any greater representation than any other
country.
I assume you have also read Bill Hooper's
message (31880).
Hi
Bill
you
wrote
<<It's easier to accept if you regard the rules regarding
spelled-out
unit names and unit symbols as the grammar of
SI.>>
I completely accept that this is true for you Bill.
My point is that
it is not true for me. I think our brains got wired
up differently
(probably before birth).
<<I don't think the
participants in the quadrennial CGPM (Conf�rence
G�n�rale des Poids et
Mesures) want to bully anyone>>
We must have run across a
completely different set of French academics
Bill. Bullying is
terrible in US and UK academic institutions but
surely worse still in
French ones. I do not have specific knowledge
of Conf�rence
G�n�rale des Poids et Mesures - but have studied the
hierarchy and early
development of UNESCO quite closely. {And though
I'm no fan of Pierre
Bourdieu he makes a very good job of reinforcing
my general point in some
of his books.)
<<However, in order to have SI units universally
understood, the
definitions need to be prescriptive (as in a
specification), not
descriptive (as in a dictionary).>>
To me
it seems you are mixing up "understood" with "acted upon" here.
And that
goes to the very root of my objections
Thanks for your
thoughts
rob
(Robert Tye, York,
UK)
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- [USMA:31889] Re: "UK measures"/FFU's Bill Potts
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