Linda, Bill
The concept of the kilosecond and megasecond is an interesting alternative
to conventional time but from a strategic point of view, i.e. promoting and
encouraging greater use of metric in the United States it would be
counter-productive.
Opinion is clearly divided on this list as to it's relevance and usefulness
so it is hardly likely to engender a spirit of co-operation among the
general population.
Regards
Phil Hall
----- Original Message -----
From: "Linda D. Bergeron" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 10:40 PM
Subject: [USMA:36098] Re: How's metric faring at the winter Olympics?
As far as ease of expression goes, I have to concede to Bill on this
point. The kilosecond is easier to use. However most people do not have
Bill's 'feel' for how long a kilosecond is in 'customary' time (16 minutes
and 40 seconds).
M.F. Moon's post implied that s/he did not have this same 'feel' either,
for judging how long a kilosecond is without doing an actual calculation.
As such, my original post provided the specific information s/he asked
for. In that limited context, I stand by my first answer.
Linda D. Bergeron
----Original Message Follows----
From: Bill Hooper <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Subject: [USMA:36097] Re: How's metric faring at the winter Olympics?
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:25:42 -0500
m.f.moon asked:
Can you tell me
how much time is passed if I say the travel time from LA to SF is about
20
ks?
to which Linda B. replied:
5 hours, 33 minutes and 20 seconds.
I have an answer that I think is better than Linda's.
I'd say, "Yes, the time passed in 20 ks is 20 ks", which I understand
because I have a feel for how big a kilosecond is. It sure is easier to
express it in kiloseconds than it is to do it in "hours:minutes:seconds".
It helps to know that there are 86.4 kiloseconds in a day, so that one
could easily note that 20 kiloseconds is about a quarter of a day to get
from LA to SF. I'd guess you were driving rather than taking a plane.
One could also answer the question by saying
that 20 ks is 20 000 seconds but that's silly because seconds are too
small to be conveniently used to measure such large times; kiloseconds
works better.
Regards,
Bill Hooper
Fernandina Beach, Forida, USA
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SImplification Begins With SI.
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