I sent this off a few minutes ago. Jim
---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Subject: Errors in "DNA Takes the Stand" Date: Saturday 30 September 2006 18:20 From: "James R. Frysinger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] PERMISSION GRANTED TO PUBLISH THIS IF DESIRED. Please pass a copy to Jack Kelly. Dear Editor, Invention & Technology, I have just finished reading "DNA Takes the Stand" by Jack Kelly in your Fall 2006 issue. It was a delightfully clear article but it was marred significantly by two glaring errors. The presence of these technical errors is egregious in a journal devoted to technology. The sidebar "How PCR Works" incorrectly states temperature scale units used in the metric system. For example, I see "94 degrees centigrade" and in another I see "94 degrees C". The name of the scale was changed from "degrees centigrade" to "degrees Celsius" in 1948. That was just after I was born and now I am about to retire. I have managed to make the transition from centigrade to Celsius, though this change was just getting into the textbooks as I was starting high school in 1960. I hope that your staff will not need much more lead time to get up to date so I expect to see proper usage in future issues of "Invention & Technology". Your other error was in symbology. The symbol you wanted is °C so you should have put that last citation above as "94 °C", not as "94 degrees C". Note the space between the number and the raised circle and the lack of space between the raised circle and the uppercase "C". (The same rules apply for the Fahrenheit scale, but who cares anymore?) While I'm at the keyboard, I will encourage you to start using units of the modern metric system (the SI) in your future articles. Currently some 96 % of the people in the world use only the metric system for all their measurement needs and it is estimated that the United States is 50 % to 70 % metricated. (Ask your parent organization, Forbes, Inc.) If you need to, for the sake of comfort, you could always include rounded, non-metric equivalents in parentheses, but most Americans under the age of 70 won't need that. I would be glad to answer, at no cost to you, any questions you might have in making this transition to modern usage. Thank you for your time. regards, James R. Frysinger -- James R. Frysinger Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist Senior Member, IEEE http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Office: Physics Lab Manager, Lecturer Dept. of Physics and Astronomy University/College of Charleston 66 George Street Charleston, SC 29424 843.953.7644 (phone) 843.953.4824 (FAX) Home: 10 Captiva Row Charleston, SC 29407 843.225.0805 ------------------------------------------------------- -- James R. Frysinger Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist Senior Member, IEEE http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Office: Physics Lab Manager, Lecturer Dept. of Physics and Astronomy University/College of Charleston 66 George Street Charleston, SC 29424 843.953.7644 (phone) 843.953.4824 (FAX) Home: 10 Captiva Row Charleston, SC 29407 843.225.0805
