Mr. Bill Hemmer Fox News Live Dear Mr. Hemmer,
Your extraordinary coverage of this morning's docking of the Europe's Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle with the International Space Station was a bit "off." It was off by meters, because you kept calling those meters "feet." Why?
As the actual spokesman for the process kept announcing the distance between the two spacecraft in meters, you placed yourself in a sadly familiar position of "dumbing down" the world's system of measurement for the U.S. public. You kept interjecting the distance between the two craft in non-metric units. Comically, he kept saying "meters" while you kept saying "feet." I sensed that you were doing your U.S. viewers a disservice by emphasizing the past. Why not start orienting your American audience to the metric system?
Besides being the legally preferred system of measurement for trade and commerce in the U.S., the International System of measurement (SI, or the modern metric system) will be the only system of measurement used by NASA in future extraterrestrial operations (please see http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/08jan_metricmoon.htm) . SI is the only system of measurement that is used routinely by the citizens of the countries (other than the U.S.) that participate in the International Space Station project.
I hope that Fox News Live will join NASA in the use of metric units exclusively. Fox has an opportunity to "go the distance" by educating its U.S. audience about the future of American measurement. Just as a guide, explain to viewers that there are about three feet in one meter (always go from non-metric to metric when comparing), but then, continue the broadcast by stating such distances only in metric units.
Sincerely, -- Paul Trusten, R.Ph. Public Relations Director U.S. Metric Association (USMA), Inc. www.metric.org 3609 Caldera Blvd., Apt. 122 Midland TX 79707-2872 US +1(432)528-7724 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
