[USMA:41320] Re: The July 4th 10 kilometer race - more thoughts

[Jon Saxton]

Jon Saxton wrote: Norm: After thinking about your concerns for a moment, I wonder if a slightly different approach might be more effective. Dear <reporter>: Why do you and most of your colleagues in journalism feel compelled to convert every metric measurement into old British colonial equivalents for us?  Do you think we are so out of touch with the world that we have to be treated like 19th century children?  I find it really irritating when you describe 10 km as 6.2 miles.  We are exposed to the metric system quite a lot and we don't need to have everything "dumbed down" for us.  It seems so patronizing, unnecessary and almost insulting. Please treat us like 21st century adults. Regards <sender> Further thoughts ... Concerning an Independence Day race one could make a further point ... "We threw off the shackles of English rule 232 years ago but the media seems to have forgotten that.  On this anniversary of our independence from Britain perhaps we could forget the British legacy of miles, pounds, feet, ounces and gallons, and finish the job we started ."  :-) Norman & Nancy Werling wrote: USMA members,   I tried to make nice with this missive to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about tomorrow's 10 km race, but I'm not sure I succeeded.   Norm ----- Original Message ----- From: Norman & Nancy Werling To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 23:35 Subject: The July 4th 10 kilometer race Dear AJC reporter Mr. Scott Bernade,   I'm going to give you credit for realizing that the race in more than 6.2 miles because at least Wednesday's sports section headline said: "6.2 Miles, Plus."   I'll assume it was your editors that were at fault for not allowing you to simply and correctly refer to it as 10 kilometers.   Perhaps next time, your editors will allow you to refer to it as a 10,000 meter race.  Surely you agree that the public, which follows Olympic competition, is aware of track events in meters.  However, I would be loath to think that the Atlanta public does not realize that the prefix "kilo" means a thousand.  Thus 10 kilo(thousand)meters is 10,000 meters.   I would be truly interested in knowing if the serious runners from other countries practice and gauge their running on one kilometer (1000 meter) intervals, as I assume that 95% of the world would do, rather than the one mile (5280 feet) measures, as only the US persists in doing.   Norman Werling Stone Mountain, GA 30083