I agree. However, I will point out that except for American football, we use the yard a LOT less than you do in the UK, and many Americans seem unable to even convert it to feet or inches. Yards are just the lines on a football field.
As a second point, I doubt Sanchez knew this, but the 9 m was an instrument artifact anyway. In deep water a 9 m tsunami wave would have wiped out the region, and been the biggest tsunami ever. However, the buoy threw a whole bunch of "instrument errors", some up to 20 m, when it switched from 15 min averaging to the 1 min averaging tsunami mode. The actual tsunami was about 10 cm (in deep water); it increased somewhat in the shallows, reaching 1-2 m in some spots as it came ashore. I posted a couple of links on that part of the story but it apparently wasn't as interesting as berating Sanchez. It does make me worry about Sanchez' expert however. ________________________________ From: Stephen Humphreys <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Fri, March 5, 2010 5:05:25 AM Subject: [USMA:46832] RE: Rick Sanchez Admits He Doesn't Know What Nine Meters Is | NewsBusters.org I've always found this particular type of quote rather 'stupid'. Considering a meter and a yard are practically the same *when speaking in approximate non-precise usage* I think you'd have to be a bit silly to ask that sort of question. "How much is 2 meters? About 2 yards". Surely even the least educated would be able to work that out? ________________________________ From: [email protected] To: [email protected] CC: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:46828] Rick Sanchez Admits He Doesn't Know What Nine Meters Is | NewsBusters.org Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010 18:32:31 -0500 CNN's Rick Sanchez getting grief over not knowing what 3 meters is: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/03/02/rick-sanchez-admits-he-doesnt-know-what-nine-meters Watch the video. Nat ________________________________ We want to hear all your funny, exciting and crazy Hotmail stories. Tell us now
