The Washington Post reported the mass of the asteroid in today’s paper thus: 10 tons (11 tons) – obviously it was “10 tonnes” and some cub copy editor thought “tonne” was a misspelling because he or she is metrically illiterate.
The meteorite, which weighed about 10 metric tons and may have been made of iron, entered Earth's atmosphere and broke apart 30-50 km (19-31 miles) above ground, according to Russia's Academy of Sciences. Carleton From: John M. Steele [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, February 15, 2013 16:06 To: [email protected]; U.S. Metric Association Subject: Re: [USMA:52359] RE: Metric Coverage of Asteroid 2012-DA-14 Well, the Reuters report is metric-primary, and the meteor has been dieting, a mere 10 t, unlike the 7000 (short?) tons reported by the Absolutely Preposterous press agency. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-russia-meteorite-idUSBRE91E05Z20130215 _____ From: Carleton MacDonald <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: Fri, February 15, 2013 3:41:50 PM Subject: [USMA:52359] RE: Metric Coverage of Asteroid 2012-DA-14 And here’s the AP story, with its usual muddle of units, including the stupid “kph” and the refusal to use symbols. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/15/meteorite-streaks-across-russian-urals_n_2691904.html?utm_source=DailyBrief <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/15/meteorite-streaks-across-russian-urals_n_2691904.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=021513&utm_medium=email&utm_content=FeatureTitle&utm_term=Daily%20Brief> &utm_campaign=021513&utm_medium=email&utm_content=FeatureTitle&utm_term=Daily%20Brief Carleton From: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Friday, February 15, 2013 13:51 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:52358] RE: Metric Coverage of Asteroid 2012-DA-14 Unfortunately it's going to take quite a bit of effort to get media to use only metric. All the letters I've written to media groups go ignored. So I'm at a bit of a loss. But Bill Nye, from what I understand, tends to use only SI for the most part. Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPhone _____ From: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >; Subject: [USMA:52357] Metric Coverage of Asteroid 2012-DA-14 Sent: Fri, Feb 15, 2013 6:00:21 PM I watched some coverage of the close-approaching asteroid 2012-DA-14 on CNN. For a news service that is supposed to be international, it contained a confusing congeries of inch-pound and metric units. For example: Distance: 17,100 miles (CNN commentator) Distance: 150 feet (CNN crawl) Mass: 150,000 metric tons (CNN crawl) Area: 20,000 square kilometres (Bill Nye) It was refreshing to hear Bill Nye "The Science Guy," who has extensive programs and educational outreaches to students and the public, to use only metric units. I sent him the following message: Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2013 09:54:45 From: Martin Morrison To: Bill Nye/Science Guy <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: Thank You for Your Use of Metric Units In watching CNN coverage today of the 2012-DA-14 asteroid, I noted that the other commentators were using a confusing mix of inch-pound and metric units. You were the only one who consistently used the metric units that are actually used in science and technology. Thanks, Bill, for sticking to your guns and educating the public to reality.
