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RE: Bq soon:Why this discussion again ?
William,
I find that a bit far fetch to link culture with system of units... People
have tried to do so on this list already, now you compare the situation
with Fascism and I personnally don`t buy it. Keep asking for a quarter
pound with cheese at McDonald if you want , I persopnnaly do it myself and
no one have problems with that and you know it ! You are surely aware that
no police will come behind you at the butcher`s and make you repeat and
convert your initial request for 2 pounds of beef ...
Bottom line, you have said it yourself, you have no problem wit SIU
professionnaly, and that is the only thing that should matter to THIS LIST.
As HPs, one factor before a number instead of another factor makes no
difference, as long as you indicate the unit of reference. I will personnaly
never force anyone to use Bq or Ci, but for my radiation safety program, I
am forcing all the people, technical or not, to at least write the units
they are using.
We should stop thinking that members of the public are all idiots and "would
find it confusing". The basic problem is that some of them do not take the
time to understand the units or simply don`t care. It is more a question of
"It is scientific therefore complicated". The example of mile per gallon or
liter per 100 km someone reported on this list was a good example: Not
confusing IF you try to understand the ratio concept.
A small anecdote to illustrate the current situation: Our safety dept. here
had a contest last year and one question was: "What is the speed limit in
the company`s parking lot ?" When we proceed to the draw, 2 answers out of
the 5 that we draw were "15" , nothing more. I made a joke, saying it was
not the proper answer as 15 potatoes or 15 minutes is not a speed
limit...And we should draw 2 other names... Only one person laugh... Do you
think the unit conversion is the real problem with the public ?
PS: William, do you really think all the songs, all the expressions using
Imperial units will vanish with the bad metric system ?!!! We can discuss
that off list :-)
Stephane Jean-Francois, Eng., CHP,
Specialiste en radioprotection-Radiation Safety Specialist
Gestion des risques-Risk Management
Merck Frosst Canada et Cie,
514.428.8695
Fax:514.428.8670
stephane_jeanfrancois@merck.com
http://www.merckfrosstlab.ca
-----Original Message-----
From: William Prestwich [mailto:prestwic@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca]
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2003 9:48 AM
To: Jean-Francois, Stephane
Cc: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
Subject: RE: Bq soon:Why this discussion again ?
This Canadian begs to differ a little bit. While I have no problem with
SIU professionally, I think one thing the metric fascists up here forgot
about was the integration of units into our culture:
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."
We are a nation with two languages, and should also be one with two
systems of units. There is absolutely nothing wrong with selling meat by
the pound, cloth by the yard and gasoline by the gallon, while using Bq,
Gy, Sv, km kg etc professionally. I admire you folks in the USA for not
succumbimg to what amounts to a destruction of your heritage by using the
imperial system(more Roman than British really) in your every day life.
Cheers,
Bill Prestwich
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