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Re:SI units!
Yes, I know I'm stubborn and set in my ways, but...
Coming from an engineering background, I can tell you that engineers in the real
world here in the US don't like SI units. Things are expressed in pounds, BTUs,
cubic yards, and horsepower. Imagine, like Sandy said, the cost and trouble
associated with an across the board switch in units. Don't expect it to happen
in any of our lifetimes. Two-liter soda bottles, that's okay. 100-watt bulbs,
fine. But take away my working level months, that's another thing entirely! ;-)
I got a kick out of what one of my older mechanical engineering professors would
say on the first day of class:
"The administration tells me I have to teach the SI system in this class. Okay,
here it is: They say that SI is a base-10 system. That's a lie. If it were true,
there would be 100 seconds in an hour, not 60."
That was the sum total of the discussion we had about SI in that class.
Melissa, sorry if this was slightly off-topic - it was only meant to lighten the
atmosphere a bit.
Elizabeth Algutifan,
Health Physicist
Weldon Spring Site Remedial Action Project
St. Charles, Missouri
Elizabeth_Algutifan@wssrap-host.wssrap.com
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