I admire your scientific brain Martin ;-) but I'll bet you a large sum of money that most (British) people would quickly understand 95 mph and have a 'feel' for what that looks like over "50 m/s based upon some maths" even though what you say technically makes a lot of sence.
Of course, 'practice' often proves things and if you ever hear one of the bowlers/batters for the England and Wales side talking about fast-bowlers and spin-bowlers then you note they will always use mph. In fact my quote below about Flintoff came from an Aussie cricketer(!). Note sure whether the aussie chap in question used mph because they knew it was SkySports interviewing them or not, however whenever I have heard a feed from Australian criket games I have often heard both mph and km/h (admittedly more km/h from Australian broadcasts than mph). Incidentally they refer to km/h as 'kays' - eg "He bowled that one at 130 kays". From: vliets...@btinternet.com To: usma@colostate.edu Subject: [USMA:47007] Re: FW: Special Employee Advisory: Message from Joe Boardman Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2010 06:36:44 +0100 On the other hand being told that the ball is coming at you at 50 m/s and knowing that the pitch is just 20 m long tells you that you have 0.4 s to work out what to do with the ball. (A little less because you are in front of the wickets) From: owner-u...@colostate.edu [mailto:owner-u...@colostate.edu] On Behalf Of Stephen Humphreys Sent: 30 March 2010 22:28 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:47004] Re: FW: Special Employee Advisory: Message from Joe Boardman I watch a lot of Cricket and some Tennis (Wimbledon) and the use of mph is to 'feel' the speed. For example - imagine the hulking figure of Andrew "freddy" Flintoff running at you and throwing a hard heavy ball at 95mph right at you!! km/h is used on sport in other countries and the same is true there - they equate/compare the speed with speed they can drive at.(for instance). It's just entertainment. > From: vliets...@btinternet.com > To: usma@colostate.edu > Subject: [USMA:47003] Re: FW: Special Employee Advisory: Message from Joe > Boardman > Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2010 21:25:03 +0100 > > > In cricket and tennis (and I imagine baseball), the speed of the ball is > often measured in mph (though when England is playing cricket in Australia, > km/h are sometimes shown). These could (and should) be converted to m/s - I > have never seen a cricket ball or a tennis ball travel for one kilometre > (and certainly not one mile) under its own steam. > > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-u...@colostate.edu [mailto:owner-u...@colostate.edu] On Behalf > Of mech...@illinois.edu > Sent: 30 March 2010 19:25 > To: U.S. Metric Association > Subject: [USMA:47001] Re: FW: Special Employee Advisory: Message from Joe > Boardman > > > Wind speeds and the speeds of athletes (runners and swimmers) are easily > visualized and can be understood in m/s by the general public, and even > vehicle stopping distances and times for safety from speeds in m/s are > reasonable. There is no good reason to discard speeds in m/s in favor of > km/h. The planning of long trips and travel times is usually done at > leisure, not in emergencies. Coherent SI units are best. > > ---- Original message ---- > >Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2010 04:56:01 -0700 (PDT) > >From: "John M. Steele" <jmsteele9...@sbcglobal.net> > >Subject: [USMA:47000] Re: FW: Special Employee Advisory: Message from Joe > Boardman > >To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu> > > > > For a train, plane, car, etc, I recommend we NOT > > belabor "coherent units" and just focus on using > > correct symbols, km/h. I can pretty well guarentee > > the public DOESN'T want to know the speed in meters > > per second and carry out a division by 3.6 (or 3600) > > to estimate "when do we get there." > > > > You are certainly (technically) correct that > > kilometers per hour isn't coherent units. However, > > for the most common calculation done with the data, > > it is more useful in everyday life. That is > > probably why the BIPM explicitly allows the hour to > > be used with the SI. > > > > If AP doesn't accept the authority of the SI > > Brochure, NIST SP330 and SP811, etc, there is not > > much we can do to convince them. Since the AP Style > > Guide requires online subscription or purchase, I > > don't have it. But we need someone who has it to > > analyze it's metric usage against the defining SI > > documents and call the errors to AP's attention. It > > might also make sense to check whether the > > Government Printing Office is correct on the same > > points that AP is wrong on. That might strengthen > > the case. > > > > ------------------------------------------------ > > > > From: "mech...@illinois.edu" <mech...@illinois.edu> > > To: U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu> > > Sent: Mon, March 29, 2010 8:43:20 PM > > Subject: [USMA:46998] Re: FW: Special Employee > > Advisory: Message from Joe Boardman > > > > Of course, speed in SI is in units of m/s or in its > > multiples by SI prefixes, e.g. km/s of a spacecraft. > > "km/h" is not coherent SI, and "kph" is *certainly > > not acceptable* in any version of units. Who has the > > clout to correct the AP? > > ---- Original message ---- > > >Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:28:54 -0400 > > >From: "Carleton MacDonald" <carlet...@comcast.net> > > >Subject: [USMA:46997] FW: Special Employee > > Advisory: Message from Joe Boardman > > >To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu> > > > > > > Arrrgh. The Associated Press Stylebook strikes > > > again ... > > > > > > > > > > > > Carleton > > > > > > > > > > > > From: MacDonald, Carleton > > > Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 12:59 > > > To: Employee Communications > > > Subject: RE: Special Employee Advisory: Message > > from > > > Joe Boardman > > > > > > > > > > > > The Associated Press Stylebook is rather clueless > > - > > > in fact, flat-out wrong - on a number of issues > > > regarding metric measure, and this is one of the > > > more egregious ones. > > > > > > > > > > > > For one thing, there is no unit of distance > > called a > > > "k". Capitalized, "K" is the SI (International > > > System of Units = the metric system) symbol for > > > "Kelvin", the base unit of thermodynamic > > > temperature. This is of course not what is meant > > > here. The unit of length being used here is the > > > kilometer, and its symbol - its only symbol - is > > > "km", and the way to show distance over time is > > > "km/h". "kph" in SI is meaningless, but no doubt > > > they're deriving it from "mph", under the wrong > > > assumption that as the "m" stands for "mile", the > > > "k" stands for "kilometer". > > > > > > > > > > > > The fact that AP and many other users have no > > idea > > > how to properly express metric units has other > > > examples too, such as "5K" road races (a 5-kelvin > > > race?). > > > > > > > > > > > > All of this of course stems from the fact that > > the > > > USA stubbornly resists joining the rest of the > > world > > > in measuring intelligently. > > > > > > > > > > > > That said: at least we mentioned the speed in SI > > as > > > well as in old units, and that is good. > > > > > > > > > > > > Carleton MacDonald > > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------- > > > > > > From: Employee Communications > > > Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 10:41 > > > To: MacDonald, Carleton > > > Subject: RE: Special Employee Advisory: Message > > from > > > Joe Boardman > > > > > > > > > > > > Thanks for the input. But, according the > > Associated > > > Press Stylebook, kph is acceptable in all > > > references. > > > > > > > > > > > > Kevin > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------- > > > > > > From: MacDonald, Carleton > > > Sent: Friday, March 19, 2010 3:38 PM > > > To: Employee Communications > > > Subject: RE: Special Employee Advisory: Message > > from > > > Joe Boardman > > > > > > > > > > > > One tiny minor thing: kilometers per hour is > > > expressed "km/h". > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------- > > > > > > From: Employee Communications > > > Sent: Friday, March 19, 2010 15:32 > > > Subject: Special Employee Advisory: Message from > > Joe > > > B. > > > > > > > > > > > > Attached is a Special Employee Advisory from > > > President and CEO Joe B.. Please post on all > > > bulletin boards. > > > > > > > > > > > > special employee advisory > > > > > > March 19, 2010 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Dear Co-workers, > > > > > > > > > > > > <snip> > > > > > > > > > > > > Specifically, this department will work on the > > > planning and development activities that will > > allow > > > us to significantly increase operating speeds > > above > > > 150 mph (240 kph) on the Northeast Corridor. It > > will > > > also pursue partnerships with states and others > > in > > > the passenger rail industry to develop > > > federally-designated high-speed rail corridors > > such > > > as the new projects moving forward in California > > and > > > Florida. > > > > > > > Got a cool Hotmail story? Tell us now _________________________________________________________________ Send us your Hotmail stories and be featured in our newsletter http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/195013117/direct/01/
