We are no more immune to Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds than any other country, and our society has massive conformity in many areas. Even many who want to rebel find a marginal group to rebel in conformity with. People accept the most ludicrous claims because others in their in group accept them. Koolaid, anybody?
As to SI units, there are practical reasons for adopting them. Do we really want to stick with a system of units that few of us understand, with the same name denoting different quantities depending on context? -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 ________________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on behalf of Tony Thigpen [t...@vse2pdf.com] Sent: Monday, July 20, 2020 7:41 AM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: OOBOL and English was Re: Still COBOL After All These Years? Wayne, We are an independent sort of people. We don't blindly follow others after the latest fad, like SI units. SI units are not really built on something real, but instead are a unit that looked for a base item that 'fit' into the new perception of reality. It is humorous that the meter was originally defined to be one ten millionth of the distance between the North Pole and the Equator through Paris. Or that the kilogram was originally defined as the mass of a man-made artifact of platinum-iridium held in a specific laboratory in France. It appears that the whole SI system was a system to make France the center of the universe. :-) Tony Thigpen Wayne Bickerdike wrote on 7/20/20 12:50 AM: > Current international agreement for all new elements is to end them with > -ium. > > Odd how the USA hangs on to impractical learnings. Even the UK moved to SI > units while I was at school in the 1960s. > > Took me a while to get used to a gallon that isn't a gallon and a pint that > isn't a pint (16 oz vs 20 oz.). You also short changed the ton by 240 lbs. > > And Webster, whilst described as an anglophile gave you center instead of > centre, defense instead of defence... > > Not sure why saying an abacus is a computer makes me insane:) The best > joker wore a mask. > > > > > On Mon, Jul 20, 2020 at 8:19 AM Tony Thigpen <t...@vse2pdf.com> wrote: > >> Personally, I prefer a more authoritative source than Google, but it is >> almost the same story: >> >> https://secure-web.cisco.com/1pIHfKwEyRKXQ258d6HQn6pXUesJTG2ibsqShT6MRYhV9r4fUKEdk9EpqHJwml6iAcP62SzIC3uZkRzKBr2xFFIvxxdrq3FJOEo5YJpHdsTZL_IkvdhsdpPU_emKLXtEo0jOyWZi52wCFJoHhj57fg6pahAkz7uHKMjYBLrCPzfJH16RCdPZUmdUJv0SpiLPWvn8jpo3ft44amIQPJisLmwO1OOZIG63LdJVOv2kBOiuA2Ipj-_RmUn5F1hCqvWXtHFB_DSXpN6qgLMysEGbxRCQZmOJTQGpy2_xgVa9lJ9gK-tYUGDm0p6-K2y9hhAPN45yb1dspz2Cz13TqP0qZ0OHjYLIEBVaQxmojGC-2VlBIpe-MBFS2ZKWsNddCSJ9YTVE_Q42TOEjLV-e9hzuDQfKzDcBF1IPqnTdgnYvMQfDqc4GDojyBrhcrbMPlu1SBOJwYIYlN4NGPdzFscEshLA/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.merriam-webster.com%2Fwords-at-play%2Faluminum-vs-aluminium >> >> Tony Thigpen >> >> Bob Bridges wrote on 7/19/20 6:09 PM: >>> Because I know you were all breathlessly awaiting the verdict on the >> great "aluminum"/"aluminium" controversy, I went to find more information. >> At https://books.google.com/books?id=YjMwAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA201 you can find a >> page in _Elements of Chemical Philosophy_ by Humphrey Davy (who first >> isolated aluminum), published in 1812; here he talks about "aluminum" (a >> metal to be found in alumina, which in turn was processed from alum). >> Wikipedia >> (https://secure-web.cisco.com/1o6jW0bqoJQZaMyasPgxtzBf_1f444E0jC_JhX8hRoMJuqwbXVk8hQt14kOFIaHV1WtTiLzRUoR0Veuz7o0GDCSEupyT9FPsCpb-FjYXsZtaEoOd_oUCq--prwLBmDIxl3sPQU6dN3PT0G6KSrj7Oxh3B2stsVoQPwiFnRswppFy89Zg0YgQD4xXrkcxI0-IFFPUvAnNrqtGX2dwdAo02cIdQQskgySknoXpD5je9yGqHXOV5DlltC7iczjDJ45NW67kHGiQ4cRXdwKV7hvNF_sJtT7yOdOGGeHpOfePCkYOBi_qGp4vlrx8JFZcB_2D1t_gi66X_CgDb_0hK5om0PY9ap9gh-SWfoq3TEZIJRX9C7MBC5WYC0AQhqc-0ItOy-So75wqar6z_d0D3x0GxhuimV3l6hrGm3bRD0YMJ1h6RRjkSXmKnPUrFOZlleSuI/https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FAluminium%29 >> says this about the >> name: >>> >>> "British chemist Humphry Davy, who performed a number of experiments >> aimed to isolate the metal, is credited as the person who named the >> element. In 1808, he suggested the metal be named alumium in an article on >> his electrochemical research which was published in Philosophical >> Transactions of the Royal Society. This suggestion was criticized by >> contemporary chemists from France, Germany, and Sweden, who insisted the >> metal should be named for the oxide, alumina, from which it would be >> isolated. In 1812, Davy published a chemistry textbook in which he settled >> on the name aluminum, thus producing the modern name. However, its spelling >> and pronunciation varies: aluminum is in use in the United States and >> Canada while aluminium is in use elsewhere." >>> >>> That sounds plausible to me. >>> >>> --- >>> Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313 >>> >>> /* It's ok to doubt your beliefs; but it's not ok to believe your >> doubts. -Jim Snider, pastor, 2000-12-10 */ >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: Bob Bridges [mailto:robhbrid...@gmail.com] >>> Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2020 17:34 >>> >>> Aha! Yet a third story; in this one Davy started out with "aluminum" >> and the Europeans ~added~ the 'i'. >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] >> On Behalf Of Joe Monk >>> Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2020 07:22 >>> >>> The British Scientist (Davy) who discovered ALUMINUM named it that. It is >>> we Americans who are using the correct name ... the British press felt >> that >>> it should be in line with sodium and potassium and thus added to the >>> spelling. >>> >>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, >>> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN >>> >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, >> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN >> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
