
The Biggest of Puzzles Brought Down to Size - robg
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/science/31angi.html
======
silentOpen
Interesting if not slightly fluffy article. Unfortunately, the author decided
to use calories as a unit of energy in one of the examples to compare gasoline
energy content and human energy consumption. While the numbers are correct,
the use of the 'calorie' for a non-dietary energy unit actually equivalent to
a kcal, is disappointing.

America may learn numerical literacy but it seems unlikely they'll be able to
apply it to many problems without a system of units that doesn't require
knowledge of arbitrary conversion ratios or ambiguous magnitudes.

