Sinking Aircraft Carriers with paper

Subject: Sinking Aircraft Carriers with paper
From: "Robert E. Garland" <robert -at- jtan -dot- com>
To: Techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Date: Wed, 10 May 100 21:57:41 -0400 (EDT)

Sorry about the first message. I hit the wrong key and sent before
completing my message. Ah, the joys of modern technology!

Don't get too carried away by that 40 tons bit. Think! When you tool
down the highway, that 18-wheeler in the next lane can haul 80,000 lbs.
legally on the highway. Divide by 2000 to get tons. Aha! 40 tons!

Granted, on a small ship, 40 tons is alot. I believe a typical 378-foot
(long) Coast Guard High Endurance Cutter carries about 36 tons of paper
as manuals, forms, blank paper, etc. On a small ship that is
significant. On a ship as large as a carrier (1000 or more feet long,
10 decks above the flight deck, perhaps 14 decks above the waterline, 40
tons is not a big deal unless all 40 tons are up on the bridge.
Scattered throughout the ship, 40 tons is nothing. There are more than
40 tons of aircraft on the hangar deck.

So, what does this have to do with technical writing? Someone did not
evaluate the credibility of the information provided.

As penance, you are required to read three books by John Alan Paulos,
among them "A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper", and "Innumeracy".

> Just a week or so back on The Great Ships (on the History Channel) a feature
> on modern naval vessels mentioned that online storage of information has
> been a key contributor to improving ship performance. The weight of the
> documentation needed for day to day shipboard operations for a modern
> aircraft carrier exceeded 40 tons and because of how ships are designed and
> configured most of that had to be stored above the waterline!
>
> Steve MacDonald
> Aspect Telecommunications, Inc.
>
--
Robert Garland Amateur Radio Station NX3S
Hilltown Township Bucks County Grid FN20ii
Pennsylvania USA robert -at- jtan -dot- com





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