From: dsew@packrat.aml.arizona.edu (David Sewell)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv.mst3k
Subject: Question about the abbriviation "MST3K"
Lines: 77 

In article <37sc9f$m75@paperboy.gsfc.nasa.gov>, T-Bone  
wrote: 

>DynaYellow writes >>"K" is the Scientific Notation for 1000. Hence, 3K is 3000.
Neat, huh? > >No, the scientific notation for 3000 is 3E+03. K stands for "kilo",
which   >means "1000"; hence a kilobyte is 1000 butes, a kilometer is 1000, and a  
>kiljoy is 1000 Ian McShane impersonators.

There is some major confusion about terminology here that readers of this
newsgroup  need to be made aware of.

As a chartered newsgroup in the Usenet "Big 7" hierarchy, r.a.t.m is bound by
both  convention and (in most countries) common-carrier regulations to follow the 
International System of Units or Syste`me Internationale (SI), codified and
published  in 1992 as International Standard ISO 31, _Quantities and Units_. The
SI standard  clearly establishes that mathematical prefixes representing factors
of 10^6 and  greater (M=mega, G=giga, etc.) are capitalized, while all other
prefixes are  represented by lowercase Roman or Greek letters. The SI prefix for
kilo, 10^3, is  accordingly 'k'.

'K' is another matter entirely. It is, of course, the SI base unit for
thermodynamic  temperature, or kelvin, defined as equal to 1/273.16 of the
thermodynamic temparature  of the triple point of water. Hence absolute 0 is by
definition 0 degrees kelvin.

"MST3K", then, clearly means "Mystery Science Theatre, 3 degrees kelvin", i.e.
-270.15  degrees Celsius, i.e. -454.27 degrees Fahrenheit. In other words you are
suggesting  that Mystery Science Theatre is extraordinarily cold. One should hope
that was not  your intent, but that is in fact what you convey through your
inattention to  terminological niceties.

The approximately correct SI abbreviation would be "MST 3k". [But see following 
paragraph for discussion.] "mst 3k" is also admissible, if it is desired to avoid 
confusion with the common abbreviation for Mountain Standard Time (to an
Arizonan, for  example, this would be a legitimate concern); however, since time
zone abbreviations  are not covered by either SI base or derived units, this is a
matter that may safely  be left to preference or convention. Given that "3000
Mountain Standard Time" is  meaningless, there is probably little room for
ambiguity and I would therefore  encourage r.a.t.m. readers to use the
capitalized form since it abbreviates a proper  name which if spelled in full
would also be capitalized. (As an aside, this might be  the place to remind those
who post MST 3k Comedy Central schedules during the summer  months that the state
of Arizona does not observe Daylight Savings Time, except on the  Navajo
Reservation [but not on the Hopi Reservation within its boundaries], so that 
Mountain show times that apply to both Albuquerque and Tucson, for example, in
the  winter, will *not* apply equally to both while Daylight Savings Time is in
effect.)

{DISCUSSION. Properly speaking, an SI prefix cannot stand by itself as a numeric 
value, or be attached to a numeric quantity as a postfix. The only thoroughly 
conforming SI abbreviation of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 would be

                              3 kMst

where we treat "Mst" as a derived unit expressing quantity of Mystery Science
Theatre,  and use the conventional capital + lowercase [+ lowercase ..] form for
alphabetic SI  units of more than one letter. Unfortunately the "mst3k"
postfixual abbreviation has  become a de facto standard through its admission
into the Usenet naming hierarchy and  is likely to persist for the foreseeable
future.}

Perhaps if some people had a life apart from this newsgroup and the television
show  that it celebrates they would be less liable to errors in detail of the
sort that a  meticulous and scientifically sophisticated craftsman like Joel
Hodgson would surely deplore in admirers of his television program. 
--

David Sewell  *  dsew@packrat.aml.arizona.edu   | "Upward, downward, the way
RADIOCARBON, Dep't of Geosciences, U of Arizona |  is one and the same."
  4717 E. Ft. Lowell Rd, Tucson AZ 85712        |           --Heraclitus
  Tel. 1-602-881-0857  Fax 1-602-881-0554