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K8MHZ:
I understood your comment.
I grew up in the days when MA was the abbreviation for milliampere, CPS was frequency, MC was megacycles per second, KC was what now is called kHz, KC was simpler, 112 MC was really pretty high stuff, but there was radar at 1000 Mhz that I did not know existed, 110 V plugs had only two prongs, 1 M was a 1000 ohm resistor, and 1 MEG was used for a megohm resistor, most ham long distance communication was at 20 meters, and so on. Also note M has been used for 1000 since Roman times. Without some context language is not very specific in many cases. The word milliampere was originated 1890-95 per dictionary.com . Now I found a source that provides an origin time for the unit Watt as 1892, dictionary.com . I use the word thru instead of through because it is simpler and perfectly clear. Simpson 260 and 270 meters use MA, at least on mine, and Fluke uses mA. Hewlett-Packard used MA in the 60s.
I have changed to Hz, took many years, but not necessarily to some other terms. It took me a lot of years to go from CPS to Hz. I don't change easily and will probably continue to use MA for milliamperes. In any context it would be quite hard to mistake mega-amperes with milliamperes.
My life overlapped Edison's, but I was too young to meet him. Some of my older classmates probably did meet him. I did send a hand keyed telegraph message via Western Union wires from Smiths Creek station in Greenfield Village to the Edison family on 11 February 1947 on the 100th anniversary of Edison's birth. At an earlier age I heard Francis Jehl give presentations to us in the Menlo Park laboratory. He was the last living person at that time that was an assistant to Edison and was present in 1879 when Edison's first successful bulb burned for many hours. It took about 10 hours to pump down the bulb and remove occluded gases. They used copious amounts of mercury. Today the EPA would have fits. The bulb test started at 8 PM on Sunday 19 October 1879. On Tuesday 21 October 1879 between 1 and 2 PM the lamp had been burning for about 40 hours. At this time Edison gradually raised the voltage until the lamp burned out. Edison and Jehl were the two persons watching the bulb thru its first night.
Years ago at home we had a few pounds of mercury in a thick jar. At times this was used for play. In high school we had a demonstration where mercury was frozen to a handle in liquid helium and used for a hammer to drive a nail.
Too many things you are not allowed to do today.
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