Saturday January 9, 2010
Book 11: Massively Parallel — Part IV: Mallcop Command
Note:In the thirty-first century the force of a punch is measured in megapascals, or MPa. Since the sort of people who boast about the force of their punches are not the sort of people to be rigorous in their scientific notation, the "Emmpa" system grew out of their jargon. An Emmpa-twelve punch delivers twelve megapascals, which comes out to just over 1,740 PSI for those of you still stuck on inches.

This is roughly twice what a late 20th-century professional boxer can deliver, and would easily break all the bones in Nick's hand if those bones hadn't been reinforced along with the rest of him.

In short, yes, twelves are too much for Emmpa.

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Transcript

CAPTAIN TAGON: Mister Aliss, when you say "Absolutely no weapons of any kind," what do you mean?

MR. ALISS: That is not explaining itself?

CAPTAIN TAGON: Well, I don't think it means what you want it to mean.

CAPTAIN TAGON: You see Nick over there?  He packs an Emmpa-twelve right jab.

CAPTAIN TAGON: We can take away his side arm, but that only makes him more likely to punch something.

MR. ALISS: Are twelves too many for Emmpas?