Richard Clark wrote:
On Tue, 19 Aug 2003 14:47:58 -0700, Roy Lewallen
wrote:


I find this most interesting. As a P.E. licensed by the state of Oregon
(since 1981), I'm aware that I'm subject to state laws governing the
code of conduct of Professional Engineers, and all other applicable
state laws. I didn't realize that I had legal obligations to NIST, or
that any other federal agency has requirements for P.E.s of all states.
Would you please provide some reference where I can further research
this obligation and the rules it has imposed that I'm legally required
to comply with?

Roy Lewallen, W7EL, P.E.


Hi Roy,

"RCW 19.94.150
Standards recognized.
The system of weights and measures in customary use in the United
States and the metric system of weights and measures are jointly
recognized, and either one or both of these systems shall be used
for all commercial purposes in this state. The definitions of
basic units of weight and measure and weights and measures
equivalents, as published by the national institute of standards
and technology or any successor organization, are recognized and
shall govern weighing or measuring instruments or devices used in
commercial activities and other transactions involving weights and
measures within this state."

This is from the state of Washington, I will leave it to you to
research your own particular point of liability in Oregon.

Wow, thanks for the heads-up. I'll be more careful to specify circuit
board trace line widths in furlongs, and volumes of radar detection
regions in bushels, those being duly recognized customary units of
measure here in Oregon. I'll no longer use lakj;ofs and mapeurqak!pys,
which I had previously been using.

I would add what the IEEE offers into the matter of observing
standards in the development of software and confirming your
disclaimers with:

"The Legal Standard of Professionalism"

"One curious fact from the legal perspective decries a serious
lack: there is no such thing as software malpractice. Why?
A peek into the legal mind provides a disturbing explanation.
There is insufficient evidence to show that programmers
know how to learn from each other, much less from the rest of
the world."

I, for one, could envision you having interest in both, but as I
stated before, I could not see you bothered with the first - seeing
that you have not volunteered any additional details of your trade
aside from software, that stands to good reason.

As I'm afraid so often happens with your postings, I haven't a clue what
you're trying to say. It sounds vaguely like a complaint, but I can't
for the life of me fathom what about, except that it seems to be some
sort of objection to the legal disclaimers which accompany my software.
Could you please try to rephrase it in a way that can be understood by
an engineer with a sadly deficient liberal arts education?

If you feel that the legal disclaimers which accompany my software are
unduly restrictive or otherwise too onerous for you, or you're not fully
satisfied with EZNEC in any way, all you need do is so state in
peasant-level plain language so I can understand it, and I'll promptly
refund the full purchase price. Just as it says clearly in the EZNEC
manual (Help/Contents/Introduction/Guarantee).

Roy Lewallen, W7EL