ASIA / PACIFIC Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER December 5, 2022 New measures for size, as world’s people surpass 8 billion RESIZING REQUIREMENTS. The entrance of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures is seen in Sevres, outside Paris, on November 17, 2022. Officials from 64 member states convened at a confer- ence organized by the supreme authority of the Inter- national Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) and approved an expansion of the world’s unit systems for the first time this century — as the global population surges past 8 billion. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) By Thomas Adamson The Associated Press ARIS — What is bigger: A ronna or a quetta? Scientists meeting in November outside of Paris — who have expanded the world’s measuring unit systems for the first time this century as the global population surges past 8 billion — have the answer. Rapid scientific advances and vast worldwide data storage on the web, in smartphones and in the cloud, mean that the very terms used to measure things in weight and size need extending too. And one British scientist led the push to incorporate bold new, tongue-twisting prefixes on the gigantic and even the minuscule scale. “Most people are familiar with prefixes like milli- as in milligram. But these are prefixes for the biggest and smallest levels ever measured,” Dr Richard Brown, head of Metrology at the U.K.’s National Physi- cal Laboratory who proposed the four new prefixes, told The Associated Press. “In the last 30 years, the datasphere has increased exponentially, and data scientists have realized they will no longer have words to describe the levels of storage. These terms are upcoming, the future,” he explained. There’s the gargantuan “ronna” (that’s 27 zeros after the one) and its big brother the “quetta” — (that’s 30 zeros). Their ant-sized counterparts are the “ronto” (27 zeros after the decimal point), and the “quecto” (with 30 zeros after the decimal point) — representing the smaller numbers needed for quantum science and P particle physics. Brown presented the new prefixes to officials from 64 nations attending the General Conference on Weights and Measures in Versailles, outside of Paris — who approved them. The conference, which takes place every four years in France, is the supreme authority of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. The new terms take effect immediately, marking the first time since 1991 that any new additions have been made. Brown said the new terms also make it easier to describe things scientists already know about — reeling off a list of the smallest and biggest things discovered by humankind. Did you know that the mass of an electron is one rontogram? And that a byte of data on a mobile increases the phone’s mass by one quectogram? Dubbed torture, ID policies leave transgender people sterile Continued from page 3 policy, and Germany is considering doing the same. Cathrin Ramelow, a 58-year-old German transgender woman, is fighting for compensation and an apology from the government. In 2000, she underwent surgical sterilization, welcoming the chance to end her double life. But afterwards, she says, she agonized over what she had lost. “You know there’s something wrong with you and you can’t have children anymore,” she says. “I cried some days.” Years later, Loh would make the opposite choice. But she found that it, too, came with a steep cost. Her enforced military service was so brutal she contemplated suicide. And other challenges awaited. In 2019, Loh and her family travelled to neighboring Malaysia. The Malaysian immigration officer stared at Loh’s passport, which still lists her gender as male. “You should go cut your hair,” the officer snapped. The words sent a chill through Loh. She knew that in Malaysia, simply being transgender is considered a crime. She had read stories about transgender people there being mobbed and killed. She hurried across the border. Now, she makes sure to sweep her long hair back at checkpoints. “I’m terrified of travelling now partially because of that,” she says. Among the many fears Loh has about her future, finding a job tops the list. “Will they reject me because I’m trans?” she wonders. Loh’s mother, Stella Wong, worries about how her daughter will navigate a future in which so many options have already been ripped away. “But I have no choice,” Wong says. “Because in Singapore, we abide by the rules. Me too.” Think you’re an organ and tissue donor? Not if you haven’t told your family. Talk to your family about organ and tissue donation. Talk to your family about donating life. For a free donor card brochure, contact: Donate Life Northwest (503) 494-7888 1-800-452-1369 www.donatelifenw.org Go paperless! Read The Asian Reporter – exactly as it’s printed here – online! Visit and click the “Online Paper (PDF)” link to view our last two issues. Further from home, the planet Jupiter is two just quettagrams in mass. While, incredibly, “the diameter of the entire observable universe is just one ronna- meter,” Brown said. He explained how the new names were not chosen at random: The first letter of the new prefixes had to be one not used in other prefixes and units. “There were only the letters ‘r’ and ‘q’ that weren’t already taken. Following that, there’s a precedent that they sound similar to Greek letters and that big number prefixes end with an ‘a’ and smaller numbers with an ‘o,’” he added. “It was high time. (We) need new words as things expand,” Brown said. “In just a few decades, the world has become a very different place.” Hong Kong émigrés seek milk tea in craving for taste of home Continued from page 2 meaning — there’s something that cannot be replaced,” he said. “What we long for most is to go home and see a better Hong Kong. But we can’t.” Some emigrants, like Eric Tam, a 41-year-old manager at an insurance company, enroll in milk tea lessons before leaving. Visiting Hong Kong in November, he stocked up on a milk tea blend, a recipe that evolved from British teas in the colonial era. While tea is easy to find in England, he said, the taste isn’t the same: “British milk tea is just watery milk,” said Tam. Before moving to Liverpool with his wife and two younger daughters in June, Tam signed up for lessons at the Institution of Hong Kong Milk Tea. The two-year-old organization teaches students skills like pouring tea back and forth between a kettle and a plastic container to enhance its flavor before mixing it with evaporated milk. Yan Chan, the school’s founder, estimated that about 40% of the 2,000 people who have studied with her were planning to emigrate. Milk tea only began to emerge as a symbol of the Hong Kong identity over the last 15 years, said Veronica Mak, associate professor in the sociology department of Hong Kong Shue Yan University. Mak said that many young people began to think about Hong Kong identity after the government removed Queen’s Pier, a landmark from the city’s colonial past, in 2007. Childhood memories, marketing, and a fashion for localism came together to make milk tea a totem of Hong Kong culture. “When you ask young people what kind of milk tea they like to drink, they will tell you it’s the bubble milk tea,” she said, referring to a drink from Taiwan. “But when you come to the identity part … they will not say the bubble tea but the local style milk tea.” Most milk tea lovers interviewed told The Associated Press that milk tea isn’t political. But Tam said it’s a form of silent resistance. “We can choose to preserve the culture that we want to keep. It cannot be destroyed even if other people try,” he said. TASTE OF HOME. Students stir tea in a pot dur- ing a class about making Hong Kong-style milk tea at the Institute of Hong Kong Milk Tea, in Hong Kong, on November 3, 2022. Milk tea only began to emerge as a symbol of the Hong Kong identity over the last 15 years, according to Veronica Mak, an associate pro- fessor in the sociology department of Hong Kong Shue Yan University. (AP Photo/Vernon Yuen) Contemporary Asian tea culture is catching on globally. Outside Chinatowns, at least five Hong Kong-style milk tea brands have emerged over the past two years in Britain. One set up a pop-up café in the trendy London neighborhood of Shoreditch in September, attracting Londoners and tourists as well as Hong Kong émigrés. Eric Wong, a tea wholesaler, began selling bottled milk tea in 2021 after moving to the U.K., and offers milk tea workshops. He said he’s making 500 to 1,000 bottles of milk tea a week, and his south London business broke even after about six months. His Trini Hong Kong Style Milk Tea products are available online and at major Asian supermarkets. The taste of home can provoke strong emotions. A young woman from Hong Kong once shed tears after tasting his tea, Wong said. Between people planning to leave and growing interest in local culture, Chan is busy. In early November, nine people attended her class, none of whom had plans to emigrate. Cooking enthusiast Dennis Cheng had a class with her in late September and practiced the signature pouring while preparing to leave Hong Kong with his wife and children. He said the taste will help remind him of Hong Kong and friends back home. “This may help me feel emigrating overseas isn’t really that sad,” he said. “It’s just that I need more time to adapt to it.” Associated Press photographer Kin Cheung in London contributed to this story. Please report all hate crimes committed against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.