Domain dependent semantics

[Rob Seaman]

We spend a lot of time fretting about issues of astronomical  
semantics.  It might help to keep these somewhat in perspective.   
Others fields have similarly obscure challenges with domain  
knowledge.  From the Risks Digest (http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/25.66.html#subj15 
):

	"But when I noticed the CAS number of bis(2-chloroisopropyl)ether was  
39638-32-9 instead of 108-60-1, that is definitely NOT a typo (unless  
the person entering the data sneezed at that moment.) It was clearly a  
f**kup on the part of the state, obviously caused by the fact that  
bis(2-chloroisopropyl)ether & 2,2'- dichlorodiisopropylether are both  
C6 H12 CL2 O."

The choice of the word "obviously" may be a bit capricious - the  
underlying issue here is just as complex as some the IVOA faces.

Rob

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