----- Original Message ----- From: "John Chambers" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2003 3:59 PM Subject: Re: [abcusers] New standard(s)
> Bernard Hill writes: > | In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, John Chambers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes > | > But if you measure it in, say, attoparsecs, > | > this is the definition of a parsec (and of the atto- prefix)." > | > | Love it! 1 attoparsec is approx 3.1cm or 1.2" ... as everyone knows <g> > > One of my favorite "weird unit" stories was from an > American astronomer who also liked to cook. He said that he > liked to write out recipes using the cubic attoparsec as a > unit of volume. It turns out that 1 aPc^3 is about 0.998 > fluid ounce, close enough that in a recipe it makes no > difference. It takes no longer to write than "fl.oz.". And > nobody outside the US has any idea what a fluid ounce is, > while parsec is a standard unit that you'll find in any > physical reference book. So this makes his recipes usable > by anyone, not just Americans. > > OTOH, I've heard musicians of the British persuasion refer > to minims and crotchets and semidemiquavers. Not one in a > thousand American musicians could tell you what those terms > actually mean. as well as allmost anyone elsewhere. not to speak of hemisemidemiquavers Arent To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
