In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, John Chambers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes >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.
20 fl oz= 1 pint, so 160 fl.oz = 1 (imperial) gallon :-) > >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. Most musicians can translate though. However Music Publisher has a "choose your language" option built in :-) Bernard Hill Braeburn Software Author of Music Publisher system Music Software written by musicians for musicians http://www.braeburn.co.uk Selkirk, Scotland To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
