> Time is such a critical unit of measurement that it has eluded > decimalization. > > We still use minutes and hours -- base 60 rather than base 10. Similarly, > while radians are used in scientific circles, common language references to > angles are in degrees. >
Funny enough, go below a second, and we enter the base 10 again. I remember back in high school, how Swatch tried to revolutionize standardization of time, by dividing a day into 1000 units. Obviously it did not catch on, probably ahead of its time (pun intended): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatch_Internet_Time > The roots of these unit systems are positively ancient ( > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagesimal), tracing back to the Sumerians > in the 3rd millennium BC! Talk about your ancient, antiquated "hill-billy" > unit systems. > Indeed this must be very interesting from a historical perspective (the number 60 in Danish is a reference to an old base 20 system; it is pronounced "tres" which comes from "3 snese" where a "snes" is a stick with 20 items on, typically dried herring). We have gone through many unit transitions, I'm not sure why the mere size of the US would cause a struggle, I suspect it has to do with other issues already discussed. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Java Posse" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/javaposse/-/MRxD16s6I70J. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
