Hmm ... kind of fun. But it also leads toward an intriguing idea.
Metric is good, but really should be based on division by two not ten. Division by two is much more natural than division by ten. Thus I like one liter => 1 kg of water since that makes lots of calculations (I build boats) simple. But I really want to think of that liter as 16 hexaliters or 256 doshexaliters or something like that (Sure of the concept but not the names.) When you want to nail a panel down, the fast way is a couple of nails at the ends. Then a nail in the center. Then two nails in the center or each half. Keep this up till done (i.e. the nails are close enough.) This almost always leads to fairly equal spacing. No need to layout and measure. Most folks are good at halving things. So natural units are _not_ decimal. Nobody naturally divides by ten. We naturally divide by two. A few times, like say four, which give us 16 as a natural "big difference" The English system kind of got this right. But the overall idiosyncratic wierdness of it all is just too much.Nonethless the idea of halving is still good. Then we have the clock. I iwll leave my rant on 12 x 2 for another time. (subtle pun?) BobLQ On 10/24/06, James G. Sack (jim) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Forgive me, friends, for this off-topic post, but I just _had to_ pass along this nice little writeup. English Customary Weights and Measures http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/custom.html Regards ..jim
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