Wow, quite a story! I think it's interesting, how much measurements have been based so much on things within farming, or what people use most.
In high school chemistry I always liked centimeters. They were great! Just the size of a pinky-nail...Unless I'm getting everything mixed up (it's been a bit), a cubic centimeter of water (isn't this a milliliter?) weighs a gram. And a calorie (little "c", if i remember right; big "C" Calories meant a thousand little-c calories...) was the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of a gram of water one degree celsius. 'course, I could put in my annoyances at the Fahrenheit units of heat here, too...what I heard, was he screwed up twice--he used water's freezing point for zero; only the water was salt water, and so froze at a much lower temperature. and then he used his son's temperature for one hundred (why mix the freezing point of water and a human's normal temperature, I don't know)--only his son was sick and so had a fever. Grr. But anyway, centimeters are great. I do wonder, what would numbering be like if we had eight or twelve fingers... -----Original Message----- From: Fernando Cabral <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: sundial@rrz.uni-koeln.de <sundial@rrz.uni-koeln.de> Date: Monday, February 14, 2000 11:34 AM Subject: Re: metric >Peter Tandy wrote: > >> Americans should be warned. If you 'go >> metric' as Britain has been forced to do it will seem a very strange world >> for those not brought up to it from an early age. What the hell is a litre >> of petrol?? Mercifully though, I can still get a pint of beer, and with >> that I know my limitation. Long may it continue. > >This metric versus imperial or american measurements will never end. >It certainly has more to do with how you were "brought up" >than with any easiness of use or practicality. > >I was brought up with the metric system. At least at school >that's what I learned. Customary measures were not even tought. > >Now, my grandparents would always use the customary system. >My father would use a mix. My mother was "metric-minded". > >One of my grandfathers was a blue collar work in a railroad >built by the British. That means that when he was talking >about his tools, nuts and bolts he would use the British system. > >Maybe I was in a very unique position to learn several systems >at once. > >Now, either I was too lazy or the British and Brazilian customary >systems were too much confusing. > >The fact is that as kid (without knowing anything about politics >or imperialism) I rejected both the British and the Brazilian >system. It did not seem I would ever learn how to express >something in yards, feet, inchs and fractions of inches. > >To me putting a comma somewhere (we use the decimal >comma, not the decimal point) seemed much easier than >finding the proper unit that would come next. > >There was one more problem: many measures we quite >unique in the sense that what they represented could change >from state to state, town to town or even person to person. > >One "league", for instance, could mean either 6 km or 6.6 km. >Now I know (I did not know then) that a league may also >represent 3 statute mile (4.8 km). > >Now, 1 alqueire (land measure) had its fractions expressed >in liters! Oh boy, only I know how my little head was confused: >learning at school that liters were used to measure volume, >now they were using it to measure surface! > >Eventually I was to learn that 1 alqueire = 48 liters. And reason >was quite simple and straightforward: 1 alqueire was the land >that would consume 48 liters of bean seed. > >Of course, beans have different sizes; some people like >sowing close together, other like sowing far apart. So it is easy >to see why the "alqueire" was quite elastic. > >There were other ways to measure the "alqueire". Eventually >it was boiled down to *only* for: "alqueire de sesmaria", >"alqueire paulista", "alqueiro goiano" and "alqueiro mineiro". > >Any doubt why I attached myself firmly to the metric system? > >Even if you love the American Customary System, do your >kids a favour: teach them the metric system. So, in the future >I'll be able to drink 0.5 l or 500 ml of bear instead of >a pint. I can't believe drinking a pint can be as refreshing and >awarding as half a liter :-) > >- fernando > > > > >-- >Fernando Cabral Padrao iX Sistemas Abertos >mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pix.com.br >Fone Direto: +55 61 329-0206 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >PABX: +55 61 329-0202 Fax: +55 61 326-3082 >15º 45' 04.9" S 47º 49' 58.6" W >19º 37' 57.0" S 45º 17' 13.6" W > >
