Ezra & all, sirs: >.....I doubt that the French philosophes would have been able to resolve this >issue (decimals, binary >fractions, 12s, 20s, or a combination of all of >these)..... I would not call this a failure of the French and/or other promoters of 'decimal metric system'; BUT a lack of political will that would slow on teaching the YOUNG ones - HOW 'not to THINK in - fractions'? True, the count to 12 has been a big hinderer since a multiple of 2, 3, 4, 6 & 12(itself) leading to 12x12 i.e. a GROSS. If hens delivered eggs and were collected/packed in 10's and sold as such; THINK and LEARN the 'decimal/metric counting' were automatic and packing in 10x10 i.e. HUNDREDS go well in trade. It is thus, the need to start rather find: Ways, how to impede the process!
SIncerly all, Brij Bhushan Vij (MJD 55379)/1726+D-194W27-05 (G. Friday, 2010 July 02H14:13 (decimal) EST Aa Nau Bhadra Kritvo Yantu Vishwatah -Rg Veda The Astronomical Poem (revised number of days in any month) "30 days has July,September, April, June, November and December all the rest have 31 except February which has 29 except on years divisible evenly by 4; except when YEAR divisible by 128 and 3200 - as long as you remember that "October (meaning 8) is the 10th month; and December (meaning 10) is the 12th BUT has 30 days & ONE OUTSIDE of calendar-format" Jan:31; Feb:29; Mar:31; Apr:30; May:31; Jun:30 Jul:30; Aug:31; Sep:30; Oct:31; Nov:30; Dec:30 (365th day of Year is World Day) ******As per Kali V-GRhymeCalendaar***** "Koi bhi cheshtha vayarth nahin hoti, purshaarth karne mein hai" My Profile - http://www.brijvij.com/bbv_2col-vipBrief.pdf Author had NO interaction with The World Calendar Association except via Media & Organisations to who I contributed for A Possible World Calendar, since 1971. HOME PAGE: http://www.brijvij.com/ Contact via E-mail: [email protected] From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:48020] Re: Mars roving vehicle Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2010 17:50:52 +1000 On 2010/07/02, at 13:00 , [email protected] wrote: The only problem that I see is that NASA is perpetuating the use of vulgar fractions, which I am convinced is a terrible idea. I hope someone educates them to start using 50 cm (or 0.5 m) instead of "half a meter". Regards, Ezra Dear Ezra, This looks a lot like the discussion that took place in the USA before decimal currency of dollars and cents was introduced in 1792. In the 1780s some people, such as Thomas Jefferson, promoted a decimal currency while others, perhaps George Washington, were in favor of dividing currency into halves, quarters, and so on. Eventually a compromise was reached where both decimals and fractions were incorporated. This is still the situation with the currency of the USA in 2010. Basically Thomas Jefferson failed in his attempt to get an all-decimal currency for the USA. He was however successful when he promoted his decimal ideas in France while he was ambassador to that nation in the 1780s. I doubt that the French philosophes would have been able to resolve this issue (decimals, binary fractions, 12s, 20s, or a combination of all of these) without the pressure from Thomas Jefferson and his use of the successful decimal currency component as an example to convince the 'philosophes' that decimalisation was possible. As we now know this led to the success of the 'decimal metric system' in France and its subsequent success as the metric system in all other nations. By the way, it is my view that NASA would be well advised to work in millimetres rather than centimetres. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/centimetresORmillimetres.pdf Cheers, Pat Naughtin Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected] or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Hooper" <[email protected]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, July 1, 2010 2:37:19 PM Subject: [USMA:48015] Mars roving vehicle In a news release from NASA (at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1703.html) there is an interesting description of the size of the wheels on the new Mars rover vehicle: " Curiosity's six-wheel mobility system, with a rocker-bogie suspension system, resembles the systems on earlier, smaller Mars rovers, but for Curiosity, the wheels will also serve as landing gear. Each wheel is half a meter (20 inches) in diameter." Note that, not only is it both in Ye Olde English and in metric, bit the metric is the primary. There may be some hope for NASA yet. The photo is interesting, too. Bill Hooper 1810 mm tall Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA ========================== SImplification Begins With SI. ========================== _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail has tools for the New Busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_1
