28 May
2010
28 May
'10
8:57 a.m.
On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 11:07, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
a yard
is about the distance between the tip of my thumb and my nose,
... about one meter.
the length of my stride. ?A foot is a unit not enjoyed
by the metrics-
-you get your choice between a meter (too big) and the ridiculously
small centimeter--even a decimeter is too small.
So the relationship between two human scales is not a nice factor of
10. What's wrong with "about 30 cm"? How many bits of ones body need
their own unit?
--and not some erroneous measurement of the
earth's meridian. ?With
the Imperial system, I feel a kinship with centuries of history
dating back to the ancient Romans rather than some idealistic 18th-
century French revolutionaries who couldn't quite get their
measurements right.
Hang on a microforthnight, you are complaining about the
abritrary-ness of the metric system while extolling the Fahrenheit
scale? Seriously?
Celsius is very convenient (and I daresay human) here in Canada: If
it's below 0 outside, snow will stick around. Sidewalks will be
slippery.
--
Joachim Thiemann :: http://www.tsp.ece.mcgill.ca/~jthiem