Re: [NTLK] [OT] Exact Measurement of Newton 2000 Screen

From: matthiasm <mm_at_matthiasm.com>
Date: Thu May 01 2008 - 08:58:41 EDT

On 01.05.2008, at 14:20, Lord Groundhog wrote:
> As it happens I prefer the metric system for most things but feel
> comfortable with both, apart from the British thing of weighing
> people in
> "stones" -- I mean, come on! Stones? You want to talk about a lack
> of
> precision, weighing in stones and pounds tends to be minus ounces:
> useless!

To me it is not so much the fractions, but the - to me - entirely
random choice of how much of one thing is another thing. Like 12
inches to the foot? Who came up with that? Why twelve? And three feet
to the yard? But how many yards to the mile? Few people even know.
When I made my california Drivers License, I did not know what a yard
was, so I went to the lady who was watching over us: How many yards
from a crossing...? was the question. Knowing miles and feet, I asked
her to explain a yard to me. She shrugged and her answer was: "Check
b) and you're fine." .

Perfect answer to me in that situation ;-)

In metric, everything is divided by the number of finger I have
(unless I am a carpenter with a table saw...).

Matthias

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Received on Thu May 1 09:29:40 2008

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