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[MrWiggles]

Exactly.

It seems to be a conclusion that world over seems to share that the Imperial measurement system is a wii bit dumb. I suppose we could discuss the merit of both systems, but even for DF, that seems like a nerdy conversation.

[Zironic]

My freshmen year in high school, My conceptual physics teacher made the entire class take a test of converting metric to other metric, SI to English, etc... if you got a single point wrong, you had to retake it. The metric system makes the imperial system look terrible. Scales of ten, the direct conversion of grams to ml to cm^3 allows for a lot better mathematical models. Celsius makes a lot more sense.

[Dwarf]

Oh, mostly converting is kinda esay.
But fuck, converting meters and centimeters to feet, inches and fractions of inches... a pain in the ass.

(Also, most feet are not 30 cm/one foot. I also don't get why anyone would put a dozen inches in a foot)

[Heron TSG]

because a dozen goes into 3 and 4, which most of our fractions come from.

1/3, 2/3, 1/4, 1/2.... etc.

[LegoLord]

because a dozen goes into 3 and 4, which most of our fractions come from.

1/3, 2/3, 1/4, 1/2.... etc.

Yeah, that's what they say, but in reality it was just a happy coincidence for the people who defend the imperial system from the metric system.  Imperial just sort of grew out of old arbitrary units like the span (length of a hand - seriously, people?  and they only get worse).  Any numerical consistencies are A) accidental, and B) less intuitive than in the Metric system.

[MrWiggles]

The foot has its origin, if I recall in being a literal measurement of a person foot, generally the ruling bodies. The division of the foot, from what I recall has its origin in Babylon, since they have a hard on for base 12.

[Earthquake Damage]

Imperial just sort of grew out of old arbitrary units like the span (length of a hand - seriously, people?  and they only get worse).

I'm pretty sure such measurements have a very long history.  You see, a long time ago people developed measurements that were easy to visualize, learn, and replicate.  They may not be 100% consistent between individuals, but if I estimate something at 10 hands you can probably figure out roughly what I mean using your own hand.

Today, we've standardized our measuring systems and it's easy to spread that consistent standard given our highly interconnected world (due to communications technology & population growth).  That the metric system is better organized and, in your opinion, superior doesn't mean the various traditional systems of yesterday were rubbish.  They were products of the times.

The division of the foot, from what I recall has its origin in Babylon, since they have a hard on for base 12.

Even better:  Babylonian numerals were base 60.  I assume that's because it's divisible by all kinds of small integers, like 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, &c.

[MrWiggles]

Heh, yea thats correct. They did a lot of neat things on base 60.

I would argue that its barely functional. The history of measurement standards is very long, there fight between a need of international measurement standards and domestic measurement standards. It was the inadequacies of the imperial system that arose the need for the metric system.

[Forumsdwarf]

base-60

Were Babbage Babylonian that would explain The Tower of Babel.

It would take 60 camels just to pull the handle.

[bjlong]

It was the inadequacies of the imperial system that arose the need for the metric system.

Actually, it was the French trying to be more french. See, in those days, we had the English units (Imperial), which were standardized but without an organizing basis, and a bunch of people saying "It's about this tall." Louis the XVI decided that the French, being obviously superior to everything ever, should create a system of measurements. The system was hacked together after a lot of work by a few french scientists, and they've had to refine it ever since. Finally, after relativity, the meter was standardized. The kilogram is still relatively difficult, as they've had to make a "master kilo" to store in a french vault. And the second is defined off of the vibrations of quartz, also a relatively recent definition.

So, yeah, the SI isn't from people trying to create a better system of measurement than the Imperial system, but because the French didn't like the English. The fact that it's better is more from French scientists working out the details over a long period of time, rather than citizens adopting their "native" measuring systems.

[Zangi]

It was the inadequacies of the imperial system that arose the need for the metric system.

Actually, it was the French trying to be more french. See, in those days, we had the English units (Imperial), which were standardized but without an organizing basis, and a bunch of people saying "It's about this tall." Louis the XVI decided that the French, being obviously superior to everything ever, should create a system of measurements. The system was hacked together after a lot of work by a few french scientists, and they've had to refine it ever since. Finally, after relativity, the meter was standardized. The kilogram is still relatively difficult, as they've had to make a "master kilo" to store in a french vault. And the second is defined off of the vibrations of quartz, also a relatively recent definition.

So, yeah, the SI isn't from people trying to create a better system of measurement than the Imperial system, but because the French didn't like the English. The fact that it's better is more from French scientists working out the details over a long period of time, rather than citizens adopting their "native" measuring systems.

In short... the Frenchies win.

[Shades]

The kilogram is still relatively difficult, as they've had to make a "master kilo" to store in a french vault. And the second is defined off of the vibrations of quartz, also a relatively recent definition.

This is kind of true, however the fact a litre of water weighs a kilo, and has a density of one, should give you some idea to the basis of the "master kilo"

[Dwarf]

IIRC, 1l @ 4 degs C = 1 kg.

[DJ]

The Frenchies are also responsible for driving on the right side.

[Earthquake Damage]

The Frenchies are also responsible for driving on the right side.

If this is to be believed, you're half right.  Apparently in the 18th century it became customary for teamsters in France and the U.S. to drive on the right, for practical reasons.  The U.S. was also apparently the first of the two (if only by two years) to enshrine that practice in law.