[OT] Metric system.

[Darklance]

I'm writing a paper on the metric system vs Imperial system thing and I remember someone mentioning the source of the Imperial systems standards...kings shoe size...freezing/boiling point of blood etc...but I can't seem to find any reference to this. If you brought it up the last time, anyone know of any sources that I can use to I doesn't look like I'm pulling it out of my ass? Thanks.

 

[Morrus]

That's really interesting - I didn't know that. I always thought the numbers were a bit odd!

If anyone does know anything about this, I'd love to hear about it too.

 

[jester47]

http://home.clara.net/brianp/

is all I culd find on short notice.

 

[MaxKaladin]

The origins of the Fahrenheit system:

http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/52561.html

Short version: No, it wasn't based on boiling blood. The bottom point was based on the lowest temperature he could reach by the means of the day and the highest point was the boiling point of water. The numbers are not "even" decimal numbers because he was using divisions that were easier to work with using fractions.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

Bah. Metric system.

My car gets 40 hectares to the hogshead, and that's the way I like it!

 

[mmadsen]

The story I heard -- that I haven't seen substantiated anywhere -- is that the Fahrenheit scale set 0 at the lowest outside temperate and 100 at the highest that occured throughout the year. Sounds reasonable, no? Too bad I can find no basis for it...

Many of the linear measurements have clear origins. A foot is the length of a typical foot. A yard is the length of a typical stride, or half a fathom, which is the distance from one outstretched hand to the other. An inch is the length of the end of your thumb (from the last knuckle to the end). We don't use cubits, but they used to be the length of your arm from elbow to fingertip. And so on.

 

[Chun-tzu]

Bah. Metric system.

My car gets 40 hectares to the hogshead, and that's the way I like it!

Don't you mean, "The metric system is the tool of the Devil! My car gets forty rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I likes it!" Grampa Abe?

A rod is an arcane form of measurement, equal to 512 yards or 1612 feet; a perch or pole. A rod is also farming measurement used in spacing the furrows in ploughed fields, of 16.5 feet. A Hog is a large, often old, car or motor-cycle in old U.S. Slang, and a hogshead is an old unit of measurement for liquids equal to 63 old wine-gallons, which is 5212 imperial gallons.

(BTW, a hectare is a unit of area, not distance.)

Oops, wrong thread. Feel free to ignore the useless trivia.

 

[Darklance]

Thanks. Anyone else?

 

[Zappo]

A rod is an arcane form of measurement, equal to 512 yards or 1612 feet; a perch or pole. A rod is also farming measurement used in spacing the furrows in ploughed fields, of 16.5 feet. A Hog is a large, often old, car or motor-cycle in old U.S. Slang, and a hogshead is an old unit of measurement for liquids equal to 63 old wine-gallons, which is 5212 imperial gallons.

...and still there are people who dislike the metric system?

 

[Chun-tzu]

...and still there are people who dislike the metric system?

Don't look at me, I'm Canadian.