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???
03/23/07 21:26
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 		 #135710 - Revolutionary
Responding to: ???'s previous message
Jan Waclawek said:

Metre was established from something those people (closely related to Voltaire & co, alias the encyclopedists) believed to be firm and stable, so it can be remeasured later.


Given the revolutionary zeal in France at the time, the fact that the relationship to English imperial units is so close cannot be co-incidence. The basis is no less arbitrary than Imperial. And the metricians basic, stable fact is wrong, since the Earth is oblate, and tends to writhe around anyway...

The thing about imperial is it is rather human scaled. A yard is pretty well the length of a man's pace, irrespective of his height, for example.

Steve



List of 32 messages in thread
TopicAuthorDate
weekend query            01/01/70 00:00      
   this is easy            01/01/70 00:00      
      how did they know how many volts they were            01/01/70 00:00      
         re:volt ref.            01/01/70 00:00      
   Statistically            01/01/70 00:00      
      A guess            01/01/70 00:00      
         Almost.            01/01/70 00:00      
            Shotguns are still specified in guages.            01/01/70 00:00      
               Wire and sheet metal too?            01/01/70 00:00      
      SI            01/01/70 00:00      
         Iterated.            01/01/70 00:00      
         I thought the meter was.            01/01/70 00:00      
            Old hat.            01/01/70 00:00      
         k-m-s            01/01/70 00:00      
            Revolutionary            01/01/70 00:00      
               ALL measurement units were human scaled then...            01/01/70 00:00      
                  Pace            01/01/70 00:00      
                     military standards            01/01/70 00:00      
   Anothery weekend query            01/01/70 00:00      
      No one really knows, but ...            01/01/70 00:00      
         100 F            01/01/70 00:00      
            100F wouldn't kill you            01/01/70 00:00      
               120F in Phoenix            01/01/70 00:00      
                  I remember Houston, Tx            01/01/70 00:00      
                     At UT Dallas ...            01/01/70 00:00      
      what I have heard/seen            01/01/70 00:00      
      Fahrenheit            01/01/70 00:00      
      100 ? That would be way too metric !            01/01/70 00:00      
         98.6 is normal body temp.            01/01/70 00:00      
            Ah, then it was 0° and 98° ...            01/01/70 00:00      
               Body Temperature            01/01/70 00:00      
   How did they deside how heavy the first ounce was            01/01/70 00:00      

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