Re: Metric Time (was Re: Why not 13 months? (Was La Systeme Metrique))
Joshua Hesse (raccoon@cse.unl.edu)
14 Oct 1995 00:59:28 GMT
Edward Rice (ehrice@his.com) wrote:
: In article <4588tl$13u@cortex.dialin.rrze.uni-erlangen.de>,
: mskuhn@unrza3.dialin.rrze.uni-erlangen.de (Markus Kuhn) wrote:
: > Remember: 1 L water has a mass of precisely 1 kg which on the earth
: > causes a force of 9.81 N (i.e. around 10), because on the earth things
: > accelerate with 9.81 m/s when they are falling down. That's all.
: > Easy, isn't it?
: Not very precise, though. If metric's so good, why don't you have a decent
: constant for the gravitational pull of the earth? 32 feet/second/second is
: a nicely binary figure, very easy to express in computing.
: > If you show me a rectangualar tank of any kind, I can find out quickly
: > its volume and how heavy it would be it you fill it with water in
: > metric units. You'll have serious problems doing this with your most
: > useful human measures feet, gallons and pounds. This is just one
: > practical daily life example of how easy the metric units are to use.
: > Believe me, once you got used to the metric system, you won't want to
: > give it up again.
: You can do that, if you ignore the weight of the tank. Over here, we don't
: just ignore numbers when they're inconvenient. That's how we got to the
: moon. You metric guys been to the moon yet?
Not only have they not been to the moon, they haven't even been able to launch
a manned spacecraft.
Not too suprizing when you consider that Arienes blow up about five launches
or so.
-Josh
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