No it's not ridiculous and random. I literally just explained to you in my last point what it's based upon. The F scale is based upon outside weather temperatures, which let's face it is the only temperature that the average Joe really needs to deal with on a day to day basis. And in that respect it gives a far more sensible reading than C. I mean the scale was invented for thermometers. How can you possibly say that a thermometer where 0 is the coldest it will probably ever get outside and 100 is as hot as it will probably get doesn't make any sense?
huuugh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FahrenheitFahrenheit (symbol °F) is a temperature scale based on one proposed in 1724 by the physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736), after whom the scale is named.[1] On Fahrenheit's original scale the lower defining point was the lowest temperature which he could reproducibly obtain using brine (defining zero degrees), while the highest was the best estimate of the average human body temperature (defining 96 degrees).
The imperial system's weight is based upon commerce... in other words it's useful. Look on a box of food sometime. Typically it'll come in imperial sizes (1 pound, 1/4 pound ect ect) but if you look at the grams it rarely comes out even. If the measurement system comes out even for common sizes of things then it's well calibrated, if not then... well it isn't suited for the task.
I live in Canada, all my food has grams/liters on them. No ounces. No pounds. No Spanish. (French though)
yes for lots of things we still use imperial. i cut crap in feet and inches.
i cook stuff in the oven at 350F.
i buy a 4 foot by 8 foot sheet of drywall.
studs are 8 feet long. 16 inch centers... but seriously, it's only because that's how it's supplied and that's how it's still done.
studs are 243.84 centimeters.
and drywall is 121.92 x 243.84 centimeters
see, it sounds retarded because that's how it comes and it's based on imperial measurements.
if studs came 250 centimeters long they would be 8 feet 2 and 27/64th inches long. now who sounds retarded?
it doesn't come out "even" as you say because it's not the same thing. it CAN'T come out even.
Likewise in length measurement. It was based around carpentry, particularly home and ship building. You'll find that for these types of measurements, which again, are the only ones a regular person is going to deal with on a day to day basis, the imperial system is best. The 16 segments in a unit thing is particularly important. If I remember correctly it's based upon the thickness of wood grain you can consistently shave off via a chisel.
HURK!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_(length)Historically the foot, which was used in Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, England, Scotland and many Continental European countries and which varied from country to country and in some cases from city to city, was part local systems of units. Its length was usually between 250 mm and 335 mm and was generally, but not always, subdivided into 12 inches or 16 digits. Historically the human body has been used to provide the basis for units of length.[34] The foot of a Caucasian male is typically about 15.3% of his height,[35] giving a person of 160 cm (5 ft 3 in) a foot of 245 mm and one of 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) a foot of 275 mm. These figures are less than the foot used in most cities over time, suggesting that the "foot" was actually a synonym for a "shoe".
Miles are a totally different scale. This is because they were calibrated to a totally different task. I'm not as familiar with their origins so maybe someone else can fill it in.
seriously? it's the same as the foot. they just picked a random amount of feet...egh, that's a mile.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MileThe metric system was invented for scientific research, because as you pointed out, it scales well. And if you are a scientist in the US you will of course be using the metric system.
It isn't well suited for our daily lives though... I'm not sure how the rest of the world got conned into the metric system when we'd been using the imperial system for centuries to be honest.
it's only impractical to you and your "daily life" because you don't use it. if you use it, it's fine. This is probably why Americans think we live in igloos and drive dogsleds when we talk of -10 weather outside. ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---, -10 is t-shirt weather for some of us.
if you read through the wikipedia articles i linked you will notice one VERY important commonality between them all. They aren't standard. Depending on country...depending on state...depending on city...depending even on just the person, a mile is a different length...a pound is different weight...an ounce is different volume. When it comes to trading fairly, close enough is not close enough. A pound of flour must be the same pound everywhere. But it isn't.
a liter is always a liter no matter who you are or where you are. 1000 1x1x1cm cubes of water will always be 1 liter whether you sell milk, vodka, blood, or gas. that very same liter of water weighs 1 kilogram whether you are in antarctica, russia, albania, or rome. those 1000 1x1x1cm cubes of water lined up will always be a meter whether you build a house, car, or submarine sandwich.
it's consistent, repeatable, and based on the same tangible thing.
now, all i need to do is convince everyone to metricise time. (100 seconds to a minute...100 minutes in an hour...etc.)
Home
Help
Search
Login
Register
Send this topic
Print
Topic: Tracking down burning smell on PC - SOLVED(power inlet ready to burn down house) (Read 3679 times)
