estebanana -> RE: Action measurement (May 1 2017 15:17:56)
|
quote:
Close. It was about an actual dick with no measurable action to report. But I really should know better by now. On an unrelated note, when the meter was introduced in France shortly after the Revolution, the authorities set up 16 stone rulers, carved into the face of buildings and strategically laid out across the region so that those industries that needed to use the new measurement system could have a reference. Four of these are still standing. One is right across the street from the French Senate, carved into marble. It goes unnoticed by most tourists and sadly by most locals, probably unaware that it's an actual piece of history. I did not know that, but I can see why it would be important. If you ever run across it Daniel Borstin an American historian wrote a book called 'The Discoverers', he covers the French revolution and in includes a fun section about the successes and failures of the metric system. One of the problems arose when the government decided to metricate time. They had 10 hour day, based on a hundred minute hour and a 100 second minute. The week had ten days, and the year had ten months. I can't remember how the months were created, but the whole catastrophe only lasted a brief period. It was rejected by farmers who followed the agrarian abased solar calendar, the Gregorian calendar or a variation. The metric calendar was great is you were a cerebral wonk, but you could not plant crops to it or make any sense of it in relation to the solar calendar. The overlay of the metric system on the guitar works, but a guitar does not have four seasons. The history of mensuration is fascinating. The cubit you mention, biblical, but my favorite marker of measurement is the fathom. Fathom that.
|
|
|
|