Carlos E. R. said the following on 09/02/2010 08:02 AM:
That would be an exageration, and any way, there is no confussion in the names of the units.
Indeed. In fact its our units of time that are really irrational. The old British units of volume were binary: JacK: 2 oz. Gill: Jack × 2 = 4 oz. Cup: Gill × 2 = 8 oz. Pint: Cup × 2 = 16 oz. Quart: Pint × 2 = 32 oz. Pottle: Quart × 2 = 64 oz. Gallon: Pottle × 2 = 4 Quarts = 128 oz. Peck: Gallon × 2 Kenning: Peck × 2 = 4 gal. Bushel: Kenning × 2 = 8 gal. Strike: Bushel × 2 = 16 gal. Coomb: Strike × 2 = 32 gal. Cask: Coomb × 2 = 64 gal. Barrel: Cask × 2 = 32 gal. Hogshead:Barrel × 2 = 64 gal. Butt: Hogshead × 2 = 128 gal. Tun: Butt × 2 = 256 gal There is a logic that underlies other measures such as Our units of time are a bit crazy: days are not the same length all the year round, and even out "definition" of a year varies depending on who you talk to. The old Roman calendar where the Senate would insert extra "months" to keep it in sync with the seasons seems crazy to us, but is ours where the "scientists" persuade the "government" to insert "leap days" and "leap seconds" any more strange? All that really matters is that we agree that we mean the same thing when we communicate. Oh, and if you have "units" program loaded you might want to see if "megafurlongs per fortnight" is a reasonable measure of speed. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org