[Info-vax] Why is starting epoch 17 Nov 1858?

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 3/11/21 6:10 PM, Jan-Erik Söderholm wrote:
> Den 2021-03-11 kl. 23:11, skrev Michael Moroney:
>> On 3/11/2021 1:39 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>> On 3/11/2021 12:44 PM, Dave Froble wrote:
>>>> On 3/11/2021 11:45 AM, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:
>>
>>>>> Science is based on it.
>>>>
>>>> Some scientists may use it, but science is not based upon some 
>>>> numeric scheme.  That claim is beyond absurd.
>>>
>>> Scientific papers are usually required to specify measurements in SI 
>>> units.
>>>
>>>> Do you imagine the universe in general gives a damn about your base 
>>>> 10 numeric system?  Not even the computer you're using does so.
>>>
>>> The internals of computers are mostly two based (exceptions being BCD
>>> and some old IBM FP).
>>>
>>
>> What's funny is some of the imperial units are base 2 underneath.
>>
>> 8 fl oz = 1 cup
>> 2 cups = 1 pint
>> 2 pints = 1 quart
>> 4 quarts = 1 gallon
>>
>> And there are uncommon names for other binary units, 2 fl oz, 4 fl oz, 
>> 2 quarts (other than half gallon) as well as things like hogshead but 
>> I don't remember them.
>>
>> Personally, I think the metric system would have been more easily 
>> accepted if it didn't try to use completely new definitions for units 
>> like 1/10000 the distance between the North Pole and Equator. Imagine 
>> if they started with "Let's make the liter equal to the quart" and 
>> people would have little problem with a gallon being a quaint name for 
>> 4 liters. But it was created by the French and I have no idea what 
>> they used before the metric system.
> 
> Well, actually France had what was called a "foot". The problem was that
> there were over 300 different length of that "foot" in France alone.
> 

And lets not forget he cubit.

bill