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

[Phillip Helbig undress to reply]

In article <s2e4i2$18hm$1 at gioia.aioe.org>, Michael Moroney
<moroney at world.std.spaamtrap.com> writes: 

> 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 within the precision needed for an intuitive feel, everyday work, 
etc., a liter IS a quart and a meter IS a yard.