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

[Craig A. Berry]

On 3/14/21 3:00 PM, David Jones wrote:
> Even the metric system drew the [line] at time, clocks everywhere
> still have 24 hour days and 60 minute hours...
I had a chemistry teacher in high school who advocated for having 10
chrons in a day rather than using hours, and of course you would have
decichrons and so forth for smaller division.  I can't remember if he
had a plan for weeks, months and years.

He also drilled into us a lot of conversion factors and would have exam
questions along the lines of "What is the speed of light in furlongs per
fortnight?"   There might have been a hint such as the fact that a
furlong is 220 yards.  But you would have to know that a yard is 36
inches, a meter 39.37 inches, the speed of light 3 x 10^8 meters per
second, and how to follow the trail of multiple conversions to get to
the answer.  Not exactly higher math, but good exercise for getting kids
to be able to navigate the transition to decimal he was hoping for.