WHERE HAS IT ALL GONE?

mkpdavies · 06-01-2005, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Keep both systems I say - each have their uses and each have their limitations.

He shoots he scores!

Exactly! There is no reason to force one single standard.

The company I work for makes us record time worked in decimal. No one can tell me that this is sensible.

Intbel · 06-01-2005, 01:22 PM

Quote:

The company I work for makes us record time worked in decimal. No one can tell me that this is sensible.

Your company is well -prepared ... be grateful

Metric Time (MT) will soon be the new standard (commonalised) time system for the E.U. States. This is a neglected part of the Metric System (or SI) which has created a whole measuring system based on 10 for mass, distance, volume, etc., but no official decimalized time units for normal day-to-day use. Since any system for measuring time is arbitrary, we should be using one that is most practical for us.

Besides the practicality of binary and hexadecimal in computer programming, the use of different number systems in different cultures (such as the Babylonians from whom our base-60 time system originated and Mayans who had base-20,) and the difficulty that we as decimal users have in using their systems (most of us can't just start doing addition in base-20 without having to keep track with paper and pencil,) raises all sorts of intriguing questions about how we think about numbers. Would we be able to do math at all if we didn't have a language or written system to aid us? The main problem we have in using other base systems is that the E.U is a decimal using culture thinking in decimal. It is because we do live in a decimal using society, it's just perverse for us to be using base-60 for telling time.

NOTE: The time system that you are used to (24hr/day) will be referred to here as Anglo-Babylonian Time (ABT). The reason for the Babylonian part was mentioned above. The Anglo is there because the system in its current form has been associated with the British (Greenwich and all that.)

The E.U.Metric Time Amount Description

10 metric hours in a day
100 metric minutes in a metric hour
100 metric seconds in a metric minute
10 days in a metric week (called a dekade)

Metricized Day Name Definition

deciday (dd) = 1/10 day (Metric hour)
centiday (cd) = 1/100 day
milliday (md) = 1/1000 day (Metric minute)
microday (µd) = 1/1000000 day (Metric decisecond)

Informal Names
Formal Informal

deciday = deci or dez
centiday = centi or cent
milliday = milli or mil
microday = micro or mic (pronounced "mike") or moo (the symbol for micro is µ)

Conversion Table
ABT MT

ABT sec = 11.57 µd 1 µd = 0.086 ABT sec
ABT min = 0.694 md 1 md = 1.440 ABT min
ABT hr = 4.167 cd 1 cd = 14.40 ABT min
ABT hr = 0.417 dd 1 dd = 2.400 ABT hr
ABT wk = 0.700 MT wk 1 MT wk = 1.428 ABT wk
(Values are rounded off)

Carl Faulkner · 06-01-2005, 01:30 PM

...but look at dem continental TVs with screens in dem inches...all is not lost.

C_steam · 06-01-2005, 06:06 PM

Personally I'm still in furlongs and roods. Or in chains, if Petrina would oblige....

Carl Faulkner · 06-01-2005, 08:54 PM

FYI, chains (22yds), yards and miles are alive and kicking on our railways...all is not lost

Carl Faulkner · 06-01-2005, 08:55 PM

Oh yes and so are feet...the 6ft; the 4 ft...all is not lost

Intbel · 06-01-2005, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by George Orwell, in "1984"

"I arst you civil enough, didn't I?" said the old man, straightening his shoulders pugnaciously. "You telling me yo ain't got a pint mug in the 'ole bleeding boozer?"

"And what in hell's name is a pint?" said the barman, leaning forward with the tips of his fingers on the counter.

" 'Ark at 'im! Calls 'isself a barman and don't know what a pint is! Why, a pint's the 'arf of a quart, and there's four quarts to a gallon. 'Ave to teach you the A,B,C next."

"Never heard of 'em" said the barman shortly, "Litre and a half litre - that's all we serve. There's the glasses on the shelf in front of you."

"I likes a pint" persisted the old man, "You could'a drawed me off a pint easy enough. We didn't have these bleedin' litres when I was a young man."

"When you were a young man we were all living in the treetops," said the barman, with a glance at the other customers.

There ws a shout of laughter and the uneasiness cause by Winston's entry seemed to disappear. The old man's white-stubbled face had flushed pink. He turned away, muttering to himself and bumped INTO phpbb_Winston. Winton caught him gently by the arm.

"May I offer you a drink?" he said.

"You're a gent" said the other, straightening his shoulders again.He appeared not to have noticed Winston's blue overalls. "Pint!" he added aggressively to the barman. "Pint of wallop."

The barman swished two half-litres of dark-brown beer INTO phpbb_thick glasses ...

Intbel · 06-01-2005, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carl Faulkner

Oh yes and so are feet...the 6ft; the 4 ft...all is not lost

Heheh! Let's see 'em decimalise the cess.

C_steam · 06-01-2005, 09:51 PM

Not truly a prophet then - If he'd really predicted the EU future it would have been b***** Lager........

Biscuitman · 06-01-2005, 10:58 PM

Used to pee me off when I was in the building Trade and i'd go to the timber yard with our shopping list for a job, queue up and get to the front and everytime i'd have the measurements in imperial and they'd want it in metric.

I'd have to go and sit in a corner and work 'em all out again.

I'd then queue up again give them my list and they'd price it all up in imperial!!

View Poll Results: Europe citizen
yes	1	11.11%
no	6	66.67%
mines a half	2	22.22%
Voters: 9. You may not vote on this poll

06-01-2005, 10:58 PM	#20 (permalink)
Biscuitman Uber Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Reading Posts: 3,486	Used to pee me off when I was in the building Trade and i'd go to the timber yard with our shopping list for a job, queue up and get to the front and everytime i'd have the measurements in imperial and they'd want it in metric. I'd have to go and sit in a corner and work 'em all out again. I'd then queue up again give them my list and they'd price it all up in imperial!! __________________ IF THE EU WAS THE ANSWER, IT MUST HAVE BEEN A STUPID QUESTION!

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06-01-2005, 01:30 PM	#13 (permalink)
Carl Faulkner Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 352	...but look at dem continental TVs with screens in dem inches...all is not lost.

06-01-2005, 06:06 PM	#14 (permalink)
C_steam Super Moderator Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Paddling up 5hit creek..... Posts: 7,797	Personally I'm still in furlongs and roods. Or in chains, if Petrina would oblige....

06-01-2005, 08:54 PM	#15 (permalink)
Carl Faulkner Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 352	FYI, chains (22yds), yards and miles are alive and kicking on our railways...all is not lost

06-01-2005, 08:55 PM	#16 (permalink)
Carl Faulkner Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 352	Oh yes and so are feet...the 6ft; the 4 ft...all is not lost

06-01-2005, 09:51 PM	#19 (permalink)
C_steam Super Moderator Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Paddling up 5hit creek..... Posts: 7,797	Not truly a prophet then - If he'd really predicted the EU future it would have been b***** Lager........