[time-nuts] gravity controlled pendulumn clock?

Jim Lux jimlux at earthlink.net
Tue Dec 13 15:51:33 UTC 2011


On 12/13/11 6:37 AM, Reeves Paul wrote:
> ...and just what is 'less accurate' about pounds, feet, cubic yards etc?
> The metric system (I use the term loosely) is ideal for those people who
> cannot do mental arithmetic and can only shift decimal points. All
> 'imperial' measurements can be defined just as the metre, kilogramme (and
> there is a dodgy one...)can be.
> Remember that the metre is originally based on (very) inaccurate French
> surveying techniques, a yard would do just as well.

But it wouldn't be a nice 10,000 km from pole to equator...

And besides that's the whole Britannia rules the waves so they get the 
prime meridian and the French make good maps so they get the meter thing.


  As a (somewhat
> middle-aged) physicist I'm perfectly happy with either system - although the
> imperial system is obviously better :-)  . Just look what happened when NASA
> tried to use metric measurements for that Mars probe......

Actually, when a contractor used U.S. Customary units in data that was 
supposed to be delivered in Metric.  NASA Deep Space Exploration  has 
been metric for decades. I'd have to go look at some old documents to 
see if Mariner, Ranger, Voyager were inch/pound or metric.  (Space 
Shuttle and part of ISS are U.S. Customary (aka inch/pound) for legacy 
manufacturing reasons..)


> And does it really matter anyway?
>




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