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Apr 23, 2011
@Sitnick
If only 10% of Americans accepted a rational decimal system, does that mean that 90% of Americans are irrational imperialists? :p

On a slightly more serious note, entrenched habit does not mean that it's a better or more "humane" system.
Smoking is an entrenched habit as well, but that doesn't mean that smoking is good for you or those around you. :p

Whilst converting to a rational decimal system for all forms of measurement does make sense, that doesn't mean it's easy. As I said before, the UK still maintains (and looks to continue to maintain) a hybrid system, mostly because most still are in the habit of thinking of human height and distance between places in terms of imperial, and pint's and milk/beer are still strongly associated with each other (well, not so much milk and beer, but pints of milk and pints of beer :p).

Converting our mindset to a decimal time system would make sense in the long run, but our sense of time is both too intrinsic to our lives and too abstract for that to actually happen without somehow restarting modern society.
You can at least take two lengths of wood, one in imperial and the other in metric, and compare them. You can, if you try, adjust to thinking a warm day is between 20-25 degrees Celsius instead of 68-77 Fahrenheit (or that water freezes at 0c instead of 32f and boils at 100c instead of 212f)
Time, on the other hand, is much to intangible a concept to withstand conversion, especially since it's so vital to how we perceive our lives. Added to that a conversion of time standard would, by it's very nature, have to effect the perceptions of the past, as well as the present and the future.
Whist in the past it had been possible to bring in new standards of time, when most people had only a vague idea of their place in it, if they took much notice of it at all other then day/night or when to sow or harvest crops. Nowadays our lives are governed by clocks down to the minute.

http://www.naciente.com/essay70.htm
 
 
Apr 14, 2011
do cats molt? even "a little bit"?
 
 
Apr 14, 2011
Ah, -7 eh? Disappointing, but not surprising. I was hoping more of you would find my gibberish amusing. (Yes, I know it was gibberish -- Did you people seriously think I thought cars were called automochittybangs in the UK?). Oh well, it was worth a try. At least I gave myself a good laugh.
 
 
+4 Rank Up Rank Down
Apr 14, 2011
ah - so it's the plurals that don't work - because of

? le s bia ns ?
seems a bit OTT to me !
 
 
Apr 14, 2011
and again !$%*!$%*!$%*!$%*!$%*!$%*!$%*!$%*!$%*!$
 
 
 
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