What gets me is that even though the USA (and Liberia and Myanmar) still use the cumbersome imperial measurements (based on the size of an English king's foot, no less) .... they also use the time system that we all use, hours. We should find a common ground of happiness and unity, knowing that, no matter how fast we are going, it is measured in units of distance per hour. I believe it was the Babylonians who used a counting system with a base of 60, which led us to an hour being 60 minutes, 360 degrees of an arc, et cetera, but I could be wrong. We should thank whatever deity we use to offset our sense of pointlessness, for the fact we didn't adopt Douglas Adams' counting base of 42.
The am/pm 12 hour clock was solidly rooted by mechanical clocks. Making a 24 hour mechanical clock is possible but, cumbersome. As most of the world use their cell phones for timekeeping now, it does make much more sense to use the 24 hour method. It's just trying to break the inertia. (Though most phones have the option to switch to 24-hour mode.)
There is such a thing as Decimal time. It was officially introduced during the French Revolution. Jean-Charles de Borda made a proposal for decimal time on November 5, 1792. The National Convention issued a decree on 5 October 1793:
The day, from midnight to midnight, is divided into ten parts, each part into ten others, and so forth until the smallest measurable portion of duration.
It did not last long, but clocks and watches from this period are very sought after and are worth quite a lot of money.
This is not American arrogance. This is a foolish and arrogant person who HAPPENS to be an American. Yes, we do have some swagger due to our high (and somewhat justified) opinion of our nation. We have plenty to be ashamed of, but we also have plenty to be proud of. Our higher education regularly is the best on earth. People aren't exactly knocking down the door to get into a Arabian or Indian or Chinese university (although I'm sure they have some good ones).
To say that it is AMERICAN arrogance talks us down because of one moron. We have plenty of morons, of course, but so does every other country and state (except, of course, the state of Tennessee).
I've been told a couple of times on the internet that my spelling is poor because I used spelling that is correct in my country but not in North America (colour, neighbour, spelt...). I've also been told that I don't know English (my mother tongue) very well. You just have to laugh sometimes.
The good thing about the internet is that it brings us all together. The bad thing about the internet is that it brings us all together.
Very true on those last two points. I started with American English (we should just start calling it American and be done with it), but, I've been exposed to so much Canadian, Australian and lately, British English that I'm likely to slip in one of the alternate spellings of a word; which always brings the grammar Nazi's to the yard.
To be fair, ARPANET was the foundation of what would become the Internet
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta provided the foundation for what would become ARPANET.
DeleteIndeed. Ultimately it was whoever knocked two rocks together to create sparks that we're all piggybacking off of.
DeleteAlso, the World Wide Web is not The Internet. It's an application layer using the Internet.
DeleteWhat gets me is that even though the USA (and Liberia and Myanmar) still use the cumbersome imperial measurements (based on the size of an English king's foot, no less) .... they also use the time system that we all use, hours.
ReplyDeleteWe should find a common ground of happiness and unity, knowing that, no matter how fast we are going, it is measured in units of distance per hour.
I believe it was the Babylonians who used a counting system with a base of 60, which led us to an hour being 60 minutes, 360 degrees of an arc, et cetera, but I could be wrong.
We should thank whatever deity we use to offset our sense of pointlessness, for the fact we didn't adopt Douglas Adams' counting base of 42.
The am/pm 12 hour clock was solidly rooted by mechanical clocks. Making a 24 hour mechanical clock is possible but, cumbersome. As most of the world use their cell phones for timekeeping now, it does make much more sense to use the 24 hour method. It's just trying to break the inertia. (Though most phones have the option to switch to 24-hour mode.)
Deletedon't make me make you all feel like newbies by telling you when i first got on the internet.
ReplyDeleteI-)
There is such a thing as Decimal time. It was officially introduced during the French Revolution. Jean-Charles de Borda made a proposal for decimal time on November 5, 1792. The National Convention issued a decree on 5 October 1793:
ReplyDeleteThe day, from midnight to midnight, is divided into ten parts, each part into ten others, and so forth until the smallest measurable portion of duration.
It did not last long, but clocks and watches from this period are very sought after and are worth quite a lot of money.
This is not American arrogance. This is a foolish and arrogant person who HAPPENS to be an American. Yes, we do have some swagger due to our high (and somewhat justified) opinion of our nation. We have plenty to be ashamed of, but we also have plenty to be proud of. Our higher education regularly is the best on earth. People aren't exactly knocking down the door to get into a Arabian or Indian or Chinese university (although I'm sure they have some good ones).
ReplyDeleteTo say that it is AMERICAN arrogance talks us down because of one moron. We have plenty of morons, of course, but so does every other country and state (except, of course, the state of Tennessee).
Well it made me giggle, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI've been told a couple of times on the internet that my spelling is poor because I used spelling that is correct in my country but not in North America (colour, neighbour, spelt...). I've also been told that I don't know English (my mother tongue) very well. You just have to laugh sometimes.
The good thing about the internet is that it brings us all together. The bad thing about the internet is that it brings us all together.
Very true on those last two points. I started with American English (we should just start calling it American and be done with it), but, I've been exposed to so much Canadian, Australian and lately, British English that I'm likely to slip in one of the alternate spellings of a word; which always brings the grammar Nazi's to the yard.
Delete