Yes, it's from a book called "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader" and that book was resting on a closed toilet seat in a nation that only kind of uses the metric system in certain situations... however, you'd be surprised how much you can learn after a single visit to any local fast-food joint!
The paragraph on the meter should mention that their measuring error from the pole to the equator was .02%, which, without using satellites or even electricity, is fucking impressive.
It's so impressively thought out. I got my mind blown when the physics teacher told us that 1 calorie is the amount of energy it takes to heat 1cc by 1°C. Suddenly you realise that someone actually put some effort into this whole system
I think this snippet misrepresents the accuracy of the former definition of the metre. Sure, it's no longer the distance from the equator to the pole (the modern definition uses the speed of light and the period of transition for a particular atom), but the difference is quite small. The circumference of the Earth around the poles (so 4 times the distance from equator to pole) is 40007.863 km. In Napoleonic times scientists had a pretty good idea what the shape of the Earth was.
Love me some Uncle John’s. I’d recognize that page number decorator anywhere!
Uncle John's bathroom reader! I know this has nothing to do with the metric system, but I saw the toilet paper roll around the page number and got a surge of happy brain sauce due to the happy memories of all the copies I owned through the years: 2
The other fun thing is with the new calendar, they literslly reset the count to year 1. The coins for the first few years literally said "l'an 7" or "l'an 11".
"We decide when history starts" is a hell of a sentiment.
And the fact that Inch is not precisly defined. "Three grains of ..." or "King's thumb" is not a precise definition.
Also, unlike the imperialist system it is not utter horseshite.
I mean yeah, Metric scales.
Love me some uncle john's! Those page numbers are iconic, though I could immediately tell it was UJBR from the asterisks and writing style. Is this from "plunges into history"?
Heyyy I've got two of Uncle John's books on the commode right now!
I have this book, its great! Some funny bullshit in there
Hmm... What We Did Before Smartphones. I should write a book so the Young's dont forget ye olden ways.
Literally because it scaled
So we only know a kilogram of water weighs a kilogram because of an arbitrary decision by the French? How much does it really weigh?
If we were to make a meter today, I would think it would be a fraction of the speed of light.
And on that note, I honestly think a base 12 number system would be easier in the long run.
Americans could at least have the decency to spell "metre" correctly, but no, they have to go and change the spelling of a measurement system they don't even use.
I use centimeters for certain things, but I call them "inches".
It bugs me so much that they used the decimeter to define the liter and kilogram instead of using a meter to define a liter and gram
In what context do people use metric units of length larger than a kilometer? 🤨
top 87 comments