Daniel Carrera wrote:
Gregory J. Neumann wrote:
The meter is directly descended from a bad estimate of the distance
from Paris to the north pole (that no westerner had yet visited, and
would not for more than a century) imposed during a reign of terror by
a group of fanatics whose real purpose was to totally destroy the "Old
Order" in favor of a "Rational New Order".
The metric system was conceived by a group of scientists, commissioned
by King Louis XVI of France to create a unified and rational system of
measures. After the French Revolution, the new regime adopted the system
rather than scrap it.
The metre was never based on the distance from Paris to the North Pole.
It was based on the meridian measured from the equator to the North Pole.
Daniel.
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Oops! I always was fuzzy on that, still, as no one had as yet actually
confirmed exactly where the pole was located, it was an estimate.
I didn't know that poor old Louis was behind it. IIRC, France was a bit
of a mess for coherent internal measuring systems, maybe 3 or 4. This
makes me even more suspicious that metric/SI is only another example of
top-down ram it down the throat of "the unwashed masses" because the
powers that be know far better.
Oddly enough, I was all for the metric/SI takeover back in college. It
took about 10 years or so for me to change my mind, even after using
metric/SI extensively. Everyday usage is what did it. Even trying, I
gave up on SI. Too cumbersome for my daily needs ... especially trying
to remember 586 ml after the third slightly less than a third of a litre
of Guinness! ;-)
-Greg
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