News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on In a remote corner of Romania, neighbours kill each other over strips of land. Parent comment

Re:In a remote corner of Romania, neighbours kill each other... by mc32 on Friday November 20, 2015 @11:09AM (#10601907)
The imperial system is better positioned for those who are not exposed to maths. These systems developed before literacy and don't require literacy for its fundamentals.

Of course it's a moot point these days, but this is why it's a more humanist system of weights and measures.

The imperial system gives you more humanist whole units. Inches, yards, furlongs, miles, leagues, not to mention the less usual (today) digit, finger, palm, barleycorn, etc. Pounds, stone, hundredweight, woolsack, tonne, etc.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:In a remote corner of Romania, neighbours kill each other... by fsloth on Saturday November 21, 2015 @03:33PM (#10607928)
It's probably a matter of familiarity rather than of humanity. I fail to see how numerically illiterate would fair better using rulers with imperial units rather than metric ones.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:In a remote corner of Romania, neighbours kill each other... by mc32 on Saturday November 21, 2015 @05:59PM (#10608377)
True but it's familiarity with oneself, one's own human dimensions.
[ Parent | on HN ]