[GreenKeys] The Metric System (was Independence Day

[Jim Haynes]

I wrote a piece once to the effect that the real problem with the metric
system is not the size of the unit but the fact that it is based on the
decimal system rather than binary.  For practical, everyday use where
high precision is not required, we need to be able to take a unit, or half
of a unit, or half of half of a unit, etc.  This can be seen in the likes
of things like laboratory glassware, where beakers and flasks come in
sizes of 1 liter, 500 ml, 250 ml, 125 ml, etc.  And while we talk 
milliseconds and microseconds and nanoseconds we still have 60 seconds to 
the hour, 24 hours to the day, 90 degrees (or pi over 2 radians) in a
right angle.

Musicians the world over use whole notes, half notes, quarter notes,
eighth notes, etc.  They will never use notes and decinotes and 
centinotes.

The thing about older systems of measurement is that despite the apparent
lack of logic and precision, they were developed naturally over thousands
of years to meet real needs of real people.  The metric system was devised
in a short period of time by a committee motivated somewhat by 
revolutionary giddiness.

And in radio we have the meter as the measure of wavelength, yet our
amateur bands were originally 160, 80, 40, 20, 10, 5, 2 1/2 and 1 1/4
meters.