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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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A nearby discussion entitled pantagruelian prompts me to recommend the base-36 system http://www.wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=17971&hilit=base+36...in which "10" means 36. It is a very handy system inasmuch as this number is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18, and itself (did I miss any?). There are even better bases in that respect but they are bigger so would make a multiplication table prohibitive Also it works out nicely in using every letter of the alphabet: ...8, 9, A, B, C....X, Y, Z, 10, 11..., the last representing 37 In making life's decisions, especially doing yard work, this base has become an important guide. Formerly just the numbers 1 and 3 figured strongly into my work. For instance, how many branches must I chop from that tree? Immediate answer: 1. However, a shrub may require more frequent attention and so the obvious numeral in such cases is 3 But it soon became apparent in pulling weeds, etc, that a larger number would be appropriate, and so I chose 36. However, commonsense also figures into our choices and so when I have an especially onerous task I must draw a line somewhere else. But fortunately as I have indicated, 36 is handy for breaking up into discrete partitions For instance let's say I make 3 circuits of my property every day, wherein, besides weeding and pruning I must ultimately move 18 cubic yards of mulch from one location to another. Parking my wheelbarrow at the compost pile I therefore address 12 shovelsful at a time so at day's conclusion it contains 36 shovelsful, which I then duly trundle to the new site Join me in my quest to propagate Base-36
dalehileman
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Giddy up go just let it grow.
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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You got names for the numbers between 9 and 10? You're also going to have potential problems differentiating between 1 and I and between O and 0.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jul 2005
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Bran, in fact that's my usual choice where I feel I have a choice
Fal the names of the numbrers between 9 and "10" are A, B, C,.....X, Y, Z
dalehileman
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Joined: Jul 2005
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,773 |
Bran, in fact that's my usual choice where I feel I have a choice
Fal the names of the numbrers between 9 and "10" are A, B, C,.....X, Y, Z
dalehileman
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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OK, quick: What's N times R?
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old hand
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old hand
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I suppose it may have some advantages for Americans who insist on staying in the dark ages with weights and measures based around a quarter of this and six of that and 12 of those, but the rest of the world is perfectly content with base ten since they use the more logical and consistent metric system. The answer to your problems is to stop moving cubic yards and start moving cubic metres!  ...and why do you need to count weeds, in any number base?? Doesn't matter how many you count, you still have to do it again.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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we are (some reluctantly, but none the less) being drawn into a more metric world.
Milk is still sold by the gallon, but soda is sold my the liter/1.5 liter/ and 2 liter bottle.
knitting needles are no longer willy nilly, US size 6 (formerly about 6.3mm, became 6.25mm, and has now 'shrunk' to 6mm.)
yarn(and fabric is still sold by the yard, not meter, but is labeled in metrics as well as non metrics.
(i've had a "yard stick" that isn't.. (its a meter stick) for years..) and most of my tape measures are dual/marked in inches/cm )
Lots of places, with out an requirements or regulation, billboards announce the temp in F and C... and of course, metrics are taught in schools.. (along with inches/feet/yards)
But its still common (on this board and others like it) to hear of people stating their body weight in 'Stone", or to hear of scores, (of years, of people, of....) and i am pretty sure they still sell eggs by the dozen.. (and lots of other things, invoces still use 'gross' as a common grouping.
and while farmers might sell hectarces of land, they produce (and sell on the commodities market) bushels of grain, and barrels of oil..
Metric are not so universal as we are led to believe. (Speed on hiways is labeled in meter per hour, but places are still miles away!)
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old hand
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old hand
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Yup, even here some of that applies, despite our moving to metrics more'n thirty years ago. I am old enough still to be able to think in inches, feet, stone and hundredweight. Though I'm a bit hazy on fluid ounces. And people still talk about places being miles away, or acres of land or someone being over six feet tall, even if they have grown up with metrics.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jul 2005
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Fal: Good question
Pook it's called whimsy
dalehileman
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Joined: Aug 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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And then there some older (not to say ill-defined [not to say fanciful {not to say apocryphal}]) units that are inextricably rooted in the language. Such as the " thumb".
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old hand
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old hand
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Horses are (still) measured, from the ground to the top of the withers, in "hands", which each measure 4 inches. I believe it was the width of the hand. Mine measures only about 3 inches, but I presume the average man's hand is wider. Good thing they didn't use thumbs... :0)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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And then there some older (not to say ill-defined [not to say fanciful {not to say apocryphal}]) units that are inextricably rooted in the language. Such as the " thumb". I don't have anything useful to add; just had to state my admiration for a guy whose punctuation is a thing of beauty.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I don't have anything useful to add; just had to state my admiration for a guy whose punctuation is a thing of beauty. A parenthetical remark, as it were?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
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Now here's some angels for counting on the head of a pin: are they (parentheses) vs. [brackets] vs. {braces}, or are they (round brackets) vs. [square brackets] vs. {curly brackets}?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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bracketsBracket is an important word in philosophy, photography, and artillery. It is also cognate with breeches. Brackets, which hold up shelves, are L-shaped things, so named because they looked like a primitive pair of pants. My favorite punctual delimiters are guillemets, i.e., « and » ( link).
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
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Useful trick from link above is that left-guillemet is option-backslash [on a Mac], thus: «
and right-guillemet is shift-option-backslash, viz: »
(Sorry. Having a Mac I forgot to notice what the Windows equivalent is. You'll have to follow the link yourself to find it. Maybe it's better that way anyway, for learning purposes...!)
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Joined: Aug 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,273 Likes: 2 |
Ooh, ooh, just noticed -- anyone want to make a double-dactyl using « Hexatrigesimal » ??!
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I'm working on parthenogenesis.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
I'm working on parthenogenesis. I didn't think humans were capable of that but I wish you luck.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
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I'm working on parthenogenesis. I didn't think humans were capable of that but I wish you luck. You'd be surprised.
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