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Date: Mon, 04 Jun 2012 01:52:58 -0700
From: John Hart <jhart@testra.com>
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To: ooo-users@incubator.apache.org
Subject: Re: [Calc] Feature request: Change default cell width from 2,27cm
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On 6/3/2012 6:47 PM, James Knott wrote:
> John Hart wrote:
>>
>> The Metric system is just as idiotic as the English. Metric 
>> measurement is good for people limited to thinking terms of ten, but 
>> it's hard for the eye to divide and a millstone around the neck of 
>> carpenters not using CNC.  So What!  Please keep the left wing 
>> political rants off the list! 
>
> Why is it harder for an eye to divide than imperial?
Not totally off topic so I'll attempt it.
Binary fractions 1/2 1/4 1/8 1/16 have marks and it's easy to 
interpolate 1/32  |.i.|.i.| .i.| .i.|
Metric 0.5 0.25 have marks, 0.125 can be interpolated 0.0625 0.03125 
can't  |....i....|....i....|

Construction stud spacing trivial in base 12 with fractions but 
difficult in base 10. Metric was designed before calculators to make 
arithmetic easier for scientists, then they proceeded to force their 
"preference" on everyone else.  That's what this discussion is about. 
Giving users an easy way to set up their preferences would be a big 
improvement.

I hate having Bill Gate's operating system and applications breathing 
down my neck, mandating my preferences. Almost nothing sticks, I have to 
change most everything every time I do anything in Micro Soft products. 
Give users an option to make AOO fit their needs and it will blow MS away.

Yeah, that makes for real easy mental arithmetic.

There is magic in a numbers base. The Metric system conditions brains to 
pentagram thinking. Before binary was invented (discovered?) an old 
Chinese game called NIM eluded  solution after the solution was trivial.

The English system evolved to fit human needs.  The Metric system was 
designed to make arithmetic easier. Something far superior than 
1/10,000,000 of the distance from the longitudinal line near Barcelona, 
Spain/Dunkerque, France and the North Pole may be possible, stop bashing 
the English system, it may depend on it.

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