The Picard Maneuver6d ago

The speed of light

https://lemmy.world/post/45114697

Show threadThisUsernameKillsFascists6d ago
Why would god use dumbasses as the standard unit of philosophy?
Show threadRailcar80956d ago

It’s measuring speed, speed of light is 1 dumbass.

Which proves God is American (anything except metric)

Show threadTeppa6d ago
I learned recently that it was the Babylonians who invented the hour and the minute as a unit of time, and they used base 60, which I thought was pretty neat.
Show threadChonkyOwlbear
IIRC, they picked 60 because it could be evenly divided into 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, and 1/6 which allowed them to stick to whole numbers more easily.
Apr 3 at 4:55pmWeb
Show threadILikeBoobies6d ago

If you use your thumb to count the sections of 4 fingers you get 12.

Then you hold up a finger on your other hand. When all 5 are up you have 60.

Show threadRustySharp6d ago
I have never accepted this explanation. Yes, using base 12 is logical and well documented. But that means you’ve got 12 on the other hand as well. 144 would’ve made more sense.
Show threadFeathercrown6d ago
Yeah, what that user is describing is a mixed base system, which is pretty uncommon-- but then again, not for the people who invented time, since we have either 24|60|60 or 2|12|60|60 divisions for that. 5|12 would not be that weird.
Show threadNatanael6d ago
It was defined around making trade easy, which very frequently relied on simple division of things measured to fixed units (because you had fixed sets of weights)
Show threadUnspecificGravity6d ago
Same reason there are 12 inches in a foot.