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It is a reference to how children sometimes count on their fingers. It's an old, lame joke that if someone needs to count higher than 10 they can use their toe
by stusmall 4y ago
It is a reference to how children sometimes count on their fingers. It's an old, lame joke that if someone needs to count higher than 10 they can use their toes too. He's making that joke at himself.
- collegeburner 4y agoi would think a kernel dev would know to count higher by using binary on his fingers :)
- viraptor 4y agoYeah, but also clever enough to know bumping the version is less annoying - the old intelligence/wisdom split :)
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- gorgoiler 4y agoConundrum: our hands give us eleven symbols: various fingers and thumbs for 1 to 9, everything out for ten, and closed fists for zero. While the sociologists are off figuring out why this gave us a base ten number system instead of base eleven, the computer scientists are showing off how they can count to a thousand instead. (And also get thrown out of every bar where they order four of something.)
- drewzero1 4y agoThere are 4 kinds of people: those who count binary on their fingers, and the other three kinds can f--- off.
- jabl 4y agoYou can actually conveniently count to 12 with one hand. Use the tip of the finger, the first and second finger joints * 4 fingers = 12. Then use the thumb as the pointer to keep track. A base-12 number system would be advantageous because 12 is a "superior highly composite number". However, needless to say, despite the number theoretical advantages changing from our current base-10 system is essentially impossible.
- spixy 4y agoWell you could count to 31 with one hand (5 fingers = 5 bits) and to 1023 with two hands (10 fingers = 10 bits) but not as conveniently :)
- tsimionescu 4y agoNote that other cultures started numbering the individual finger bones using their thumb, ending up with a base 12 or 24 system (or so the "just so" story goes). Regardless of its origin, base 12 is still a major part of our lives (24 hours to a day, 60 minutes to an hour, even 60 minutes to a grade in angles).
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- parminya 4y agoJust use each finger as a binary digit, open or cloned, and you can get to 1023. If you're really struggling to count you might add your eyes, elbows or and knees and get to 2^16 - 1. That should be enough for anyone.