3 ms·
I still can't get used to the US system, after living here for more than 13 years... Some years ago, one very smart american coworker told me why the US chose
by malkia 13y ago
I still can't get used to the US system, after living here for more than 13 years...
Some years ago, one very smart american coworker told me why the US chose the non-metric system. Back in the days people had to divide things - land, materials, lots of things equally between people. If your system is "12" based, then you can divide by 2, 3, 4 and 6 (well 4 and 6 are obvious), but if it's metric then it's only by 2 and 5.
Not that you can't divide by 2 and 5, but you'll get rational numbers, not integer.
Not sure how true this story is, but even if it's not, it's still amazing :)
(Another story I've heard from him was why cities around Los Angeles were named after saints - San Diego, Santa Monica, etc. - All of them were connected by a day run with a monkey - this way creating a support for the established christian missionary settlements - something like it).
- soperj 13y agoCalifornia was a Spanish colony and the Catholics liked to name their cities after saints.
- mynegation 13y agoYou probably meant a "run with a donkey"? But I do find the concept of a "run with a monkey" extremely entertaining!
- malkia 13y agoLol - honest mistake.... Same as the one that Donkey Kong creators have made I guess.... ah!
- ubasu 13y agoAll the Sans and Santas are California Missions [1] along the El Camino Real [2], also know as US 101 for the most part: [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_missions_in_California http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_missions_in_California [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Camino_Real_(California) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Camino_Real_(California)
- dragonwriter 13y ago> All the Sans and Santas are California Missions Not all the Sans and Santas in California are missions; there are 21 missions -- not all of which are in cities named "San" or "Santa" (e.g., Mission San Francisco de Solano is in Sonoma, CA) -- and 33 cities that are "San" or "Santa"-something.