Return-Path: <linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org>
Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand
	id <S286842AbRLVS1N>; Sat, 22 Dec 2001 13:27:13 -0500
Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org
	id <S286835AbRLVS1D>; Sat, 22 Dec 2001 13:27:03 -0500
Received: from svr3.applink.net ([206.50.88.3]:33799 "EHLO svr3.applink.net")
	by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id <S286842AbRLVS05>;
	Sat, 22 Dec 2001 13:26:57 -0500
Message-Id: <200112221826.fBMIQfSr023992@svr3.applink.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
From: Timothy Covell <timothy.covell@ashavan.org>
Reply-To: timothy.covell@ashavan.org
To: Alan Cox <alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk>, hpa@zytor.com (H. Peter Anvin)
Subject: Re: Changing KB, MB, and GB to KiB, MiB, and GiB in      Configure.help.
Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 12:22:54 -0600
X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.3.2]
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
In-Reply-To: <E16Hh1v-0003FP-00@the-village.bc.nu>
In-Reply-To: <E16Hh1v-0003FP-00@the-village.bc.nu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org
X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org

On Saturday 22 December 2001 01:57, Alan Cox wrote:
> > > of Metrics.  The funny thing is that Thomas Jefferson, an American
> > > President, suggested the Metric system to the French while he was
> > > ambassador there.
> >>
> >> Ewhat?!
>
> Must be a new disney movie...

OK.  I guess that this seems like an "Al Gore Invented the Internet" thing
except that the system that he proposed was of his own invention (if not
the idea of basing it on ten.) 

The facts are that a number of people in the scientific community had talked 
about these things off and on for centuries.  Thomas Jefferson is the first 
recorded government official known to have made an official recommendation 
for its use (again of his own derivation.)  Alas, the US government was not 
feeling _that_ brave yet, so they decided on an slightly altered system of 
Imperial units.   

As well all know, the French were fealing quite pissed off at everything
that had ever existed prior to 1789.  In 1791, a very much living Louis XVI 
summoned a commision to study changing the system of weights and measures.  
It was during the Reign of Terror that they started making Guillotines based 
on their newly fangled metre.   Now, did Louis die of a new fangled 
Guillotine?  My French history fails me here.


This thread has become  horribly off-topic.....


-- 
timothy.covell@ashavan.org.
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/