ROUND 2:Poll: Worst Unit of Measurement

[Gilligan]

I've never particularly liked the candela.

Or a candlefoot.

[tzor]

In my house, the term "nerd" is a compliment, mister!

Back in R.P.I. in the days before the evil state pushed the drinking age to 21, we used to spell nerd "knurd."

Why? Because an R.P.I. Engineer was in one of two binary modes at any one time.

He was either being a "knurd" pulling an overnighter for the exam the next morning.

Or he was the exact opposite ...

Literally ...

Drunk.

[rdsrds2120]

I've found the motherload:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hu ... easurement

I nominate the Sheppey.

BMO

[jonesthecurl]

The decibel. A logarithmic scale. Anyone hear me?

[rdsrds2120]

The decibel. A logarithmic scale. Anyone hear me?

Yeah the decibel sucks. At least the Richter scale was groundbreaking at the time.

BMO

[MeDeFe]

unless I can nominate the entire imperial system

Indeed, in hindsight it was no wonder the empire disintegrated.

[Metsfanmax]

The decibel. A logarithmic scale. Anyone hear me?

A logarithmic scale is completely necessary for making a pragmatic description of human hearing possible, since we can hear several orders of magnitude in intensity. A jackhammer at 100 dB is 100,000 times louder than the softest sound a person can hear (0 dB).

[jonesthecurl]

I can cope with a scale that has a few hundred thousand units.

[jonesthecurl]

But I also nominate the US pint. It's too small, especially when it's measuring beer.

[DoomYoshi]

Ok, new poll. The old favourites are added again.

[Agent 86]

I nominate, 'Measuring Poverty'.
There are many different definitions and concepts of well-being world wide. Many agree that the official measure of poverty in the United States is flawed.

[ender516]

Also, I put forward the system of measurement proposed by the legendary Donald Knuth(also known in these forums for his appearance in the "Serial killer or computer programmer" thread) in his first published paper.

Knuth published his first "scientific" article in a school magazine in 1957 under the title "Potrzebie System of Weights and Measures." In it, he defined the fundamental unit of length as the thickness of Mad #26, and named the fundamental unit of force "whatmeworry." Mad published the article in issue #33 (June 1957).

OH MY GOD. I remember the Mad article (probably a reprint, or in a paperback collection), but I had no idea Knuth wrote it. My heart soars.

EDIT: (to avoid a double post, I append another comment)

In my house, the term "nerd" is a compliment, mister!

Back in R.P.I. in the days before the evil state pushed the drinking age to 21, we used to spell nerd "knurd."

Why? Because an R.P.I. Engineer was in one of two binary modes at any one time.

He was either being a "knurd" pulling an overnighter for the exam the next morning.

Or he was the exact opposite ...

Literally ...

Drunk.

I must pass this on to my engineering colleagues.

[notyou2]

unless I can nominate the entire imperial system

Indeed, in hindsight it was no wonder the empire disintegrated.

I nominate the US version of the Imperial system.