this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2024
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.
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While I do understand the better divisibility of base 12 and base 60 providing more whole numbers, I don't know if it really helps anything. 1/6 of 12 is 2 and 1/6 of 10 is 1.666, so on paper, 12 looks clean. But I can't really gauge dividing something into 1/6 physically any better than if I just try to fill 6 pots equally. Did it really take that long for decimals to be invented?
The again, it's too late in the afternoon for me to do 10/6 so I used a calculator. I guess it does help.
Dividing things neatly appeals to some part of the human brain that appreciates order and structures. There’s a certain type of beauty in it. However, when you’re actually measuring, cutting and building stuff, you end up with really messy values, as you are dealing with harsh reality instead of some ideal fantasy.
Building also ends up weird because the size was based on what ancient Romans did which obviously wasn't based on any modern system.