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| User: "humble.life" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
20 Jul 2005 07:20:03 AM |
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Franz Bestuchev wrote:
humble.life wrote:
= counting device
base 10 isn't the only way to add things up
i was going for the simple life, now you've informed me of something
that stops me. please go away and come back with a simple thing.
.
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| User: "Franz Bestuchev" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
20 Jul 2005 09:53:38 AM |
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"humble.life" <nospamoriwillfindyou@justryit.com> wrote in message
news:3k6tn4Ft4ec5U2@individual.net...
Franz Bestuchev wrote:
humble.life wrote:
= counting device
base 10 isn't the only way to add things up
i was going for the simple life, now you've informed me of something that
stops me. please go away and come back with a simple thing.
base 2, only two numbers to remember
.
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| User: "Youll Never Know" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
21 Jul 2005 07:58:03 PM |
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On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 08:53:38 -0600, "Franz Bestuchev"
<franz.bestuchev@gmail.com> wrote:
"humble.life" <nospamoriwillfindyou@justryit.com> wrote in message
news:3k6tn4Ft4ec5U2@individual.net...
Franz Bestuchev wrote:
humble.life wrote:
= counting device
base 10 isn't the only way to add things up
i was going for the simple life, now you've informed me of something that
stops me. please go away and come back with a simple thing.
base 2, only two numbers to remember
Was it Fred Pohl, or one of that generation of Sceince Fiction
writers, who championed counting in binary on your fingers?
I learned to do it once, makes quite a lot of sense and the muscular
movements are easy to do, but easier still for a Vulcan.
.
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| User: "Franz Bestuchev" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
22 Jul 2005 01:13:41 AM |
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"You'll Never Know" <spam@spamspamspam.org.invalid> wrote in message
news:msg0e1ps88egi9dst9sgkotb8s04qrkfp0@4ax.com...
On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 08:53:38 -0600, "Franz Bestuchev"
<franz.bestuchev@gmail.com> wrote:
"humble.life" <nospamoriwillfindyou@justryit.com> wrote in message
news:3k6tn4Ft4ec5U2@individual.net...
Franz Bestuchev wrote:
humble.life wrote:
= counting device
base 10 isn't the only way to add things up
i was going for the simple life, now you've informed me of something
that
stops me. please go away and come back with a simple thing.
base 2, only two numbers to remember
Was it Fred Pohl, or one of that generation of Sceince Fiction
writers, who championed counting in binary on your fingers?
I learned to do it once, makes quite a lot of sense and the muscular
movements are easy to do, but easier still for a Vulcan.
I've wanted one of those geek binary LED clocks, from places like
thinkgeek - a bit too expensive for a geek trinket though.
.
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| User: "Gayle" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
21 Jul 2005 08:27:26 PM |
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http://klingon.cs.iupui.edu/~aharris/chis/chis.html
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| User: "Youll Never Know" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
22 Jul 2005 05:59:56 PM |
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On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 21:27:26 -0400, Gayle <gayleco@rcn.com> wrote:
http://klingon.cs.iupui.edu/~aharris/chis/chis.html
That's interesting, I'll have a look round later.
What Fred Pohl (?) did was similar but each finger was a power of two,
little finger right hand was 0-1, then you went to the next finger for
2 (10) and did the little finger again, and so on up and across.
If I have my calculation correct you can count up to 1023 on your
fingers.
Dunno about doing math that way though but for counting it's quite
usable.
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| User: "Ivan Marsh" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
20 Jul 2005 11:30:07 AM |
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On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 08:53:38 -0600, Franz Bestuchev wrote:
"humble.life" <nospamoriwillfindyou@justryit.com> wrote in message
news:3k6tn4Ft4ec5U2@individual.net...
Franz Bestuchev wrote:
humble.life wrote:
= counting device
base 10 isn't the only way to add things up
i was going for the simple life, now you've informed me of something that
stops me. please go away and come back with a simple thing.
base 2, only two numbers to remember
base 16... bigger numbers with fewer digits.
--
"Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed."
Benjamin Franklin (I didn't know he was a Buddhist)
.
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| User: "humble.life" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
20 Jul 2005 12:28:00 PM |
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Ivan Marsh wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 08:53:38 -0600, Franz Bestuchev wrote:
"humble.life" <nospamoriwillfindyou@justryit.com> wrote in message
news:3k6tn4Ft4ec5U2@individual.net...
Franz Bestuchev wrote:
humble.life wrote:
= counting device
base 10 isn't the only way to add things up
i was going for the simple life, now you've informed me of something that
stops me. please go away and come back with a simple thing.
base 2, only two numbers to remember
base 16... bigger numbers with fewer digits.
16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2056 4112 8224
wow 8224 in ten steps.
.
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| User: "Ivan Marsh" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
20 Jul 2005 12:54:01 PM |
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On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 18:28:00 +0100, humble.life wrote:
Ivan Marsh wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 08:53:38 -0600, Franz Bestuchev wrote:
"humble.life" <nospamoriwillfindyou@justryit.com> wrote in message
news:3k6tn4Ft4ec5U2@individual.net...
Franz Bestuchev wrote:
humble.life wrote:
= counting device
base 10 isn't the only way to add things up
i was going for the simple life, now you've informed me of something that
stops me. please go away and come back with a simple thing.
base 2, only two numbers to remember
base 16... bigger numbers with fewer digits.
16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2056 4112 8224
wow 8224 in ten steps.
33316 decimal in ten steps.
--
"Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed."
Benjamin Franklin (I didn't know he was a Buddhist)
.
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| User: "Whiskers" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
20 Jul 2005 03:13:44 PM |
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On 2005-07-20, Ivan Marsh <annoyed@you.now> wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 18:28:00 +0100, humble.life wrote:
Ivan Marsh wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 08:53:38 -0600, Franz Bestuchev wrote:
"humble.life" <nospamoriwillfindyou@justryit.com> wrote in message
news:3k6tn4Ft4ec5U2@individual.net...
Franz Bestuchev wrote:
humble.life wrote:
= counting device
base 10 isn't the only way to add things up
i was going for the simple life, now you've informed me of something that
stops me. please go away and come back with a simple thing.
base 2, only two numbers to remember
base 16... bigger numbers with fewer digits.
16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2056 4112 8224
wow 8224 in ten steps.
33316 decimal in ten steps.
I usually count duodecimal (base 12) on my fingers; hex is also possible.
Use the thumb as the pointer, and the straight part of each finger as a
'unit' - three straights per finger, four fingers, gives one dozen units on
one hand; do the same on the other hand to register the dozens, and you can
count to a gross (12*12). If you use the bends and tips of each finger to
represent units, you have three bends + one tip = four units per finger,
four fingers, thus 16 on one hand, and 16*16 with two hands. Just because
the ancient Romans were useless at arithmetic and logic I don't see why we
should be stuck with their lame counting system - even if the philosophers
who lived through the French Revolution ignored what any illiterate
shepherd or sailor or tradesman could have told them about practical
numbers.
I'm just glad the "decimal clock" and "decimal calender" were abandoned as
too stupid for anyone to tolerate.
The Babylonians were very good with numbers; they used base 60 for big or
accurate things, or circular things - they gave us 360 degrees in the
circle, and 12 hours in a day and 12 more in a night, and 60 minutes to each
hour.
--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~
.
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| User: "Contrarian" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
20 Jul 2005 10:16:54 PM |
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Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> wrote:
On 2005-07-20, Ivan Marsh <annoyed@you.now> wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 18:28:00 +0100, humble.life wrote:
I usually count duodecimal (base 12) on my fingers; hex is also possible.
<snip exhibitionist passage>
the ancient Romans were useless at arithmetic and logic I don't see why we
should be stuck with their lame counting system - even if the philosophers
who lived through the French Revolution ignored what any illiterate
shepherd or sailor or tradesman could have told them about practical
numbers.
Interesting. Tocqueville has a great passage about the aqueducts
and how they were constructed to impress, not to be technically
good. Not sure where it is. The 1789ers almost certainly were
similarly motivated "what we decree is what is useful"
The Babylonians were very good with numbers; they used base 60 for big or
accurate things, or circular things - they gave us 360 degrees in the
circle, and 12 hours in a day and 12 more in a night, and 60 minutes to each
hour.
Did they use other bases for other purposes?
--
but the edge is still Out there. Or maybe it's In... HST (1967)
when i got to the edge , i built a deck % (2005)
.
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| User: "humble.life" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
21 Jul 2005 06:05:49 AM |
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Contrarian wrote:
Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> wrote:
On 2005-07-20, Ivan Marsh <annoyed@you.now> wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 18:28:00 +0100, humble.life wrote:
I usually count duodecimal (base 12) on my fingers; hex is also possible.
<snip exhibitionist passage>
the ancient Romans were useless at arithmetic and logic I don't see why we
should be stuck with their lame counting system - even if the philosophers
who lived through the French Revolution ignored what any illiterate
shepherd or sailor or tradesman could have told them about practical
numbers.
Interesting. Tocqueville has a great passage about the aqueducts
and how they were constructed to impress, not to be technically
good. Not sure where it is. The 1789ers almost certainly were
similarly motivated "what we decree is what is useful"
The Babylonians were very good with numbers; they used base 60 for big or
accurate things, or circular things - they gave us 360 degrees in the
circle, and 12 hours in a day and 12 more in a night, and 60 minutes to each
hour.
Did they use other bases for other purposes?
please, no more, i can't think it out...
.
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| User: "Alan Harding" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
21 Jul 2005 02:38:06 AM |
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In message <GsEDe.20285$Tf5.10217@newsread1.mlpsca01.us.to.verio.net>,
Contrarian <adrba65@gmail.com> writes
Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> wrote:
On 2005-07-20, Ivan Marsh <annoyed@you.now> wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 18:28:00 +0100, humble.life wrote:
I usually count duodecimal (base 12) on my fingers; hex is also possible.
<snip exhibitionist passage>
the ancient Romans were useless at arithmetic and logic I don't see why we
should be stuck with their lame counting system - even if the philosophers
who lived through the French Revolution ignored what any illiterate
shepherd or sailor or tradesman could have told them about practical
numbers.
Interesting. Tocqueville has a great passage about the aqueducts
and how they were constructed to impress, not to be technically
good. Not sure where it is. The 1789ers almost certainly were
similarly motivated "what we decree is what is useful"
The Babylonians were very good with numbers; they used base 60 for big or
accurate things, or circular things - they gave us 360 degrees in the
circle, and 12 hours in a day and 12 more in a night, and 60 minutes to each
hour.
Did they use other bases for other purposes?
They probably used binary, as in 'You, me, make babies?'
--
The opinions given above may be mine. They might also
just be what I feel like saying right now, okay?
.
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| User: "Whiskers" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
21 Jul 2005 08:56:56 AM |
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On 2005-07-21, Contrarian <adrba65@gmail.com> wrote:
Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> wrote:
On 2005-07-20, Ivan Marsh <annoyed@you.now> wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 18:28:00 +0100, humble.life wrote:
I usually count duodecimal (base 12) on my fingers; hex is also possible.
<snip exhibitionist passage>
I thought it was "educational" <humph>
the ancient Romans were useless at arithmetic and logic I don't see why we
should be stuck with their lame counting system - even if the philosophers
who lived through the French Revolution ignored what any illiterate
shepherd or sailor or tradesman could have told them about practical
numbers.
Interesting. Tocqueville has a great passage about the aqueducts
and how they were constructed to impress, not to be technically
good. Not sure where it is. The 1789ers almost certainly were
similarly motivated "what we decree is what is useful"
Much of Roman civil engineering was intended to express the power of the
empire or the wealth of the sponsor. I suspect quite a lot was also
inspired by the need to find something to occupy people who would otherwise
have thinking-time for themselves. I don't know of any mathematical or
engineering technique that was /invented/ under the aegis of the Roman
empire; they were very good at borrowing (or expropriating) ideas that
served their immediate ends, but once they had control of an area,
innovation stagnated.
The Babylonians were very good with numbers; they used base 60 for big or
accurate things, or circular things - they gave us 360 degrees in the
circle, and 12 hours in a day and 12 more in a night, and 60 minutes to each
hour.
Did they use other bases for other purposes?
I can't seem to place it now, but I'm sure I've read that base 12 was also
used for 'mundane' purposes.
This is a good description of their famous base-60 methods
<http://www.bath.ac.uk/~ma2jc/babylonian.html>.
--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~
.
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| User: "Alan Harding" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
21 Jul 2005 12:44:28 PM |
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In message <86m4r2-8qk.ln1@ID-107770.user.individual.net>, Whiskers
<catwheezel@operamail.com> writes
I don't know of any mathematical or
engineering technique that was /invented/ under the aegis of the Roman
empire;
They invented hydraulic cement, or so I've been told. It hardened under
water.
--
The opinions given above may be mine. They might also
just be what I feel like saying right now, okay?
.
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| User: "Franz Bestuchev" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
21 Jul 2005 01:47:04 PM |
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"Alan Harding" <Alan@harding.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:48Pcbnl8793CFw+G@harding.demon.co.uk...
In message <86m4r2-8qk.ln1@ID-107770.user.individual.net>, Whiskers
<catwheezel@operamail.com> writes
I don't know of any mathematical or
engineering technique that was /invented/ under the aegis of the Roman
empire;
They invented hydraulic cement, or so I've been told. It hardened under
water.
--
The opinions given above may be mine. They might also
just be what I feel like saying right now, okay?
Yea, they invented it, but they didn't know *why* it worked. They made some
amazing things with it - too bad their work on the recipes for a bunch of
different types of cement was basically forgotten/ignored for centuries
afterwards.
.
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| User: "Ivan Marsh" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
21 Jul 2005 03:04:10 PM |
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On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 12:47:04 -0600, Franz Bestuchev wrote:
"Alan Harding" <Alan@harding.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:48Pcbnl8793CFw+G@harding.demon.co.uk...
In message <86m4r2-8qk.ln1@ID-107770.user.individual.net>, Whiskers
<catwheezel@operamail.com> writes
I don't know of any mathematical or
engineering technique that was /invented/ under the aegis of the Roman
empire;
They invented hydraulic cement, or so I've been told. It hardened under
water.
Yea, they invented it, but they didn't know *why* it worked.
Amusingly that's not necessarily a requirement of successfully
implementing new technology.
--
"Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed."
Benjamin Franklin (I didn't know he was a Buddhist)
.
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| User: "Franz Bestuchev" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
21 Jul 2005 03:17:03 PM |
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"Ivan Marsh" <annoyed@you.now> wrote in message
news:pan.2005.07.21.20.04.09.527153@you.now...
On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 12:47:04 -0600, Franz Bestuchev wrote:
"Alan Harding" <Alan@harding.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:48Pcbnl8793CFw+G@harding.demon.co.uk...
In message <86m4r2-8qk.ln1@ID-107770.user.individual.net>, Whiskers
<catwheezel@operamail.com> writes
I don't know of any mathematical or
engineering technique that was /invented/ under the aegis of the Roman
empire;
They invented hydraulic cement, or so I've been told. It hardened under
water.
Yea, they invented it, but they didn't know *why* it worked.
Amusingly that's not necessarily a requirement of successfully
implementing new technology.
--
"Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed."
Benjamin Franklin (I didn't know he was a Buddhist)
Nope, but they did have to haul a ***** load of pozzolanic ash around.
.
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| User: "Ivan Marsh" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
21 Jul 2005 05:04:48 PM |
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On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 14:17:03 -0600, Franz Bestuchev wrote:
"Ivan Marsh" <annoyed@you.now> wrote in message
news:pan.2005.07.21.20.04.09.527153@you.now...
On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 12:47:04 -0600, Franz Bestuchev wrote:
"Alan Harding" <Alan@harding.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:48Pcbnl8793CFw+G@harding.demon.co.uk...
In message <86m4r2-8qk.ln1@ID-107770.user.individual.net>, Whiskers
<catwheezel@operamail.com> writes
I don't know of any mathematical or
engineering technique that was /invented/ under the aegis of the
Roman empire;
They invented hydraulic cement, or so I've been told. It hardened
under water.
Yea, they invented it, but they didn't know *why* it worked.
Amusingly that's not necessarily a requirement of successfully
implementing new technology.
Nope, but they did have to haul a ***** load of pozzolanic ash around.
Pozzolanic Ash... I saw them in Golden Gate park in '68 man... they were
good but I thought they were better with their original lead guitarist.
--
"Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed."
Benjamin Franklin (I didn't know he was a Buddhist)
.
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| User: "Whiskers" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
21 Jul 2005 02:47:22 PM |
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On 2005-07-21, Alan Harding <Alan@harding.demon.co.uk> wrote:
In message <86m4r2-8qk.ln1@ID-107770.user.individual.net>, Whiskers
<catwheezel@operamail.com> writes
I don't know of any mathematical or
engineering technique that was /invented/ under the aegis of the Roman
empire;
They invented hydraulic cement, or so I've been told. It hardened under
water.
I believe they got that from the Carthaginians, who used it to build, among
other things, the secret naval harbour for the warships forbidden to them
by the terms imposed at the end of the second Punic war - whose existence,
when discovered, caused the Romans to start the third Punic war which ended
with Carthage being virtually obliterated and all its achievements and
culture and territory being claimed by Rome for itself. As so often
happens, we only have the official record as left us by the victors'
propaganda machine, but archeologists are gradually unearthing the evidence.
I can't pinpoint that particular aspect, but Channel 4 recently did a good
'edutainment' thing about Carthage
<http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/C/carthage/>.
--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~
.
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| User: "Alan Harding" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
22 Jul 2005 01:06:56 AM |
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In message <ana5r2-r2q.ln1@ID-107770.user.individual.net>, Whiskers
<catwheezel@operamail.com> writes
On 2005-07-21, Alan Harding <Alan@harding.demon.co.uk> wrote:
In message <86m4r2-8qk.ln1@ID-107770.user.individual.net>, Whiskers
<catwheezel@operamail.com> writes
I don't know of any mathematical or
engineering technique that was /invented/ under the aegis of the Roman
empire;
They invented hydraulic cement, or so I've been told. It hardened under
water.
I believe they got that from the Carthaginians, who used it to build, among
other things, the secret naval harbour for the warships forbidden to them
by the terms imposed at the end of the second Punic war - whose existence,
when discovered, caused the Romans to start the third Punic war which ended
with Carthage being virtually obliterated and all its achievements and
culture and territory being claimed by Rome for itself. As so often
happens, we only have the official record as left us by the victors'
propaganda machine, but archeologists are gradually unearthing the evidence.
I can't pinpoint that particular aspect, but Channel 4 recently did a good
'edutainment' thing about Carthage
<http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/C/carthage/>.
Don't you just hate histortainment? I used to watch the serious
programmes, but they're getting hard to find.
--
The opinions given above may be mine. They might also
just be what I feel like saying right now, okay?
.
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| User: "Franz Bestuchev" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
22 Jul 2005 12:33:24 PM |
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"Alan Harding" <Alan@harding.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:sLPpWLsA0I4CFw3r@harding.demon.co.uk...
In message <ana5r2-r2q.ln1@ID-107770.user.individual.net>, Whiskers
<catwheezel@operamail.com> writes
On 2005-07-21, Alan Harding <Alan@harding.demon.co.uk> wrote:
In message <86m4r2-8qk.ln1@ID-107770.user.individual.net>, Whiskers
<catwheezel@operamail.com> writes
I don't know of any mathematical or
engineering technique that was /invented/ under the aegis of the Roman
empire;
They invented hydraulic cement, or so I've been told. It hardened under
water.
I believe they got that from the Carthaginians, who used it to build,
among
other things, the secret naval harbour for the warships forbidden to them
by the terms imposed at the end of the second Punic war - whose existence,
when discovered, caused the Romans to start the third Punic war which
ended
with Carthage being virtually obliterated and all its achievements and
culture and territory being claimed by Rome for itself. As so often
happens, we only have the official record as left us by the victors'
propaganda machine, but archeologists are gradually unearthing the
evidence.
I can't pinpoint that particular aspect, but Channel 4 recently did a good
'edutainment' thing about Carthage
<http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/C/carthage/>.
Don't you just hate histortainment? I used to watch the serious
programmes, but they're getting hard to find.
--
The opinions given above may be mine. They might also
just be what I feel like saying right now, okay?
I prefer hysterectomytainment or histaminetainment.
.
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| User: "Whiskers" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
22 Jul 2005 06:22:33 AM |
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On 2005-07-22, Alan Harding <Alan@harding.demon.co.uk> wrote:
snip
Don't you just hate histortainment? I used to watch the serious
programmes, but they're getting hard to find.
I only get worked up by the badly-researched history; I don't mind a bit of
entertainment with the facts.
I recently came close to apoplexy with a 'presenter' on a /bad/
docuvertisement who repeatedly pronounced all the Chinese words written in
the Latin alphabet with the qu letter-pair as if the sound represented were
'kw' or 'k'. Did you know there was a kwin dynasty?
--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~
.
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| User: "Youll Never Know" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
22 Jul 2005 05:54:51 PM |
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On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 14:56:56 +0100, Whiskers
<catwheezel@operamail.com> wrote:
Much of Roman civil engineering was intended to express the power of the
empire or the wealth of the sponsor. I suspect quite a lot was also
inspired by the need to find something to occupy people who would otherwise
have thinking-time for themselves. I don't know of any mathematical or
engineering technique that was /invented/ under the aegis of the Roman
empire; they were very good at borrowing (or expropriating) ideas that
served their immediate ends, but once they had control of an area,
innovation stagnated.
Sounds like Micro$oft . . . how little the world changes
.
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| User: "Whiskers" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
23 Jul 2005 08:55:12 AM |
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On 2005-07-22, You'll Never Know <spam@spamspamspam.org.invalid> wrote:
On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 14:56:56 +0100, Whiskers
<catwheezel@operamail.com> wrote:
Much of Roman civil engineering was intended to express the power of the
empire or the wealth of the sponsor. I suspect quite a lot was also
inspired by the need to find something to occupy people who would otherwise
have thinking-time for themselves. I don't know of any mathematical or
engineering technique that was /invented/ under the aegis of the Roman
empire; they were very good at borrowing (or expropriating) ideas that
served their immediate ends, but once they had control of an area,
innovation stagnated.
Sounds like Micro$oft . . . how little the world changes
At least Microsoft don't employ their own armies.
--
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-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~
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| User: "Youll Never Know" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
23 Jul 2005 07:01:47 PM |
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On Sat, 23 Jul 2005 14:55:12 +0100, Whiskers
<catwheezel@operamail.com> wrote:
On 2005-07-22, You'll Never Know <spam@spamspamspam.org.invalid> wrote:
On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 14:56:56 +0100, Whiskers
<catwheezel@operamail.com> wrote:
Much of Roman civil engineering was intended to express the power of the
empire or the wealth of the sponsor. I suspect quite a lot was also
inspired by the need to find something to occupy people who would otherwise
have thinking-time for themselves. I don't know of any mathematical or
engineering technique that was /invented/ under the aegis of the Roman
empire; they were very good at borrowing (or expropriating) ideas that
served their immediate ends, but once they had control of an area,
innovation stagnated.
Sounds like Micro$oft . . . how little the world changes
At least Microsoft don't employ their own armies.
<crash>
Business Software Alliance, assume da position
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| User: "Whiskers" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
24 Jul 2005 05:04:50 AM |
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On 2005-07-24, You'll Never Know <spam@spamspamspam.org.invalid> wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jul 2005 14:55:12 +0100, Whiskers
<catwheezel@operamail.com> wrote:
On 2005-07-22, You'll Never Know <spam@spamspamspam.org.invalid> wrote:
On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 14:56:56 +0100, Whiskers
<catwheezel@operamail.com> wrote:
Much of Roman civil engineering was intended to express the power of the
empire or the wealth of the sponsor. I suspect quite a lot was also
inspired by the need to find something to occupy people who would otherwise
have thinking-time for themselves. I don't know of any mathematical or
engineering technique that was /invented/ under the aegis of the Roman
empire; they were very good at borrowing (or expropriating) ideas that
served their immediate ends, but once they had control of an area,
innovation stagnated.
Sounds like Micro$oft . . . how little the world changes
At least Microsoft don't employ their own armies.
<crash>
Business Software Alliance, assume da position
Oh FOSS ...
--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~
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| User: "humble.life" |
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| Title: Re: 10 fingers |
20 Jul 2005 06:18:32 PM |
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Whiskers wrote:
On 2005-07-20, Ivan Marsh <annoyed@you.now> wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 18:28:00 +0100, humble.life wrote:
Ivan Marsh wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 08:53:38 -0600, Franz Bestuchev wrote:
"humble.life" <nospamoriwillfindyou@justryit.com> wrote in message
news:3k6tn4Ft4ec5U2@individual.net...
Franz Bestuchev wrote:
humble.life wrote:
= counting device
base 10 isn't the only way to add things up
i was going for the simple life, now you've informed me of something that
stops me. please go away and come back with a simple thing.
base 2, only two numbers to remember
base 16... bigger numbers with fewer digits.
16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2056 4112 8224
wow 8224 in ten steps.
33316 decimal in ten steps.
I usually count duodecimal (base 12) on my fingers; hex is also possible.
Use the thumb as the pointer, and the straight part of each finger as a
'unit' - three straights per finger, four fingers, gives one dozen units on
one hand; do the same on the other hand to register the dozens, and you can
count to a gross (12*12). If you use the bends and tips of each finger to
represent units, you have three bends + one tip = four units per finger,
four fingers, thus 16 on one hand, and 16*16 with two hands. Just because
the ancient Romans were useless at arithmetic and logic I don't see why we
should be stuck with their lame counting system - even if the philosophers
who lived through the French Revolution ignored what any illiterate
shepherd or sailor or tradesman could have told them about practical
numbers.
I'm just glad the "decimal clock" and "decimal calender" were abandoned as
too stupid for anyone to tolerate.
The Babylonians were very good with numbers; they used base 60 for big or
accurate things, or circular things - they gave us 360 degrees in the
circle, and 12 hours in a day and 12 more in a night, and 60 minutes to each
hour.
[thud]
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