cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/14841802
It’s absolutely true that a lot of modern-day problems with being tired come from bad sleep habits. What I’m talking about is a real phenomenon that isn’t being in front of a screen too close to bedtime. If anyone wants to know more, here’s a 3-minute video from AsapSCIENCE about what research shows.
Yeah, that’s why you have to choose between three different door sizes, when you go into any building. And why cars have to have different steering wheel sizes, for different sized people. Oh wait, no. That’s not how it works, at all. People’s average body size IS basically the same, if you exclude the actual dwarves and the actual NBA players.
Yes. That’s why I suggested a Universal STANDARD Cubit. It would be a standard length, just like the meter. But it would be based on the PEOPLE. Not some random, useless fraction of the distance from the pole to the equator. How is that useful to anyone? Pegging the definition at least in the AREA of a human arm’s scale HAS to be better than that.
Funny you should bring that up, too. The metric system should been based on 12, not 10. Dividing things by numbers other than 2 and 5 can be useful. And, by the way, you could ALWAYS multiply things by 10, just by adding a zero or removing a zero. That’s not some special thing that the metric system invented. I don’t know why people think that it is.
I read the edits on your original comment. I think you’re missing the point that the metric system at least scales in a reasonable and expected way, which is not the case in the imperial system of measurement.
And to your point about averaging a human arm and using that as a measurement standard, no, it’s not necessarily better. You still need an exact standard that you have to measure against for any kind of precision. Making it similar to the size of a human body part doesn’t matter unless you’re estimating, which isn’t how anything is built anymore.
There are reasons the old standards were abandoned.
THAT’S WHAT THE OLD CUBIT WAS.
Go look it up. The Egyptians, Sumerians, and Israelites had standard cubit-sticks that they would keep in the palace and use to make the ruler-sticks, for actual use. That is the SAME CONCEPT OF STANDARDIZATION THAT MAKES THE METRIC SYSTEM USEFUL. Let’s be clear about that. These were carefully calibrated tools. That’s why you could use them to build highly functional irrigation canals, large buildings, and fucking pyramids. They weren’t estimating, based on the human body. The cubit was a STANDARD MEASURE, which brought almost all the benefits of standardization, as soon as it was invented.
That concept of standardization was not invented by French motherfuckers, thousands of years later. It was already a thing.
But you get that shit twisted. When French aristocrats in the 18th Century re-discover standardization, you’re like “AHHH, YES. MARVEL AT THE SUBTLE GENIUS OF THE MODERN EUROPEAN MIND.”
Then, when the cubit comes up in conversation, you’re like “STUPID OLD KINGS, FORCING THEIR EGO-MEASUREMENTS ONTO THEIR PEOPLE. SO DUMB AND SO TYRANNICAL.”
You can interpret standardization as either convenient and useful or as “OMG YOU’RE FORCING PEOPLE TO ACCEPT YOUR FOREARM AS A MEASURMENT.” Again: you’re choosing to see the modern metric standards as useful and the ancient standards as evil and/or stupid. For some reason that I don’t understand.
To belabor the point I made in my final edit, I’m certain that the reason the king’s forearm was chosen as the template was so that THE ROYAL FAMILY WOULD FUND THE CREATION OF THE STANDARDIZATION SYSTEM. That’s pretty fucking smart, on a number of different levels. It was the true invention of standard units AND it was a brilliant way to corner the government into supporting it. And it made sure people didn’t have any choice but to start USING the standards, because otherwise they could be seen as badmouthing the king. Fucking genius.
I’m also pretty sure the standard cubits weren’t changed to fit each new monarch’s body. They just kept the standard calibration rods and maybe, like, claimed that all the kings were the same size. That didn’t really matter. The point is, the standard measurement system retained the backing of the ruling dynasty. And as for different kings and regions having different cubits, THAT didn’t matter at all. You didn’t cooperate on building projects with your neighbors, in the ancient world. You were either trading with them for commodities that weren’t measured in anything other than quantity and weight, or else you were fighting them. You never ran into any problem that could have been solved by a global standard cubit.
Just…please at least go confirm all this on the wikipedia page for the cubit. Please understand that it’s literally the opposite of “dumb king body measurement, because dumb king’s ego was big.”
Literally. The concept is literally the actual opposite of that.