Subject:
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Re: OT: P!$#ed of at ebay.com.au
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.geek
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Date:
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Fri, 6 Oct 2000 19:47:51 GMT
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Viewed:
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72 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.geek, Steve Bliss writes:
> In lugnet.org.au, Todd Lehman writes:
> > OK, the top dumbest thing is U.S. weights and measures (pounds, gallons,
> > inches, feet, miles, etc.) rather than the metric system, which fully rules.
> >
> > And the third dumbest thing is U.S. paper sizes (Letter, Ledger, Statement,
> > etc.) rather than paper sizes based on the square root of 2 (i.e., DIN A4,
> > B5, etc.)
>
> I thought the DIN A4, B5, etc. paper sizes were based on the Golden Mean,
> not the square root of 2. Or are those two different flavors of the same
> universal constant?
Both have cool properties, but the DIN A4, B5, etc. paper sizes are based on
sqrt(2) because if you cut them down the longer side, each half retains the
original aspect ratio -- perfect for 2-UP and 4-UP and saddle-stitching
documents when printing. In contrast, the golden ratio makes it so that if
you cut out a square from the page using the shorter side, the remaining
portion retains the original aspect ratio. I suppose paper sizes based on
the golden ratio/mean could be pretty neat for origami. :-)
> But your #3 item is just a variation of #1. Heck, so is #2.
I s'pose, ya. I think it's extra funny, BTW, that 16 ounces equals a pound
and a pint. :-)
> But dd/mm/yyyy doesn't make nearly as much sense as yyyy/mm/dd.
Ah, I gotta agree with that! 'specially when including time of day at the
end as well, for sorting and all that.
--Todd
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: OT: P!$#ed of at ebay.com.au
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| (...) I thought the DIN A4, B5, etc. paper sizes were based on the Golden Mean, not the square root of 2. Or are those two different flavors of the same universal constant? But your #3 item is just a variation of #1. Heck, so is #2. Earlier in the (...) (24 years ago, 6-Oct-00, to lugnet.off-topic.geek)
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