[Leica] Metric absurdity

[shino at panix.com (Rei Shinozuka)]

  According to SIFMA, there's now 34.7 trillion dollars of US Bond 
Market debt outstanding as of 2009Q4, which is about 250% of the latest 
revised 2009 annual US GDP (14.1 trillion according to the Bureau of 
Economic Analysis, Dept of Commerce as of July 30, 2010).  In 2008 and 
2009, the US Bond markets traded over 1 trillion dollars per day, and in 
May 2010 that statistic was just under 1 trillion.

That enormous amount trades over the counter in ticks, that is, the 
fractional par dollar amount trades in units of 1/32 of a dollar.  Where 
markets are tighter and more liquid, bonds trade in "pluses" or 
half-ticks (1/64 of a dollar), and where very tight, such as US 
Treasurys, the market trades in units as small as an eighth of a tick 
(1/256 of a dollar or 0.390625 cents).

Even the trading screen notation reflects ticks and eights-ticks.  
101-302 on a Bloomberg means 101 dollars, 30 ticks and 2 eighths of a 
tick, or 101 + 30/32 + 2/256 = $101.9453125.

All of this is to suggest that fractional units of measurement are alive 
and relevant and not solely the antediluvian province of American 
carpenters and riverboat pilots.

:-)

-rei


On 08/09/2010 07:47 PM, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote:
> Metric, shmetric. Therer is another measurement system that a large portion
> of the transportation industry uses. Distance is measured in nautical 
> miles,
> approximately one minute of arc at the Equator. Speed is described in 
> knots,
> one nautical mile per hour. The most absurd of these units in common use is
> the fathom.
>
>
> A fathom is the (archaic) unit of measurement for depth in most maritime
> countries and also for lengths of rope or cables. Originally it was the
> length of rope that could be held between a man's outstretched arms, hence
> Munchkins and Vikings must have had different sized fathoms. The Brits
> standardized on the length of the King's arms. In Arthurian times, the
> fathom was five feet. Interestingly, the foot is another measure of length
> based on a portion of human anatomy. In this case it was determined by the
> length of the King's foot. Thus a five foot fathom implies that Arthur was 
> a
> small man with big feet. By the time of Charles the First, the fathom had
> grown to about five and a half feet. Queen Elizabeth had long arms but very
> small feet so her favorite mariner, Sir Walter Raleigh used a six foot
> fathom. And so it has come down to us.
>
>
> The modern history of the fathom is equally confusing. Samuel Clemens, as 
> an
> apprentice Mississippi riverboat pilot was afflicted with a bad lisp which
> made it impossible for him to correctly pronounce some words beginning with
> "t". Rather than call out a lead line sounding of two fathoms as "mark 
> foo",
> he substituted the old English word "twain". Had he been working on the
> railroad, he probably would have chosen another word. Since the draft of 
> the
> Mississippi riverboats was always less than 12 feet, the refrain "mark
> twain" meant good times ahead, particularly if headed toward New Orleans.
>
>
> Despite its colorful and confusing history, the fathom is slowly being
> abandoned in most seafaring countries. A rather mundane metric system is
> being adopted. "Mark Twain" is now 3.6512 meters. Huck Finn would be
> appalled.
>
>
> I hope this makes everything perfectly clear.
>
>
> Larry Z
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information