From: Martin Ling (martin@nodezero.org.uk)
Date: Wed May 10 2000 - 13:44:20 MDT
On Wed, May 10, 2000 at 09:30:23AM -0400, Michael S. Lorrey wrote:
> Here's some funny trivia about som units of time you might not be aware of:
>
> >From Dr. Joe Burns' HTML Goodies Express newsletter:
>
> And Remember: Have you every heard of a "Jiffy"? Ever waited
> "Two shakes of a lamb's tail"? Did you know they are true
> lengths of time? Apparently some mathematicians had a sense
> of humor and used the titles to represent some calculations.
>
> Jiffy: 3.3357 times 10 raised to the -11 (3.3357x10^-11)
> seconds. It's named for the length of time it takes light to
> travel a centimeter in a vacuum.
>
> Shakes of a lamb's tail: This one was named during the
> "Manhattan Project". One shake = 1x10^-8 sec. That's the
> time is took for an imploding shell of uranium to reach the
> center of the sphere.
>
> That's fast, huh?
> Anyone else have some funny units to share?
'Microfortnight'
(twenty minutes)
Martin
-- +--------------------------------------------------------+ | Martin J. Ling Tel: +44 (0)20 8863 2948 | | martin@nodezero.org.uk Fax: +44 (0)20 8248 4025 | | http://www.nodezero.org.uk Mobile: +44 (0)7940 482675 | +--------------------------------------------------------+
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