Measurement is one of the most banal and ordinary things, but it’s actually the things we take for granted that are the most interesting and have such contentious histories”, said Dr Ken Alder, history professor at Northwestern University and author of "The Measure of All Things", a book about the creation of the metre.
We don’t generally notice measurement because it’s pretty much the same everywhere we go. Today, the metric system, which was created in France, is the official system of measurement for every country in the world except three: the United States, Liberia and Myanmar, also known as Burma.
(The French also tried to give us the French Revolutionary Calendar: months were three weeks long; weeks had ten days; a day had ten hours; and there were 100 minutes in an hour, and 100 seconds in aminute. Mercifully, it was abandoned in 1806. Merci indeed!)
While Padma has gone to the Bay Theatre Players to see "The Sound of Music", I am taken advantage of the peace and quiet at "Riverbend" - not even the sound of any music - by reading "The Measure of All Things".
And I treated myself to the DVD "Precision - The Measure of All Things".
A well-spent Sunday and a well-spent $11.37.
