I liked reading Jerry as a teenager, I thought of him like a great bumbling uncle who enjoyed fiddling with stuff until it broke; when any sane person would have left it alone. But mostly he was the only grown-up I knew that admitted to staying up all night playing games.
I really miss the fat paper copy, I subscribe to the electronic version and there is some good stuff there, but it doesn't have the diagrams it used to. I think BYTE failed because it lost sight of its roots - technically minded hobbyists. It tried to become a business journal, as reflected by its changing subtitle over the years.
Also the imperial system is _far_ better for estimation. An average bloke is 6 feet tall, around 12 stone and has a stride of a yard. Nice round numbers that are easy for everyday use.
The units you use imply the accuracy - if you hear someone is 6 feet 2 inches you can infer they are within an inch of that measurement. Hold your hands out in front of you - estimate the distance between them and you should be able to do it to within an inch. Repeating with the metric system won't work - you will most likely have to quote a range because you _can't_ say e.g. 37cm
I've never understood why a fraction of the meridian should form the basis of a measurement system.
http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/meter.html
Slashdot Mirror
I liked reading Jerry as a teenager, I thought of him like a great bumbling uncle who enjoyed fiddling with stuff until it broke; when any sane person would have left it alone. But mostly he was the only grown-up I knew that admitted to staying up all night playing games.
I really miss the fat paper copy, I subscribe to the electronic version and there is some good stuff there, but it doesn't have the diagrams it used to. I think BYTE failed because it lost sight of its roots - technically minded hobbyists. It tried to become a business journal, as reflected by its changing subtitle over the years.
Also the imperial system is _far_ better for estimation. An average bloke is 6 feet tall, around 12 stone and has a stride of a yard. Nice round numbers that are easy for everyday use. The units you use imply the accuracy - if you hear someone is 6 feet 2 inches you can infer they are within an inch of that measurement. Hold your hands out in front of you - estimate the distance between them and you should be able to do it to within an inch. Repeating with the metric system won't work - you will most likely have to quote a range because you _can't_ say e.g. 37cm I've never understood why a fraction of the meridian should form the basis of a measurement system. http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/meter.html