Reposting bc I dun goofed before
this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2024
841 points (95.3% liked)
memes
10405 readers
2237 users here now
Community rules
1. Be civil
No trolling, bigotry or other insulting / annoying behaviour
2. No politics
This is non-politics community. For political memes please go to !politicalmemes@lemmy.world
3. No recent reposts
Check for reposts when posting a meme, you can only repost after 1 month
4. No bots
No bots without the express approval of the mods or the admins
5. No Spam/Ads
No advertisements or spam. This is an instance rule and the only way to live.
Sister communities
- !tenforward@lemmy.world : Star Trek memes, chat and shitposts
- !lemmyshitpost@lemmy.world : Lemmy Shitposts, anything and everything goes.
- !linuxmemes@lemmy.world : Linux themed memes
- !comicstrips@lemmy.world : for those who love comic stories.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
We have 24 hours in a day because the people that came up with the sundial lived around the equator (always half a day off light) and counted in base 12. 12 light hours and 12 dark is our 24 hours. You can count base 12 by using your thumb to count the bones in your finger. 4 fingers with 3 bones each gives you 12.
It's also why we have 60 minutes. They counted with their fingers on one hand to 5, with the other to twelve so you get 60. Why not 144? You make mistakes easily when counting to 12 with both hands.
By now there have been many attempts to launch a different system for time keeping and calenders but it never took hold.
Also with 5*12 = 60, that divides 360 neatly so it made the math simpler for ancient astronomers
You can count to 1F on one hand without getting knuckles involved and 3FF on both, also without knuckles.