On measurement units

I had some fun designing the "Compromise units" T-shirt.

It's an obviously tongue-in-cheek contribution to the ever-raging debate (in some circles, anyway) between fans of the metric system of measurements (aka SI), and ardent defenders of the US version of traditional imperial units. For non-US readers: "Freedom units" is the affectionate and humorous nickname given by Americans to their preferred measurement system.

I asked myself the question, what would a compromise between the two look like? Where could we meet in the middle? And I came up with a combination that uses the metric order-of-magnitude prefixes (kilo-, mega-, etc. for multiples, and milli-, micro-, etc. for divisions), but for the US units. The end result is an absurdity that, hopefully, no one could take seriously.

A T-shirt is no place to print a spreadsheet, but I managed to fit a few examples on it without making it unreadable, at least I hope so. Feedback is welcome, of course, as always.

As for myself, I am firmly on the metric side. Although if I should find one redeeming quality of the US system, my inner coder geek does appreciate the custom of dividing inches into powers-of-two denominated fractions (e.g. quarter-inch, 3/32", etc).