Tracer,
You are referring to that obsolete temperature scale invented by the Franch scientist Rene Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur (1683-1757).
And for those of you that really need to convert to and from those units (as well as other temperature scales) please visit the temperature converter on my website:
http://www.1728.com/convtmp2.htm
In the lab we do metric, at home i do US system (whatever it’s called). I have no problem with knowing lots of different sizes.
So … in this Reaumur guy’s scale, water freezes at 0 degrees (just like in Celsius), but water boils as 80 degrees? Why’d he choose 80?
This “decimalization” of the english system is still used occasionally in engineering. Metric inches, decimal fractions of inches instead of the common 1/4", 1/8", and whatnot…
It’s far from common, and there’s something just plain odd about it, but it works. Me, when I needed to do calculations with english units, I’d convert to metric, do all the math, and then convert back. It was a helluva lot easier than trying to balance all of the conversion factors in the equations themselves.
Personally, as an engineer, I hated Imperial units. “Slug”, my ass. But as a normal guy, I have no problem with it. Anyway, I know both, so I can order groceries anywhere in the world without getting confused. 
And, speaking as an arrogant American, I kinda like the fact that we do things a little differently than everyone else. It makes us special. 
Jeff
So, where in the world can you order groceries in slugs? 
In my line of work, we use a lovely little unit called the mil. Confusing as heck when people using the metric system don’t realize that a mil is 1000th of an inch, not a shortened form of millimeter.
Um, no. I didn’t have a point. Carry on!
Julie
Reminds me of how some manufacturing engineers are now using decimal inches (instead of 1/4 inch, 5/16 inch, etc.). What with a mil being exactly 0.001 inches and all.
Does anyone else smell another mars lander?
A ‘mil’ is a ‘milliradian’, no?
Could be – but the first time I heard of a “mil”, it was 1/10 of one U.S. cent (i.e. a millidollar). Gas stations in the U.S. still price gasoline to the mil.
No, a “mil” is 1/1000 of a US dollar.
So the point is…mental meth give you the munchies? ;j
OK, here is a link to Thomas Jefferson’s decimal measurement plan (in his own words, so you have to jump to the bottom of the page)
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Gene_Nygaard/t_jeff.htm
There’s more, but this will give you an idea of the system…
This is my favorite set of mixed measurements. I worked at a medical company in the guide catheter division. For those of you not in the know, a guide catheter is basically a tube that is inserted into the femoral artery (in the thigh) up the vascular system to your coronary arteries. Then, angioplasty balloons, stents, and what have you are pushed through it.
We measured the outer diameters in “French” (1 French = 1/3 mm). Common sizes were 6-9 French. We measured the inner diameters in thousandths of an inch.
One-third of a millimeter?! Jeez, what were the French people smoking that day?
Take back the world of scientific measurements from the French!
No, seriously, I figured that if the US had its own system, then we could be perfectly happy with our revised Imperial units and not get bothered by the freakish metric cultists. They’re scary. They threatened me with death.
The only metric cultist I know of who would threaten anyone with death is this Champions character who fires wooden metersticks out of her sleeves.