Fantastic Measurement System: Difference between revisions

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** 1 haad = .3692 miles
** 1 karad = 36.92 miles
* In ''[[Harry Potter]]'', the wizarding world uses a different system of [http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Money money] than the rest of the world, which consists of Galleons, Sickles and Knuts. There are 17 Sickles in a Galleon, and 29 Knuts in a Sickle. As of December 5th5, 2010, one Galleon is worth about 5 British Pounds, or 7.82 U.S. Dollars.
* The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] uses the metric system - called Imperial measurements, confusingly enough - in the Republic, New Republic, and the Empire. Others may use other systems - the [[X Wing Series|Adumari]] use "keps", which are about .8 kilometers. In ''[[Outbound Flight]]'', the Chiss use "visvia", which are about 1.6 kilometers. [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Units_of_measurement There are others.]
* In ''[[Moon Over Soho]]'', Peter Grant is depressed that, despite being codified by [[Isaac Newton]]<ref>minor [[Fridge Logic]] moment there because Newton was an egotist of unparalleled proportions and would not have hesitated to invent a unit and name it after himself if it were real</ref> himself, the rules of magic have no proper unit of measurement. He decides to invent one and call it the a "yap", a "yap" being the amount of magic need to make a small dog bark.
* Similarly, the ''[[Discworld]]'' unit of magic is the ''thaum'', defined as the amount of magic needed to create a white pigeon or three standard-sized billiard balls. There is also the ''prime'', an attempt at a more rational unit created by the wizard Augustus Prime, which is defined as the amount of magic needed to move one pound of lead one foot. In a bit of a parody of how British scientists and academics act with Centigrade/Fahrenheit, it's mentioned in the Discworld Companion that any young wizard attempting to use primes will immediately face the question from his superiors "What's that in [[Old Money]]?" Perhaps because of this, thaums are nearly always cited as the unit in the books.
** ''[[Discworld/The Science of Discworld|The Science of Discworld]]'' uses "splitting the thaum" as a fantastic version of splitting the atom, implying the thaum is actually a real distinct particle or entity rather than just an arbitrary measurement.
** Continuing the temperature parody theme, younger wizards use a "thaumometer" (sounds like "thermomemter") to measure the strength of a magical field, while older wizards dismiss these modern gadgets and just lick their finger and hold it up--whichup—which causes it to sprout a coloured aura which lets them judge the background magic strength.
* In ''[[Warrior Cats]]'', the most common unit of measurement is a "tail-length", which is equivalent to about a foot. "Foxlength" - about a yard - is used occasionally as well, and on very rare occasions they'll use "kittenstep" (about an inch).
 
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== [[Magazines]] ==
* "The Potrzebie System of Weights and Measurements," described in ''[[Mad]]'' #33, is largely similar to the metric system, but with different base units. The standard unit of length, the potrzebie, is defined as the thickness of ''[[Mad Magazine]]'' #26 (2.263348517438173216473 &nbsp;mm).
 
== [[Real Life]] ==
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* Early editions of AD&D rated encumbrance in "coins". Encumbrance, itself, was a vaguely-defined combination of actual weight and the awkwardness of carrying something.
* In ''[[Spelljammer]]'', all ships and equipment are measured in [[Recycled in Space|space tons]]. We know it's ''not'' the same as a <s>landlubber</s> "groundling" ton. Sadly, [[Unit Confusion]] in some [[Sourcebook|sourcebookssourcebook]]s raises to the level when it's not clear even whether a space ton is an unit of mass or volume.
* In ''[[Traveller]]'' the "ton" is a unit of volume, equal to the volume of 1000kg1000&nbsp;kg (a metric ton) of liquid hydrogen.
 
== [[Toys]] ==
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0489.html introduced] measurement of villainy in kilonazi. Presumably 1 Nz equals the output of an average (from [[The Fundamentalist|"rabid"]] to [[Signed Up for the Dental|"nodding freeloader"]]) member of National Socialistic party. The estimated evildoing level for a hypothetical offspring of [[101 Dalmatians|Cruella de Vil]] and [[The Lord of the Rings|Sauron]] was 4.8±0.4 kNz.
* Grace in ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-02-11 measured] sadness in Seymours -- usingSeymours—using the "Jurassic Bark" episode of ''[[Futurama]]'' as a baseline.
* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' does this sometimes, including using "kiloweiners" at at least one point to measure shame/embarrasment.
 
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