On: Base 10 is not a good base

[jprete]

The imperial units were basically picked for usefulness in commerce. They're not as arbitrary as they seem.

[pessimizer → jprete]

Maybe my favorite thing is that auction prices were set in guineas (21 shillings), and the payment was made to the person who auctioned the item in pounds (20 shillings), fixing auction house fees at 4¾% which is basically where they've orbited to this day.