--- In
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, James Sinclair
<yahoo_groups@n...> wrote:
> On May 8, 2004, at 2:23 PM, Dave Mucha wrote:
> > --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Roy J. Tellason"
> > <rtellason@b...> wrote:
> >> On Saturday 08 May 2004 12:56 pm, Stefan Trethan wrote:
> >>
> >>> a dozen inches makes a foot i guess...
> >>> people liked the dozen dearly in the past.
> >>
> >> It's a matter of convenience for math, too. Twelve can be
divided
> > by 2, 3,
> >> 4, or 6, while 10 can only be divided by 2 or 5. I think that
> > this is also
> >> part of the reason why we have 360 degrees in a circle, because
it
> > can be
> >> divided up so many different ways.
> >
> > I can see this.
> >
> > get a dozen rolls and you can evenly feed a bunch of people. no
one
> > feels left out.
> >
> > and then of course there is the bakers dozen which is 13.
> >
> > Dave
>
> The baker's dozen comes from way back in the days of funny (and
often
> ridiculous) taxation. Baker's were required to produce loaves of a
> certain weight each, and if they loaves were too small, the baker
got
> fined. Since loaves were packaged in bags of 12, the person
checking
> the weights would just throw the bag on the scale, divide by 12 and
use
> that number to assess any necessary fines. Bakers got sick of being
> fined, so they started throwing an extra loaf in the bag to be sure
it
> would come out above the required weight.
>
> At least, that's what my grandfather told me. He was a baker. I
figure
> he knows what he's talking about. I believe it's also the source of
the
> "one for good measure" colloquialism.
>
> -- James
here and I thought it was so I could eat a donut on the way home and
still have two for everybody !
Dave