Homebrew PCBs

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