Now maybe the number of hot dogs can match the number of buns?

December 12, 2012 10:24 AM

In Recognition of 12/12/12, Let Us Consider the Concept of Dozenalism.
posted by oneswellfoop (38 comments total)

Gross.
posted by schmod at 10:28 AM on December 12, 2012 [9 favorites]

Tweet of the day:

@sesamestreet Today is most definitely brought to you by the number 12.

posted by Celsius1414 at 10:30 AM on December 12, 2012 [5 favorites]

For a second there I thought this was a belief system based around Yo Mama jokes.
posted by Cash4Lead at 10:31 AM on December 12, 2012 [4 favorites]

This guy's one bit short of a nibble.
posted by theodolite at 10:32 AM on December 12, 2012

The Dozens
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:33 AM on December 12, 2012

Even before I clicked on this I knew there would be a photo of a goofy white dude accompanying this article.
posted by elizardbits at 10:33 AM on December 12, 2012 [5 favorites]

To paraphrase Rick's cat, THIS IS HOW I FEEL ON THE INSIDE.

(Today is my birthday and I have therefore always been a freak about the number 12 and its special qualities... if I'd had more time (read: more focus), I was going to do a big post about why 12 is important and post it at 12:12 local time but didn't get around to it last night... but the fact that this one was posted at 12:24 is making me grin from ear to ear so thanks oneswellfoop.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:35 AM on December 12, 2012 [2 favorites]

I hate that I didn't wait one more minute to post that comment.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:35 AM on December 12, 2012

jack in the box tacos are 12 cents today.
posted by boo_radley at 10:36 AM on December 12, 2012

This is hilarious. But really, we need to switch to base -2i. (You think I'm joking? I am, but only about the switching. The base is pretty neat.)
posted by DU at 10:37 AM on December 12, 2012

Numberphile on Base 12
posted by PenDevil at 10:40 AM on December 12, 2012 [4 favorites]

And yes elizardbits, I am a goofy white dude, just not that one.

(wanted to get the 12th comment.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:42 AM on December 12, 2012

That article would make more sense if it was written in Esperanto.
posted by rocket88 at 10:44 AM on December 12, 2012 [3 favorites]

Interesting in a very math nerdy way but concept fail due to inability to communicate well with others as a prospective weirdo dozenalist.

Only interested in my derails:

1) I'm absurdly pleased with this day and sorry I won't be around to see another as fun to write as 12/12/12. 1/3/13 will be nice but doesn't truly compare.

2) Isn't now a good time to ask why there are 12 jurors? I have never been able to figure that out or ferret out a satisfying answer.
posted by bearwife at 10:52 AM on December 12, 2012

Is this the thread where we bash the dozenogynist metric system?
posted by Aquaman at 10:54 AM on December 12, 2012

I love how the only non-aesthetic justification is that it would be easier to tell time, as if it would somehow be easier to switch the entire number system over to dozenal rather than switching to a ten-hour time system if being unable to tell time is such a widespread scourge that it requires the disruption of the fundamental systems we've based our society on.
posted by Copronymus at 10:57 AM on December 12, 2012

Every base is base 10, so these people must be six-fingered weirdos.
posted by scruss at 11:06 AM on December 12, 2012 [7 favorites]

scruss: "Every base is base 10, so these people must be six-fingered weirdos."

Well, that would explain why Mandy Patinkin keeps trying to kill them.
posted by schmod at 11:12 AM on December 12, 2012

Isn't now a good time to ask why there are 12 jurors? I have never been able to figure that out or ferret out a satisfying answer.

It goes pretty far back, but the origin is uncertain. This law review article has a good summary of the history, though it's from 1998 so it may not be completely accurate anymore: Robert H. Miller, Six of One is Not a Dozen of the Other: A Reexamination of Williams v. Florida and the Size of State Criminal Juries, 146 U. Pa. L. Rev. 621 (1998). An overview of the leading theories:

The precise wellspring of the twelve-person jury is somewhat uncertain. Although the issue has been studied and debated for more than a century, there is still no agreement about it. Scholars have traced the origins to sources as diverse as ancient Greece, the Roman Conquest, the Biblical importance of the number twelve, ancient reliance on court astrologers, the Anglo-Saxon era in England, the Norman Conquest, the Assize of Clarendon, and the Magna Carta. Some explanations are more convincing than others, but if one heeds the words of Sir Edmund Burke—that modern juries have not "jumped, like Minerva, out of the head of Jove in complete armor,"—one finds more than sufficient evidence to conclude that the evolution of the modern jury as a body of twelve-persons was far from accidental.

posted by jedicus at 11:13 AM on December 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

dozenogynist

"12 women related"?
posted by DU at 11:21 AM on December 12, 2012

That article would make more sense if it was written in Esperanto.

And I've just invented two new notes, H and J.

Instead of the octave, we'll have the decadave.

Holl-Rock! It'll be a whole new sound!

Do re mi fa so la wo bo ti do . . .
Do ti bo wo la so fa mi re do . . .

Mi esporas ke kiam vi venos la vetero estos milda. . . .
 
posted by Herodios at 11:23 AM on December 12, 2012

The number twelve derives its mystique from the calendar which is most conveniently divided into twelve months or twelve zodiac signs. Ten gives months of a workable size but it doesn't work as well as twelve because twelve is an integral multiple of four.

The illiterate masses of Mesopotamian citizens could be efficiently organized on this base basis (or basis base if you prefer).
posted by bukvich at 11:24 AM on December 12, 2012

I just bought two dozen tacos for $2.88. I'm pondering whether I should liveblog the experience.
posted by boo_radley at 11:36 AM on December 12, 2012

You know who else used base twelve? Hi, Terl.
posted by fleacircus at 11:38 AM on December 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

Herodios, you forgot the Decabet!

And MCMike, I dedicate my 12/12/12 geocache find Souvenir to you!
posted by wenestvedt at 11:41 AM on December 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

I've always liked the dozenal system. Seeing as the only advantage the decimal system has is that it matches up with our usual number of fingers, I think we as a species can move past it now.
posted by Navelgazer at 11:54 AM on December 12, 2012

Well, that and thousands of years of rote mathematics, I guess.
posted by Navelgazer at 11:54 AM on December 12, 2012

Especially since we can use finger segments to count to twelve anyway (as illustrated in the Numberphile video).
posted by ocherdraco at 11:55 AM on December 12, 2012

For a second there I thought this was a belief system based around Yo Mama jokes.

Yo mama is so dumb, she thought the Gregorian calendar was the broadcast schedule for House.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 12:14 PM on December 12, 2012 [5 favorites]

I'm sorry, but I don't have enough digits for that.
posted by iamkimiam at 12:27 PM on December 12, 2012

Happy 12/12/12/ 12:12:12 from PBZM & Lexica!
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 1:19 PM on December 12, 2012 [2 favorites]

MCMIkeNamara, I hear you. I'm born on the 24th and see patterns everywhere. I like it when a post's timestamp shows me 3.24. I was thinking of a 12/12 as well but missed my chance last night to be the first through the day's posting door. This thread will do just as well, thanks foop!
posted by infini at 2:13 PM on December 12, 2012

My children are very young yet; my oldest just turned eight. After consideration, we're teaching them decimal arithmetic, since that's what they'll need for communication with most others. Once they've got that down, we'll show them the better way.

Just in time for them to start considering the possibility that their parents are not infallible founts of wisdom, and indeed, quite possibly, fools or lunatics, and thus reject all this bases-other-than-10 nonsense as something their crazy old dad made up and tried to drum into their head.

You'd think that if there are people who will bring their children up to be bilingual in English and Klingon, there will be people who teach their children the idea of number bases being arbitrary, and base 10 being just the dominant social convention. If anything, it'd make them better web designers when they need to enter colours into stylesheets.
posted by acb at 5:10 PM on December 12, 2012

i'm still waiting for a notation system that reflects the 12 tone tradition. I have a hobby of teaching basic music theory to friends, and the awkward broken base 7 thing is always an issue.
posted by es_de_bah at 5:13 PM on December 12, 2012

the idea of number bases being arbitrary, and base 10 being just the dominant social convention

Has there been a post yet on shunya?
posted by infini at 5:24 PM on December 12, 2012

If you don't see a post on shunya, then... shunya go make one?

I'll let myself out.
posted by eurypteris at 6:04 PM on December 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

I thought this was crazy contrarianism, then I watched the numberphile video and now I think that:

a. It's a shame that history didn't preserve the weights and measure system and switch counting to base 12 (though it's obviously a non-starter to try to change now); and

b. I have a new favourite youtube channel
posted by 256 at 6:53 PM on December 12, 2012

256 (or should I call you 0x100?), it seems that many of the non-decimal weights and measures that persist today are based on powers of 2, which you may like much more. 16 ounces in a pound, 128 ounces in a gallon, for example. Hexadecimal wouldn't allow easy thirds or sixths, but that's not such a huge advantage anyway, IMHO. And you can count to 16 on your hands as well: using your thumbs as the marker, count the base and tip of each non-thumb finger, and you get 16. 12 still seems archaic to me. Plus, enough hexadecimal, and future generations will be able to write computer programs in straight machine language. That's when the real benefits of the system kick in.
posted by Llama-Lime at 9:21 PM on December 12, 2012