The Furlong/Firkin/Fortnight (FFF) system is a set of units that uses impractical and outdated measurements. It is a humorous system of units and is not used in practice. These units are mainly used jokingly in computer science, notably the microfortnight.

Base Units and Definitions

A furlong is a measure of distance within imperial units and U.S. customary units, and is equal to 660 feet or one-eighth of a mile. ... A mile is a unit of length, usually used to measure distance, in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, United States customary units and Norwegian/Swedish mil. ... The metre or meter is a measure of length. ... A Firkin is an old English unit of volume. ... The gallon (abbreviation: gal) is a unit of volume. ... Impact from a water drop causes an upward rebound jet surrounded by circular capillary waves. ... The pound (abbreviations: lb or, sometimes in the United States, #) is a unit of mass in a number of different systems, including various systems of units of mass that formed part of English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... The U.S. National Prototype Kilogram, which currently serves as the primary standard for measuring mass in the U.S. It was assigned to the United States in 1889 and is periodically recertified and traceable to the primary international standard, The Kilogram, held at the Bureau International des Poids et... A fortnight is a unit of time equal to two weeks: that is 14 days, or literally 14 nights. ... Look up second in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Practical Multiples of FFF Base Units

• One millifortnight is equal to about 20 minutes.
• One millifurlong is about 8 inches (7.92).
• One decafurlong is 2.01168 kilometers.
• One centifirkin is slightly less than 1 pound (.90202).
• One microfortnight is equal to approximately 1.2096 seconds
  • This has become a joke in computer science because in the VMS operating system, the TIMEPROMPTWAIT variable, the time the system will wait for an operator to set the correct date and time at boot if it realizes that the current value is bogus, is set in microfortnights. This is because the computer uses near infinite loops instead of the internal clock which has not been activated yet to run the timer.^[1]

Mid-19th century tool for converting between different standards of the inch An inch is an Imperial unit of length. ... Look up second in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Interesting Coincidences and Appearances

• One furlong per fortnight is very nearly 1 centimetre per minute (to within 1 part in 400). Indeed, if the inch were defined as 2.54 cm rather than 2.54 cm exactly, it would be 1 cm/min.^[2]
• Besides having the meaning of "any obscure unit", furlongs per fortnight have also served frequently in the classroom as an example on how to reduce a unit's fraction.
• The speed of light may be expressed as being roughly 1.8 terafurlongs per fortnight.^[3]
• Five furlongs are approximately one kilometer.
• The city of Chicago's street numbering system allots a measure of 800 address units to each mile. Logically, streets were subsequently laid out 8 to the mile. This means that every block in a typical Chicago neighborhood (in either North/South or East/West direction but rarely both) is approximately one furlong in length.

A recurring or repeating decimal is a number which when expressed as a decimal has a set of final digits which repeat an infinite number of times. ... A line showing the speed of light on a scale model of Earth and the Moon The speed of light in a vacuum is an important physical constant denoted by the letter c for constant or the Latin word celeritas meaning swiftness.[1] It is the speed of all electromagnetic... A kilometer (Commonwealth spelling: kilometre), symbol: km is a unit of length in the metric system equal to 1,000 metres (from the Greek words χίλια (khilia) = thousand and μέτρο (metro) = count/measure). ...

References

1. ^ microfortnight. Retrieved on 2007-07-06.
2. ^ FAQ for newsgroup UK.rec.sheds, version 2&3/7th (TXT) (2000). Retrieved on 2006-03-10.
3. ^ c in furlongs per fortnight - Google Search. Retrieved on 2006-03-10.