FFF system

The furlong–firkin–fortnight (FFF) system is a humorous system of units based on unusual or impractical measurements. The length unit of the system is the furlong, the mass unit is the mass of a firkin of water, and the time unit is the fortnight. Like the SI or metre–kilogram–second systems, there are derived units for velocity, volume, mass and weight, etc. The furlong–firkin–fortnight (FFF) system is a humorous system of units based on unusual or impractical measurements. The length unit of the system is the furlong, the mass unit is the mass of a firkin of water, and the time unit is the fortnight. Like the SI or metre–kilogram–second systems, there are derived units for velocity, volume, mass and weight, etc. While the FFF system is not used in practice, it has been used as an example in discussions of the relative merits of different systems of units. Some of the FFF units, notably the microfortnight, have been used jokingly in computer science. Besides having the meaning 'any obscure unit', the derived unit furlongs per fortnight has also served frequently in classroom examples of unit conversion and dimensional analysis. One microfortnight is equal to 1.2096 seconds. This has become a joke in computer science because in the VMS operating system, the TIMEPROMPTWAIT variable, which holds 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 a loop instead of the internal clock, which has not been activated yet to run the timer. The documentation notes that 'he time unit of micro-fortnights is approximated as seconds in the implementation'. Jargon File reports that the millifortnight (about 20 minutes) and nanofortnight have been occasionally used. One furlong per fortnight is a speed which would be barely noticeable to the naked eye. It converts to: The speed of light is 1.8026×1012 furlongs per fortnight (1.8026 megafurlongs per microfortnight). By mass–energy equivalence, 1 firkin is equal to 3.24936676×1024 firkin·furlong2/fortnight2 (≈ 3.478×1015 BTU, or 3.669×1018 joules). In the FFF system, heat transfer coefficients are conventionally reported as BTU per foot-fathom per degree Fahrenheit per fortnight. Like the more common furlongs per fortnight, firkins per fortnight have been used with the meaning 'any obscure unit'.