Fahrenheit set 100 degrees as the temperature of the insides of a cow, and 0 as the temperature of an ice-cream type substance. Two completely random things. As for the other things, I'm clueless (I like the idea of a metric time system though). I should really start trying to switch to metric system.

They should use base 42. ._.

Oh, and is 1/60 of a degree called a minute?

Yup. I could say 13°52'12'' wich would mean 13 degrees 52 minutes and 12 seconds.

Metric system is somehow relating to the french as we use SI standards wich means System Intèrnational.(To lazy to check wikipedia for the reason.)

Something worthy of note: Rome didn't necessarily use the same time system, regardless of the roots of A.M. and P.M. In Rome, a day was divided into twelve hours, identified as "the first hour", "the second hour," etc. (which is also, if I'm not mistaken, the origin of the phrase "the eleventh hour"). A night was divided into four watches. Why not hours? The reason is obvious: sundials don't work at night.

Clearly, by this system, ante meridiem and post meridiem mean nothing more than how they are translated-- before noon and after noon. There is no trace of the twelve hours before, twelve hours after system to which we are accustomed. Why, then, are these Latin terms used? Because Latin was not exclusive to the Roman empire-- Latin was almost exclusively the written language for hundreds of years after the Roman Empire. The vernacular didn't gain widespread use until the Rennaissance.

Concerning the use of Base 12 and slight variations on the same, most systems of measure have similar origins to the metric system in this respect (and make as much or more)-- the number of units in a greater unit draws itself from a number frequently appearing in nature or geometry (for instance, a chord of equal length to a circle's radius stretches across one-sixth of a circle's perimeter from one end of the chord to the next).

I fail to see what's so laughable about American attempts to switch to metric. Switching the tracks to metric has a point-- it offers consistency between American track records and those of foreign nations. But in football there is scarcely such a point, since (to my knowledge) NO METRIC-USING COUNTRY plays American football.

The Fahrenheit scale... ugh... I learned it once one way that made plenty of sense, but I've forgotten and Wikipedia isn't helping.

As for the US system of measure, almost all of them predated the country itself, and were used in England prior to the adoption of the metric system. Most have been redefined over time, but they tend to still exist under the same or similar names (the Romans themselves originated the mile (from "mille"), though their mile was a much different length). Just a question-- how did England justify it's monetary divisions for so long? At least the US has had a system of dividing money based on the number 10/100 for pretty much as long as it's had a common currency (i.e. since the writing of the constitution).