the metric system absolutely would not work if we didn't use decimal
naturally, the solution to this is to make a completely new set of units that use seximal instead! now, you COULD just make a set of seximal prefixes for the already existing metric units, but where's the fun in that?
unit of length: the stick
a stick is defined as the average of a meter and a yard. it's a pretty good compromise between the two existing standards, a bit less than a meter and a bit more than a yard.
one nifth of a stick is called a niftistick, which is about an inch. one nifth of a niftistick (one unexianth of a stick) is called an untistick, which is a bit less than a millimeter, and an unexianth of an untistick is a bitistick. these small units can be extended the same way as the -exian series, replacing -exian with -ti.
nif sticks can be called a fetastick, and nif fetasticks (unexian sticks) can be called a grandstick, which is the seximal equivalent to the mile or kilometer. I don't think it's as important for large units to be extendable, because it's not as hard to say "5300 0000 0000 0000 grandsticks" as it is to say ".0000000000000035 untisticks". besides, when was the last time you saw someone measure something in megameters?
unit of volume: the jug
a jug is equal to nif cubic niftisticks, which is about three cups. the same prefixes that work for a stick also work for a jug: bitijug, untijug, niftijug, fetajug, and grandjug are all valid units of volume.
originally, my definition of a jug was six times as much as the current definition, but this definition means that a grandjug is exactly equal to a cubic stick.
unit of mass: the mass
a mass is the average of a kilogram and a pound. much like the stick, it's a compromise between the two standards. it's less than a kilogram and more than a pound. once again, the prefixes all work.
units of time: the day, lapse, lull, and moment
unlike other types of units, there are practical reasons for units of time at various orders of magnitude. as a result, larger units of time don't use the same feta- and grand- prefixes that other large units use.
a day is the amount of time it takes the Earth to rotate once. since that amount is constantly changing, we can use the more static definition of "the duration of 1145 3114 2124 3440 0000 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-341 atom". thanks, science!
a lapse is a "niftiday". it's exactly equal to nif four minutes, which is noticeably less than the nif foursy minutes in an hour.
a lull is an "untiday". it's only 10.4 seconds longer than a minute, which is very nice.
a moment is a "niftilull". it's exactly 1.504 seconds. for those of you who haven't fully adjusted to seximal, that's almost two seconds, and not one and a half (1.3) seconds. much like how a second can have metric prefixes attached to it, a moment can have seximal prefixes attached to it to make units like the niftimoment, untimoment, and bitimoment.
time units are usually used to tell time, and these are no exception. now, if we're making a new way to tell time, there's some other things to fix that currently mess everything up. we'll say that 00:00 in seximal time is midnight in GMT, seven PM EST, (my time zone!) and four PM PST. also daylight saving time doesn't exist in this system you're WELCOME.
UPDATE: a reader named Justin Kunimune suggested to me that a better system of telling time in seximal would be using a single unit, the span, equal to six lulls, or one sixth of a lapse. there are six nif spans in a day, so you could tell the time with a single number. he also proposed the snap, equal to one sixth of a moment, as a time unit that's closer to the pace of human language. I like both of these ideas, so these Kunimunean Extensions to the Misalian Seximal Units are canon now.
units of temperature(?)
now hey, what about temperature? obviously degrees Fake aren't very sciencey and degrees Celsius are very decimal centric, so we gotta make some new degrees Seximal or something, right?
so, hear me out: using seximal actually makes Celsius even better! why? well, the main thing (only thing) Fahrenheit has going for it is that 0°F is "cold" and 244°F (DEC100) is "hot". from a decimal mindset, it's easy to tell how a temperature written in Fahrenheit will feel, even if it's not that scientific about it.
0°C is "cold", but it's also specifically the freezing point of water. 244°C, then, is the boiling point of water. how nice and scientific! the thing is, that's well beyond the range where humans can comfortably be in. where's THAT range? what easy to remember number is when it starts feeling too hot?
well, get this, the point when it starts to feel too hot is when the temperature outside starts getting closer to and/or past the temperature inside your body. in degrees Fahrenheit, this amount is about 242.34°, which is almost ten squared. but in Celsius, it's 101°! that's right, just one degree above SIX squared! this means that by using Celsius in seximal, you get all the science advantages that usually come with using Celsius on TOP of the "100° feels hot" advantage that Fahrenheit has.
other units
it's worth noting that these aren't like, the only units that work with seximal. if you don't wanna stop using feet and meters and grams and ounces, then by all means keep doing what you're doing. besides, there's plenty of stuff I didn't even bother to make new units for. like, power? yeah, that's still in watts. or horsepower, if you prefer. and I don't see why we really NEED to replace the Newton as a measurement of force, unless you really care about those conversions. but like, if that's where you're at? just keep using metric, honestly.
quick summary of just the prefixes all in one place
- nif: feta-
- nifth: nifti-
- unexian: grand-
- unexianth: unti-
- (biexian: greatgrand-)
- biexianth: biti-
- triexianth: triti-
- quadexianth: quadi-
- pentexianth: penti-
- unnilexianth: unnilti-
- ununexianth: ununti-
- umbiexianth: umbiti-
- untriexianth: untriti-
- unquadexianth: unquadi-
- umpentexianth: umpenti-
- binilexianth: binilti-