this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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[–] [email protected] 63 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I do find cooking easier in grams. Just put the bowl on the scale and add ingredients until it hits the number. No measuring cups to wash. But it would life changing if woodworking switched to metric. Doing any sort of exact math is annoying as hell. What is 12’7” divided by 4? How many 1/8” is 0.55 inches?? It is my own personal hell.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's also a lot easier to multiply and divide recipes if you switch it over to metric. This is particularly useful if you don't have enough of one ingredient and need to reduce the others by that ratio.

Then there's the ability to measure the ingredient directly out of the container, using any scoop you can find, rather than needing multiple sets of measuring spoons.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Ah yes, I'll have 0.8 metric eggs please.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Say you have a recipe that takes three eggs but you only have two. Do you wanna do the math on what 2/3 of one cup is actually?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Ummm... It's 2/3 cup, and that is a standard measurement. But maybe that wasn't the best example. Let's say 2/3 of 1/4 cup. Well that's 2/12 or 1/6 cup which is far from common. However a cup is 48 tsp, so 1/6 cup is 8 tsp.

I mean it's dumb as hell but it does work.

The Metric system is easier though.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Sometimes I buy liquid eggs in a carton if I need a lot of eggs for one recipe and don't feel like cracking a dozen eggs. One large egg is about 50g, so 0.8 metric eggs is about 40g.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Got to get the metric chickens for those.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

I do find cooking easier in grams. Just put the bowl on the scale and add ingredients until it hits the number. No measuring cups to wash.

Uh, you know metric has volume measurements as well, and Imperial has weight measurements? Measuring cup vs scales is not really a difference in metric and imperial.

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

I was born in the US and have switched by myself. My brother thought I was weird until one day we went to the hardware store.

I needed to buy a 15/64 in drill bit, but they didn't have it. So then we thought, fine, maybe we can use the next closest size...

...

Except WTF is the next size up or down from 15/64??!!! Neither of us could figure it out. Internet wasn't great. Sales people didn't know. We left because we weren't sure what to buy.

In metric, it's trivial. 5mm drill bit, 4mm is smaller, 6mm is bigger.

After this, he stopped thinking I was a weirdo for using metric measurements. But he still uses imperial because murica.

Also, interesting, I learned that he thinks imperial units were invented by the US. I told him they were British units and I stopped caring about British units in 1776, but he didn't seem to believe me.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

16/64 is 1/4. Your next size up is a quarter inch. Is it intuitive? Maybe not. Is it really that hard? Only if your educational institutions have also failed you.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Except WTF is the next size up or down from 15/64??!!!

There's lots of great reasons to switch to metric. Inability to do basic fractions isn't one of them...

For the record, it would be 16/64, or, 1/4

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago (2 children)

We went from posting Twitter screenshots as memes to posting reddit screenshots as memes

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

That's called progress, imo

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago (13 children)

It's so nice the US and Liberia are the only two countries to share both Ebola AND the imperial system. They're buddy buddy.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (4 children)

And Celsius? And 24 hour time?

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (7 children)

We use 24 h format here where I live but we speak in 12 h format because it's less awkward. Not all that shines is gold, I guess

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago
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[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Mfs don't realize we already fuckin use metric for all kinds of shit.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I bet the dang Nasa doesn't measure their rockets by the barley corn.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Fun probably-already-known fact: NASA accidentally destroyed a $200 million Mars orbiter from of a missed imperial->metric conversion, because NASA does generally work in metric, and some Lockheed-Martin software provided numbers in imperial (while claiming to be metric)

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (6 children)

When I was 6 in 1980, they told us we would be switching in a year or two.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago

I'd heard of that before so after a quick google America passed the Metric Conversion Act in 1975 then in 1982 the Metric Board was abolished by President Ronald Reagan...

So like the harbinger of doom for American progress he was Regan killed it...

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s so nice to measure fluid in milliliters and grams, it all works so well.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

tespoons? That's what tsp means?

Yeah what'd you think it meant, Eugene?

...ten square pounds?

Calzone explodes

Jazz music intensifies

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

WTF is a square pound!? You've ruined my day.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

One pound times one pound, duh.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (10 children)

Please, baking is such a pain in the ass because measurements are never consistent

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (4 children)

And everything is measured by volume. Just tell me the amount of salt I need in grams and I don't have to worry about if it's kosher or not.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I personally fucking hate ounces. Recipes could mean volume or weight.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

The A* paper standard and the metric system. A Pythagorean can dream.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

Boost screenshot, a fine vintage.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I dunno about tables, but I've been known to munch carpet

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Super selfish reason but as an architect in the US, I deal with nice round imperial numbers all day. Door frames, typically 2”. Standard commercial door, 3’x7’. All the codes are based around imperial too. ADA door width, 3’. Masonry Dimension, every 8 inches. At this point, it would be hard to remember that ADA turning radius is 1525 mm (not the easy 5’…. And yes, I know that’s changing to 67” soon). There are literally hundreds of dimensions I would have to relearn. I suppose it’s probably for the best to switch over and rip that bandaid off, but damn, it would be a headache and take me much longer to review drawings in metric (in the short term).

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I assume you would also introduce a new standard with rounded numbers, metric doors are also 200x80 cm for example, and sizes of everything gets rounded in the rest of the world, too. Timber sizes differ a little between north america and the rest of the world, it is a different framework, you'd get used to it.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

All I think about is how much current tooling in manufacturing is made to use those round imperial measurements, and how much it would cost to convert/change them over. That's possibly the #1 reason why the US will never go metric.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

A change like that shouldn't be done over night, you'd need to go double standard for a while, say 10-20 years depending on the sector. That way you can construct 'ansi' buildings while new development is slowly moving to 'iso', and machines get the new specs when replaced. Give a heading and industries will slowly adapt.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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