Americans and the stupid standard system

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried to bake a scottish biscuit recipe earlier this week, which provided metric measurements. I tried converting and the recipe did not turn out very well. I can't find metric measuring cups, though. Are there any around?

Otherwise, I tend to use metric as much as possible. My apps are set to Celsius, etc. My fitbit is on the metric system.

My husband comes from a country that uses the metric system, so it's come in handy.

Still can't bake, though.

You need a scale to bake with a metric based recipe, did you use one?

+1 to the scale. Whether the recipe is in metric or imperial, I weigh all my dry ingredients.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a child of the 80s too--and learned metric alongside Imperial. I can visualize either, but prefer imperial--as a PP said it's easier to visualize smaller distances in inches and feet. I don't have an issues when I visit other countries because I know a meter is roughly 3 feet, I know 90 KMH is roughly 55 MPH, and an inch is roughly 2.5 cm. I can convert F to C and back again and have be relatively accurate. I just don't see what the point is in using metric for everything--do is really matter how many nanometers or micrograms something is? No. For day to day life, whatever system you're used to is perfectly fine. If the entire world used Imperial and the US used metric, you'd be complaining about that.

Oh, and BTW, the US wanted in on the metric system, but Napoleon was mad at us about something, and blocked us and UK from getting in on it from the beginning--so we did try!

I never heard about Napoleon preventing US and England from getting the Metric system? How is that even possible? Can you tell us more about that or point us in the direction of something to read about it?

[Anonymous]

President Biden will get right on this.

[Anonymous]

I'm French, been living here for more than 10 years, and I fervently agree, OP. The metric system is so easy and logical. The UK and US system, not so much.

Although the worse is the British stone unit of weight. Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I tried to bake a scottish biscuit recipe earlier this week, which provided metric measurements. I tried converting and the recipe did not turn out very well. I can't find metric measuring cups, though. Are there any around?

Otherwise, I tend to use metric as much as possible. My apps are set to Celsius, etc. My fitbit is on the metric system.

My husband comes from a country that uses the metric system, so it's come in handy.

Still can't bake, though.

I'm a bilingual US/UK Scottish baker. Need help? (Cup measures are around the same, but some of the names for ingredients aren't!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's not forget medical professionals use kg for weight in medical records-- more universally consistent-- and base 10 is just more reasonable all around... who can contest that?

No one has ten hands. Base 2 for the win.

Which totally explains where there is 1760 feet in a mile. (Base 2?? What??)

[Anonymous]

A meter is defined by how far light travels in a specific amount of time.

What defines a foot?

Standard is a clown system for clown people.

Working on your car? Hand me a #5 socket wrench. Oh we are off a bit..hand me a #6.

Standard. Uhhh hand me 3/16ths. Oh wait, maybe in need a 1/4 or a 3/8ths?

Stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a child of the 80s too--and learned metric alongside Imperial. I can visualize either, but prefer imperial--as a PP said it's easier to visualize smaller distances in inches and feet. I don't have an issues when I visit other countries because I know a meter is roughly 3 feet, I know 90 KMH is roughly 55 MPH, and an inch is roughly 2.5 cm. I can convert F to C and back again and have be relatively accurate. I just don't see what the point is in using metric for everything--do is really matter how many nanometers or micrograms something is? No. For day to day life, whatever system you're used to is perfectly fine. If the entire world used Imperial and the US used metric, you'd be complaining about that.

Oh, and BTW, the US wanted in on the metric system, but Napoleon was mad at us about something, and blocked us and UK from getting in on it from the beginning--so we did try!

I never heard about Napoleon preventing US and England from getting the Metric system? How is that even possible? Can you tell us more about that or point us in the direction of something to read about it?

As you wish--I listened to it quite a while back so I might be misremembering some of the details, but here it is: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-you-should-know-26940277/episode/sysk-selects-why-isnt-the-us-29467378/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A meter is defined by how far light travels in a specific amount of time.

What defines a foot?

Standard is a clown system for clown people.

Working on your car? Hand me a #5 socket wrench. Oh we are off a bit..hand me a #6.

Standard. Uhhh hand me 3/16ths. Oh wait, maybe in need a 1/4 or a 3/8ths?

Stupid.

In other words, the standard system is based on practical use of measuring and visualizing distances and temperatures that is commonsense to people.

In what environment encountered by most people is knowing a meter is defined by speed of light any more logical or useful?

Most people are biased by the system they grew up with. While metric has advantages in being easily divisible, beyond that it is just as arbitrary for most people as standard. Nor is it always better. The metric system for temperature is a good example of how metric doesn't accurately reflect how human bodies experience the differences in temperature (and which standard does).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I tried to bake a scottish biscuit recipe earlier this week, which provided metric measurements. I tried converting and the recipe did not turn out very well. I can't find metric measuring cups, though. Are there any around?

Otherwise, I tend to use metric as much as possible. My apps are set to Celsius, etc. My fitbit is on the metric system.

My husband comes from a country that uses the metric system, so it's come in handy.

Still can't bake, though.

that's b/c you measure dry ingredients by weight- you get a kitchen scale to do it, you cant do it with cups b/c sugar/flour/nuts all have different mass per volume. You can get metric liquid cup measures everywhere, min from ikea though. a non american recipe will give grams for dry ingredients, you need to weigh those on your scale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I tried to bake a scottish biscuit recipe earlier this week, which provided metric measurements. I tried converting and the recipe did not turn out very well. I can't find metric measuring cups, though. Are there any around?

Otherwise, I tend to use metric as much as possible. My apps are set to Celsius, etc. My fitbit is on the metric system.

My husband comes from a country that uses the metric system, so it's come in handy.

Still can't bake, though.

bake with a scale!