Mark Batty
Dr. Maddkap, WerepsychologistAmericans will really do anything to avoid using the metric system.
Emma Zhou@drmaddkap 😂 also who in the world, reading this, would assume that the penguins are laid end to end rather than huddling together normally
Erik Buitenhuis@emmz @drmaddkap
Penguins huddling together is for 2nd or 3rd dimension. These are called square penguins and cubic penguins respectively
Penguins huddling together is for 2nd or 3rd dimension. These are called square penguins and cubic penguins respectively
naught101@emmz @drmaddkap like, is it fairy penguins? Or emperor penguins?
How many Americans have even seen a penguin in real life anyway?
CodeByJeff
heather mcdaniels
Nick McGill
vorlon@naught101 @emmz @drmaddkap as the species is not specified, I think it's obvious
They're emperor penguins
Because of the imperial system
Ariaflame@vorlon @naught101 @emmz @drmaddkap The line below the headline does indeed specify that they are Emperor penguins
SJ
drexlSince it's in imperial units, they're emperor penguins
@emmz @drmaddkap omg, I totally assumed volume
johnnyr@emmz @drmaddkap in my mind it was a huddle 😅
BrainPilgrim@emmz @drmaddkap Of course they are tidily arranged. Measurements can't be accurate otherwise.
I visualized a geodesic dome🤣
Bi-squared No LGB without TCan anyone send me a link for a penguin-to-inches conversion calculator?
ScottinSoCal 🇺🇦 🕊 🏳🌈It isn't the size of the penguins that's relevant, it's the mass. Average penguin mass is1 to 1.5 KG, according to the googles.
Richservo 
@ScottSoCal @SocialRecluse @drmaddkap but what is the average wing-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
James Wells
Blippy the Wonder Slug (MOVED)
Gemma 👽
Haplogroup News 
@SocialRecluse @drmaddkap
Emperor penguins are the same size as a 6 year old child, 120cm. Thus, they are about 6 bananas tall. However, they weigh about 50 bananas.
Emperor penguins are the same size as a 6 year old child, 120cm. Thus, they are about 6 bananas tall. However, they weigh about 50 bananas.
Why didn’t NASA just say “22 6 year olds” instead of penguins? That’s just bananas.
@SocialRecluse @drmaddkap
I am pretty sure that if they had said 22 6 year olds then all of the kindergarten teachers would have passed out in terror.
I am pretty sure that if they had said 22 6 year olds then all of the kindergarten teachers would have passed out in terror.
AppForce1@SocialRecluse @HaplogroupNews @drmaddkap bananas could work as a unit of measurement quite well I think. 💡
Gabriel Pettier
Pamela McDermott🌎🇨🇦
Sindastra 
🩷@SocialRecluse @drmaddkap Per their definition in the article, 1 Emperor Penguin = 1 Meter, therefore just convert from meter to inch which will give you 39.37 inches, or about 3.281 feet.
The Duality of Xan@drmaddkap Ah yes, the emperor penguin, a well known unit of measurement with which all people in North America will be intimately familiar.
@XanIndigo @drmaddkap A relatedly unrelated personal pet peeve is the number of people who will suggest there are penguins in the arctic.
@drmaddkap @PHolder Oh, part of America is in the Arctic, so this is still relevant!
Jeff Grigg... compared to, say, a "yard" (three foot long), which is almost as long as a meter. And many people have used "yard sticks" of that length. A "yard" is just over 8.5 cm short of a meter.
So about 24 yards wide, as a really rough number.
"Nearly to the 25 yard line on a football field" would do it!
wb x64@JeffGrigg @XanIndigo @drmaddkap I just aggressively swap meters and yards, it's almost always close enough for guesswork. Also being a difference of 2.54, you can guesstimate centimeters as being either 1/2 or 1/3 of an inch, whichever you feel like. Finally 1 mile is about 1½ km, a gallon is about 4 liters, and there's about 2 pounds per kg. 20°C is about room temperature, 10°C is jacket weather, & 30°C is beach weather.
Attempts at precision suck.
Frank@fschaap @wilbr @JeffGrigg @XanIndigo @drmaddkap Americans just don’t like the metric system. The penguin system however has legs and things can easily be measured in millipeguins, kilopenguins etc… and then it would be easier to convert to the metric system where 1 penguin = 1 metre.
@johnnyr @wilbr @JeffGrigg @XanIndigo @drmaddkap That would work, as long as we stay away from twelve herrings to the penguin and three penguins to the seal measurements.
YetAnotherGeekGuy 
@drmaddkap @XanIndigo @wilbr @fschaap @JeffGrigg
There’s no metric time. So you have to do conversions anyway that aren’t powers of ten. At that point it makes no difference, so why change?
There’s no metric time. So you have to do conversions anyway that aren’t powers of ten. At that point it makes no difference, so why change?
@YetAnotherGeekGuy @drmaddkap @XanIndigo @wilbr @JeffGrigg I really want to find a flaw in that argument, but it's hard! 😉
Paul H 🏴🇪🇺@YetAnotherGeekGuy @drmaddkap @XanIndigo @wilbr @fschaap @JeffGrigg
The second is the SI unit for time. There's no "metric" minutes/hours - we don't need them
@wilbr @Henrysbridge @drmaddkap @XanIndigo @fschaap @JeffGrigg
If you are going to simplify conversions to power of ten math … isn’t that the Metric System brand promise?
If you are going to simplify conversions to power of ten math … isn’t that the Metric System brand promise?
@YetAnotherGeekGuy @wilbr @drmaddkap @XanIndigo @fschaap @JeffGrigg
No. Just to clarify, SI is *a* metric system, not *the* metric system. (another example in wide use in science before SI was cgs, with the centimetre, gram and second as base units).
"metrication" after the French Revolution introduced metric time and the grad for angles. Neither caught on as they had no advantage over the "traditional" systems.
SI seeks to connect units to sound, universal standards.
@fschaap @JeffGrigg @XanIndigo @drmaddkap Americans are getting used to liters (we have 1L and 2L and sometimes even 3L soda and water bottles), meters are much easier to understand when directly translated as yards, grams are great for baking, and the new generation of 3D printing enthusiasts measure exclusively in millimeters, but we just don't have much of a daily use for other stuff. (See: UK still using stones for body weight?)
@fschaap @JeffGrigg @XanIndigo @drmaddkap one advantage of feet, pounds, and fahrenheit is that they're human-scale measures: everyone has a foot, a pound is about can of beans or a pound-cake-tin-sized bread or cake, it's like the lightest item you'd consider as having heft. And 0°F is unreasonably cold but livable while 100°F is unreasonably hot but livable. SI prefixes are great, but it's hard to visualize 1000 of something.
Sander van Kasteel@drmaddkap how many fluggers go into 1 penguin? Then I'll probably be able calculate that back to centimeters.
Since, as you all know, 3.6723 fluggers equals 25 centimeters.
Nuki's Old Account@drmaddkap
...wait, emperor penguins are a meter long? What?
Them's big boys.
@drmaddkap
A metric penguin is only a little bigger than an emperor penguin.
A metric penguin is only a little bigger than an emperor penguin.
Allen Stenhaus@drmaddkap The infuriating part for me is a meter is close enough to a yard that I don't understand why it's so hard for my fellow Americans to grasp it. Sure, the 3 extra inches matters when needing precise calculations, but approximate sizes? Just mentally substitute meters for yards & call it close enough.
aburka 🫣@drmaddkap Traveling at approximately 600 times the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow, according to my calculations (really)
mittfh@aburka @drmaddkap
<Monty Python>
What do you mean? An African or European swallow?
</Monty Python>
<pedant>
There are actually 89 species in the Hirundine family, 61 of which are called sparrows (the rest are martins and saw-wings)...
</pedant>
African or European?
Mick@drmaddkap what’s that in football fields?
Leonardo Di Ottio@drmaddkap @Zukes Football or American Football?
Eelco de Rook@drmaddkap Fortunately, it is self-deprecating; especially since it comes from NASA, which itself uses the metric system.
f00f/eris/continuum/etc@drmaddkap this is honestly way worse than if the journalist converted the meters into feet or yards. like come on it's one google search you don't have to parrot some weird metaphor
Steve Streza@drmaddkap Oh those wacky Americans are at it again, from the infamously American place in America known as Israel https://www.jpost.com/science/article-729035
Michelle HughesOhh, we just got political up in here!
Viridi Vix [woofing]@stevestreza @drmaddkap this entire thread just proves there's some weird metric superiority dogma going on in Europe and America is the optimal bogeyman for all things nonmetric
Jochie 👨🏻💻🏳️🌈