Dgar
Tom Walker@dgar This made me think of how much we celsius users take for granted that 0 is the freezing point of water and 100 is the boiling point. Do the fahrenheit people have to remember some weird numbers for this?
Fishercat@tomw @Fishercat
So many weird numbers. Like 63,360 inches to a mile, and 43,560 cubic feet to an acre-foot… like what?
So many weird numbers. Like 63,360 inches to a mile, and 43,560 cubic feet to an acre-foot… like what?
Then there’s the fluids! Teaspoons, Drams, Gallons, Oil Barrels?? 😅
Wendroid 🇺🇦@Fishercat @dgar @tomw Fyi, USA / UK tsp and Tbsp only recently became standardized. The current agreed metric weight is 5gm per teaspoon, 15gm per Tablespoon. I do a lot of cooking and need to understand how much of something is, in actual fact, called for. Metrics ftw. 🖖🏼
@wendinoakland @dgar @tomw Oh, absolutely. If I'm measuring instead of eyeballing, I use a scale set to grams for most things. I rarely use recipes as anything other than inspiration, though.
ETA: I will use measuring spoons for leavening agents, though. My scale isn't really good for such small quantities.
@Fishercat @dgar @tomw If you’re baking, exactitude is pretty critical. Leavenings, proportions, all can really effect your results. Cooking otoh, is yeah, more, less.
@tomw @Fishercat @dgar I moved overseas and learned that the spoons weren’t the same! There’s since been “spoon reconciliation” lol, but it also meant understanding different flours, sugars, formulations. My Americanism was disassembled, and I’m better for it.
dragonfrog@wendinoakland @tomw @Fishercat @dgar
I have two sets of measuring scoops - one is marked 1 cup, 1/2 cup, etc. The other is marked 1 cup - 250 mL, 1/2 cup - 225 mL, etc.
Except 1 cup is not 250 mL it's 227. I measured recently - the cups are accurate on the first set, the mL number is accurate on the second.
For years I've grabbed whichever scoops, so half my measurements were based on a 250 mL cup and half on a 227 mL cup - fully 10% out.
Never once has it made a lick of difference.
@wendinoakland @tomw @Fishercat @dgar
It's cooking not pharmaceutical chemistry.
Also I have to laugh when I'm living at ~700 m above sea level in a semi-arid climate and I follow a recipe written by someone who lives 50 m above sea level in a place that's usually foggy or rainy - and they're giving measures like "1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp water".
Their flour is way more humid than mine, their boiling water is fully 2 C hotter than mine.
There's no point my measuring that carefully.
DB Schwein@dragonfrog @wendinoakland @tomw @Fishercat @dgar
So much this. People say "baking is a science" but it's only a science of you need it to come out exactly the same...not if you just need it to be yummy 😁
My sister, who uses weights to cook, had me weigh my cup. Open container and scoop it was only like .1oz heavier than carefully fluffed and spooned, and both we're heavier than what the recipe asks for. It's never made a difference to me.
M.S. Bellows, Jr.
Salty
Rainer BurkhardtIt is easy to remember. Not as easy as 1000mm = 1m or 1000m = 1km, but pretty easy… 🤭
@dgar @tomw @Fishercat here in southern Germany we got „Muggeseggili“ as the smallest length unit. It‘s the length of a fly‘s p*nis.
Gustavo@Fishercat @dgar @tomw That explains why GPS apps give distances in miles instead of "turn next after three intersections" or something more human manageable. We are not robots with the Harvesine formula built-in, but when cities follow a standard like that, it shapes the UX of things people make for those cities.
U.Lancier@dgar @tomw @Fishercat Now I wonder how much easier our lives would be if everyday calculations would be done with a number system that wasn't based on 10 but on 8 or 16.
@Ulan_KA @tomw @Fishercat
Oh, to have been trained in binary since primary school… computer science would make so much more sense!!
Oh, to have been trained in binary since primary school… computer science would make so much more sense!!
The Jack of Sandwich@dgar @tomw @Fishercat we learned 5280 feet/1760 yards to a mile.
But it's not actually something you need to know on a daily basis.
More often I use a mile is about a minute at highway speeds (was a better estimate when most speed limits around me were 55 mph and everyone drove 60)
Lord Kelvin@tomw @Fishercat @dgar
True story: my brothers & I were all in grade school & Jr High in the ‘70s during a major effort to convert to Metric. Highway speed limit signs had both 55mph & 88kph. We tried to explain to Ma why Metric was more sensible.
Ma: Well how many inches are in a meter?
Stan (oldest bro): About 33 & 1/3.
Ma: (scoffs) Well, how’s THAT any easier?!
She’s kinda thick.
@Fishercat @dgar @tomw That fact doesn’t reduce the ugliness of 32 and 212, when 0 & 100 are RIGHT THERE! I know, F is in slightly finer increments but it’s not any better. And it’s not pretty. /rant
jack@Fishercat @dgar @tomw I say this as someone who loves SI units and generally prefers them... Fahrenheit makes more sense for human-scale temperatures like what to set the heating thermostat to. I've used Celsius all my life and it's definitely better for science and engineering purposes... except, no, Kelvin's better still
not too long ago I saw someone mention "the temperature doubled" or "increased 10%" meaning 15°C to 30°C or 20°C to 22°C or something like that, which really made me scratch my head
@jackeric @Fishercat @dgar I think Celsius makes most sense for cooking, though I am also used to it for weather (and 0 = freezing is useful in both of those cases)