early_riser4d ago

My fellow 'Muricans, do you prefer metric or standard measurements?

https://lemmy.world/post/44373030

My fellow 'Muricans, do you prefer metric or standard measurements? - Lemmy.World

We’re taught both metric and US customary units in school. I prefer metric for most things, to the point I have a metric-only tape measure among other things. However, I’ll die on the hill that Fahrenheit is superior for ambient air temperature. 0 degrees to 100 degrees neatly encompasses the range of average surface temperatures seen throughout the year in the contiguous US.

Show threadRhynoplaz4d ago

Celsius does seem like a horrible measurement for weather.

Otherwise, metric is the clearly the best, but it’s foreign to me. I honestly have no idea what 175 cm looks like or, how heavy 5 kg is.

Show threadelucubra
What is wrong with celsius?
Mar 17 at 5:26pmWeb
Show threadXeroxCool4d ago
They probably just aren’t familiar. I’m not. I like the idea of 0-100F being what humans can safely and directly experience (+/-30) but I have plenty of contacts that intrinsically know what C means to the same degree.
Show threadraparperi114d ago
Then again, as someone from a cold northern country, using celsius and having 0 as the temperature where water freezes is very handy when you need to think about driving conditions. Anything below 0 means the roads are probably icy and you should be careful.
Show threadXeroxCool4d ago
I haven’t had to think twice about 32F being the freezing point since before I could drive. It’s just one of a thousand numbers I can remember. There’s no particular advantage between g being 9.8m/s/s or 32ft/s/s. Nothing round about pi being 3.14. Whatever you use becomes recognizable quickly. My car takes 87 octane gas, takes 5w30 oil, has a wheel bolt pattern of 5x108mm or 5x4.25in, has a 63.4mm center bore, 320mm front brake rotors… The list goes on.
Show threadelucubra4d ago
Where I live, in southern Europe, we get 40ºC several days a year (104ºF), and the odd 40 to 45ºC (113ºF). Thankfully dry. If humidity is low, and you have water and shadow, know how to dress, and you are reasonably healthy, 100 to 113ºF are safe, albeit not comfortable. People do live in Arizona, no?
Show threadXeroxCool4d ago

Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. It’s roughly the range, not an exact definition. More humidity, laboring to survive, or not having modern access to water would make 100+ considerably dangerous. Similarly, not having shelter, having high wind, or being wet makes 0- considerably dangerous. So yes, with current tech and convenience, we can casually survive -20 to 120, but it’s still pretty awful.

I was also saying the range in regards to what we can touch and perceive. I know 1000 is very hot and melts some metals, but I can’t really touch a 200 degree pot of water, either. I don’t have intrinsic knowledge of the difference.

Show threadelucubra4d ago

The thing is that Fahrenheit is basically arbitrary. From what I read in Wikipedia, 0 is the temperature of some harebrained brine solution, and 100 the approximate temperature of the human body.

Temperatures may make more sense to you because of habit, but the references are nonsensical.

Knowing that 0 is where water freezes, and that 100 is where water boils, is a way more useful reference in general.

I know that 18 is a baseline comfort temperature, 30 is nice hot weather, anything above 38 is damn hot. normal body temp around 37…

We usually remember reference temperatures in whatever scale we use, but the basis of Centigrade seems way more logical to me.

Show threadRhynoplaz4d ago
There’s only about 30° difference between freezing and unbearably hot. Doesn’t seem accurate enough.
Show threadelucubra4d ago
Accurate? It’s accurate; 0º water freezes. 100º water boils. 40º weather is hot AF. 40º and humid, is miserable.
Show threadRhynoplaz4d ago

Sure, for science, it’s brilliant. In the real world nobody really cares about anything beyond halfway to boiling.

Under 40, bundle up

40s wear a coat.

50s jacket

60s hoodie

70s indoor clothes

80s as little as possible

90s naked

Vs.

4-10 wear a coat

10-15 jacket

15.6-20.5 hoodie

21.1 -26.1 indoor clothes

26.6-32.2 as little as possible

Over 32.2 naked

I didn’t have to add decimals to any of the F values. There is no noticeable difference at half a degree fahrenheit.