4 ms·

One of the most relevant countries in the world still uses length measurements based on the foot of the length of their previous despot and they absolutely refu

by 77pt77 3y ago

One of the most relevant countries in the world still uses length measurements based on the foot of the length of their previous despot and they absolutely refuse to change. Nothing will change for a very long time.

defrost 3y ago
What country are you talking about? The USofA standard foot has been officially defined in terms of the SI International System of Units since 1893. Since 1866 if you date it from the specification proposed by US Congress. https://www.nist.gov/pml/us-surveyfoot https://www.nist.gov/pml/us-surveyfoot
- zzo38computer 3y ago
  It is good that they define foot, inches, etc by SI units, because SI units are well-defined scientific units (except, until recently, the definition of kilogram was no good), and for the appropriate purposes the foot, inches, etc can be reasonable measures (while SI units are good for general purposes, the others are good for the specific purposes), so now they are also well-defined units.
wpm 3y ago
And it'll never stop being funny how mad this makes the rest of the world for really no apparent reason at all. (inb4 link to mars reconnaissance orbiter wikipedia page)
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- 77pt77 3y ago
  Get over yourself. No one's mad. It's just mildly amusing in a tragic way, like a slow motion train-wreck.
- jhoechtl 3y ago
  Crashing satellites because one party did.'t git the conversion right?
- floitsch 3y ago
  It's very annoying when reading books or watching movies in English. "A 5-feet tall monster ...". As a reader I have no idea if that's big or small.
  - Kaibeezy 3y ago
    But… You kind of know basically how long an average literal foot is, right? Within an order of magnitude at least, and surely a lot more precisely and usefully than that. A 5-foot monster will be a few times bigger than a house cat, a few times smaller than a camel. Approximately. How long is a literal meter? However long whoever says, by definition.
- gpvos 3y ago
  It's annoying since you are culturally dominant and we read and watch a lot of your output. We're not mad, but aware that it could be so much better.
jcranmer 3y ago
You're alluding to the US customary units, but as far as I can tell, at no point was the US foot or any antecedent unit ever based on the length of someone's foot, let alone a ruler's foot. The primary length standard at the time of US independence appears to have been the length of a physical yardstick, which first appears to have come into existence sometime in the Middle Ages. What was used to determine the size of the various yardsticks is extremely unclear, but at no point does it seem to have been based on anybody's foot (although an arm is one of the suggestions).
hervature 3y ago
I grew up in Canada where we use SI for everything official but Imperial for most daily things. For instance, I only know my height in cm because of the license I was issued when I was 16. The funny thing with units of measure is that they are all mostly irrelevant to daily life because people inherently think in things they deal with. For example, 12 Mg is just as useless to both SI and Imperial. But, if you say "as heavy as 6 cars", everyone immediately understands. SI is nice because you can attempt to change 12 Mg into something like 12 kL of water (since every L of water weighs a kg) or the amount of water in a pool of size 1m by 1m by 12m. Still, 6 cars is much easier to reason about.
- kergonath 3y ago
  > For example, 12 Mg is just as useless to both SI and Imperial. But, if you say "as heavy as 6 cars", everyone immediately understands. I’m confused. Everyone understands what 12 tonnes are here. Besides, is your average car really 2 tonnes? That sounds like an awful lot, and it varies depending on location. > SI is nice because you can attempt to change 12 Mg into something like 12 kL of water (since every L of water weighs a kg) or the amount of water in a pool of size 1m by 1m by 12m. SI is nice because it does not depend on your cultural background. A gram is a gram regardless of your daily experience. So you can be sure that it will be understood the same way by anyone on Earth, contrary to overly heavy cars. > Still, 6 cars is much easier to reason about. I think this is highly culture dependent. As a matter of fact it is very rare to see this sort of analogies here (it’s more common to see football pitches for large areas, for example).
  - gpvos 3y ago
    A tonne is 1000 kilo isn't it? I have to look it up every once in a while.
    - kergonath 3y ago
      Yes it is. Or 1 Mg in new money :) .
    - zzo38computer 3y ago

by 77pt77 3y ago

defrost 3y ago

What country are you talking about? The USofA standard foot has been officially defined in terms of the SI International System of Units since 1893. Since 1866 if you date it from the specification proposed by US Congress. https://www.nist.gov/pml/us-surveyfoot https://www.nist.gov/pml/us-surveyfoot

zzo38computer 3y ago
It is good that they define foot, inches, etc by SI units, because SI units are well-defined scientific units (except, until recently, the definition of kilogram was no good), and for the appropriate purposes the foot, inches, etc can be reasonable measures (while SI units are good for general purposes, the others are good for the specific purposes), so now they are also well-defined units.

wpm 3y ago

And it'll never stop being funny how mad this makes the rest of the world for really no apparent reason at all. (inb4 link to mars reconnaissance orbiter wikipedia page)

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
77pt77 3y ago
Get over yourself. No one's mad. It's just mildly amusing in a tragic way, like a slow motion train-wreck.
jhoechtl 3y ago
Crashing satellites because one party did.'t git the conversion right?
floitsch 3y ago
It's very annoying when reading books or watching movies in English. "A 5-feet tall monster ...". As a reader I have no idea if that's big or small.
- Kaibeezy 3y ago
  But… You kind of know basically how long an average literal foot is, right? Within an order of magnitude at least, and surely a lot more precisely and usefully than that. A 5-foot monster will be a few times bigger than a house cat, a few times smaller than a camel. Approximately. How long is a literal meter? However long whoever says, by definition.
gpvos 3y ago
It's annoying since you are culturally dominant and we read and watch a lot of your output. We're not mad, but aware that it could be so much better.

jcranmer 3y ago

You're alluding to the US customary units, but as far as I can tell, at no point was the US foot or any antecedent unit ever based on the length of someone's foot, let alone a ruler's foot. The primary length standard at the time of US independence appears to have been the length of a physical yardstick, which first appears to have come into existence sometime in the Middle Ages. What was used to determine the size of the various yardsticks is extremely unclear, but at no point does it seem to have been based on anybody's foot (although an arm is one of the suggestions).

hervature 3y ago

I grew up in Canada where we use SI for everything official but Imperial for most daily things. For instance, I only know my height in cm because of the license I was issued when I was 16. The funny thing with units of measure is that they are all mostly irrelevant to daily life because people inherently think in things they deal with. For example, 12 Mg is just as useless to both SI and Imperial. But, if you say "as heavy as 6 cars", everyone immediately understands. SI is nice because you can attempt to change 12 Mg into something like 12 kL of water (since every L of water weighs a kg) or the amount of water in a pool of size 1m by 1m by 12m. Still, 6 cars is much easier to reason about.

kergonath 3y ago
> For example, 12 Mg is just as useless to both SI and Imperial. But, if you say "as heavy as 6 cars", everyone immediately understands. I’m confused. Everyone understands what 12 tonnes are here. Besides, is your average car really 2 tonnes? That sounds like an awful lot, and it varies depending on location. > SI is nice because you can attempt to change 12 Mg into something like 12 kL of water (since every L of water weighs a kg) or the amount of water in a pool of size 1m by 1m by 12m. SI is nice because it does not depend on your cultural background. A gram is a gram regardless of your daily experience. So you can be sure that it will be understood the same way by anyone on Earth, contrary to overly heavy cars. > Still, 6 cars is much easier to reason about. I think this is highly culture dependent. As a matter of fact it is very rare to see this sort of analogies here (it’s more common to see football pitches for large areas, for example).
- gpvos 3y ago
  A tonne is 1000 kilo isn't it? I have to look it up every once in a while.
  - kergonath 3y ago
    Yes it is. Or 1 Mg in new money :) .
  - zzo38computer 3y ago