4 ms·

As a metric European, blue whales give me a lot more intuition to work on than pounds. Tons would be nice though.

by dagss 2y ago

mgiampapa 2y ago
I'm sorry, only long tons or short tons. Why have one unit when you can have two? In metric it's a Tonne.
- Symbiote 2y ago
  In many European languages the spelling like "ton" is used for 1000kg. It's primarily in English where there's still a need to distinguish between metric tons and older units.
  - eecc 2y ago
    In UCUM it’s disambiguated as MetricTon
  - Angostura 2y ago
    Ton v Tonne?
    - PaulHoule 2y ago
      "metric ton" vs "short ton" is a little long but precise. Lately I've been thinking about the economics of plastic materials which are made from monomers which cost about 50 cents per pound or, as it turns out, $1000 per short ton. It is all approximate (prices go up and down) and might as well be per metric ton.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
vasco 2y ago
How do you go through life without once deciding to learn the rough conversion between kgs and pounds (just double it, 1kg~=2lbs) or miles and kms (~1.5x it, 1mi~=1.5km) and so on? Do you consume american media and just shrug every time you see a number and go "oops there's no way I can understand this now" unless you use Google? Also european here.
- Gud 2y ago
  Although I agree with you, the phrasing of your reply is needlessly snarky.
  - vasco 2y ago
    I agree, I tend to come out like this. Working on it. I do think it's a huge time saver for your whole life after to remember these 2 numbers. I use this information dozens of times per day.
- Al-Khwarizmi 2y ago
  Miles to km, yes. As another European, I know that because it's relevant to understand when they talk about speed limits, top speeds of cars, etc. Pounds to kg... If it's written media, I just paste it to Google and get the conversion. If it's movies or shows, honestly I don't think I have found an instance while it actually matters at all. If a movie character says "Oh, no, I've gained 10 pounds in a month, I need to go on a diet" you know that they're sad because that's a non-negligible amount of weight, and knowing how much it exactly is doesn't affect understanding of the movie at all. It's a similar situation to old novels talking about money... When you read a novel from 200 years ago talking about dollars, pounds or whatever, do you look at the historic inflation rate to check today's equivalence? You might, if you're a perfectionist, but the truth is that you can perfectly understand such novels without knowing that just by the context in which they mention money.
  - Retric 2y ago
    Historic inflation numbers are constantly changing depending on the year, pounds to kg is just one number. 2.2 is good enough for most practical purposes, even 1 kg = 1 lbs isn’t that bad and it’s easier to calculate. It’s like not knowing how many months are in a year…. I mean you don’t need to remember, but people will look at you funny if you’re constantly looking it up.
    - Al-Khwarizmi 2y ago
      Months in a year is very frequently relevant, though. What I'm trying to say is that pounds in a kilo is not something most Europeans know (or remember) because it's not relevant for us. The example with historic dollars was just to illustrate that you typically don't really need to understand measurements in a movie or show to understand the narrative. Right now I know pounds in a kilo because we're talking about it, but next time I encounter pounds in a context where the value is actually relevant might be years from now, and I'll probably have forgotten by then. Mentions in American media (which was what my parent poster was referring to) aren't enough to prime the memory and keep it fresh because they aren't relevant. If I hear in a show "I've gained 10 pounds", my mind just goes "Oh, they're unhappy because they gained some weight", I don't even stop to think how much a pound was.
marcosdumay 2y ago
2 pounds = 1 kg Just like 3 feet = 1 m and 4" = 10 cm. Those are not "good enough for XKCD" approximations, but they are good enough to understand what people are saying. Now, if I had something similar for Fahrenheit! One could use the hash of the temperature number and it would mean the same to me.
- jerf 2y ago
  "Now, if I had something similar for Fahrenheit!" Subtract 30, divide by two. 100 Farenheit, a very hot day, is 35 on this scale, but 37C on the real scale. 32F, the freezing point, is 1 on this scale but 0C for real. -10F, freaking cold, is -20 on this scale and -23C for real. For human temperatures the diff is negligible versus the real conversion. Obviously that freezing point is a big problem for real science, but who does real science with Fahrenheit anyhow, even in the US? Still an ugly conversion, certainly, but you don't need the "2" in the 32 or the 9/5s ratio to get a good-enough-for-the-weather result. (Likewise in reverse; multiply by two, add 30. Order matters, of course.)

As a metric European, blue whales give me a lot more intuition to work on than pounds. Tons would be nice though.

by dagss 2y ago

As a metric European, blue whales give me a lot more intuition to work on than pounds. Tons would be nice though.

mgiampapa 2y ago

I'm sorry, only long tons or short tons. Why have one unit when you can have two? In metric it's a Tonne.

Symbiote 2y ago
In many European languages the spelling like "ton" is used for 1000kg. It's primarily in English where there's still a need to distinguish between metric tons and older units.
- eecc 2y ago
  In UCUM it’s disambiguated as MetricTon
- Angostura 2y ago
  Ton v Tonne?
  - PaulHoule 2y ago
    "metric ton" vs "short ton" is a little long but precise. Lately I've been thinking about the economics of plastic materials which are made from monomers which cost about 50 cents per pound or, as it turns out, $1000 per short ton. It is all approximate (prices go up and down) and might as well be per metric ton.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

vasco 2y ago

How do you go through life without once deciding to learn the rough conversion between kgs and pounds (just double it, 1kg~=2lbs) or miles and kms (~1.5x it, 1mi~=1.5km) and so on? Do you consume american media and just shrug every time you see a number and go "oops there's no way I can understand this now" unless you use Google? Also european here.

Gud 2y ago
Although I agree with you, the phrasing of your reply is needlessly snarky.
- vasco 2y ago
  I agree, I tend to come out like this. Working on it. I do think it's a huge time saver for your whole life after to remember these 2 numbers. I use this information dozens of times per day.
Al-Khwarizmi 2y ago
Miles to km, yes. As another European, I know that because it's relevant to understand when they talk about speed limits, top speeds of cars, etc. Pounds to kg... If it's written media, I just paste it to Google and get the conversion. If it's movies or shows, honestly I don't think I have found an instance while it actually matters at all. If a movie character says "Oh, no, I've gained 10 pounds in a month, I need to go on a diet" you know that they're sad because that's a non-negligible amount of weight, and knowing how much it exactly is doesn't affect understanding of the movie at all. It's a similar situation to old novels talking about money... When you read a novel from 200 years ago talking about dollars, pounds or whatever, do you look at the historic inflation rate to check today's equivalence? You might, if you're a perfectionist, but the truth is that you can perfectly understand such novels without knowing that just by the context in which they mention money.
- Retric 2y ago
  Historic inflation numbers are constantly changing depending on the year, pounds to kg is just one number. 2.2 is good enough for most practical purposes, even 1 kg = 1 lbs isn’t that bad and it’s easier to calculate. It’s like not knowing how many months are in a year…. I mean you don’t need to remember, but people will look at you funny if you’re constantly looking it up.
  - Al-Khwarizmi 2y ago
    Months in a year is very frequently relevant, though. What I'm trying to say is that pounds in a kilo is not something most Europeans know (or remember) because it's not relevant for us. The example with historic dollars was just to illustrate that you typically don't really need to understand measurements in a movie or show to understand the narrative. Right now I know pounds in a kilo because we're talking about it, but next time I encounter pounds in a context where the value is actually relevant might be years from now, and I'll probably have forgotten by then. Mentions in American media (which was what my parent poster was referring to) aren't enough to prime the memory and keep it fresh because they aren't relevant. If I hear in a show "I've gained 10 pounds", my mind just goes "Oh, they're unhappy because they gained some weight", I don't even stop to think how much a pound was.

marcosdumay 2y ago

2 pounds = 1 kg Just like 3 feet = 1 m and 4" = 10 cm. Those are not "good enough for XKCD" approximations, but they are good enough to understand what people are saying. Now, if I had something similar for Fahrenheit! One could use the hash of the temperature number and it would mean the same to me.

jerf 2y ago
"Now, if I had something similar for Fahrenheit!" Subtract 30, divide by two. 100 Farenheit, a very hot day, is 35 on this scale, but 37C on the real scale. 32F, the freezing point, is 1 on this scale but 0C for real. -10F, freaking cold, is -20 on this scale and -23C for real. For human temperatures the diff is negligible versus the real conversion. Obviously that freezing point is a big problem for real science, but who does real science with Fahrenheit anyhow, even in the US? Still an ugly conversion, certainly, but you don't need the "2" in the 32 or the 9/5s ratio to get a good-enough-for-the-weather result. (Likewise in reverse; multiply by two, add 30. Order matters, of course.)