5 ms·

I brought all the rabbit in from a big union data center job in Texas, over a decade ago. We had spent weeks installing thousands feet of 500kcm (that's a THICK

I brought all the rabbit in from a big union data center job in Texas, over a decade ago. We had spent weeks installing thousands feet of 500kcm (that's a THICK wire) and I brought in trashcans full of bare bright. Scrapyard actually called the police requiring our facility manager to visit (they assumed it was all stolen, since there wasn't a drop of corrosion on any copper). >populated by characters that will most defintly get your attention, which is a mistake, because you dont want thiers. Really appreciated that they let me cut in line (the police forced this) so-as to not attact this unwanted attention. This was fifteen years ago, but IIRC they handed me/boss a check for $6k (made out to my company). Lots of leering onlookers.

formerly_proven 1y ago
> 500kcm "kilo-circular mils", that's an impressively cursed unit even for US standards: Combining an SI prefix, a decimal fraction (1/1000th) of an imperial base unit (inch) and then defining the area by diameter instead of square. Even if someone told you it's an imperial area measure that's about 0.5 mm², you'd never figure out on your own how kcm was defined to arrive there.
- ProllyInfamous 1y ago
  >https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_mil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_mil As blue-collars, we always referred to 500kcm as elephant cock (350kcm is donkey dick)... because it's almost an inch thick, with the sheathing. The copper is approximately 253mm² (177mm², respective). When phased we used brown/yellow/purple ... so it was anatomically correct, from afar. Sword-fights with 3ft sections of scrap [@$$$$$$$$$/foot] could actually become bloody (accidental).
- navane 1y ago
  If a cmil has a diameter of one thousandt (mil) of an inch, then a kcmil (kilo=1000) has a diameter of 1 inch? 500kcmil has a diameter of 500inch? Which is about 10 meter?? Yeah I'm an engineer but this must be wrong.
  - ProllyInfamous 1y ago
    This is incorrect. Please see the wikipedia link, above.
    - formerly_proven 1y ago
      Yes, but that's what makes it even more cursed. SI prefixes normally bind tighter than exponents, so km² = (km)² = (1000 m) * (1000 m) = 1 million m², not 1000 m². Meanwhile kcm applies the prefix last - so it's off by three orders of magnitude from the normal way.
- BobaFloutist 1y ago
  I recently saw the much simpler but still deeply, viscerally upsetting unit of length ∛tsp
  - formerly_proven 1y ago
    Almost 3/4 in
toasterlovin 1y ago
Next time just call the metal recycler and have them pick up from you! Never had an issue and we’re usually recycling several thousand pounds of copper wire at a time.

formerly_proven 1y ago

> 500kcm "kilo-circular mils", that's an impressively cursed unit even for US standards: Combining an SI prefix, a decimal fraction (1/1000th) of an imperial base unit (inch) and then defining the area by diameter instead of square. Even if someone told you it's an imperial area measure that's about 0.5 mm², you'd never figure out on your own how kcm was defined to arrive there.

ProllyInfamous 1y ago
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_mil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_mil As blue-collars, we always referred to 500kcm as elephant cock (350kcm is donkey dick)... because it's almost an inch thick, with the sheathing. The copper is approximately 253mm² (177mm², respective). When phased we used brown/yellow/purple ... so it was anatomically correct, from afar. Sword-fights with 3ft sections of scrap [@$$$$$$$$$/foot] could actually become bloody (accidental).
navane 1y ago
If a cmil has a diameter of one thousandt (mil) of an inch, then a kcmil (kilo=1000) has a diameter of 1 inch? 500kcmil has a diameter of 500inch? Which is about 10 meter?? Yeah I'm an engineer but this must be wrong.
- ProllyInfamous 1y ago
  This is incorrect. Please see the wikipedia link, above.
  - formerly_proven 1y ago
    Yes, but that's what makes it even more cursed. SI prefixes normally bind tighter than exponents, so km² = (km)² = (1000 m) * (1000 m) = 1 million m², not 1000 m². Meanwhile kcm applies the prefix last - so it's off by three orders of magnitude from the normal way.
BobaFloutist 1y ago
I recently saw the much simpler but still deeply, viscerally upsetting unit of length ∛tsp
- formerly_proven 1y ago
  Almost 3/4 in

toasterlovin 1y ago

Next time just call the metal recycler and have them pick up from you! Never had an issue and we’re usually recycling several thousand pounds of copper wire at a time.