But I thought it was three! Why does Oz measure differently?
It's three most places aside from Oz. The reason is because you define it on an imperial measure, fluid ounces, and when we went decimal, we went hard-core. Or something like that.
Jayne: Captain, can you stop her from bein' cheerful, please? Mal: I don't believe there is a power in the 'verse that can stop Kaylee from being cheerful. Sometimes you just wanna duct tape her mouth and dump her in the hold for a month.
'Serenity'
Natter 68: Bork Bork Bork
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
billytea - Sep 07, 2011 7:46:36 pm PDT #24720 of 30001
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
meara - Sep 07, 2011 7:58:47 pm PDT #24721 of 30001
I thought about it, but didn't want to, from the window seat, call one over and get Into it. Nor did I want to ask him and his girlfriend to move so I could get to the lav and attendants.
Polter-Cow - Sep 07, 2011 7:58:50 pm PDT #24722 of 30001
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
The latest Oatmeal is relevant to this conversation.
-t - Sep 07, 2011 8:07:51 pm PDT #24723 of 30001
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
I would argue that the imperial system is more practical for some applications. Say, for example, you have a recipe that calls for a cup of water and makes 6 servings of whatever, and you want to cut it down to 1 serving. So you need 1/6 of a cup, or 8 teaspoons. But if a similar recipe calls for 250 ml of water, you'd cut it down to 41.67 ml. Sure, you could round down to what is apparently 2 metric tablespoons and it would probably be fine, but that's not more precise and logical, is it?
billytea - Sep 07, 2011 8:48:53 pm PDT #24724 of 30001
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
I would argue that the imperial system is more practical for some applications. Say, for example, you have a recipe that calls for a cup of water and makes 6 servings of whatever, and you want to cut it down to 1 serving. So you need 1/6 of a cup, or 8 teaspoons. But if a similar recipe calls for 250 ml of water, you'd cut it down to 41.67 ml. Sure, you could round down to what is apparently 2 metric tablespoons and it would probably be fine, but that's not more precise and logical, is it?
That's not for a different application though, just for dividing by a different number. That cuts both ways. If you needed to cut it down to a fifth, metric would be easier. If you needed a seventh, neither one divides that neatly.
A better question is, which more easily handles the cases where it doesn't divide so neatly? I'd say the answer is metric, simply because we have a decimal system. Either system, you could try to approximate, with varying degrees of success. If you want a greater degree of precision, however, it's easier to work that out in the decimal-based system. (Which I imagine is why grams and millimeters seem to dominate in science-related areas, even in America).
Cass - Sep 07, 2011 9:03:22 pm PDT #24725 of 30001
Bob's learned to live with tragedy, but he knows that this tragedy is one that won't ever leave him or get better.
I'd say the answer is metric, simply because we have a decimal system.
Base ten, man, base ten. So much easier. I wish we used it. That's math I can always do in my head.
-t - Sep 07, 2011 9:09:15 pm PDT #24726 of 30001
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
Well,I'm not really meaning to make the case that the imperial system is superior, just that it's not ridiculous. The metric system is fantastic for anything very large or very small, and I can't really think about physics using imperial measurements, myself, but for every day usage they both serve pretty much equally well.
Cashmere - Sep 07, 2011 9:10:05 pm PDT #24727 of 30001
Now tagless for your comfort.
I prefer to give my weight in stones.
Matt the Bruins fan - Sep 07, 2011 10:08:45 pm PDT #24728 of 30001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
Ugh. Just woke up on the couch from a dream that combined my job doing something about managing location shooting on Nantucket and a house infested with setient tarantulas . shudder
§ ita § - Sep 07, 2011 11:32:14 pm PDT #24729 of 30001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.