Used a couple of US recipes recently and most of the ingredients are in cups, or spoons, not by weight. This is a nightmare to convert. Do Americans not own scales or something? What’s the reason for measuring everything by volume?

  • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    The imperial system is a nightmare. A lot of us hate it and agree that metric is far easier. I grew up with the imperial system and still don’t know the conversions between quarts, pints, ounces, and cups. Blame the French and British, we got it from them!

    I’m currently calorie counting in order to lose weight and I weigh everything in grams because it’s easier.

    • IMALlama@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      This isn’t about imperial vs metric, it’s about measuring by mass vs volume. A good example here is flour. Weighing out 30 grams (or about 1 ounce) of flour will always result in the same amount. On the other hand, you can densely pack flour into a 1/4 cup measuring cup, you can gingerly spoon it in little by little, or you can scoop and level. When you do this you’ll get three different amounts of flour, even though they all fill that 1/4 cup. Good luck consistently measuring from scoop to scoop even if you use the same method for each scoop.

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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        8 months ago

        Jokes on you. When we measure flour on the moon, it’s the same as on earth. You just don’t understand our advance measurement technique with your primitive weighing.

        • okamiueru@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Joke aside, scales on earth measure force and show mass on the assumption of the gravitational pull on earth. On a moon colony, you’d use measuring scales with a different value for the gravitational pull, and get the same values for mass as on earth.

          Edit: Also, if anyone finds this stuff interesting to think about. You can measure mass without any force of gravity, but having the measuring device accelerate (e.g. shake) the stuff you want to measure. From “F=ma”, knowing F and a, you get m.

      • SendMePhotos@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Something something elevation and atmospheric pressure resulting in a proper measurement across altitude… Or something.

    • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Blame the French and British, we got it from them!

      Like 99% of the world, the French and British long ago managed to overcome the imperial system. Actually, the French spearheaded the metric world.

      America just failed, time and again, to follow the times.

      • FleetingTit@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        The british didn’t quite overcome the old ways of measuring. They still use miles, pints, stone, and so on.

        Companies just need to print the metric amount on the box as well.

        • letsgo@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          We like mixing them up too. Tyres are measured using three numbers, two of which are in mm, the other (wheel diameter) is in inches.

        • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          The british didn’t quite overcome the old ways of measuring.

          Not completely, agreed, but they are miles ahead of the Americans. :-)

    • remotelove@lemmy.ca
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      8 months ago

      I am converting my life to metric, actually. All of my CAD work is in metric and all of my chemistry glass is thankfully in metric. Thinking in longer distances is something I need to get used to though.

      The imperial system is just a waste of time, TBH. I am sure there are a ton of people that can work fractions in their head but I just gotta ask: Why, and what is the point?

      Measuring and planning with metric is just so damn easy and no extra steps are generally needed. When I need to convert 1000mm I just move the decimal over a bit and get 1km. EZ.

      • GregorGizeh
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        8 months ago

        When I need to convert 1000mm I just move the decimal over a bit and get 1km. EZ.

        🤔

      • frezik@midwest.social
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        8 months ago

        I find specific situations where customary units are handy. Fahrenheit has a nicer range for precise cooking temperature, such as for sous vide. 1 degree centigrade is a wider range than 1 degree fahrenheit. Dropping down to milligrades is too precise. Fahrenheit is just right.

        Metric is lashed to orders of magnitude precision, and it gets in the way here. Being able to convert things, like knowing how much energy it takes to heat 1 cubic centimeter of water by 1 degree centigrade, also isn’t useful in the kitchen unless you’re doing some deep molecular gastronomy shit.

        It’s OK to use different measurement systems in different contexts. Purity is not a virtue.

        • remotelove@lemmy.ca
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          8 months ago

          Not really. Most every hardware shop has them these days. Amazon is about my only other source, but quality/usability is a gamble in the M1-M2 range for some reason. The number of small bolts and nuts in that range that are cast badly seems to be high for me. That seems really odd, actually.

          Kits are the way to go, usually. I have a full assortment of nuts and bolts from M1 up to about M6 at many different lengths. I started building a collection when I was modding 3D printers but use them for any other random project these days.

          Edit: Local hardware shops generally carry decent assortments from M3 and up. It’s more expensive than Amazon but is great if I only need one odd larger size for something random.

          • hglman@lemmy.ml
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            8 months ago

            You cannot find a metric measuring tape in the US without a lot of effort.