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?

  • 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.