Another funny contribution by #SMBC which adds yet another angle to the #imperialunits situation: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/measurement
#imperialunits
The #smoot should instantly replace the foot for lenghts in #ImperialUnits.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/18/smoot_mit_measurement/
I love culture-insensitive conversions. "1892 pounds per 2.4 acres" 🤣
You'd assume that was AI generated nonsense, but it's a genuine scientific paper locked behind a very proper commercial firewall. Likely translated by a very cheap service.
Serie på TV-en: "...half an acre..."
Meg: "Hvor stort er egentlig en acre?"
*åpner wikipedia*
”1 acre = 1 chain × 1 furlong”
*lukker wikipedia*
😭😭😭
It feels like the imperial system is in over its head when we start talking about thousandths of inches.
Watching a Christmas classic with the family right now - how come that Americans actually use a meaningful, non-idiotic unit for measuring electricity usage?
Would not have been surprised to see something like ‘eel-jiggles-per-fortnight [EJF]’ …
7 years ago, I wrote a blog entry about more imperial units, where I suggest new imperial units that convert somehow to metric.
https://wiesmann.codiferes.net/wordpress/archives/30025
Of course, XKCD managed to present a much more compact formula that binds imperial miles to nautical miles…
Just read:
"2x2 lumber at Home Depot is now 1.28x1.28. Actual size is supposed to be 1.5"
And people are replying:
"2x2 has been 1.25x1.25 for as long as I can remember"
How do these units work?
Am I having a stroke?
In 1999, NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter crashed due to a navigation error caused by a mix-up between the spacecraft's navigation software using metric units (newton-seconds) for measuring thrust, while ground-based software provided data in imperial units (pound-seconds).
#science #sciencefacts #nasa #jpl #marsclimateorbiter #metricunits #imperialunits #measurement
"A Guide to Imperial Measurements with Matt Parker"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7x-RGfd0Yk
Could we redefine the inch so that that 1 inch is 256 millimetre? At least this way, 10 inches = 0x100 millimetres…
I was Today Years Old when I realized that there are 4 quarts in a gallon because a quart is … one quart-er of a gallon. ☹️
I just found out that 12 poppyseeds are 1 inch, and 4 inches are 1 hand (1/3 foot). This is going to make conversions to #ImperialUnits a lot easier (for me)
See? #imperialunits are good for _something_
https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/unit
When my son was much smaller, he'd measure things in "feet", but one foot was the thickness of his tiny feet!
#Imperialunits #metricsystem
Evan Edinger on the results of that ridiculous survey of the British public on whether the UK should go back to using imperial units to measure things
https://youtu.be/uBlWKC6swss
#metric #ImperialUnits #JacobReesMogg #Brexit
If American units of measurement are not confusing enough for you, how about we use solid units for a liquid and liquid units for a ~solid. 😎
(printed on a Stringles wrapper)
1l of (4°C) water weighs 1kg.
1kg (of anything) is 1000g.
1g of water is 1cm³.
Stack 1000 1cm³ blocks to get a 10m high column.
This column exerts 100kPa of pressure on its base.
To heat it by 1°C requires 1kcal.
And 1N would accelerate it by 1m/s every second.
I had to google how many inches are in 7 feet.
And I think that's stupid.
Edit: Dear Americans; I require 7 feet in fathoms.
Edit: spelling/grammar
@Jdreben #BlueSky is to #ActivityPub like #MSFTOOXML is to #OpenDocumentFormat. It's too late and it's unnecessary. Due to the underlying profit motive, it's also probably cumbersome. In other words, it's like a massive, self-interested world power introducing #ImperialUnits for measurement in a world where the #MetricSystem is already well entrenched with a claim that "diversity in standards" is useful.
Which, of course, is one of the reasons the rest of us can't have nice things.
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