Random randomness

[Holman]

When I was in school during the 60s and 70s, we were being told that America would switch over to the metric system in the future.

I asked a teenager a few weeks ago if they were still being told that in school and he said no. Looks like standard measurement is here to stay!

We now have a two-tiered system. Every engineer and scientist in the US uses metric, while standard measurement is just for non-precision work, hobbyists, and amateurs. Oh, and sports.

I think construction might be the only serious field where people still care about fractions of inches. Any field where measurements matter as part of a global discussion uses metric.

[Daehawk]

Pardon me.... looks like you got you yabba dabba in my scrappy yappy doo.

[stessier]

When I was in school during the 60s and 70s, we were being told that America would switch over to the metric system in the future.

I asked a teenager a few weeks ago if they were still being told that in school and he said no. Looks like standard measurement is here to stay!

We now have a two-tiered system. Every engineer and scientist in the US uses metric, while standard measurement is just for non-precision work, hobbyists, and amateurs. Oh, and sports.

I think construction might be the only serious field where people still care about fractions of inches. Any field where measurements matter as part of a global discussion uses metric.

Hate to burst your bubble, but I work in manufacturing where all the American equipment is in imperial units and anything from outside the country is in metric. The precision is high and the same for both pieces of equipment. Having to deal with both is extremely annoying.

[GreenGoo]

Hate to burst your bubble, but I work in manufacturing where all the American equipment is in imperial units and anything from outside the country is in metric. The precision is high and the same for both pieces of equipment. Having to deal with both is extremely annoying.

Pretty sure that's what he said.

[stessier]

No, he says engineers use metric exclusively. We use whatever units our machines are in and imperial can be just as precise as metric.

[Holman]

No, he says engineers use metric exclusively. We use whatever units our machines are in and imperial can be just as precise as metric.

Understood.

Seems like a pain in the ass, though.

[Max Peck]

No, he says engineers use metric exclusively. We use whatever units our machines are in and imperial can be just as precise as metric.

But, most importantly (apparently), which would you say is the most granular?

Side note: IIRC, Imperial refers to the British system of weights and measures, which is similar but not identical to the US system.

[Kraken]

I make a falafel mix that calls for 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons of water. What an odd quantity, until you notice the parenthetical (100 ml).

[Blackhawk]

Standard is just as precise as metric. It's just harder to work with. Quick - how many 16ths of an inch in one mile? How many millimeters in one kilometer?

[GreenGoo]

No, he says engineers use metric exclusively. We use whatever units our machines are in and imperial can be just as precise as metric.

My apologies. Somehow I read "manufacturing" as "construction". Whoopsie.

[GreenGoo]

Side note: IIRC, Imperial refers to the British system of weights and measures, which is similar but not identical to the US system.

I did not know there was a difference. Units of freedom, then?

[Max Peck]

Side note: IIRC, Imperial refers to the British system of weights and measures, which is similar but not identical to the US system.

I did not know there was a difference. Units of freedom, then?

In general they use the same names for equivalent units, but some of the units are defined differently between the Imperial and US systems. For one example, one Imperial fluid ounce is not quite equal to one US fluid ounce, which means that one Imperial cup is not quite equal to one US cup. Stuff like that is good to know if you're trying to figure out recipes, for example, since you need to know which type of "cup" you're talking about (Imperial vs US vs metric) when you're trying to adapt the measurements to whatever actual utensils you have in your kitchen.

[GreenGoo]

I did know "they" used American pints to screw us. At some point pints changed from imperial to american. Price didn't change though. How very odd.

[Max Peck]

Yeah, sometimes it's just cover for shrinkflation.

An Imperial pint would actually be about 568 mL, so I don't think I've ever seen that. The equivalent would be something like a 500 mL container of milk or cream. However, a US pint would be just 473 mL, and 473 mL containers of cream are definitely a thing you'll see in the dairy aisle nowadays.

[GreenGoo]

Yeah, sometimes it's just cover for shrinkflation.

Back then I cared about volume. I don't drink any more, so it really is a thing of the past for me. I thought it was a scam at the time though. Grrr.

[Max Peck]

Like I mentioned in the edit above, I noticed it when a "pint" of cream went from 500 mL to 473 mL (although I didn't notice it until some time after the fact, so I don't know for sure just when they changed).

[Kraken]

Yeah, sometimes it's just cover for shrinkflation.

Back then I cared about volume. I don't drink any more, so it really is a thing of the past for me. I thought it was a scam at the time though. Grrr.

Beware the cheater pint -- an ordinary-looking pint glass with a thicker or dimpled bottom to hold 14 oz instead of 16.

[GreenGoo]

Beware the cheater pint -- an ordinary-looking pint glass with a thicker or dimpled bottom to hold 14 oz instead of 16.

Yes, but in the good ol' days, 20 oz.

[Unagi]

I still like to listen to music the way I did in my youth, which is to say that I still like to hear the albums I used to listen to, as albums. Many of them are very much intended to be heard as an album.

Getting Alexa to play albums is hit-or-miss. I've found I just need to declare "ALBUM" these days, where I used to only need to say that if it were ambiguous with the name of a song.

So, for instance, previously I could say "Alexa, play Dark Side of the Moon." And she would play it. Now she says "Now playing, Money." If I stop her and say "Alexa, play Dark Side of the Moon ALBUM" - she complies.


I'm complaining. They have changed something.

[Daehawk]

Do posts take a while to show up on FaceBook? I made one but think I may have just been on FB and not on my own page..just a normal load page. And I dont see my post on my page. I dont see it as a my post anywhere. Will it show up on my page later?

NM think its showing up now. took a few min.

[Jaymann]

I still like to listen to music the way I did in my youth, which is to say that I still like to hear the albums I used to listen to, as albums. Many of them are very much intended to be heard as an album.

Getting Alexa to play albums is hit-or-miss. I've found I just need to declare "ALBUM" these days, where I used to only need to say that if it were ambiguous with the name of a song.

So, for instance, previously I could say "Alexa, play Dark Side of the Moon." And she would play it. Now she says "Now playing, Money." If I stop her and say "Alexa, play Dark Side of the Moon ALBUM" - she complies.


I'm complaining. They have changed something.

I am just the opposite. I will go on Spotify and pull up an album. I will listen to my favorite cuts and add them to a playlist. Done.

[Unagi]

I still like to listen to music the way I did in my youth, which is to say that I still like to hear the albums I used to listen to, as albums. Many of them are very much intended to be heard as an album.

Getting Alexa to play albums is hit-or-miss. I've found I just need to declare "ALBUM" these days, where I used to only need to say that if it were ambiguous with the name of a song.

So, for instance, previously I could say "Alexa, play Dark Side of the Moon." And she would play it. Now she says "Now playing, Money." If I stop her and say "Alexa, play Dark Side of the Moon ALBUM" - she complies.


I'm complaining. They have changed something.

I am just the opposite. I will go on Spotify and pull up an album. I will listen to my favorite cuts and add them to a playlist. Done.

I have a lot of songs like that as well - where I have no interest at all in 75% of the album. And even albums I generally like, but still mostly listen to just a song or two. And the media/technology supports that just fine... It's the playing of an album that seems to be disencouraged. That being said, I'm pretty unsophisticated with online music, I don't do Spotify playlists - I just shout at Alexa.

[Max Peck]

The problem is that you're using Alexa to access Amazon Music, which has been deliberately enshitified in order to pressure users to pony up for the Amazon Music Unlimited subscription. I've long since given up trying to get it to play specific music and just settle for their predefined randomly shuffled playlists and themed "radio stations" or whatever when I use it.

[Isgrimnur]

I spent the day downloading all of my purchases from Amazon, since, as a lapsed subcriber, I can't play music that I purchased through their app in anything other than shuffle mode.

[Daehawk]

I ordered some photo prints of my puppers that passed so I could have some framed on the end table. They came out great along with the wallet ones. But the small poster I ordered came in a damaged box by shipping and was creased. Walgreens are sending me a replacement luckily. I took the old one and simply folded it along the crease since it was higher than Buster's face and simply put it up anyways. Looks great. He is wearing his silly face that pic...it was after his teeth removal so he has his tongue stuck out the right side of his mouth. So cute.

[Holman]

Fun chart from a study asking people of different ages when the best "whatever" was.



It's pretty obvious that being a kid or tween (and protected from trouble) establishes your baseline for when things were morally/socially best while being a teen or young adult (when you start making independent consumer choices) establishes when things were culturally/aesthetically best. This holds regardless of how old you are when asked.

[Unagi]

That is interesting and also makes so much sense. I mean, who doesn't think the best music was in their late teens... even if they liked older music in their late teens, they still heard it in their late teens.

I will say though, that their Note: seems weird (btw, I'm sure it was a typo/mistake, but my chart-maker dude, when you take the time to clarify details - take some care):
"If you were born in 1990 and said radio peaked in the 2000s, we'd mark you as saying fashion peaked when you were 14.5..."

[Max Peck]

What, you're claiming that a decade isn't 9 years in duration?

[Unagi]

What, you're claiming that a decade isn't 9 years in duration?

No, I'm pointing out that they tried to explain that if I said X about "Radio" they would tell everyone I said X about "Fashion"

[Max Peck]

What, you're claiming that a decade isn't 9 years in duration?

No, I'm pointing out that they tried to explain that if I said X about "Radio" they would tell everyone I said X about "Fashion"

Ah, OK. But they also don't understand how decades work (which is the weirdness that leapt out at me).

[Unagi]

What, you're claiming that a decade isn't 9 years in duration?

No, I'm pointing out that they tried to explain that if I said X about "Radio" they would tell everyone I said X about "Fashion"

Ah, OK. But they also don't understand how decades work (which is the weirdness that leapt out at me).

Oh, don't get me wrong - it didn't leap out to me - but I like your highlight as well. In fact, it may now have me more annoyed than my nit-pick, because mine was probably a mistake - where they REALLY meant that 2000-2009 thing.

[Blackhawk]

That is interesting and also makes so much sense. I mean, who doesn't think the best music was in their late teens... even if they liked older music in their late teens, they still heard it in their late teens.
[/i]

Ooh, me! Me! For the best music, I would have said the 1950s or 60s. I wasn't born until the early 70s. Least political division? 1940s, perhaps. The most reliable news reporting? This will sound off, but I'd mark that as the last decade. Perhaps not more reliable on the average, but with the power of people able to communicate from within active areas, the resources for research, and the rigors that some people demand, I have more faith in the reliability of some media sources in the current era than I think at any point leading up to it. The best economy... I don't know, but not in my lifetime. Cuisine and radio - for that I have no real preference.

[Holman]

There's certainly room for variation, and I'm surprised that there's not more of a cultural nostalgia effect (e.g. young adults in the 1980s being taught that families were happier in the 1950s).

But it's certainly hard to imagine a Boomer believing that music and fashion were best in, say, the 1990s.

[Daehawk]

Power bill from my town Oct 1955....$6.71..geeez...phone numbers were 3 digits.



this is their paid receipt

[Blackhawk]

But it's certainly hard to imagine a Boomer believing that music and fashion were best in, say, the 1990s.

I'd give the 90s 'most comfortable' fashion, though.

[GreenGoo]

But it's certainly hard to imagine a Boomer believing that music and fashion were best in, say, the 1990s.

I'd give the 90s 'most comfortable' fashion, though.

Agreed.

[Holman]

Sort of a propos:

A decade or so ago, my Dad (who finished grad school in 1963) was visiting me and came to see the campus (U Penn) where I was then working. Obviously, campus culture presents a whole range of styles, but this visit was in the Spring, and there were plenty of t-shirts and sweatpants and cut-offs in evidence on the student body.

Dad asked me, "When did university students start dressing so sloppily?"

My answer was "Probably about six months after you finished."

He had to agree I was right.

[jztemple2]

Sort of a propos:

A decade or so ago, my Dad (who finished grad school in 1963) was visiting me and came to see the campus (U Penn) where I was then working. Obviously, campus culture presents a whole range of styles, but this visit was in the Spring, and there were plenty of t-shirts and sweatpants and cut-offs in evidence on the student body.

Dad asked me, "When did university students start dressing so sloppily?"

My answer was "Probably about six months after you finished."

He had to agree I was right.

I went to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach back in the early seventies. There were two basic dress styles. There were the current or former military who were there for their aeronautical science degrees, wearing short sleeve dress shirts, nice slacks and ties. And then there were the aeronautical engineering students like myself who were not ex-military and dressed in t-shirts, cut off jean shorts and flip-flops. The AS students were not amused at the engineering student's dress style

Meanwhile

[Pyperkub]

Sort of a propos:

A decade or so ago, my Dad (who finished grad school in 1963) was visiting me and came to see the campus (U Penn) where I was then working. Obviously, campus culture presents a whole range of styles, but this visit was in the Spring, and there were plenty of t-shirts and sweatpants and cut-offs in evidence on the student body.

Dad asked me, "When did university students start dressing so sloppily?"

My answer was "Probably about six months after you finished."

He had to agree I was right.

I went to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach back in the early seventies. There were two basic dress styles. There were the current or former military who were there for their aeronautical science degrees, wearing short sleeve dress shirts, nice slacks and ties. And then there were the aeronautical engineering students like myself who were not ex-military and dressed in t-shirts, cut off jean shorts and flip-flops. The AS students were not amused at the engineering student's dress style

Meanwhile

Now do property taxes and sales taxes.... and while you are at it, do some means testing as that graphic is only the top of the income tax scale.

[Zarathud]

And hotel taxes. Florida feeds on those Disney and snowbird travelers.