Octopus Overlords

Fardaza wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 2:10 pm 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!

Holman wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 5:28 pm

Fardaza wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 2:10 pm 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.

stessier wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 6:25 pm 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.

stessier wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 7:01 pm No, he says engineers use metric exclusively. We use whatever units our machines are in and imperial can be just as precise as metric.

stessier wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 7:01 pm No, he says engineers use metric exclusively. We use whatever units our machines are in and imperial can be just as precise as metric.

stessier wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 7:01 pm No, he says engineers use metric exclusively. We use whatever units our machines are in and imperial can be just as precise as metric.

Max Peck wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 8:02 pm Side note: IIRC, Imperial refers to the British system of weights and measures, which is similar but not identical to the US system.

GreenGoo wrote: Fri Mar 14, 2025 10:22 am

Max Peck wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 8:02 pm 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 wrote: Fri Mar 14, 2025 11:21 am Yeah, sometimes it's just cover for shrinkflation.

GreenGoo wrote: Fri Mar 14, 2025 11:24 am

Max Peck wrote: Fri Mar 14, 2025 11:21 am 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.

Kraken wrote: Fri Mar 14, 2025 9:28 pm Beware the cheater pint -- an ordinary-looking pint glass with a thicker or dimpled bottom to hold 14 oz instead of 16.

Unagi wrote: Tue Mar 18, 2025 9:23 am 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.

Jaymann wrote: Tue Mar 18, 2025 1:57 pm

Unagi wrote: Tue Mar 18, 2025 9:23 am 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.

Isgrimnur wrote: Sat Jul 20, 2024 8:20 pm 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.

Max Peck wrote: Mon Mar 24, 2025 1:40 pm What, you're claiming that a decade isn't 9 years in duration?

Unagi wrote: Mon Mar 24, 2025 1:50 pm

Max Peck wrote: Mon Mar 24, 2025 1:40 pm 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 wrote: Mon Mar 24, 2025 2:05 pm

Unagi wrote: Mon Mar 24, 2025 1:50 pm

Max Peck wrote: Mon Mar 24, 2025 1:40 pm 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 wrote: Mon Mar 24, 2025 1:17 pm 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.
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Holman wrote: Mon Mar 24, 2025 6:03 pm But it's certainly hard to imagine a Boomer believing that music and fashion were best in, say, the 1990s.

Blackhawk wrote: Mon Mar 24, 2025 6:17 pm

Holman wrote: Mon Mar 24, 2025 6:03 pm 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.

Holman wrote: Mon Mar 24, 2025 6:36 pm 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 wrote: Tue Mar 25, 2025 4:07 pm

Holman wrote: Mon Mar 24, 2025 6:36 pm 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