Random Thought of the Day

Quote: Nareed

The Starbucks rewards card is really odd.

The rewards I get is never going to
Starbucks and wasting $5 on a cup
of flavored water. One habit I'm
glad I never took up. Coffee drinkers
are constantly worried where their
next fix is coming from, drives me
nuts. My wife is a cream junkie,
always bugging the waitress for
more coffee and cream. I drink
water, that's it. Vodka mixed in
occasionally.

Paint, grease, goo in general -- lacking any type of available cloth or water, I find socks (if you're wearing them) are the best piece of clothing to clean off your fingers in such a situation.

Non-Americans, do you find conversion easy? When you hear "47mph", do you snap know how fast it is, or do you have to think a bit?

I find the mile to kilometer is near intuitive, where mention of a measurement just "makes sense" instantly. Kg to lb is a bit tougher, but it just takes a sec of pondering. Ditto inch to centimeter; all the wrenchin' kind of pounds it in. But just about anything else, I have to actively think about.

17* tomorrow? DAMN I'M SICK OF WINTER..........times 2.....carry the......add... oh. Gonna be nice. And I don't even know wtf is going on with litre to gallon. I can rough it out since all our milk comes in gallon jugs (not bags, whatever the f#$% that mess is) and soda pop comes in litres, but once bigger than a gas tank, I'm out to sea.

Guess I'm wondering if it's simple ignorance, or USA#1 grade ignorance.

Quote: Face

Non-Americans, do you find conversion easy?

I'm impossible to convert. I thought you knew this.

Quote:

When you hear "47mph", do you snap know how fast it is, or do you have to think a bit?

Let me turn it around: when someone tells you 7/32 of an inch, do you have the foggiest notion how big or small that is? How about when someone says one sixth of a mile?

Quote: Face

Non-Americans, do you find conversion easy? When you hear "47mph", do you snap know how fast it is, or do you have to think a bit?

I find the mile to kilometer is near intuitive, where mention of a measurement just "makes sense" instantly. Kg to lb is a bit tougher, but it just takes a sec of pondering. Ditto inch to centimeter; all the wrenchin' kind of pounds it in. But just about anything else, I have to actively think about.

17* tomorrow? DAMN I'M SICK OF WINTER..........times 2.....carry the......add... oh. Gonna be nice. And I don't even know wtf is going on with litre to gallon. I can rough it out since all our milk comes in gallon jugs (not bags, whatever the f#$% that mess is) and soda pop comes in litres, but once bigger than a gas tank, I'm out to sea.

Guess I'm wondering if it's simple ignorance, or USA#1 grade ignorance.

hehe, I think it's the Canadian way of making themselves feel superior by having posted gas prices at 1.14 and triple digit posted speed limits.

Quote: Face

Non-Americans, do you find conversion easy? When you hear "47mph", do you snap know how fast it is, or do you have to think a bit?

I find the mile to kilometer is near intuitive, where mention of a measurement just "makes sense" instantly. Kg to lb is a bit tougher, but it just takes a sec of pondering. Ditto inch to centimeter; all the wrenchin' kind of pounds it in. But just about anything else, I have to actively think about.

17* tomorrow? DAMN I'M SICK OF WINTER..........times 2.....carry the......add... oh. Gonna be nice. And I don't even know wtf is going on with litre to gallon. I can rough it out since all our milk comes in gallon jugs (not bags, whatever the f#$% that mess is) and soda pop comes in litres, but once bigger than a gas tank, I'm out to sea.

Guess I'm wondering if it's simple ignorance, or USA#1 grade ignorance.

I have no problem with conversions Face but I am old enough that I grew up with imperial measure. I can even convert from US gallons to Imperial gallons in my head and several similar measures where the US and Imperial aren't the same.

It did create some crazy anomalies in Canada when the US bailed on the conversion promise. In construction I buy conduit in 10' lengths and buy wire by the metre so I need to do that conversation all the time.

The one metric measure that I have never gotten a handle on without a hard conversion is gas mileage. The fine detail of Litres/100km escapes me. I know that 5 is really good and 15 is the shits but I need to see miles / imperial gallon to have the fine detail of the efficiency of a vehicle.

Quote: Nareed

Let me turn it around: when someone tells you 7/32 of an inch, do you have the foggiest notion how big or small that is? How about when someone says one sixth of a mile?

Sure. Fractions of an inch are common in carpentry and fabrication, both of which I engage in regularly. I'd say, though, that without that type of experience, I might not have a clue. Sixth of a mile is an odd one. 5th, quarter, these ones are common. 6th, not so much. Although I could likely ballpark it knowing 5th and 4th.

Quote: Ayecarumba

hehe, I think it's the Canadian way of making themselves feel superior by having posted gas prices at 1.14 and triple digit posted speed limits.

I'm not fooled. I've a pile of their quarters, which they leave everywhere. That's a stain that no triple digit limit can erase.

Quote: kenarman

The one metric measure that I have never gotten a handle on without a hard conversion is gas mileage. The fine detail of Litres/100km escapes me. I know that 5 is really good and 15 is the shits but I need to see miles / imperial gallon to have the fine detail of the efficiency of a vehicle.

Yeah, that's a good one.

I don't have that big a problem; I'm probably better than most. But same as you, I was shocked on how bad my volume knowledge was. I got a pump for a DIY and all the stats were on the side. When I saw an lph quote in the seven thousands, it totally threw me. 1,900gph? No problem, can picture it easy. 7,XXX lph? That's like, what, the flow of the Miss'sip? =p

Just got me thinkin'. Figured I'd ask.

Quote: Nareed

How about when someone says one sixth of a mile?

As long as it's a nautical mile, easy peazy.

Looks like there's a technique to lose fat by freezing it in a couple hour long procedures. Fat cells die and absorbed by body over 3 months.

Non-invasive.

Too expensive for now though, IMO.

As far as the Celsius/Fahrenheit temp conversion, in school in my day for some reason they were big on teaching the formula. All kinds of other things were never taught or mentioned, but that formula, I think every kid had to know it [F-32=9/5C].

Without a calculator, "double centigrade and add 30" works well until you get to very warm temps - doubling is too different than 9 divided by 5. However, if the temp is rounded to nearest integer divisible by 5, then multiplying by 9; then adding 32 plus or minus the missing degrees from rounding is pretty close and right on the money if no rounding necessary.