5mo ago

August 30th 2024. America adopts the metric system. Never forget.

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This was something I found strange in the new Alien: Romulus film, why were the temperature readings in a science vessel for a space faring civilisation in Fahrenheit!?
- They all keep dying in Alien films though, so it tracks with the level of incompetence shown elsewhere.
- I'm with the whole 'metric is better crowd', I mean base 10, c'mon that makes shit easy. On the other hand, I prefer Fahrenheit for temp 100%, Celsius is just not good for it (personal preference I guess). A lot of that is probably due to growing up in the USA, but having lived in a few other countries I just prefer Fahrenheit.
  Edit: dang ya'll, didn't mean to cause all the drama, I'll calm down now... I guess personal preferences get taken as personal attacks sometimes lol
  
  Quick Celsius breakdown from a Canadian:
  40+ - most Canadians stop eating food and hope for a quick death
  35 - you might just be able to live with this if you do nothing at all
  28 - right about the place where comfort gives way to a general sense of warmth, something that makes any Canadian uncomfortable
  23 - room temperature, and why "room temperature IQ" is an insult only Americans could have come up with because their scale was made by a madman
  15 - If it's Autumn you are wearing a light jacket, if it's Spring you are sweating
  5 - sweater time
  0 to -10 - that stereotypical TV winter experience, where everyone is skating and sipping hot chocolate? Yeah that's like half the year here. You better like hot chocolate.
  -15 - We enjoy the fresh air, others will probably find it painful to breathe directly; put on a scarf! Do not brush your teeth immediately before going outside unless you want to experience mint-flavoured pain.
  -20 - Canadians put their boots on by now. Exposed skin on a windy day can get frostbite in as little as 10 minutes.
  -30 - We will debate putting a coat on to put the garbage out at this temperature, usually erring on the side of caution in case your kids lock you outside again. Seriously invest in good winter gear for this, this temperature can kill surprisingly fast and it only gets increasingly unpleasant from here.
  -40 - turns out you can't form snowballs in hell because the snow is too crispy
  
  @CancerMancer @ITGuyLevi i once went on a TV shoot near Winnipeg with a reporter who thought it pretty funny that i was wearing a hat when it was only -20 and windy
  
  @CancerMancer @ITGuyLevi Also, at -20 C, your nose hairs freeze and you can feel it. You /are/breathing through your nose at this tempeeature right? You don't want the rest of your airways to freeze.
  
  @CancerMancer
  Very much depends on both the humidex and wind chill. Basically, it’s the ‘feels like’ temperature that matters rather than the literal one.
  
  I live in one of the more humid areas of Canada and when people tell you it can't get humid when it's that cold I wonder if they've ever experienced how the cold can just cut right through your clothes.
  Summer humidity is absolutely the worst though, and people die here every year because of it.
  
  @CancerMancer
  I spent my summers in Toronto growing up, but never experienced a Toronto winter until I moved there. I’d experienced –40 in Edmonton. But I’d never experienced –10 in Toronto!
  
  The increased measurement in the Fahrenheit scale allows for more precise representation of the temperature between humans.
  Whole numbers and a larger scale for human ranges.
  That said, the same thing can be done with metric by using the magical decimal, though idk if I’ve ever seen a temperature in C related that way.
  
  For weather prediction it usually isn't that accurate anyway, and varies over time and location a lot.
  For the thermostat it does matter, but usually you can set these in steps of 0.5°C. Mine reports back in 0.1°C steps.
  
  What? 1 °C is absolutely a fine enough stepping for everything the average human will want to convey about temperature.
  
  Some people actually think they can tell the difference between 70 and 72 Fahrenheit and those people could save a lot of money on medications by switching entirely to placebos for everything.
  
  That said, the same thing can be done with metric by using the magical decimal, though idk if I’ve ever seen a temperature in C related that way.
  People using Celsius that ever cared that temperatures didn't add decimals for increased precision in weather reports, please raise your hand.
  
  👋
  Having grown up with Fahrenheit there is a difference between 78 degrees (26ish) and 80 (still 26ish)
  The increased granularity for human ranges actually is noticeable.
  If you think I’m advocating for Standard over Metric than you’ve wholly misunderstood me.
  The metric SYSTEM is hands down the better of the two.
  
  78 F is 25 C and 80 F is 26 C.
  Just saying "ish" doesn't suddenly make them the same. In C they are different numbers.
  
  There is a difference. Does it matter? Eeeeh...

147 comments