this post was submitted on 02 May 2024
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1 centiyard is about equal to 1 centimeter
1 miliyard is 3 milifeet
1 kiloyard is 3 kilofeet
It would be the same as the metic system having something like a "hand"
That if you wanted to express 1/3 of a meter you could just call it 1 hand. 2/3 meter would be 2 hands.
If you were using this metric system and knew that something had to be two hands long. You'd simply call it 2 hands instead of .66 meters or 66 centimeters.
If something had to be 2.5 hands long it would be .825 meters or 82.5 centimeters
Meter and yard are both random established lengths. Using miliyards or millimeters is exactly the same.
US customary units just have smaller unit names you can call them if it is convenient. If you never wanted to use anything but yards like the metric system does meters, it's possible. Don't want to use miles? Then megayards.
I do think 1 simple system that everyone uses is needed and the metric system is simple.
But if stupid Americans can use the "difficult" system, it can't be too hard.
I think about this whenever I see someone complain about how Fahrenheit is arbitrary and how are you supposed to remember that water freezes at 32° and boils at 212°. I guess American brains are just able to retain more.
You never deal with 0°C/32°F or 100°C/212°F unless you're in a science lab.
They are nice numbers in celcius, but for real-world applications, it's almost meaningless.
When I boil water on the stove, I don't check if it hits 100°C. When I freeze water in the freezer, I don't check if it hits 0°C.
Everyone can get by without knowing the exact degrees.
This is pure water at standard pressure. Higher or lower altitudes will change it, and if your water has minerals or impurities in it, it will also change it. It's pretty arbitrary.
Water on roads can freeze before it hits 0°C outside. It can even snow above 0°C.
Fahrenheit is a very simple scale other than those two things. <0° extremely cold, >100° extremely hot for air temperature. Freezers are 0°F and Saunas are 200°F. Hot tubs are 100°F. You bake cookies at 325° to 375°, pizza is cooked at 600° to 800°F. You'll find a lot of 25° increments in cooking.
Fahrenheit isn't really a part of the US customary units.
Knowing both Fahrenheit and Celsius, I do think Fahrenheit is simpler for real-world applications. For science they are just numbers on a scale. Converting is the only real problem.
Trying to learn Fahrenheit scale isn't that easy as an adult. I know 0 is very cold and 100 very warm. So of course it follows 50 is perfect weather. Turns out it's not.
In the end you still just have to learn by hearth that t-shirt weather starts at 70 something and that kind of stuff.
50°F is the point where you need clothes to survive. If you sat naked in a 50°F room you run the risk of your body not being able to generate enough heat and you'll slowly die.
~75°F is room temperature. It's in the middle on the warm side.
70°F is a cool room, 80°F is a warm room.
Whenever I think of Celsius I see it as 0° to 40° with 20° being room temperature. I hear 30°C and think halfway between 70 and 100 so I know it's around 85°F and I know how 85°F feels.
But like 35°C. That's 3/4 of the way from 20°C to 40°F. 100°F-70°F is 30°. 3/4 of 30 is 22.5. So 35° must be close to 70°+22.5° or ~93°F. I know how 93°F feels.
I can see how celcius is easier if you learned it as a child. 35°C would just be 35°C. But trying to quickly wrap your head around it is difficult unless you just know it. I'm sure if I said 93°F you could tell me that that is pretty hot.
75F would already be a warm room for many. 70F or 21C is usually room temperature around here. In the past this was often 65F. In more southern places 75F is middle of the night temperature and too cold.
I can see how the F scale makes some sense, but then you see some news report from Texas reaching 100F and you wonder if people can read their own temperature scale as that is clearly not fit for human habitation.
There are the "I like to keep my house at 66°F because I like to wear a hoodie or use a blanket". They are going to say that 75°F is warm or even hot for a room.
If an average person sat naked in a 75°F room they would be happy.
68°F or 20°C is cold for me. Even 70°F or 21°C. I keep my house around 72° to 74°F and bump it up or down a degree. Coming in from mowing the yard, bump it down, sitting all day watching movies, keep it the same, cold winter day, bump it up.
Older people keep their houses at 78°+
Anything above body temperature of 98.6°F (37°C) you are slowly cooking yourself. That's why 100°F is important.
I just feel the need to say the yard and meter weren't randomly established distances. They were chosen. Meter being the earth's circumference divided by 40 million (or rather the distance from the pole to the equator divided by 10 million). Useful for map making and navigating.
And the yard being the distance from the nose to the thumb of some British monarch, Henry I, I think. Useful for buildings and making sure things are within reach for the average person