Stupid systems that make no sense!
Discussion
Been doing a bit of cooking and also some DIY during lockdown, and there's been two instances when I've thought to myself "who in the name of all that's holy thought this was a good idea"?
Cooking...and that stupid set of measuring spoons where the two units are a tsp and a tbsp. No, not an a and b, or a big and a small, just a collection of consonants where one is different. That's the same as an inch and an incch. So easy to get wrong! Who thought that made sense? And, of course, you have a tsp, a level tsp, a heaped tsp, a rounded tsp. What the actual Gordon Ramsay? Tha't like measuring something in long inches, short inches, rounded inches. Bloody ridiculous!
And DIY and the joys of plumbing. I spent ages looking online for a new basin waste...it was 1.625" across the threads (which, apparently is a size in it's own right), but turns out 1.625" is actually 1.25", the most common size available. Even the engineering drawings online show the diameter as 1.25", even though it's actually 1.625", which translates to 1.25" BSP. Again, presumably at some plumbing standards meeting, someone stood up and proposed that this was a good idea, how the juddering f
k did everyone agree?
Do the engine fire extinguisher buttons on a 747 say 22, 56, 7, 19? I suspect they say 1,2,3,4 because that's which engines they correspond with. Are the fuel gauges in heaped gallons or level quarts? Have the engineers and standards people involved in this had any involvement with anything that drives, flys, floats or produces electricity through nuclear fission?
Rant over...any other examples of such ridiculousness?
Cooking...and that stupid set of measuring spoons where the two units are a tsp and a tbsp. No, not an a and b, or a big and a small, just a collection of consonants where one is different. That's the same as an inch and an incch. So easy to get wrong! Who thought that made sense? And, of course, you have a tsp, a level tsp, a heaped tsp, a rounded tsp. What the actual Gordon Ramsay? Tha't like measuring something in long inches, short inches, rounded inches. Bloody ridiculous!
And DIY and the joys of plumbing. I spent ages looking online for a new basin waste...it was 1.625" across the threads (which, apparently is a size in it's own right), but turns out 1.625" is actually 1.25", the most common size available. Even the engineering drawings online show the diameter as 1.25", even though it's actually 1.625", which translates to 1.25" BSP. Again, presumably at some plumbing standards meeting, someone stood up and proposed that this was a good idea, how the juddering f
k did everyone agree?Do the engine fire extinguisher buttons on a 747 say 22, 56, 7, 19? I suspect they say 1,2,3,4 because that's which engines they correspond with. Are the fuel gauges in heaped gallons or level quarts? Have the engineers and standards people involved in this had any involvement with anything that drives, flys, floats or produces electricity through nuclear fission?
Rant over...any other examples of such ridiculousness?
I have yet to read a recipe that doesn't have some degree of ambiguity in the text. However, contrary to what the Blumenthals of this world would have you believe, cooking is an imprecise business in which few dishes stand or fall on a few grams here or there.
English cookery of my youth - main course anyway - didn't have a recipe but rather a collection of ingredients that only came together on the plate. Roast meat, boiled greens, potatoes, and other vegetables. Oh, and 'gravy' - an ill-defined brown gloop.
My pet hate is any recipe that doesn't specify the number of servings it provides.
English cookery of my youth - main course anyway - didn't have a recipe but rather a collection of ingredients that only came together on the plate. Roast meat, boiled greens, potatoes, and other vegetables. Oh, and 'gravy' - an ill-defined brown gloop.
My pet hate is any recipe that doesn't specify the number of servings it provides.
motco said:
I have yet to read a recipe that doesn't have some degree of ambiguity in the text. However, contrary to what the Blumenthals of this world would have you believe, cooking is an imprecise business in which few dishes stand or fall on a few grams here or there.
This.My missus drives me bloody crazy, she has to measure out everything to exact precision, and will not stray from the recipe in any shape or form, uses every utensil and measuring apparatus we have every time she makes something, looks like a bomb has hit the place.
I am a lot more relaxed with the whole thing, I often guess at most amounts in any given recipe, it always tastes good if not better than when she has made the same thing.
You measure land in Acres... What's an acre? I hear you say...
it is 1/640 of a square mile.
it is ten square chains. Ten chains = one furlong. A chain is 66ft.
its also equal to 160 perches, where a perch is one square Rod.
I don't understand inches. You have 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, but you also have thou's... should it not be 1/1024 by that logic?
Also SWG makes no sense to me on thicknesses of wire and sheet metal - maybe there's a reason behind it, but i havent found a logical reasoning behind why the thicknesses are gauged in this way.
it is 1/640 of a square mile.
it is ten square chains. Ten chains = one furlong. A chain is 66ft.
its also equal to 160 perches, where a perch is one square Rod.
I don't understand inches. You have 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, but you also have thou's... should it not be 1/1024 by that logic?
Also SWG makes no sense to me on thicknesses of wire and sheet metal - maybe there's a reason behind it, but i havent found a logical reasoning behind why the thicknesses are gauged in this way.
Ambleton said:
You measure land in Acres... What's an acre? I hear you say...
it is 1/640 of a square mile.
it is ten square chains. Ten chains = one furlong. A chain is 66ft.
its also equal to 160 perches, where a perch is one square Rod.
I don't understand inches. You have 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, but you also have thou's... should it not be 1/1024 by that logic?
Also SWG makes no sense to me on thicknesses of wire and sheet metal - maybe there's a reason behind it, but i havent found a logical reasoning behind why the thicknesses are gauged in this way.
And, unless my memory deceives, the thinner the wire, the higher the SWG No. It a measure of thin-ness!it is 1/640 of a square mile.
it is ten square chains. Ten chains = one furlong. A chain is 66ft.
its also equal to 160 perches, where a perch is one square Rod.
I don't understand inches. You have 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, but you also have thou's... should it not be 1/1024 by that logic?
Also SWG makes no sense to me on thicknesses of wire and sheet metal - maybe there's a reason behind it, but i havent found a logical reasoning behind why the thicknesses are gauged in this way.
BSP - British Standard Pipe is based on the bore of the pipe, so 1/2" BSP is 3/4" outside diameter IIRC, because the iron pipe had 1/8" thick walls.
1.625" is 1 5/8" so 1 1/4" BSP must have 3/16" thick walls.
If you learned 1000s of an inch they are much more sensible than fractions of a mm! I can think how big a thou is but trying to picture .025mm means nothing!
The US 16fl oz confused me recently when I asked for a pint at a bar and a glass that was clearly too small was served!
1.625" is 1 5/8" so 1 1/4" BSP must have 3/16" thick walls.
If you learned 1000s of an inch they are much more sensible than fractions of a mm! I can think how big a thou is but trying to picture .025mm means nothing!
The US 16fl oz confused me recently when I asked for a pint at a bar and a glass that was clearly too small was served!
I have a tape measure, one of those leather-covered ones with a fold-out handle to rewind it. One side is in feet and inches, the other is in 'Links', each about eight inches.
I'm assuming it is to do with 'Chains' but it's not a measurement I've known anyone use. Why have we needed so many different measurements of length?
I'm assuming it is to do with 'Chains' but it's not a measurement I've known anyone use. Why have we needed so many different measurements of length?
essayer said:
Whatever you do, don't try any American recipes
broil the heavy cream and add cup of milk with two sticks of butter
That's the American recipie for water.broil the heavy cream and add cup of milk with two sticks of butter
I like how most baking instructions there are "Take the cake mix powder and add water". Like eggs, flour and sugar don't exist.
Ambleton said:
motco said:
And, unless my memory deceives, the thinner the wire, the higher the SWG No. It a measure of thin-ness!
[reaches for zues book]yep.
piece of 20SWG steel would be 0.036" thick, or 0.9144mm
piece of 10SWG steel would be 0.128" thick, or 3.2512mm
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