***NOTE: I would ask folks watching this video to be mindful of which arguments I'm making, versus which arguments I'm merely relaying to you. Most of this video consists of me and Dr. Mihm explaining other people's arguments, not making our own. Q: Why do you hate the metric system?? A: I don't! I think it's great! Watch the whole video! Even if it wasn't great, I would still be all for my country adopting metric, purely in the service of getting us all on a single global standard. Q: Dr. Mihm says the U.S. was the biggest economy in the world by the 1870s. Some other sources say it wasn't until the 1920s. What gives? A: You can calculate the size of an economy lots of different ways, and you'll get slightly different results. But Dr. Mihm is hardly the only scholar to say this happened in the late 19th century, rather than the early 20th. I believe he's going by gross domestic product adjusted for purchasing power (GDP-PPP). Q: Is this really a cooking video? A: I've decided that, going forward, this channel will be dedicated to food topics and immediately food-adjacent topics. I would consider this a food-adjacent topic. I will likely start a second channel in the next year or so dedicated to things that have nothing to do with food. I hope you'll subscribe! Q: Why did you get political at the end there? Isn't this a cooking channel? A: I have no desire to shoehorn politics into this channel. I don't think that's what you come here for, and I have no desire to needlessly alienate some viewers. But sometimes food and food-adjacent topics intersect directly with politics, and there's no intellectually honest way to avoid talking about it. Metric adoption is a political issue. Q: Did you get new glasses? A: No, I found my old glasses! It would seem a child stuck them into a low shelf. They've been missing for a year. Q: Why did you show a picture of the Mexican flag when discussing the Spanish language, rather than the Spanish flag? A: Because I was discussing the Spanish that I learned in high school, which was Mexican Spanish. Strikes me as pretty logical for U.S. schools to favor Mexican Spanish dialects! Q: Why are you so confident that globalization is, on balance, a good thing? A: Globalization has done many things, many of them terrible. I could talk about how it has probably lifted literally billions of people out of extreme poverty, etc, but for me it's pretty simple: Literally anything is better than WWIII, and economic interdependence of the world's great powers has made WWIII a lot less likely.

@adenarrington7607

4 жыл бұрын

Do you eat instant ramen

@downiemcsyndrome8067

4 жыл бұрын

@@adenarrington7607 lmfao

@Astavyastataa

4 жыл бұрын

This was a very fascinating video and I want to thank you for making it. I do have to disagree with your whole-hearted enthusiasm over the adoption of a global standard, however, precisely because it is, as you say, a political issue. I think you come off as a bit disingenuous when you present the arguments for the adoption of metric as a positive yet almost snark at those people (really, strawmen you've set up) who are concerned about the increased globalization and flattening of the world both economically and culturally.

@yourmother3207

4 жыл бұрын

I think you should keep everything on this channel, Adam. I've been following a lot of youtubers over the years and usually secondary channels aren't nearly as successful as the primary. They often get a lot of views at first but then get barely any. I just dont want you to make videos that go underappreciated because they aren't as accessible as if they were on this channel.

@JudsonCc514

4 жыл бұрын

I first read that as "a child stuck them *to* a low shelf" and I was briefly fascinated by the level of engineering and commitment to keep your glasses affixed to a low shelf for a year.

When it comes to adopting the metric systems, American drug dealers truly are trail blazers.

@ValhallaXYZ

4 жыл бұрын

Metric suppression: the real reason for the war on drugs.

@mrrashu77

4 жыл бұрын

@@ValhallaXYZ Stay right where you are!

@SilentSymphony5

4 жыл бұрын

The drug dealers here use ounces and pounds too

@gclinton5796

4 жыл бұрын

Niall Sulcer they use grams, then ounces, pounds, and then kilos. they like to mix it up lol

@nomnom4755

4 жыл бұрын

Nice

I use the universally applicable measuring system of "that looks about right."

@forestshepherd253

3 жыл бұрын

Just use your arms, hands, and fingers. The measuring devices we all carry!

@hhiippiittyy

3 жыл бұрын

When assembling and building, I have a final article on the list. Look at the things that are wrong but good enough or irreversible and say... "Well, that's where that goes."

@shyguy_daniel3919

3 жыл бұрын

yup, just guessing

@1nicerboyz206

3 жыл бұрын

that is literally what the imperial system is all about

@NeoDarkling

3 жыл бұрын

"That looks about right" is the only way I mastered ANY of my mom's recipes! 😂

The most British thing is to look at a boundary and say “I think the fence for that needs to be six feet tall and three metres long”.

@Milesco

Жыл бұрын

LOL! 🤣 How is this comment not getting more upvotes? 🇬🇧

@techstuff9198

Жыл бұрын

2 by 3.

@falconne

Жыл бұрын

Hot days are measured in Fahrenheit, cold days are measured in Celsius.

@techstuff9198

Жыл бұрын

@@falconne One thing both systems agree on is that anything negative is bad. Also, Celsius is shite as both a scientific measurement and an experiential one.

@falconne

Жыл бұрын

​@@techstuff9198 What are you talking about? Celsius is much better than Fahrenheit for science, as the F scale doesn't relate to any useful observation points or conversions (you can use Kelvin if you want to get pedantic, but a difference of 1K still equals a difference of 1C). The point of the metric system is that all the different types of measurement can be interconnected by nice easy round numbers. It takes 1 calorie to raise one millilitre of water by one degree Celsius. One millilitre of water has a volume of 1 cubic centimetre and a mass of 1 gram. And so on and so on. All metric measurements are related to each other in round numbers and the properties of water is central to this system. Water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius and boils at 100 degrees Celsius under 1 atmosphere that's why Celsius is important scientifically. And also makes the scale very easy to calibrate.

I grew up with the metric system, but after living for a few years in not the US, but Canada, I had to become somewhat unit bilingual. Canada might officially be metric, but they're having a hard time letting go. All the recipes were imperial, and for cooking temperatures they use Fahrenheit, but for temperature in other contexts they use celsius. Doing construction and electrical work, everything was imperial. I had to get used to feet and inches. All the weights at the gym were in pounds. No one knows what you're talking about if you tell them you are 175cm tall and weigh 70kg. My Alberta drivers licence had my height in cm, but the lady at the registry converted to feet and inches to make sense of it. So its really dumb when people make out like the US are the only hold outs.

@donaldcake1

Жыл бұрын

Definitely agree here, we measure driving distance in time, cold temps in Celsius, hot temps in Fahrenheit

@joeyhardin5903

Жыл бұрын

Even worse in england where we measure height in feet and inches but weight in kilograms... But, its not that hard to convert in your head. 6 feet is 180cm, one pound is half a kilogram. A pint is half a litre (give or take 50ml depending on what country youre in) and a mile is 1600m. Pretty easy

@RothAnim

Жыл бұрын

A big part of it is because the US has roughly 10x our population, which means not only is a lot of their culture and products imported here, but a good chunk of our own is intended for export. So most of our packaging is in both metric and imperial, and recipes tend to use F. And a lot of that is fine for common use; feet an inches are pretty convenient at human scales. It's only when you need to start converting inches to miles, or grains to pounds that things go really off the rails.

@Elliottklassen

3 ай бұрын

I would say it’s not really fair to claim Canada is “holding out”. Most of us have no idea how to interpret American weather reports, and miles, gallons, and feet are always something we have to convert (with the exception of older people or height measurements). In all of our schools we only use metric for anything. Also, not all buildings are imperial here: my wife is an architectural designer and her work only uses metric (as do all new commercial buildings in Canada). The reason we are weirdly caught in the middle is precisely because the states are holding out and by nature of their large economy and population as well as our close proximity, we’re forced to be bilingual through association. If we’re importing building materials from the States, it’s imperial. Not much we can do about that.

I would like to thank my 5 years as a drug dealer for helping me master the metric system.

@arthas640

4 жыл бұрын

oddly enough theres still a bit of tension between old school dealers who use "Elbows" (lbs or pounds) and ounces (usually in fractions of an ounce or "teen-ths"). I knew some old school dudes who were dealing in elbows and ounces and got kind of pissed when some younger guys tried asking for so many grams because they hated converting.

@jayroush6154

4 жыл бұрын

Iv found that people who have actually dealt illegal substances rarely if ever talk openly on the internet about those deeds, at least the ones who actually made real money...not middle men

@Knallteute

4 жыл бұрын

As a metric born I think it would sound great to buy 15grains for 10 dollars than 1g for 10€ in weed.

@5frogfrenzy

4 жыл бұрын

It takes 10 minutes to memorize it

@bcubed72

4 жыл бұрын

@@Knallteute Nobody buys weed in "grains," silly: wouldn't get an ant high! Ounces, and fractions thereof, however...problem with metric is a gram really isn't enough weed to bother, and a kg is waaaay to much for retail.

MYTH: In the UK we measure speed using miles per hour. This is a LIE: we actually measure it in furlongs per fortnight

@ImranZakhaev9

4 жыл бұрын

Americans: My hummer gets 71 fathoms to the hogshead and that's the way I like it!

@SK0R092

4 жыл бұрын

we use boils per kettle

@83Bongo

3 жыл бұрын

It's true. The speed limit for motorways is not 70, it's 188160.

@crisppr

3 жыл бұрын

Here in Canada, we measure speed using sorries per hour

@arcticreindeerroleplays3488

3 жыл бұрын

I measure mph I live in uk

I live in California. I started learning metric in sixth grade. My computer hardware has always reported its temperature in Celsius. The 3-D printer I got several years ago is completely metric. About a year ago, I got into coffee brewing and everything there is done in grams. I never sought out metric measurements. They just kind of happened, and honestly I don’t mind

@SpencerLemay

Жыл бұрын

What could the possible advantage of using Celsius be? The only way that would happen without you purposely seeking it out is selecting the wrong region on your PC. Everything is just harder to keep track of. Also how is a 3d printer completely metric? Every slicer I have ever used has a drop down for both units.

@shotgunner3780

Жыл бұрын

Actually, the IS temperature measurement is based on Kelvins

@jasonstormsong4940

9 ай бұрын

@@SpencerLemayMelting/freezing water = 0, boiling/condensing water = 100, direct subtraction/addition from and to Kelvin.

Very nice and informative, you've done a great job at presenting this subject in a fascinating way, like all your cooking episodes. Some really good points made for and against. 👍🏼👍🏼

"We have purposely trained him wrong, as a joke." - Great Britain

@consumerbot7980

2 жыл бұрын

Also us in the UK: 'We use both systems lol'

@asdfhuk6798

2 жыл бұрын

@@consumerbot7980 and stones lol

@t.dominey4150

2 жыл бұрын

@@asdfhuk6798 yeah, we use a mix of metric and the really archaic sort of Imperial

@lookoutforchris

2 жыл бұрын

@@t.dominey4150 same in the US.

@t.dominey4150

2 жыл бұрын

@@lookoutforchris I've never seen stones or hundredweights used in America

"metric is so small compared to imperial" That's the kicker, I can easily transform 500g to 0.5 kg in my head. And that works for nearly all other units as well.

@ibrahimfadel7711

4 жыл бұрын

@Lassi Kinnunen For imperial and metric, you would need the density to find mass given volume i think

@mishXY

4 жыл бұрын

@Lassi Kinnunen 1L of water = 1kg = 1000cc = 1000ml = 1000g But in cooking there are reasons not to just measure volume in weight

@robinjones9225

4 жыл бұрын

Imperial is easier to scale down, because it's easy to half in your head (12oz ÷ 2 = 6oz) while metric is easier to scale up because it works in 10s, which is easier to multiply in your head (10 x 10 = 100 just add a 0 on the end). Also, because metric works in such small numbers (eg. 1g) its easier to use when you need accuracy, like with science.

@terramerc733

4 жыл бұрын

@@robinjones9225 are you... drunk? 200 grams ÷ 2 is 100 grams Same shit

@kristofsoma4430

4 жыл бұрын

@@mishXY im european too,but keep in mind that this only applies to 4°C water of course the change is small

Just like how some fields have organically gone metric, if metrification were legislated, the change will not immediately affect some fields. In Australia, we went metric in the 1970s , yet most people still talk about human height in feet and inches.

@PTEC3D

Жыл бұрын

I was lucky, went through the last years of Primary school learning the "new metric system" and so I got both, so I'm mentally bilingual in metric/imperial and also (family having emigrated here in the mid 60s when I was around 8-9yo also mentally multiingual in English/French/German/Italian because these were the people most evident in the small country towns we lived. I can still think naturally in English und Deutsch but I can only speak English naturally now. Same with measurements, I tend to bounce them from one system to the other in my head but I've stuck to metric in the kitchen and my workshop because otherwise I might crash a Mars lander or something like that... 😂

@thorbjrnhellehaven5766

Жыл бұрын

In Norway we use inches, to describe construction wood in speech. 2×4 = 50×100 raw cut = 48×98 fine cut 2×6 = 50×150 raw cut = 48×148 fine cut 2×8 = 50×200 raw cut = 48×198 fine cut Some other dimensions have inches assigned to them, but other dimensions are more common (or exclusively) referred to using mm.

@Muritaipet

Жыл бұрын

I've metricated in almost everything. I even think of my height as 175. *Except for baby weights. Cant shake that one.* 9 1/2 pounds is big. And according to the midwife, my fault as the father

@kenoliver8913

Жыл бұрын

Most OLDER Australians still talk about height in feet. Younger ones only ever use cm. There's a group of middle-agers who mix them up ("My nephew Jimmy's grown 2cm since I last saw him - he must be over five feet high now ...")

@thorbjrnhellehaven5766

Жыл бұрын

@@Muritaipet 9 1/2 pounds is tiny. I was initially labeled to be twins. However I later turned up to weigh like twins (combined). More than 11 pounds.

Brilliant synopsis. Had always wondered why and now I seem to appreciate. Many thanks for a balanced view. Cheers

I do appreciate when people take the extra mile to give us, non-Americans, quantities in metric. Thank you 😉

@georgH

3 жыл бұрын

@Lord Waluigi XD I thought about that while I was writing it, glad you got the pun 😉 TBH, I'm not a native English speaker and, at least in the languages I know, there is no equivalent of the "extra mile" expression (equivalents exist but don't use length).

@livedandletdie

3 жыл бұрын

@Lord Waluigi I do use the extra mile expression that's because we still have a unit known as the Scandinavian mile. Which is standardized to be 10km. Att gå en extra mil, To take an extra mile... lit. to walk the extra mile. It used to be slightly longer than 10km, and half a mile used to be called a rast, meaning rest. So if a foreigner wants to take a few miles walk, and they happen to let's say walk on Gotland or somewhere, where we still have milestones, then let's say 3 miles would actually be more like 15 miles...

@Cordelia0704p

3 жыл бұрын

The correct English idiom is "go the extra mile."

@georgH

3 жыл бұрын

@@Cordelia0704p Thanks, appreciated :)

@Radii_DC

3 жыл бұрын

@Lord Waluigi That's "taking the extra 1.609 km" to you, mister!

I found myself increasingly using metric in the kitchen for a very lazy reason: I can wash fewer dishes if I'm weighing things in a big mixing vessel as I add them instead of using a bunch of cups and spoons. And I use grams because of the increased precision (my old scale only used to do 1/8's of an ounce and very imprecisely at that). I'll do nearly anything if it requires washing fewer dishes.

@robertoaguiar6230

4 жыл бұрын

They're getting it at last

@Zeverinsen

4 жыл бұрын

Now that's words to live by!

@nidohime6233

4 жыл бұрын

That is neat.

@Lara-jp4xk

4 жыл бұрын

I hesitate to try a new recipe if its only measurements are in Freedom units (USA imperial). I must really want it, because I have to measure or google and transform everything in grams and millilitres before starting it for the same purpose: faster measuring with a scale or a volumetric cup. And if the recipe contains something so atrocious (to me) like 1/2 cup of butter, I'm out. How is that butter supposed to be in the measuring cup: melted, softened, cubed? It gives too much error and /or work if I have to melt the butter in the microwave just for measuring it, whereas weighting 225 g of butter gives the same amount regardless of how soft or hard it is.

@ltgerbilmuffin

3 жыл бұрын

​@@Lara-jp4xk butter translation guide for US recipes: All butter measurements are solid volume, because in the US almost all butter is sold in sticks measuring 1/2 cup, and they have a scale printed on the wax paper indicating the other measurements. So the recipes are using the volume as a proxy for the weight based on that convention. So just convert the volume to metric and then cross out the "ml" and write "g" and there's your weight.

In the industrial setting, for any size in between 1/2 1/4 1/8 etc it becomes incredibly difficult to work out in between sizes. Metric is 10,11,12,13,14,15,16mm etc

@sofielee4122

11 ай бұрын

Honestly people write down 115/128 like that's an acceptable measurement to ask someone to work with, it's obscene

@russell2952

10 ай бұрын

There isn't any pressing need to divide by two. That's possible with the imperial system, but it isn't required any more than dividing by 3 is a requirement.

Another enjoyable view. Thanks Adam!

The automotive industry went metric in the 80's My husband is a automotive technician and almost all of his tools are metric. Even drill bits and taps. He blames carpenters and plumbers for America not switching to metric.

@chrisdoe2659

3 жыл бұрын

I've owned three American cars that were made after 2000, and all of them used SAE hardware and tools.

@fliteshare

3 жыл бұрын

@@chrisdoe2659 None of 'm were DESIGNED after 2000. Thus, merely running out the machine tool inventory.

@chrisdoe2659

3 жыл бұрын

@@fliteshare I promise you that the Pontiac G6 was designed after 2000, and that it uses SAE hardware. It doesn't take over half a decade to run out your inventory.

@fliteshare

3 жыл бұрын

@@chrisdoe2659 It takes 40 years to wear out your MACHINE TOOLS. We are not talking cars here, we are talking car FACTORY. BTW, The Pontiac G6 was the el cheapo knock off of the Saab 9-3 thus all major parts are guaranteed metric.

@FlyOverZone

3 жыл бұрын

That's because cars are not assembled in one country one vehicle can have part contributions from 27 Nations. Building a car nowadays is an international affair

I'm an American engineer working in manufacturing for the automotive industry. All of the car parts we design and make, as well as all of the tools we design are done completely in metric. American automakers switched to metric decades ago as they started selling more cars in foreign markets. Rather than have separate catalogs of parts in inch and metric, they just decided to reduce costs and make all of their cars metric. The machine shops whom we order tools from operate in inches, but they use inches in decimal form, rather than fraction - i.e. thousandths of an inch.

@orlock20

3 жыл бұрын

That's because the majority of parts are made outside the U.S. and then assembled in the U.S. Also, the U.S. wants to sell its vehicles outside the U.S. and most of those countries use the metric system. Those countries would want an ease of use in fixing those vehicles and can't do that with their tools not fitting the nuts and bolts.

@OneEyeShadow

3 жыл бұрын

Capitalism bringing Metric to the States. Just like Apple Pie.

@jokeassasin7733

3 жыл бұрын

The funny thing about most tool and die companies is that most modern machines are fully capable of swapping from Inch to mm in just a couple minutes. They are so reluctant to use metric that they have to convert every value instead of just programming and running in metric. I work for a company that makes high end milling and edm equipment used in that industry.

@siqizhang

3 жыл бұрын

Why are wheel sizes always in inches and engine displacement always in cc's?

@buffdelcampo

3 жыл бұрын

@@orlock20 In the US metric automotive parts started production in 1977. The conversion was complete by the mid 80s. I am hassled by Europeans all the time about not using metric. Where have they been for the last 35 years? A couple of British guys were giving me trouble. They said I couldn't work on their equipment because I didn't have metric tools. They were dead wrong. In America we have all tools. We know metric and SAE quite well. It's funny, the first wrench I had to buy was in 1963. I was 9 years old. It was a metric wrench for a bicycle. In England, they still use miles.

Having been born and lived my whole life in a metric country and then lived in the US for 4 years AND brought back home an American hubby I know the battle all too well (It's the worst when it comes to Fahrenheit vs. Celsius with us) . I can do the conversions roughly in my head so it's never been a problem in the US but I find metric easy, of course. Grams or millimeters are tiny but that's why there are bigger units and, to me, the accuracy is gr or mm is more easily understood. In cooking I prefer the cups/spoons measurements, actually, unless a specific weight is needed (like half a kilo of flour for bread, etc). Funnily, the one qualm with American measrements I have is with sticks of butter in recipes. We don't have those so I always have to go look how many grams a stick is. :)

On metric and cooking, the shots used to illustrate the use of customary measures for packaged foods in America showed the opposite since the items shown had dual weights Ib and oz's and metric. For a Brit who uses both metric and imperial recipes the most irritating thing about American cookbooks is the insistence on using cups and spoons as measurements which forces me to do conversions regardless of whether I'm using imperial or metric measures.

@bradleyfleming2434

Жыл бұрын

As children (born, raised and living in Australia) we were taught both cups/spoons and millilitres. I know I didn't even think of them as imperial/metric but just that a cup, teaspoon and tablespoon were easy and common cooking "units" of 250 ml, 5ml and 20ml.

@HMJ66

Жыл бұрын

It just forced me to buy measuring cups and spoons. Not a big deal for things like liquids or powdered ingredients like flour, but what *does* grind my gears is when you get recipes that call for "2 cups of chicken breast" or "1/2 cup of cheese" WHO MEASURES SOLID INGREDIENTS WITH A VOLUMETRIC MEASUREMENT?! "Good morning shopkeep, 2 gallons of your finest steak please!"

It's incredibly interesting that federally we DO operate on the metric scale. The Army and Marine Corps adopted the metric system in 1957 which is actually BEFORE Great Britain adopted it in 1965. The navy generally measures in nautical units for distance and speed so neither metric or imperial. When you hear military personnel use the word "click" as in "The target is 4 clicks out." They're referring to Kilometers. 1 Kilometer is 1 click. Our ammunition is standard 5.56mm, 7.62mm, and 9mm. All metric. Artillery rounds are generally 155mm or 120mm rounds. When we go to the range to qualify with a rifle we're shooting at targets at distances measured in meters. Also in 1988 congress passed the "Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act" which mandated that all federal business be conducted in the metric system by 1992. As far as the federal government is concerned we ARE a metric country. The imperial system really just lives on as a relic of society and culture rather than some government mandate since the entire federal government operates on the metric system not the imperial system of measurements.

@Jmoneysmoothboy

4 жыл бұрын

True pirates shoot at targets by the yard and measure their plunder in troy ounces

@timothydoyle9635

4 жыл бұрын

I imagine this was due to the lessons of WW2 and the need for a combined logistics train. If everyone shoots the same bullet, it makes it a hell of a lot easier to supply. As well as planning. If the US unit moves forward 10(miles) and the UK unit moves forward 10(kilometers). Someone is gonna have a very bad day. Helps as well if your base for combined ops can just get NATO standard rounds, and not need to get US rounds, and everyone else rounds.

@ThaSingularity

4 жыл бұрын

Fascinating

@jeffforbess6802

3 жыл бұрын

It just makes killing more efficient. Isn’t that what the military is all about? Knowing is half the battle...GO JOE!

@JohnA...

3 жыл бұрын

Knowing is confusing, that's why we just keep making things to blow everyone up first so you don't have anyone left to question... Did the military thing, they try to push the "we are trying to be friends" thing early on, but you are surrounded by a lot of testosterone fueled meat heads that aren't typically the over intelligent type (those guys stay away from the front lines usually) and are quite prone to also be the ones shouting "kill them all, let god sort them out" nonsense (while also pretending that is somehow a peaceful religious mentality, hypocrisy as well). But they are right, military is almost all metric now partially because of working with other forces, part because much of our products are made in other countries, and also because using one unit makes it simple for people with typically very low education rates to understand. Such as putting "on a rock or something" on MREs to explain how to use a basic just add water food heater without hurting yourself.

3:04 "When metric advocates suddenly show up and start POUNDing on the table." I see what you did there...

@ivan7453

2 жыл бұрын

And they inch away?

@TinNguyen-rl2xr

2 жыл бұрын

Then they trip on there FEET on a Yard rake

@r4ls3i60

2 жыл бұрын

So around the world they kilogram on a door?

@ivan7453

2 жыл бұрын

@@r4ls3i60 That's exactly why all around the world we measure wieght by the kilogram and pound on the door.

@zacterztx

2 жыл бұрын

God, the reply section. Y'all just take my like. My humor is miles away.

I really enjoy your videos. You are charming, engaging and funny. Australia went from imperial to metric when I was in primary school ... the 1970s ... changing our weights and measurements but also our currency slightly earlier. I think it interesting that America has the dollar of 100 cents but is otherwise resistant. Australia before Metric also had imperial currency. There was even a cute jingle sung by a character called "Dollar Bill", that went something like "out go the pounds, shillings and the pence and in come the dollar and the cents on the 14th of February 1966!

@user-bm9gw2mg3g

Жыл бұрын

❤l❤😊😊😊😊😊

Dude, i did watch 2 videos of yours. Thats it! To this point you are the guy, that made the best statements about the old imperial vs. metric argument. Both intros were repelling but i kept up and was rewarded. Thank you sir!

I live in Ireland. It's like listening to a different language when I watch American cooking shows. There are so many different units of weight and volume.

@kitefan1

4 жыл бұрын

I've never seen gas mark 3 in the USA. Fortunately the kitchen in the Irish house we rented had one of those nifty electric water boiling kettles where the pot sits into the stand so I could have tea and toast before thinking. 😃 turning on the electric outlets with a switch takes me a while too.

@oscargr_

4 жыл бұрын

Additionally, a cup of flour does not have the same weight as a cup of water. Or worse, the amount of flour in a cup depends greatly on how densely you pack it. There is no alternative for grams for anything in cooking, with the possible exception of eggs.

@KaitouKaiju

3 жыл бұрын

@@oscargr_ Ounces (not fluid ounces) works perfectly fine here on Earth as a substitute for grams

@oscargr_

3 жыл бұрын

@@KaitouKaiju Though what you say is true (I should have expressed more carefully that there is no alternative to using weights..) , your answer also makes clear why ounces may not be a better alternative.

@krombopulos_michael

3 жыл бұрын

It used to be us doing that too. You still see vertiges of it when older people talk about bodyweight in stone.

"Grams and millimetres are too small!" Yeah, they should make the SI units kilograms and metres instead... Wait.

@archdukefranzferdinand567

4 жыл бұрын

The standard is gram, hence why kilogram has the kilo prefix

@maltabossXD

4 жыл бұрын

@@archdukefranzferdinand567 no the si unit is kg

@xzxjasonxzx

4 жыл бұрын

Archduke Franz Ferdinand Yeah, but the SI standard unit is still kilogram regardless of the root and prefix.

@brianclemensen3313

4 жыл бұрын

@@archdukefranzferdinand567 Nah, the base unit is the KILO gram, eg the unit that is defined by physics. The gram is defined as 1/1000 kg

@user-pf2lv8mf5o

4 жыл бұрын

Don't forget hektrograms (hg) and decimeter (dm)

Fabulous video, this is why I love this channel. I use both measuring systems or none at all, whatever works best for the situation.

As someone studying engineering I just have to say the argument that imperial is better holds no water. Especially when u get to more complicated units that are defined as quantities of other units. For example one Tesla (T) is 1kgs^-2A^-1 how in the hell are you going to relate any of those measurements to imperial.

@PatNetherlander

Жыл бұрын

Spot on! That’s why imperial will always be inferior to metric. Because it relates to the other units, volume, temperature, time. Imperial can’t do that.

@Avenus112

Жыл бұрын

For lab work and just about any professional calculations metric is better. But for everyday purposes personal comfort is what matters.

@anonperson7386

Жыл бұрын

I think its funny that mass and weight are two completely different concepts but we determine mass by weighing it.

@Avenus112

Жыл бұрын

@@anonperson7386 mass and weight are synonyms. They are the same concept. Mass and volume are the different concepts.

@anonperson7386

Жыл бұрын

@@Avenus112 Incorrect. Things don't weigh the same on the moon as they do on Earth.

I clicked on a video about the metric system and found out it had exactly 1,000 comments, or one kilocomment (1.000 kc).

@superandreanintendo

4 жыл бұрын

Omg ahah. KZread should implement those measurements just to mess with those imperial fanatics

@superandreanintendo

4 жыл бұрын

Anyway it should be 1000c = 1kc

@stevx007

4 жыл бұрын

yeah, that's why it's called 1K comment XD

@Alkuf100

4 жыл бұрын

Ihsan Maulana theyre startong to get it these guys

@amgoose9032

4 жыл бұрын

Now it's 2.1 kc

5:35 i think that really just depends on what you grew up with. If you grew up with the metric system estimating what 500g of flour is, is the same as estimating what one pound of flour is if you are used to the imperial system. Same with temperaure. I often hear Americans say that Fahrenheit is more intuitive because you know that 100°F is a really hot summer day. However if youre used to Celsius you still know that its a hot day if the thermometer says its 37°C. There is no difference. If i wanted to go in with this there would be more examples (french numbers... 99 is spelled like 4 * 20 + 19 but because they did it their whole life for them its just intuition)

@mishXY

4 жыл бұрын

I mean every single country protested metric initially, and had to change everything and then *everybody* was metric

@NothingXemnas

4 жыл бұрын

Intuition and guess work is not a good argument. Mainly because "intuition and guesswork" is universal. Everyone knows what they have, want to have and, for instance, what half of it is. Now, when you apply systems, things change. Metric works on a single base, 10, so anything you multiply or divide in it is still in a constant scale. Imperial has no constant scale and works only on fractions, with bases changing between even different measuring forms, as yards having more feet than a foot has inches. Then a mile straight out kicking numbers below 12.

@qxTorii

4 жыл бұрын

Yup, completely agree. It's really weird for me, because I use metric for almost everything, except when eye-balling the *length* of anything. At tiny scales (grains of sand, marbles, etc) I use metric (easy to say a marble is about 1-2cm). From there until anything below 2 metres I use feet and inches (height of my computer case is like 1.5ft?) After that it's back to metric (height of a doorway in my house? about 2.5 metres). ... Simply because that's just how I've done it for my entire life lol.

@kevinconrad6156

4 жыл бұрын

Temperature is the one place the Metric system does not get it right. All they other measurements can be more precise but the 0-100 for freezing and boiling leads to less precision than the Fahrenheit system. Maybe it should have been 0-1000. I'm a yank and it all measurements except temperature I prefer Metric.

@danielrapp7016

4 жыл бұрын

@@kevinconrad6156 Celsius isn't metric. Also, what would be the difference between your proposed 673C and the current 67,3C?

Metric has been the standard in Australia my whole life yet in conversation when I don't need to be accurate imperial seems to always come out. "How much you want cut off this?" "Oh, I don't know....about half an inch"

@1337flite

Жыл бұрын

But I bet when someone asks you how far it is to the nearest Maccas you don't say "about 2 miles" or "I reckon it's about 16 furlongs" Although we Aussies have metric as our standard system, we are living in a transitional period with measurements. Metric has been the standard in Australia for your whole life it hasn't been the standad for all living people and it is not the standard on the country that has for most of our lives produced most fo the media we see in Australia. You're influenced by what your parents and teachers and footy coaches etc said, and even if they grew top in metric times, their parents probably didn't. The metric system has only been standard in Australia for about 2 or 3 generations, that's not very long for in terms of intergenerational memories. I mean these days we can expect to live 3-4 generations.

Very well articulated and expositioned

I've never weighed anything in my kitchen, so I don't care what system you weigh with. My measurements are "a pinch", "a lot", etc...

@victoralejandrotrimmerestr3672

4 жыл бұрын

yeah for personal kitchen use its better to cook with measures you know and are familiar depending on where you live, but metric is more precise so when you need to cook thousands of diches with consistency and precision (like restaurants) go metric

@fakecubed

4 жыл бұрын

Clearly you're not a baker.

@bernhardreitshammer1

4 жыл бұрын

Sounds like a world I'd like to live in!

@jaspervanheycop9722

4 жыл бұрын

@@fakecubed How'd you guess? ;) Though thruthfully a lot of baking recipes still work even in non-exact amounts you just need to get the right consistency.

@jsodkksols2715

4 жыл бұрын

Jasper van Heycop you have to be a mom

The only place where the imperal system is superior is in music:«All those miles between us, i'm thinking of you» VS «All those kilometers between us, i'm thinking of you»

@shaynegadsden

3 жыл бұрын

You would probably just say k's in that case not sure about other countries but here when someone refers to a distance we say 200 k's not 200 kilometers

@chkpnt-fq5rv

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah and "You load sixteen metric tons and what do you get" doesn't quite have the same ring to it

@fastnbulbouss

3 жыл бұрын

And try to imagine Kilometer Davis......doesn't sound as cool.

@fliteshare

3 жыл бұрын

@@chkpnt-fq5rv It would be 14.8 tonnes, no need to refer to "metric" after the switch.

@rexsceleratorum1632

3 жыл бұрын

And if someone were to use "all those klicks between us" it might terrify you

I really like your channel. Subbed!

I grew up with both. As a kid in Australia (in the 60's), I learnt British imperial measurements, then in 1974 we transferred to metric - it was a tad confusing at first, but luckily I was still at school, especially the temperature, as it was kind of cool in summer to break the old 100 degrees Fahrenheit (which happened regularly for weeks at a time) only to be replaced with 36.8 degrees celcius (or centigrade - same thing). It just didn't mean the same thing. To this day I still use both, I will still work out measurements in my mind (as for timber), that I want 1.8 metres of 4" x 2"

Canada converted to the metric system in the early 70s, but, out meat and produce is still advertised in imperial measurements because it makes things seem less expensive the advertising in metric.

@wherethewildthingsarenot

4 жыл бұрын

All my meat and produce had both listed. Lbs are in small writing under the kgs.

@drprogensteinphp

4 жыл бұрын

When shopping for building supplies in Canada, you still but 1" nails, 2"X4" lumber, 4'x8' sheets of plywood, drywall, etc. No explanation needed for this, as the answer is pretty obvious. As a Canadian in his mid 60's, I would say most of us use metric about half the time. The main reason for this is that as citizens we have no choice in the matter, and we are directly influenced by what's presented to us. For instance; The weather network and all weather forecasts are metric, and all speed limit signage on roadways are metric. If someone asks me for the current temp outside, or how far I've driven my car, I'll give them the answer in metric. If someone asks me my weight, height, or what temperature to bake a cake, I'll always answer in Imperial (lbs, feet, inches, etc). I have noticed that some younger Canadians will use metric more frequently than those of us brought up and educated prior to the metric system being adopted in Canada (pre 1974-ish).

@rime1585

4 жыл бұрын

We also still use Fahrenheit in cooking for some reason, I'd guess because we're still mostly cooking with American recipes.

@PockASqueeno

4 жыл бұрын

Kind of like how the British still use imperial measurements for distance. Speedometers in British cars still have mph, not km/h.

@toisitrappings6483

4 жыл бұрын

​@@drprogensteinphp Construction materials are starting to become metric as well. My home is built entirely in metric measurements.

Be me thinking that i will never have to see my history professor ever again Then Adam posts this video

@najif7644

4 жыл бұрын

Was he a good professor?

@gentle6400

4 жыл бұрын

Was he, my dood?

@HighGeneralDawg

4 жыл бұрын

He was pretty good and he knew history like the back of his hand but i was never a fan of his picky grading on written assignments

@MarkARoutt

4 жыл бұрын

Maybe write better.

@doublevendetta

4 жыл бұрын

Waiting to see Adam comment on this thread. 😂

Stopped after 17 seconds and got all the answers I needed. Cheers Adam

I started my professional journey as a technician in the U.S. Navy where, obviously, everything* was done according to Imperial (or U.S. custom, or inch) standard. The * is because the U.S. belongs to NATO and many munitions the U.S. uses are in metric because as allies we need to be able to share munitions. After leaving the Navy I entered the world of semiconductor manufacturing. This was an almost exclusively metric world, even though I worked in the middle of the U.S.. I started to become far more familiar with metric measurements then Imperial (or U.S Custom, or inch). I left the semiconductor world and then worked for a dairy food maker that ultimately was based in France. Most of their production equipment also came from Europe. I became even more accustomed to using metric as a mechanic/technician. I just started working for a U.S. based biomedical company and almost all of their equipment is on the "inch standard" which I find mildly infuriating in the medical field. I think in metric at this point in almost all things other than miles and outside temperature (I think in metric for scientific temperatures and food temperatures), which would be rather simple adjustments.

@GH-oi2jf

2 жыл бұрын

Medicine is almost entirely metric in the USA, but were you referring to medical values at the biomedical equipment company or just mechanical things? The nuts and bolts on medical equipment don’t have to be metric.

@gameface6091

2 жыл бұрын

@@GH-oi2jf The equipment almost exclusively uses "standard" but this is sterilization equipment (autoclaves, sonic washers, cold chemical sterilizers) that has critical temperatures and pressures and there is it a mixed bag. Sometimes in a vacuum system we measure in inhg, sometimes psig (and sometimes relative psig where 0 is equal to atmospheric pressure, other times absolute psig where at my altitude it is 12.4) and other times it is measure in Torr, which what I'm used to from the semiconductor industry. Similarly temps are randomly displayed in F or C.

@GH-oi2jf

2 жыл бұрын

@@gameface6091 - I see. Medical doctors in the USA do use mm of mercury. The equipment has to use what the medical industry uses.

I'm Canadian and we are on the metric system. As a cabinetmaker, we continue to use feet and inches in the shop, but when a project arrives in metric, rather than do conversions, we simply work in metric. We Canucks tend to be known for our willingness to compromise. :) Awesome video as always Adam.

@wiltonater

3 жыл бұрын

There's a joke that Canadians don't know how tall they are in meters.

@sofiatgarcia3970

3 жыл бұрын

Quite true in many cases. We are stuck between two worlds, metric and standard.

@denelson83

2 жыл бұрын

I am also Canadian, but I use the metric system _exclusively,_ as that is what I grew up with. And I certainly know my height in metric, 1.67 metres.

@MagicCinema101

2 жыл бұрын

I'm also from Canada, and depending on what I'm doing I switch from metric to imperial back to metric. If I'm doing construction work, imperial. If I'm dealing with electronic, imperial for wire gauge and metric for everything else.

@ivan7453

2 жыл бұрын

So which is easier to use, metric or the other rubbish?

“Dividing by 1/2” = Multiplying by 2

@EckieM8

4 жыл бұрын

You should become a math teacher

@zackiechan2601

4 жыл бұрын

Who cares?

@rauha38

4 жыл бұрын

Yes! Long live accurate mathematical wording!

@junkokonno

4 жыл бұрын

me if I dont see this comment: divide by 1/2 (0.5) oh that's easy

@None17555

4 жыл бұрын

Idiot

I'd say most American machine shops are accustomed to going back and forth. I imagine many in Europe are as well. For example, I work a lot with aluminum extrusion which comes in sized like 20mm^2 or 80mm^2, but it routinely gets cut into 1ft lengths, or is milled to fit a half inch slot. The American car industry is also notorious among mechanics for randomly alternating between 10mm and 1/4in fittings.

Good vid. Emphasising the "well... because we can" point is really important. Unless things matter to people in meaningful ways it's unwise/difficult to force them to do things they're mostly "meh" about. In the UK we're more than comfortable using elements of both systems. Anything important is measured in metric and has been for decades (apart from vehicle speed), and anything chatty/colloquial/unimportant uses either or both, whatever people feel like. It works out fine. People buy meat in grams to make a quarter pounder; talk about the height of a guy in feet but the height he can jump in metres. It's all cool. I work in construction, we'll still talk about 8x4 sheets (feet) or 4x1 timber (inches) but all the measurements and drawings are in millimetres, the 8x4 chat is just shorthand and everyone copes just great.

@Persun_McPersonson

Жыл бұрын

Well it still confuses and needlessly complicates things to mix systems together, so just because people are able to "cope" with it doesn't mean it wouldn't still be a better overall experience for the other system to be phased out.

The subdivision argument only works for situations where you start with a convenient number, like one pound. If (say) a recipe calls for 5 oz, and you want to halve the recipe, you straight away have to deal with the 2.5/1.25/0.625 scenario. Same in the machine shop. In any case, machinists tend to work in decimal inches where fine tolerances are concerned, ie they're actually using base ten whenever it gets hard, so (once again) the subdivision argument is moot.

@Maik-db4xm

2 жыл бұрын

I exactly thought the same. And I thought, I am stupid. Basically you can define anything as a reference and subdivide by half. 1 cm can be conveniently subdivided: 1/2 of a cm, 1/4 of a cm, ... . What's the point here with the inch?

@Tinman3187

2 жыл бұрын

Yeees I was confused by this too. I often use fine measurements that go down to thousandths of an inch but sometimes the things I'm measuring come with millimeter definitions so I have to switch to that instead or suffer a conversion error. Honestly for most types of measurements it actually doesn't matter what system you use as long as you don't mix them up.

@upphgm

2 жыл бұрын

@@Maik-db4xm Also with the added benefit of mm, µm, nm and so on.

@NormReitzel

2 жыл бұрын

It's more likely that some people just Hate to learn anything new. It requires them to Think,l and as Daria © said, that makes their head hurt.

@uoodSJW

2 жыл бұрын

I think it's just a false argument, anyone working with inches converts it to 'thou' (base ten) anyway and knows 1/16" is 0.0625" (63 thou) off by heart.

The imperial system was redefined in terms of the metric system such that an inch is exactly 2.54 cm. Technically, the imperial system is metric; just with extra groupings.

@chaklee435

3 жыл бұрын

the imperial system is technically metric only in a bureaucratic sense. imo, the most useless kind of technically correct.

@cisium1184

3 жыл бұрын

No.

@canbo7643

3 жыл бұрын

Technically they’re two different systems of measurement.

@fgregerfeaxcwfeffece

3 жыл бұрын

Speak for yourself heathen. I use the thumb width of my emperor for reference.

agreed, youve earned yourself a like and subscribe, and thankyou for entertaining us

I'm from the UK and found this video very interesting. Living in the UK you will find a mish-mash of systems in daily use. Driving on roads is still in Miles as it is for speed (MPH). Golf courses still use Yards as measurements. Objects measurements differ depending on source so either Inches Feet/ CM MM. People refer to milk in 'pints' despite Litres being on the carton. So you see, we're a mixed up and confused nation. 🤪

@matthewlacey4198

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah honestly the metric system is our predominant measurement, but anyone over 40 still talks in imperial measurements, to the point that I'm a 50/50 imperial/metric split myself, bc I picked it up from my dad I do distance in miles, height in feet, but other kitchen measurements by weight and volume in metric ml and grams, it's honestly fucking nuts

@StoneE4

Жыл бұрын

That isn't much of a surprise since you're talking about a nation that drives on the wrong side of the road and writes the numeric date backwards.

When I was in elementary school, way back in the late 1970s, here in California we were taught Imperial and Metric simultaneously. It was considered “inevitable” that the US would soon be making the switch and they wanted us to be prepared. Let me tell you; when learning them side-by-side as a child, the Imperial system seems ludicrous.

@chadpunte1731

2 жыл бұрын

which is an important life lesson. If something is appears that simple and people ignore it, it is actually not that simple. Depending on application, depends on which system I use.

@NotASummoner

2 жыл бұрын

@@chadpunte1731 I think it isn't simple in countries who don't mainly use metric as you're required to live with another system of measurement. If you live in continental Europe you go to the store and buy 2 l of milk, 900 g of chicken, 2 kg of pasta etc. Easy and simple if you never have to use anything else.

@chadpunte1731

2 жыл бұрын

@@NotASummoner 900 grams of chicken. lol

@flixelgato1288

2 жыл бұрын

@@chadpunte1731 are you scared of numbers bigger than 100? What’s wrong with the number 900? Please I just don’t understand.

@chadpunte1731

2 жыл бұрын

@@flixelgato1288 Terrified, in fact. Do you just like grind up the chicken and put it in a measuring cup? Why are you like this? Do you enjoy scaring people?

Fun fact: According to Wikippedia, the use of two different unit systems caused the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter in 1999. NASA specified metric units in the contract. NASA and other organizations applied metric units in their work, but one subcontractor, Lockheed Martin, provided software that calculated and reported thruster performance data to the team in pound-force-seconds, rather than the expected newton-seconds. The spacecraft was intended to orbit Mars at about 150 kilometers (93 mi) altitude, but incorrect data caused it to descend instead to about 57 kilometers (35 mi), burning up in the Martian atmosphere.

@khamfai

Жыл бұрын

Wow!

@tomhenderson2430

Жыл бұрын

How does a craft "burn up" in the Martian non-atmosphere?

@MrTuxy

Жыл бұрын

@@tomhenderson2430 At 1% the density of Earths athmosphere Mars still has an athmosphere 10 million times greater than outer space. Check out every rover we have sent to Mars and you will see they made use of a heat shield for entry through the Martian athmosphere.

@rowey1992

Жыл бұрын

@@tomhenderson2430 Not a physicist but I assume just as aircraft can burn up on entering earths atmosphere. it is more friction induced heat than fire.

@sajanramanathan

Жыл бұрын

@@rowey1992 Just want to note that "friction" is not the cause of things heating up in the atmosphere. It's a pretty common misconception (and often spread by teachers and journalists) because the actual explanation is a little more technical. Basically as air is compressed with no heat exchange the temperature of the air rises, because you have the same amount of energy in a smaller volume. This interaction is called adiabatic compression, and it's that which causes spacecraft and debris from space to heat up as they enter an atmosphere (be it Earth's or Mars's or whichever). Air drag is still a thing, but it doesn't cause nearly the same amount of heating as adiabatic compression does.

This may have been pointed out by somebody before, but nevertheless, here goes: I grew up metric, mainly in the German-speaking world, but even there, you will find different approaches. For example, in Germany, you would ask for quantities of grams at the meat counter, but in Austria, it would be quantities of dekagrams (which I found very weird when I moved there), and the Austrians tended to call them "dag", which is actually the official abbreviation (as I just found out). Another example were drinks cans, which the French labelled in centilitres, rather than millilitres.

@vb2162

Жыл бұрын

I have no idea what a dekagram is. But yeah here in Australia (not Austria) we use millilitres on drink cans and bottles. I found it a bit weird in parts of Europe they used centiletres. But the good thing about metric... I knew exactly how much that was. You just move the decimal place. Also a bit weird here in Australia we probably more commonly talk about people's height in feet and inches for some reason.

@RiggieHeartland

Жыл бұрын

@@vb2162 Deka means 10, so it's 10 grams. You'll also find it in the word "decade". But it's very rarely used, the only other country I've heard of using it is Poland. In Denmark some drink cans are labelled in centiliters, some in milliliters. Btw. litre is British English - liter is American English.

@vb2162

Жыл бұрын

@@RiggieHeartland thanks. And yes in Australia we use British English being the propper English and because we are still part of the Commonwealth.

@joeyhardin5903

Жыл бұрын

In england, almost all drinks are measured in millilitres, except liquor which is in centilitres for some reason, and milk which is in pints. Also if you're in a pub, beer is in pints but if youre in a supermarket, it's measured in millilitres despite the fact that it's still sold in pints (the cans just say 568ml)

I'm 70 y/o. My Dad owned a hardware store and I began going to work with him every Saturday when I was 10. I learned to recognize the size of bolts and nuts at a glance, could tell a 3/8 from a 5/16, a 4d nail from a 6d. Learned how to mix tints into paints, measure and cut glass, and cut and thread pipe. I'm at a loss looking at a metric nut, have to try 2 or 3 sockets to find a fit. Too old for it to matter anymore.

@bgdgdgdf4488

Жыл бұрын

Funny thing is, I'm from central europe, a completely metric state and for things like nuts and bike tire sizes, we actually often use inches like you do (3/8, we call it "cola")

I will buy milk in pints, but use ml in recipes, I will buy petrol in litres, but measure consumption in miles per gallon, I will measure my height in feet and inches, but distances in miles, I weigh myself in stones and lbs but buy meat by the kg... You kind of have to be able to go back and forth in both if you live in Britain. But fluid ounces can jog on.

@alexanderkupke920

3 жыл бұрын

Isn't a pint actually the only measure that matters going to the pub? 😉

@simonsimone6050

3 жыл бұрын

How did I miss this video?!?! I was a graduate student at the University of Georgia's history department and remember attending one of Mihm's talks on this exact subject. I've been an early Adam fan and thought I'd seen all of your videos. This was a real treat. So glad that the weird pyramidology made it into this video! I was worried it would get cut because it is just genuinely bonkers.

@Urza9814

3 жыл бұрын

Same in the US IME. I use millimeters, inches, feet, meters, miles...cups, liters, gallons...both pounds and kg depending on what I'm measuring...almost always Fahrenheit though, Celcius kinda sucks for daily use. It's also strange that gas and milk are imperial while water and soda are metric...probably because milk and gas aren't being exported as often? (At least not in those quantities/containers?)

@alexanderkupke920

3 жыл бұрын

@@Urza9814 I always wondered about soda cans having both units printed on. What makes sense about Fahrenheit? That's temperatures no one can really relate to without beeing used to it. In celsius you can at least say 0 °C is the freezing point of water, while 100 °C is the boiling point. So about everyone ahold have at least some idea what those feel like (well, maybe better not for the boiling water)

@Urza9814

3 жыл бұрын

@@alexanderkupke920 Eh, Celcius isn't crazy or anything, I just don't think its reference points are particularly useful in daily life. Fahrenheit's reference points, AIUI, were originally the coldest thing he could find and human body temperature. So in most of the inhabited parts of our planet, temperatures below 0F are pretty rare. They happen, but when they do it's REALLY FUCKIN COLD. Same for temperatures above 100F -- they happen, but when they do people start literally dying from the heat. In Celcius, that range is something like -18 to 38....maybe round it off to -20 to 40, still kinda ugly. And each degree C is larger so the temperature is less precise unless you're giving decimals (though to be fair, one degree F of difference doesn't matter to most people, although it might make a difference for something like setting a thermostat). And if you measure your temperature to be much over 100F, you've got a fever, but in C that line is 38 degrees. And how often in daily life do you actually care about whether something is exactly at the boiling/freezing point of water? You can usually tell that just by looking at it. And for baking we usually use Fahrenheit temps like 350, 400, 450...maybe a 425 or something, but always a round 50 or 25. In Celcius...well, I don't use it so I'm not sure, but I've checked a few online lists of common oven temperatures and can't see what the pattern is. I know 180 is common from watching cooking shown, but above that is it a mix of 20 and 30 degree increments? So I think Fahrenheit gives much nicer numbers for all of those uses...and I can't think of any other common daily uses of temperatures...

I cook with metric cuz I'm in Germany. German cookbooks however use "teaspoon" and "eatingspoon" as measurements, and since measuring spoons do not generally exist in Germany, they want you to go to your silverware drawer and pull out a small spoon or a big spoon, and then estimate what a half or a quarter of those should be. There is also the funny measurement, "knife tip" where you just put a tiny amount, what fits on the tip of a knife.

@Milesco

2 жыл бұрын

Not very precise! 😄 As you apparently know, we (Americans) have sets of measuring spoons for tablespoons and teaspoons, and various fractions thereof. (E.g., half, quarter, eighth.) A tablespoon is 15 ml, while a teaspoon is 5 ml.

@hxhdfjifzirstc894

2 жыл бұрын

But zee trains! Zay are on time!

@tuomollo

2 жыл бұрын

Yes but this is only for the ingredients that are not that critical. If your teaspoon is slightly larger than mine, you will end up with a slightly more salty soup but it's not a big deal.

@hollerinwoman

2 жыл бұрын

@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 Haha, you got that right! Love those Germans! :) And their food!

@jeffreymontgomery7516

2 жыл бұрын

Oh, but you miss out on adding a pinch... and a tad... and "about".... and "sprinkle"... that some American cookbooks have. "Add about a handful of...." "Add a pinch of salt" "Add a half cup of oil, and a tad of Worcestershire sauce" "Sprinkle some...." etc.

I've got an MS in physics, and I can at least say that if you go into the physical/hard sciences, you end up knowing metric anyhow. The minute you get into the lab or the lecture hall, you leave your feet, pounds, and fahrenheit by the door. Thus you get grad students who work in SI (or natural units) all day in the department and then complain about having to walk a half-mile to their apartment with ten pounds of books and it's 90 degrees out. (By natural units, I mean where the speed of light and Planck's constant are both 1. And I mean a unitless 1. It's not 1 of anything, it's just 1. This puts time and length into the same units. You want weird, we'll give you weird.) Thus, if you know someone who studied biology, chemistry, or physics, you already know someone bilingual in measurements.

@GobPalRosieVT

Жыл бұрын

Yep. In the weather job I used to work, we used metric and now I am super used to it.

@hhiippiittyy

Жыл бұрын

Canadians generally are moderately bilingual. Nobody describes their height in meters or kg. Small distances are usually feet. Large distances are kilometers. But any driving descriptions will be by drive time. Boomers are the last group to exclusively use Fahrenheit for outside temp, but many many thermostats will be Fahrenheit even for Xers and millenials. Industry and construction are a mixed bag, but imperial still dominates because of the huge integration with US industry. Toyota's are metric bolts Chevys are imperial. Windows are made in metric at the factory but sold as imperial at the store. Machine tooling is generally metric, machine use is imperial. Foods at the grocery store will show grams if prepackaged but often in weird numbers that equal full imperial units. Meat and produce goes by pound and kilo on the same display, but people think in pounds, and flyers will advertise in pounds with very small print that will say the price per kilo. Sandwich meat is per 100g. Milk is liters until the top size where you get 3.78 liter jugs. Gas is sold per litre. Beer is served in pints. Pizza is measured by inches. The dough will be measured in shop by grams. It's weird, but doesn't really trip anyone up in their daily living, as far as I can tell.

@davidr6338

Жыл бұрын

North Americans have used the metric system all your life. Our monetary system is and always has been based on units of 10, yup its metric.

@chuckschillingvideos

Жыл бұрын

And you leap from their to the presumption that what you say works best for science automatically presupposes a superiority in all aspects of modern life?

@colinluff1

Жыл бұрын

I had an... eccentric physics professor in college who hated metric. I remember him ranting about the metric system in a few lectures. All of our exams used US imperial measurements for units.

Being Canadian I always found Metric less confusing than imperial system, but due to certain conventions I had to learn the imperial system... for example I tell people I am 180 cm and they haven't a clue, yet if I say I am 6 feet people understand. Now the nice thing today is software or stuff posted tends to support both, when I designed my new kitchen I had everything measured in the software in mm (millimeters) and with a flip of the switch it was in imperial. But you are right today for recipes I use metric for my breads cakes and other cooking as it's so much easier...

@Milesco

Жыл бұрын

180 cm is closer to 5' 11", n'est-ce pas?

I think a big precision pro of metric recipes is that we weigh dry/solid ingredients per weight, not per volume. So regardless of packing / density (think of fine vs kosher salt) it always comes out the same. Liquids are usually measured per volume but since most cooking liquids are very similar to water you can also weigh them. One liter of cold water weighs roughly one kilogram, half a liter 500 grams etc.

@KaitouKaiju

3 жыл бұрын

American recipes that call for weight measure in ounces (which is different from fluid ounces for volume)

@mrwiggiewoo

3 жыл бұрын

That's dang confusing! So much more work -I'll stick with the American way... Simpler

@petervogt8309

3 жыл бұрын

@@mrwiggiewoo weight measure in ounces (which is different from fluid ounces for volume) - yes, clearly that's much simpler

@Fasand

3 жыл бұрын

US cups, tsp etc. are just a lazy convenience which indeed is quite convenient. Using metric all my life (and until the end of it), I've used tsp/tbsp/cups to measure stuff because you don't need batteries for them. However, weight will absolutely always be better for the simple reason it's consistent. Measuring something like flour in cups is atrocious (maybe a strong word) because it eliminates all consistency and precision of the recipe, which should serve as "an algorithm" to cook a meal and have it come out the same way every time. That's not to say you can't measure flour in ml and you'll definitely see that on many European measuring jugs. Volume is good shortcut if you don't have a scale but weight is the way to go (without getting into how convenient it can also be) when you have a scale. 200ml, 240ml, or 300ml of flour can be the same weight depending on how you scoop it up, but that weight will be constant and the effect within a recipe will be constant

@davidcramb5793

3 жыл бұрын

@@mrwiggiewoo , it would be if US imperial measures were the same as UK imperial ones. I've messed up a few US recipes by using British measures. E.G. a US gallon is only 4 litres, in Britain, it's 4 1/2 l. It's the same with cups.

Americans: **uses pounds** Me: well... Ok th... Americans: **also uses tons** Me: **Visible confusion**

@TommyAngelo1337

4 жыл бұрын

And it's not even the same kind of tons. Why Americans why?

@ncooty

4 жыл бұрын

Which tons? 2,000 lbs or 1,000 kgs?

@JW-be8wf

4 жыл бұрын

If you look at our (US) dietary habits, we start off in pounds and after a few decades of fast food in our stomachs, tonnes make more sense.

@ChronoWarrior1996

4 жыл бұрын

@@ncooty isn't a kilo about 2 pounds

@phamdinhhoang1998

4 жыл бұрын

Enchanter 2.25 something..

Best video on this topic!

Hey Adam, great video, really loved this one. I had some errands to run so only got to play the first 22 seconds but can't wait to get back to the rest!

I feel like the imperial system is only more intuitive to people who grew up with it. To me, trying to think about what inches and ounces are is crazy. But the idea of thinking large numbers of grams or even in decimals seems natural and not a problem.

@The1234567890ashish

Жыл бұрын

@@nharber9837 paste this in the main comment section!

@thejackimonster9689

Жыл бұрын

To me it's really useful to know that 1L of water (and most other drinkable fluids) will weight about 1kg. You don't have to calculate that. But you already have a feeling about how much weight it will be to carry a bunch of bottles (which are 1L, 750ml or 500ml).

@daala6698

Жыл бұрын

@@nharber9837 I say the idea is not to convert. Just think whatever you are working on. If you need to convert, there's the formula or the chart. When I lived in Europe I could convert distance and temperature but I never did learn to think in Celcius. I am still working on that. The money was close enough not to worry, just think in Euros. Later find out you have extra, NP. I am getting better at grams in the kitchen. Liters of water. Just dont worry about cups and pints. Yes, I can adopt this too. that's my motto.

@seriously1184

Жыл бұрын

@@nharber9837 Love your comment !

@recurrenTopology

Жыл бұрын

@@nharber9837 The difference with regards to backing is more the difference between using volumetric and gravimetric measurements for a recipe than the result of using metric as opposed to imperial. The norm of expecting access to a kitchen scale, while more common amongst metric recipes, is not intrinsic to the metric system. An imperial baking recipe using ounces (in weight) and pounds would be just as reproducible as one using milligrams, and a metric baking recipe using milliliters would be just as unpredictable as one using cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons.

UK: Ha you Americans are still not using Metric? - Get on my Level. Also UK: I have lost 1.3 Stone since Christmas of last year -- so my Diet is going quit well. Edit: 💂👸🇬🇧

@KaeganThornhillTheCyberRaven

4 жыл бұрын

1.3 Stone = 18.2 pounds Edit: Yes, 1 Stone = 14 pounds

@thingonometry-1460

4 жыл бұрын

Plot twist, actual stones

@szven2567

4 жыл бұрын

@@thingonometry-1460 little stones? big stones?

@KaeganThornhillTheCyberRaven

4 жыл бұрын

@@szven2567 Little Bitty Stones.

@pablerarav9016

4 жыл бұрын

Yeah, still using Stone is hilarious. We use both systems in Canada - nobody uses fahrenheit except for ovens and old people, but most people still measure their weight and height with imperial units. I can imagine eventually weighing myself with kilos and whatnot, but like Adam pointed out, there are a lot of advantages to cooking with the old measurements. Can't imagine getting rid of my cups or teaspoons anytime soon.

When Canada shifted to metric, the speed limits changed, from miles per hour to kilometres per hour. Every speed limit sign had to be changed. The fines for speeding got more expensive; instead of $1 per mile over the limit, it became $1 per kilometre over the limit. And since 60 mph = 100 kph, the fines became much more onerous. The fines became much higher over time, so don't speed!

@ronblack7870

Жыл бұрын

not only that. the gas pumps changed to liters and trudeau threw in a bunch of new tax but it was masked since the signs were in liters so most people couldn't figure out what they were actually paying.

"Differences in people are the result of their circumstances"! That's a very important point here!

I became bi-measurist when I got my first full-time job as a pharmacy technician in a large hospital back in the mid 80's. Pretty much everything in a medical setting used metric measurements so it became second nature to me.

@FrodoOne1

3 жыл бұрын

As it should be.

@astranger448

3 жыл бұрын

I (European) worked a summer(1984) in the US in a machine shop. For the time I was there I became the goto translator for metric. Hey 10mm? the guys would ask, I reply with 'bit less than half an inch' and right away they knew what the plan was asking for.

In engineering we heavily use metric, imperial mainly comes in when discussing human interaction. Tolerance or thresholds in imperial is a great way to get your blueprints thrown in the trash.

@techmage89

3 жыл бұрын

Not always true. Many shops still require drawings in inches, in both the US, and in China.

@robertromero8692

3 жыл бұрын

You're overgeneralizing. When I did my senior mechanical engineering project, I soon learned that the real world still heavily used imperial units, unlike the emphasis on metric in academia. More recently, when I took the Professional Engineering exam, almost ALL the problems used imperial units. That would not be the case if your claim was true.

@obiwankenobi8764

3 жыл бұрын

@@robertromero8692 I was taught the imperial system and the metric in elementary school (american school in china), but then moved back to europe and only used the metric. So I understand how the imperial works, just don't remember it well enough to be able to use it. So I would like top know if you would prefer metric for engineering purposes as I feel switching between units is easier or are you so steadfast with all the different units that it doesn't matter. I just feel, that for me personally the metric system or better the SI units are easier to use.

@robertromero8692

3 жыл бұрын

@@obiwankenobi8764 I readily switch back and forth between imperial and metric, depending on the circumstances. Metric is much easier when converting to another unit. In everyday use, such as measuring with a tape measure, imperial is perfectly fine. When I remodeled my kitchen, all units were imperial. No one in this country will sell you cabinets that are "x number of centimeters". You're given the dimensions in imperial.

@obiwankenobi8764

3 жыл бұрын

@@robertromero8692 Figured it was something like that.

As an American woodworker in a large shop, I wish we used metric!! Many machines are computerized or have digital inputs for measurements, displayed as decimal. We have conversion tables taped on every machine. We download special calculators on our phones so we know what 60 23/32" - 1 7/64" + 1/8" is. AND certain woodworking tools and equipment only come from places like Germany, so I have to also own and use metric measuring tools to calibrate and use metric machines anyway. It wastes time and cognitive energy! But I can't just use millimeters to make my life easier, because our products go in/on American buildings, and all the code we must comply with is Imperial anyway, so I'm stuck with inches.

Adam, your best video.

One thing I love about these videos is it's exemplary in showing how important our educational institutions are all across the country, if for nothing else but for historical records and helping us, as a people and culture, understand WHERE WE ARE in terms of progress or change. It's very easy to forget how important these educational pillars are in our communities and they desperately need to be supported and defended.

I've worked in machining both in metric in my country, and for the US, and can say that metric is waaaaaaaay easier. Machining is way more precise than an inch, so you have to deal everyday with fractions like 1/64 or 3/128, making calculations completely non doable without a computer or a piece of paper, which is not needed with mm (an interval of .1-.2 mm is more realistic to most machines and assemblies tolerances. You can use thou as a unit though, but converting back to inches and feet for total distances is finally more trouble than working with metric from the start.

@danharold3087

Жыл бұрын

Henny Ford figured out that machining needs to be done in thousandths of an inch about the same time as he embraced the Johansson block. What substantial advantage does the metric system over this in the machine shop. Converting to inches is just moving the decimal place (as with metric conversions). If you need feet divide by 12 but don't see where there is much call for that in machining. My old machines have imperial lead screws. So I say no thanks to metric just like the industrialists who where fueling the US economy in 1950. Must confess I have metric drills and taps but that is about as far as it goes. On the other hand 3D printing is all 3D. So I have selections of metric hardware from 2 to 8mm. I wish the US had metrified prior to my birth but I have no desire to be forced into it. This video makes a lot of sense

I can second that machine shop work is often easier in freedom units. The inch divides well into usable decimal places. What few people realize though is that the modern inch is standardized at exactly 25.4 millimeters so in a sense our system is based on the metric standard at least for length measurements

@kenoliver8913

Жыл бұрын

Same easy answer as with gram vs pounds - you just work with the metric unit that gives a big enough number for the precison needed. In machining it's microns (25.4 microns to the thousandth).

"The metric system is the tool of the Devil! My car gets forty rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I likes it!" - Grampa Simpson

@hlynnkeith9334

3 жыл бұрын

The way American measure gas mileage differs radically from how the rest of the world does it. Americans measure mileage in miles per gallon, so -- for economy -- high numbers are better (30+). But the Germans -- for an example -- measure mileage in liters to go 100km, so lower number are better (

@nahor88

3 жыл бұрын

I think both systems have their advantages in different applications, and Americans should learn BOTH. The point about the half-diviser is a really strong argument for why imperial needs to stick around, but there are plenty of situations where metric does work better.

@LednacekZ

3 жыл бұрын

@@nahor88 Who cares what the divider is if you are using a scale to measure it anyway. The scale don't care if you need 200g or 238g. You just want a round number. Which, btw. you dont get when you half or quarter things.

@danielwatson6529

3 жыл бұрын

hogsheads is a unit of beer fyi

@phillipsofthedriver

3 жыл бұрын

only forty rods to a hogshead? WTF are you driving that gets such crappy rods per hogshead?

As a mechanical engineer, naval architect, fabricator, and now machine mechanic, I enjoy watching people's take on the US empirical system. Yours was one of the better videos covering this - well done. I was really glad you brought up the base numbering system. That is one of the most commonly cited reasons to move to the metric system. In fact, I setup my hobby cnc router in metric - because I design things from scratch on the computer and whole & decimal numbers are much easier to TYPE than having to constantly convert fractions! (but that also means when I measure something built in imperial, I have to convert it) At work, I use both: the machine shop has plenty machines that are built in imperial units and plenty in metric. I have to have tool sets for both, and even more annoying - some machines have both on them! (but every vehicle I have owned at home is metric, including my motorcycles, so I have almost exclusively metric tools at home) So why metric or imperial? Numbering system/base counting system: *So the real problem here isn't that imperial doesn't match and metric does, it's that we chose to use a base 10 numbering system that is really limited when relating to reality! - no matter the 'size' of your measurements. Metric fits well only because we use the base 10 system for our numbers, but as soon as you start trying to apply it to physical things its problems start to show: *binary: electronics: base 2 - the numbers the computer operates in and the numbers we read are indivisible bases, so you get lumpy matchups. If we counted in a base 2, 4, 8,16, 32 numbering system, it's divisible by base 2, making mental conversion a snap and saving a lot of computer calculations. *dividing/fractions: think of physically measuring things. What's one of the most common methods? some kind of a string that is either marked or compared to a measure afterward. To get half, you hold the ends together and pull the bend until it comes tight (even), 1/4 - just fold it again. Now think about how you would get that to line up on base 10? give me 1/7 of the rope length...er yeah, you now have one of those measurement puzzle brain teasers. Scalability: Overall the metric wins here with it's prefix system, but it does get stolen/adopted for Imperial use. (eg kpsi commonly used for 1000psi, or frequently shortened to "ksi" and read aloud as "K S I") *each have places/applications where the 'size' of the base unit either scales nicely or badly, which is to say the counting units match nicely/in whole units in the range being used. *the ideal is to have the counting unit size that is - large enough to easily count without excessive digits (don't weigh a car in mg or oz) - but small enough to emphasize differences and avoid needing fractions/subdivisions *example: machinists like the imperial system in America, not just because they are used to it. Schools teach both systems (bi-lingual?), so most machinists now know both. So why imperial? -Machinists work in decimal (so number base is not a problem) - (big reason) The size of the units 1/1000" .001" or "thou" is a very convenient size for dealing with tolerances/part fitment the accuracy of most machinist work. eg "3 thou" is easy to count and rounding to meaningful sizes is easy, "it's within 1 thou". Partial below that scale are insignificant. In metric, you'd be counting in microns, which is just a little bit too fine so you end up having more digits to write/deal with and significant and insignificant within the same digit, so you have to decide if it's significant instead of it being self evident. This breaks down when crossing into ultra-high precision work (which is typically done in metric), but that is outside what most machine shops are even capable of doing and almost a field of it's own. Consistency: Metric doesn't change names a whole bunch because of the prefix system. Easy win here. Mass, Force, and Volume: Yes I grouped all of those - for good reason Metric wins hands down. Size/scales line up for easy use both at medical fine measurements and at common purchases like drinks and fuel all without needing to know how such and such a name converts to another. But the biggest problem for the imperial system is ambiguity, giving 2 different things the same name, when there is possible crossover of use. Imperial examples of bad things: lbs... is that lbs force or lbs mass? Oz... is that weight or fluid? (which is why everyone who cooks starts to read the metric measurement instead) So now a really big reason the Imperial measurement system is still a thing: cheap vs quality materials: *overlapping what you stated about economies and production, America got very good at producing medium-good grade metals - inexpensively and fast/high production (That's also why the scrap price for steel is so low). Places like china tend to export low quality material with lots of inconsistencies. *So when the standards for material quality were being studied and set, America was the primary leader at that time. *So America is very good that meeting/exceeding the standards of that time. (but kinda timelocked to that, because why build an expensive modern plant when so many med-grade plants are cheaply available to buy that would immediately start turning out a consistent profit) *If you want inexpensive but reliable metal you can trust with good properties, America has the world market beat at that. If you want exotic super metals at exotic super metal prices, places like japan, korea, etc specialize in that. If you want the cheapest you can buy, China has the world beat at that. *The world's 2 biggest producer markets are China and America, so it should be little surprise that most items come from china, because if you are competing to sell something for a profit, then you need the price to be low. And if you are selling in a market where above cheap quality is demanded, then most metal things are going to be American, because the quality can be trusted. Example: as a naval architect, I'd be working on ships from all over the world at all kinds of different price ranges ($60k to $3million). The entire design would be metric, except the steering column and possibly prop shafts. Why? You can't afford to have them fail and need the size to be reasonable or related parts get more expensive. So no cheapo Chinese metal that could have large defects/be very out of material spec, but you also don't want to pay for super expensive miracle Japanese metal, so you end up with buying American mid-high grade stainless at efficiently mass produced prices. So you end up with an Imperial/American size on a metric design.

@BronzeTheSling

Жыл бұрын

Wow, I learned a lot from you comment. Thanks for the in-depth insight! You remind me of This Old Tony. Do you know his channel?

@andrewstambaugh8030

Жыл бұрын

​@@BronzeTheSling Thanks. This Old Tony is great. If you enjoy him, definitely check out Project Farm and Smarter Every Day.

@angrydragonslayer

Жыл бұрын

I still remember my first US job (manufacturing consultant) in a friends norfolk shop where they were primarily turning prop shafts for yachts At ~150 mil, it was a 50/50 whether it was metric or imperial and at 350, it was almost exclusively metric with a certain steel specified either from sweden, japan or germany.

Britain started going metric in the 1950s. 70 years later it's still busy going metric. All but the youngest use both systems, opting for whichever is most convenient. Imperial units tend to be human-sized and suit everyday situations well. Where precision is needed however, metric is simpler. What we do avoid is the strange American habit of using large quantities of smallish units, e.g. when they use feet where yards would be appropriate or pounds where tons would be.

@RicktheRecorder

Жыл бұрын

@Albo alt 14lbs, half a Quarter (of a hundredweight, 112 lbs)

The Measurement standard of the SI system conversion is sort of on track if you observe how long it took to adopt the Gregorian update to the Jullien calendar roughly 200 years from end of 1500 to 1700.

I think you are missing one important thing about metric - we have sub-units. If we are to divide main units (like meter) into smaller chunks, we switch to sub-units (centimeters in case of length units). 1/8 of meter is 12,5cm.. if it's not enough, we go lower - 125mm. Same goes for weight or volume. You insist on converting imperial to metric, like you try to get (for example) one gallon of a product, but using metric units - this is the mistake. We would start from full metric unit (4 liters instead instead of gallon as an expected result). You convert units instead of sticking to one system.

@Gottenhimfella

2 жыл бұрын

@@saberswordsmen1 And a fifth of a yard is? Or a third of a gallon? You seem to be somewhat selective in the examples you choose. Easy divisibility is an occasional "nice to have", surely not an ever-present "must have", and would be more persuasive if your system stuck to one such base. Perhaps 24, or 60? But that would require changing the number system to work on the same base. Obviously we could choose to do arithmetic in base 24 or 60. However that would entail a huge effort (and a dislocation from the info and skills base of the past millennia of humans working with and recording in base 10), all for a gain which is an occasional "nice to have". So the metric system goes the other way, and changes all the bases to match that of the number system. It's a compromise. Like everything we do. And every country on earth, with a couple of exceptions, has tried it, and will never go back.

@Gottenhimfella

2 жыл бұрын

@@michaeltres Straw man argument. You attack a point I didn't make, and wouldn't agree with if someone else tried to. The post of mine you seek to refute readily acknowledged that easy divisibility (with whole-number answers) was not a feature the metric system could claim. I was instead pointing out that the e-d claims made for the inch gallon pound system were typically selective, and furthermore, that the feature did not rank high on the list of essential features, of which the highest would surely be that the measuring system should use the same base as the counting system used for arithmetic, which as of this writing is universally 10. Your "easy divisibility" argument should be directed at changing the base of the counting system. That has undeniable merit, and I guess hexadecimal is probably, in today's world, the way to go. But until and unless you win that argument, the other one is entirely moot.

@Gottenhimfella

2 жыл бұрын

@@michaeltres And you don't even succeed in attacking the wrong point. I didn't choose one number as you claim. I chose two, and the other works well in SOME US situations, just not the galllon/quart, or the pound/ounce. One more point: in the US, do you talk of thirds of a second? Sixteenths of a dollar? I don't think so. You are using base 10 without complaint or difficulty when it happens along -- and in metalworking machine shops, where it is optional, it is preferred.

@phillies4eva

2 жыл бұрын

In an engineering standpoint you'll almost never switch to a subunit within a design. If you're using millimeters you will stay in millimeters for the entire design. If you're in inches you'll stay in inches. Metric really shines when it comes to science or relating completely different concepts. Example: 1 Watt is 1 joule per second and also 1 Amp and 1 Volt

@ActualDumBatcha

2 жыл бұрын

This is the longest comment length per comment I have seen.

The spirit of George Carlin enters Adam and speaks through him at 10:50

@yourmother3207

4 жыл бұрын

Lol

@aragusea

4 жыл бұрын

god I miss george

@ReapTheWhirlwind

4 жыл бұрын

Bless Adam and bless George, may he rest in peace. George is my favorite celebrity birthday twin(the poet Dante is a close second!) and I appreciate his wisdom so much more now that I'm getting into old person territory. 😂

@JW-be8wf

4 жыл бұрын

@@ReapTheWhirlwind George Carlin was an atheist so I am sure he isn't resting i n peace. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

@ReapTheWhirlwind

4 жыл бұрын

@@JW-be8wf He, like myself, was a sun worshipper. 😂 For real though, I was being respectful of the dead. It costs nothing to be respectful.

The Fundamentals of Engineering Exam here in the US use both us customary units and Metric in questions. When I had a question that used US units I found it much easier to convert the question into metric, solve it, then convert my answer back into US units

I appreciate a video in which the publisher doesn't ask me to subscribe or like there video but instead I just want to of my own free will because I am truly satisfied with the content. For knowledge like this to be free it's truly remarkable. Schools need to look at implementing such content into their programs because this is good stuff while does it need to be cleaned up a bit before letting a 12 year old watch it sure but the appeal of videos like this are on point. This is a free learning program that the government should envy. All of which is provided to us for free because the publisher is passionate and gets paid based on our interest. So thank you Mr. Ragusea.

what I learned: MURICA BIG, GRAM TOO SMALL

@DevinAK49

4 жыл бұрын

When you're not free enough to understand nuance.😂

@yeahbutnobutyeahbutno7479

4 жыл бұрын

DevinAK49 Land of the free with the most incarnated people..oh

@Zovcka

4 жыл бұрын

@@DevinAK49 should I ask my doctor if this is a sick burn? I could do that for free here

@DRTechTV

4 жыл бұрын

@@Zovcka hahahaha

@DevinAK49

4 жыл бұрын

@@Zovcka haha, nice.

As a baker, i'm so grateful for metric system. 👏👏

@snosibsnob3930

4 жыл бұрын

Dean Dodge better yet are baker’s percentages, which allow for total conversion of any system, or the use of no system at all.

Video was over in ten seconds. Hit the nail on the head.

Extremely accurate opener

A great master of the shadows once said, "Tradition, is the corpse of wisdom".

@gleaveinjapan

3 жыл бұрын

I once read on the internet.... ''Tradition is dead people's baggage''

@RobertDeloyd

3 жыл бұрын

you can look around at today's society and see that wisdom you talk about dying because of lack of our lack of tradition

@f1r3hunt3rz5

3 жыл бұрын

Look at the Cleanse, look at the moves! Faker, what was that?!

@joedatius

2 жыл бұрын

@@RobertDeloyd example?

@RobertDeloyd

2 жыл бұрын

@@joedatius open your eyes.

The UK might be even weirder than the US - it's metric except when it isn't. If you ask someone who grew up in the UK their height or weight, they'll probably use feet and inches, and stones and pounds. Clothing measurements are usually in inches too. Speed limits and distances on road signs are still exclusively in miles. It's fairly common to see weights in pounds, especially at small greengrocers or butchers' shops. Newspapers still give temperatures in Fahrenheit on occasion, especially during summer (it makes a hot day sound hotter as the number's bigger than the Celsius equivalent). Supermarkets often sell 454g bags of coffee, and milk and beer is still sold in (imperial, not US) pints. My personal favourite is the social distancing guidance - it's officially two metres, but it's common to see 6ft on signs too (which is less than 2m, but the actual conversion isn't round)

@hebneh

3 жыл бұрын

People who have feet and inches in their cultural backgrounds tend to hang onto them, I think because in the metric system there's no intermediate unit of measurement comparable to the foot. Thus it hangs on for some things, like people's heights.

@bobv5806

3 жыл бұрын

I was surprised when I went to England to find that they are not completely metric, but an interesting mix.

@Milesco

2 жыл бұрын

@@hebneh : Exactly! 🙂

@Milesco

2 жыл бұрын

@@bobv5806 : Yeah, as an American it kinda annoys me to hear people denigrate my country and say every other country in the world has gone metric, when in fact one of our own closest friends, Great Britain, has clearly NOT gone metric! Certainly not completely, at least, which is what all the America-bashing pro-metric fanatics imply. 😠

@Vysair

2 жыл бұрын

No wonder former british colony were like this too

Your first 30 seconds was spot on... Listening to any justification of the imperial system is like listening to my older cousin justify why he doesn't have a smart phone or why he's never watched KZread lol... Cheers from Australia.. Always a good Adam - thanks.... O and 10+10x10-10...10's are so easy

this video could have been 20 seconds long like u basically nailed it

Hey Adam, both you and your guest forgot to mention one BIG advantage of the metric system which is the interoperability between different measures around common materials, such as water. One liter of water weighs 1 kilogram, at sea level and takes up 1000 cubic centimeters. This is priceless when you work in a scientific environment and if you were to experience its use in cooking you'd realise how easy some conversions between liquids (volume) and solids (weight) become.

@jayteegamble

2 жыл бұрын

1 pint of water weighs 1 pound as well, at least in the US Customary system. "A pint's a pound the world round" was the saying my teacher taught me. (also, 1 liter of water takes up 1000 cubic centimeters (or milliliters, as ccs are also known))

@emanueljmartins

2 жыл бұрын

@@jayteegamble , I'm sorry to inform you that one pint weighs 1.04375 pounds. So your teacher was more than 4% wrong. That's the problem with the non-metric systems. They're just not designed for precision. They are the systems for the "around" in all of us, which is fine for cooking but not for putting ships in space. That's why NASA, JPL, engineers, and scientists, use exclusively the metric system - except when planning products that are to be sold to folks with that cultural bias towards the imperial system.

@cleementine

2 жыл бұрын

@@jayteegamble 1000 cubic centemetres = 10 cubic metres, and I can assure you that 1 litre--which is slightly larger than a U.S. quart and slightly smaller than an Imperial quart--is nowhere near 10 cubic metres.

@andrewritchie1380

2 жыл бұрын

@@cleementine Actually 1000 cubic cm = 0.01^3 *1000 = 0.001 cubic metres = 1 litre, hence why there is 1000 litres in a cubic meter

@jayteegamble

2 жыл бұрын

@@cleementine A cubic centimeter is the same thing as a mL. There are 1000mLs in a liter.

Then there's Canada who's a mix of metric and imperial. We weigh with pounds but we measure in meters just as an example. But we also don't measure in metric as well. We say oh it's 6ft away but we also say he's going 100km/h. It's very weird, we are technically metric but everyone still uses imperial for some things.

@Seskoi

4 жыл бұрын

It's 26C outside, but the pool is 81 F! Truly weird :)

@PhantomPh1re

4 жыл бұрын

@@Seskoi my brain still has a hard time converting Celsius to Fahrenheit whenever some brit/euro guy in my discord uses it. its like some wires are crossed in the part of my brain that identifies temperature numbers with actually feeling it.

@dunnowy123

3 жыл бұрын

If you said you were 130 cms tall and 172 kg, people would look at you like a psychopath. (unless you were in medicine or something) Then again I don't know how tall or fat that is, so maybe you do look like a monster.

@NoKrAzYz

3 жыл бұрын

@@dunnowy123 Thats roughly 4 feet tall and just under 400 pounds , yikes

@davidcramb5793

3 жыл бұрын

The UK is exactly the same, we use a hybrid of both systems. Speed, and height are usually imperial, but temperature is in Centigrade. Land is still in acres, beer in pints, but small measurements tend to be in cm or meters. Fuel is sold in litres, but fuel consumption is mpg, but loads for trucks are calculated in tons.

During the pandemic lockdown, I took the opportunity to switch all of my devices to metric. It took less than a month to become completely comfortable with measuring my food ingredients in grams, temperature in Celsius, my weight in kg, and lengths in meters (and cm and mm of course). Now I use metric by default on almost everything.

@kybern

11 ай бұрын

Problem is to get understood by the people you are interacting with.. I think some people would love to do the same but can't because they would be alone and it wouldn't have any impact

@3:55 exactly this. I ran into this problem once and switched to standard.

Americans: metric is hard Also Americans: *uses 1/64 of a teaspoon of baking sodas*

@rocksnot952

4 жыл бұрын

Never seen 1/64 of a teaspoon of anything.

@Barackobarrels

4 жыл бұрын

i get the joke but no one here would measure 1/64th lol that's just a pinch

@I_discovered_civilization

4 жыл бұрын

Agustin Peruzzi source?

@zosqi

4 жыл бұрын

@well done that doesn't work here

@sionnachdensolas9787

4 жыл бұрын

@well done yikes

I love these journalistic videos you do! You clearly have fun making them and they are more enjoyable than your recipes even!

@hannahmerlino2462

4 жыл бұрын

The Master I’m pretty sure he’s a journalism professor! He mentioned it in a different video, so that would make a lot of sense

@brandonkendrick1925

4 жыл бұрын

I also like these videos as well. Very well composed adam

Valid points, most of them. Delving into the physiological aspect is the point itself. Those who are bilingual from a young age, I've worked with many from all over. They tell me that if you dream Japanese, then that's what they really are, at the core. Same with machinists, those trained with the metric system from the start, as well as those training in Standard. We use both metric and standard machines, there are pros and cons to both, but I when I, , for some reason run in metric, I feel the need to convert the numbers outside of the machine, I am comfortable in metric and its really easy bit...for my own frame of reference, I feel compelled to do so, it helps me relate to metrics within my frame of reference ie Standard. I dream in Standard, therefore I am..

Metric is more precise. Especially in the kitchen. If you measure two - cups of flour, you will get two different measures. Compare to the metric, you weigh the flour and 120 grams is 120 grams.

@dawnpalacios8312

11 ай бұрын

That is why the restaurant industry has moved to metric system. As far as home cooking, many people are recipes handed down from parents and grandparents that uses American Standard Measurement System.

@GH-oi2jf

9 ай бұрын

Precision does not depend on units. You can weigh ingredients in US units as well as in Metric units.

3:43 Yeah those weird fractions on the Allen keys are definitely easier than having 1-10mm keys instead.

@hashimiyazib

4 жыл бұрын

Powers of two are easier to work with visually and aren't particularly "weird." If a carpenter needs a tool half as large, he can go with something half the size in imperial easily. To be fair, there are stupid imperial measurements such as 3/16 that somewhat negate that point.

@Baconsaurus

4 жыл бұрын

@@hashimiyazib The range of Allen keys is not intuitive at all. 7/64, 3/32, 5/64, 1/16, etc. I know it's just going down by 1/64th, but at first glance it's more difficult to tell which is smaller. This could be remedied by using x/64 for all of them but that is not more elegant than using Metric. It's confusing. Also I fail to see how it's easier to divide by two in Imperial vs. Metric.

@Marpurrsa

4 жыл бұрын

@@hashimiyazib am i the only one who just randomly pulls out an allen key and tries if it fits and then goes from there like if its about a mm too big just pull out one thats a mm smaller im not gonna measure if its some weird amount smaller and then calculate what tool i have im not a carpenter mind you but idk what else you'd use an allan key for except for screwing in something

@BigHenFor

4 жыл бұрын

Metric is where its at if you need precision, and faffing around with fractions is not as straightforward as just quoting digits. Computers can use digits easier than fractions, so be prepared for imperial measures to wither away and become vestigial.

@ImranZakhaev9

4 жыл бұрын

As a Canadian, there's nothing more infuriating than having to figure out what's slightly larger than this 3/8" wrench that doesn't quite fit. Is it 5/16 or 7/32? Thank god my Honda uses mm, obviously if 7mm doesn't fit, 8 should.

I’m a 78 year old male, who loves to cook. I have converted all my recipes to metric - so much earlier. Try to divide a standard recipe by 3 or 5.

@GH-oi2jf

2 жыл бұрын

Here’s how you divide the recipe: Get three (or five) Pyrex storage bowls with lids. Spoon the prepared food into the bowls a little at a time, alternating from one bowl to the next, adjusting where necessary, until they are approximately equally full. Then cover and put in the refrigerator.

@Lismakingmovie

2 жыл бұрын

I don't really see why metric would be easier for dividing by 3 (or why you would need to divide by three regularly.) 10 divided by three is 3.33... whereas 12 divided by 3 is 4. In terms of pure divisibility, standard is just always going to be better, full stop. Really, the ideal system would be to use standard with a base 12 number system, but changing that would be near impossible.

@KingofHassi

2 жыл бұрын

@@Lismakingmovie Because in metric, the numbers are larger and more easily divisible in such a way they are still measurable, you can simply round to the nearest gram and weigh using a scale (like I do for nearly all my cooking). Try dividing 2oz into 3 and so on, or deciding you want just 1/3 of a recipe for 12 pizza doughs that uses 3/4 cup of this, 5oz of that and 2 teaspoons of something else

@Lismakingmovie

2 жыл бұрын

@@KingofHassi it’s hard to judge the worth of a system of measurement based on unit sizes alone. Sure it’s easier to divide metric because people usually use grams, but if standard was usually divided into a large number of teaspoons instead of cups and such, would it be better? Is Fahrenheit a more useful system of measurement than Celsius simply because the units are smaller? I guess purely for practical use, you are correct. However the fundamental reasons for that are mostly arbitrary.

@KingofHassi

2 жыл бұрын

@@Lismakingmovie i think for cooking where you often are adjusting amounts and scaling, grams is easier. You rarely have to divide temperature measurements so the same doesn't apply for Fahrenheit Vs Celsius apart from perhaps Fahrenheit is easier to read off an analogue thermometer

I've lived in Canada and the UK and both have gone partially metric in different ways. Confusingly the UK uses miles and mpg (but there are two sizes of gallon) but sells fuel in litres. I generally prefer metric but Imperial has its advantages for every day measurements like height. But of course if you grew up with only metric like the French it all makes sense.

@ericbarlow6772

Жыл бұрын

I would venture a guess that the gallons in the UK are the imperial gallon and the US gallon. The US uses US Customary units so our pint and gallon are slightly smaller.

@luckystriker7489

Жыл бұрын

The UK also uses stone as a measure for body weight - which sounds insane to me.

Very interesting. We are also somewhat measure bilingual in the UK too. A pint is such a convenient size for a beer. If you haven’t already, perhaps you can cover the volume vs weight debate in recipes too, noting your 500g vs 5 cups example in the video. I have come to love cups and spoons for liquids and many dry ingredients… but then I’ll find some US recipe with cups of butter which seems mad. I guess some US butter packaging denotes fractions of a cup where ours shows 25g/50g divisions?

@Milesco

Жыл бұрын

Yes, a stick of butter is one cup, and the wrapping of each stick shows divisions in fluid ounces. (One cup being 8 fl. oz.)