• Washedupcynic@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    100 m = 100 meters = 0.1 kilometers. Miles is abbreviated mi, as in 100 mi. I’m disappointed in you, The Picard Maneuver. Your jokes, shitposts, and memes are usually so much better than this. Are you ok?

    • toynbee@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      The Picard Maneuver

      Around here I think we’re supposed to refer to them as TPM.

      Until today I had assumed it was derived from “total percentage of meters” but now I just don’t know.

  • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com
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    1 month ago

    I’m confused and probably stupid, but…should the guy not be crawling 100 meters versus 1 km (1,000 meters)? What part of my brain has damage from being dropped as a child?

  • Zozano@aussie.zone
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    1 month ago

    He’s going so fast, he took the optimal racing line, this American is truly a professional racist.

    • Zwiebel@feddit.org
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      1 month ago

      Well the US units are defined by their metric conversion these days, so technically you are just using metric with some weird factor slapped on.

      So while the rest of the world uses meters with factors of 10, 1000, 1/100 etc., the US uses meters with factors like 3.280839895013123, 0.000621371192237, 39.37007874015748 etc.

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I’m convinced that the majority of whinging about metric in the US is actually coming from old machine operators tucked away somewhere in the industrial sector who don’t want to give up their old decimal inch Bridgeports and Shipleys, or have bosses who wouldn’t buy them new machines anyway. Everything else stems from there, bubbling on up through the pipes as it does.

    • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 month ago

      Huh? In my electical engineering studies almost everything is in metric. Are you thinking of certain holdover generations?

      • Spraynard Kruger@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        I’m a civil engineer in the US, and can confirm that my industry uses US Customary units. I have some mechanical engineer friends, and most also use US Customary units, with certain exceptions. While in school, the intro classes I took used metric more often than not because it allowed for easier understanding of the source material. By the 3rd year, classes started employing more examples and problems in US Customary units. By year 4, it was almost exclusively US Customary units.

        Forgive my lack of understanding here, but for electrical engineering, what are the alternatives to metric units? I know BTUs can be used instead of Joules, hp can be used instead of Watts, and AWG can be used instead of… Whatever the metric measurement is. BTUs and hp seem to be mainly used for specific industries and consumer products (let’s be honest nobody likes them anyway). AWG is used because that’s the standard that commonly available wires in the US are measured to.

        Temperature and length are obvious. More specifically, I am thinking of volts, amps, and ohms (my understanding caps out at what I learned in my physics classes).

        • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          1 month ago

          I don’t believe there are any (unless you count length and mass measurements for physical component layouts). Perhaps it’s a byproduct of the field having international standardization for units from the outset.

          • Spraynard Kruger@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            I think you’re right about the international standardization. Also, I think another important factor is that the average American has a concept of how long a foot is, how hot 70°F is, how much a pound weighs, etc. These are easily to visualize because these measurements are used in everyday life outside of engineering applications. Most people don’t have a concept of the units we use to measure the invisible magic force in our walls.

    • Holyginz@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      As an engineer, I’d rather use the metric system. Is it harder for me to visualize since I didn’t grow up with it? Yes, but its so much easier to work with.

    • bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      My son’s homework is frequently in metric (a US school district). Many drinks (wine and sodas) and medicine doses are too. The US uses metric just as the UK still uses miles and pints.

    • blinfabian@feddit.nl
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      1 month ago

      oh no, a new user posts shitpostings on the shitposting community, we cant have that 😔

  • HereIAm@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I can’t find the original, but the old but classic image of this is something like this:

    Hence the play on expectations in OP’s meme.