If I had snow in my garden, I would just leave it there and enjoy the view, not because I'm lazy, but because I haven't seen snow in close up in over 30 years.
The thread for random single confessions!
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Tad
Dimensions' loiterer
We received about 40cm of over about 8 hours on Monday. I'd happily enough share some with you if I could 
IC that I can't cook (unless microwaving counts) so I'd probably be a terrible feeder.
Joker
***
Tad
Dimensions' loiterer
Freezing rain really is the worst, sorry you got hit. Be careful if you have to be out and about!
We've been getting a lot more freezing rain in recent years
So far this year, however, we've had a 'good Canadian winter' with the temperatures staying well below zero, so all precipitation has been snow. Our most famous experience of freezing rain was the great ice storm of 1998 (actually three storms in rapid succesion) that left so much ice that power line towers tumbled and there were extensive blackouts, for weeks in some areas. Thankfully we haven't had anything like that since.
tracii 4591
Well-Known Member
In 1997I remember we had an ice storm for 3 days and under 0 degrees for 16 days.
Walked out the front door an heard large trees crashing to the ground across the small 2 lane road behind my property.
Walked out the front door an heard large trees crashing to the ground across the small 2 lane road behind my property.
waldo
***
Yeah the freezing rain is the worst. We were lucky that we only got a small amount if it a few days ago before it turned to snow. And just to clarify, I assume you mean 0 degrees Fahrenheit? That is -18 degrees on the Celcius scale, which is what I assume Tad is referring to.
I wondered if @tracii 4591 said "under 0 degrees", because of @Tad 's previous use of "temperatures staying well below zero..." As Canada, at least officially, uses metric, I took @Tad to mean "well below 0°C", which would be "well below 32°F". As this is a common source of misunderstanding, I always give temperatures with a following "C" of "F" to show which temperature scale I'm using. I do the same with measurements.
Dates can be problematic too. In my country today is "06/02/2022" but in America it's "02/06/2022" and other countries use other formats. Indicating the month with letters makes dates universally understandable. "06/FEB/2022" and "FEB/06/2022" are understandable in both New Zealand and America.
waldo
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You know, I realize now that you are right. There is no way it was "under 0 degrees Fahrenheit for 16 days" in Kentucky (ok maybe, but I don't think in 1998), if that means 0 Fahrenheit. I'll tell you, as one who grew up on the Celcius scale in Canada and moved to the USA in my late 20s, it took me probably 10 years to be able to perceive the temp directly by Fahrenheit numbers and not have to internally convert to Celcius.
Joker
***
As a person who has lived all over the planet and I also mix chemicals for photography I sometime have to slow down and recalculate because I live in the backwards U.S.A.
tracii 4591
Well-Known Member
In Kentucky we have really bad winters with lots of snow and some years its not so bad.
1979 was an extremely bad winter here 97 98 were very cold winter seasons. Yes 0 Fahrenheit.
I was delivering newspapers on a rural route that year and I was out working in it so I know very well it happened.
I have lived in Minnesota and that was a more dry snow and they deal with snow much better than Ky.
Here we have a very wet snow that can melt some during the day and refreezes at night and turns to ice with more snow during the night which melts and refreezes so essentially pot holes of ice and snow.
Like taking a drive on a bad dirt road.
1979 was an extremely bad winter here 97 98 were very cold winter seasons. Yes 0 Fahrenheit.
I was delivering newspapers on a rural route that year and I was out working in it so I know very well it happened.
I have lived in Minnesota and that was a more dry snow and they deal with snow much better than Ky.
Here we have a very wet snow that can melt some during the day and refreezes at night and turns to ice with more snow during the night which melts and refreezes so essentially pot holes of ice and snow.
Like taking a drive on a bad dirt road.
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Tad
Dimensions' loiterer
Yah, I was talking degrees Celcius. I sometimes forget that there is still so many people who don't use it.
Although even in one system there can be room for confusion. When my father was first working there were a number of new immigrants from the UK working at the same facility, and back then both countries were still using the Fahrenheit system. One day he happened to be crossing the parking lot with one of the new arrivals on the coldest day so far that year in early Winter, and the brit commented something about how cold it was. My father casually responded "and there is a lot colder to come, of course." The brit stopped and looked in total shock, then blurted out "when people were talking about the temperature hitting '20 below' I assumed they meant '20 degrees of frost', not literally twenty degrees below zero!" (12F versus -20F). At least the metric system doesn't allow for that error
Although even in one system there can be room for confusion. When my father was first working there were a number of new immigrants from the UK working at the same facility, and back then both countries were still using the Fahrenheit system. One day he happened to be crossing the parking lot with one of the new arrivals on the coldest day so far that year in early Winter, and the brit commented something about how cold it was. My father casually responded "and there is a lot colder to come, of course." The brit stopped and looked in total shock, then blurted out "when people were talking about the temperature hitting '20 below' I assumed they meant '20 degrees of frost', not literally twenty degrees below zero!" (12F versus -20F). At least the metric system doesn't allow for that error
Despite knowing how to work both systems having grown up with both, I always mentally convert any measurement into the metric decimal scale... it's so much more logical, practical and easily transferable (think recipes!).
Metric all the way!! Especially in the digital age, all those medieval measurements - think of stone in the UK! - make no sense whatsoever!Yah, I was talking degrees Celcius. I sometimes forget that there is still so many people who don't use it.
At least the metric system doesn't allow for that error
Even in countries, which have converted to metric, many people educated prior to conversion still use Imperial units for at least some purposes. Many people in the UK and New Zealand still give their measurements in inches.
The stone remains widely used in the UK and Ireland but only for human body weight. As there are 14 pounds in one stone, it makes arithmetic difficult.
The stone remains widely used in the UK and Ireland but only for human body weight. As there are 14 pounds in one stone, it makes arithmetic difficult.
Joker
***
How can we weigh The Rolling Stones?
Would have been nice to have a Tad near me. We got over 8 inches but I can't be shoveling snow anytime soon. Having a stent put in on the 23rd. I AM NOT about to have a heart attack shoveling snow. No sir. No way. That crap can stay there until spring has sprung.
Luckily, Big Betty has AWD!
Luckily, Big Betty has AWD!
For sure Stone is weird, but Foot? Whose foot?!
I think it was 1974 when for one year (at least in my part of California), the powers that be decided that students would learn the metric system. Besides being my first formal lesson in that system, it was my first true lesson in irony:
Teacher: “The metric system is very important for you to learn for a successful future.”
(And more sentences ending with eye rolls i don’t remember.)When the teacher got to the part about how essential it was for science and engineering (with eye roll), given that this was to be my chosen future, i was thinking {Alright, that’s it—i’m all in on the metric system}. I don’t think it was all new to me then, but usually wasn’t at the forefront of my mind, because mainstream everyday U.S. wasn't set up that way. It absolutely and obviously made far more sense than what here i think were called U.S. customary units.
Generally i found it straightforward to work with and think in metric units, when measuring and cutting things, etc.
Apropos of this thread, i confess that living a metric system life in a nation which, outside of science and some areas of technology, mostly avoids that system, has left my mind muddled. For me, it depends which units.
I innately think temperatures on the Celsius scale, so when my housemate/ex True Love asks me what the temperature is and i give it to her and she asks for Fahrenheit, sometimes i can convert in my head but usually i jump up and go look at the dual-scale thermometer to remind me.
Shorter lengths from 1 mm to about 30 cm (or i often think 3 dm) i mostly think metric but usually can be pretty close in my head in inches. For analog audio formats such as record diameters or tape speeds, i’ve memorized both, and usually use metric unless dealing with someone else who uses “customary” and might get annoyed. I can distinguish between ISO 2, 2.6, and 3 mm machine screws on sight, as well as U.S. 4-40 and 6-32 (OK, maybe not 6-32 from 6-40 etc., but that has never come up often for me. When it does i use my screw thread checker).
Building (very low end) cabinetry etc. i have to deal with “customary” dimensions at the lumber yard or home center, but i often design, measure, cut, and build to metric dimensions… unless i have to fit it to some “customary”-dimensioned item, like a California King size box springs set. Sometimes the outside constraints of source materials and needs of compatibility with other objects and spaces require i use “customary” dimensions, but even then i’m going to measure 1103 mm or 110.3 cm on my tape measure rather than 43 7/16".
Aside: there seems to be no Unicode code point for the vulgar fraction 7/16. Good. Vulgar fraction seems like an appropriate name to me.
Long lengths/distances are where i fall apart. I’ve never been good at estimating them in any system of units. Because every (mechanical) odometer in vehicles i’ve routinely used has been designed to display Miles, and almost all road signs and speed limit signs where i’ve traveled have been in Miles and Miles Per Hour respectively, i mostly think in those units. I can tell you, for example, that it’s about 45 miles from here to the house where i grew up (where my mother still lives), and, interestingly due to locations and highway routing, almost exactly 400 miles from either this house or that house north to the home i used to rent in Albany, California in the San Francisco Bay Area. I’d have to do the conversion for kilometers, it’s not in my head.
Even on those pleasant times when i get to use a newer vehicle where i can switch to metric with the push of a button, much as i love liters when dealing with the food realm, it’s unhelpful to me to know that there are X kilometers of range left and fuel efficiency is Y kilometers per liter when the signs are all in miles and the gasoline pumps only display gallons. I’ve memorized that my van has a 36 gallon tank, but i’d have to use a calculator/converter to know that in liters. I do know that the van’s Slant 6 engine is 3.7 l in sensible-think, which was 225 cu. in. in “customary”-think.
If i wake up tomorrow and all the road signs are in kilometers and KPH and the gas pumps are all dispensing measured in liters, i will be very happy. I’ll not at all mind taping notes on my dash for the conversions, and the mechanical speedometer came from the (Windsor, Ontario) factory with dual MPH and KPH scales, so at least speeding’s no problem (not that speeding is ever a problem when i’m driving. You will find me in the slow lane, or next lane over).
I do admit to thinking of human body weights in pounds rather than masses in kilograms, both from upbringing and because i’m an FA and the bigger numbers in the “customary” units are more exciting. But truthfully i’m a whole lot more into softness and volume/expansiveness/spread rather than weight, by whatever measure.
Joker
***
Heal quickly Brother.
tracii 4591
Well-Known Member
Tad
Dimensions' loiterer
Oof, that is a lot of snow!
Do take care of yourself!
@Sonic Purity They started switching us to metric when I was in grade school, so I I've grown up used to it for most things. The two exceptions are body weights and cooking recipes. Everybody had scales which measured in pounds, and since people were used to that all the scales sold here now are dual unit so I've never had to get used to thinking of body weight in KG (and sites like this are dominated by Americans talking pounds). And recipes get passed along and passed along, plus a lot of other recipes comes from the US, so I'm still accustomed to a cup of flour and half a teaspoon of baking powder, etc.
