Re: Charles Stross, GLASSHOUSE

Bill Patterson wrote:

> Still, there remains the residuum of
unfortunately quite common functions for which metric units are simply
inconvenient, and there is, for example, no natural equivalent in the
metric system for convenient units like the tablespoon or the cup or
the minute.

You're right about the minute, which is probably why metric countries
still use minutes, 24 hour days, and all the other archaic temporal
units.

Here, in the UK, cups were not a common unit of measurement even
under the imperial system - recipes go by weight instead - but a
standard tablespoon is 15 ml, and a standard teaspoon 5 ml, two
conveniently sized units.

As far as the average cook is concerned, it doesn't matter whether
a teaspoon is 5 ml or 0.5 fl. oz. They just use any old teaspoon,
not caring about the measurement system. The only people affected
are engineers and the like, who do appreciate the simplicity of
metric when they want to know how much a tablespoon of neutronium
masses.

--
'It is a wise crow that knows which way the camel points' - Pratchett
Robert Shaw
.

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