The Vent and Rant Thread

[CRussel]

Ouch!

Yes, it could have been worse, but still not good. My wishes to your wife for a full and complete recovery.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by cromag

We're not quite sure of the exact sequence of events, but somehow my wife took a tumble this morning. She was at the top of the driveway, talking to the mailman, when she turned to leave. She may have slid on some wet leaves, tripped against the curb, etc. One way or another, she fell. We spent the afternoon at the local emergency room. She has a badly sprained ankle and a broken fibula -- the little bone in the lower leg.

Obviously, it could have been much more serious, but this will do. We'll have a better idea what's what after she sees an orthopedist.

OUCH!

Sorry, Cromag. I hope she recovers quickly. A fibula, although little, can be a really nasty break.

Hitch

[drjd]

Originally Posted by cromag

We're not quite sure of the exact sequence of events, but somehow my wife took a tumble this morning. She was at the top of the driveway, talking to the mailman, when she turned to leave. She may have slid on some wet leaves, tripped against the curb, etc. One way or another, she fell. We spent the afternoon at the local emergency room. She has a badly sprained ankle and a broken fibula -- the little bone in the lower leg.

Obviously, it could have been much more serious, but this will do. We'll have a better idea what's what after she sees an orthopedist.

Sorry to know, cromag. I have had a broken fibula in the past and I know how painful it is. I wish her a speedy recovery.

[DiapDealer]

Here I am with a brand new voire dire outfit and nowhere to wear it.

Spoiler:

One Jury Duty Thursday down ... four more to go.

[Rumpelteazer]

I have a newfound appreciation for my own mattress (my friends' mattress is hard!) and also for a pre-warmed bed, thanks to my heating pad. I never realized how much I hate getting into a cold bed. I might just bring my hot water bottle with me from home tomorrow to warm up the bed before going to sleep. But I can't wait until I can sleep in my own bed again on Tuesday.

[Katsunami]

I hope the temperature is going to drop to -15 degrees and that there will be two feet of snow for at least a week.

Fracking hell. Half the country is grinding to a standstill because it's cold. Yes people, I know. Being outside when it's -10 C or even -5 C is not fun (especially when it rains), but come on... it's sunny, there's no or only a little bit of snow, but KNMI (our national weather institute) is flashing warnings at people about extreme weather, to not go outside if not strictly needed, trains and buses are rescheduled, and everybody I know around here is complaining and going "Aaaarrgh" and "brrrrr" and whatnot when they have to be outside for a minute or two.

I think people in the Netherlands have forgotten what a *real winter* looks like, after we had 10 years or so of extremely soft winters. The coldest winter I've experienced was in 2001: an average of a foot of snow and ice for over a month in January, and the coldest temperature was -21 C at night. I remember, because at that time, I had a part-time job doing guard duty at multi-day street fairs, during the night, in the weekends. This one was the one running from before Christmas to just after new year.

And even then, there are countries where it's even worse and where that is _normal_, so quit the whining. I think the country is collectively overreacting in a big way.

[4691mls]

We studied the metric system in school and I do have a concept in my head of the weights and measures as compared to the pounds and inches I am more familiar with, but for some reason I have never been able to get the Celsius temperature scale to stick in my memory. When someone in another part of the world posts the temperature where they live I can tell from the context if it's hot or cold, but I don't really know how hot or cold unless I look it up in a Celsius/Fahrenheit conversion table online. Then I promptly forget again until the next time it comes up. I guess this is a vent about my personal memory deficit....

[Katsunami]

For some reason, I automatically use the imperial measurements when writing in English and metric measurements when writing in Dutch. I always use the Celsius scale though.

Nevertheless, I think the imperial system should be banned as (for all I know) only America still uses it while the rest of the world uses metric (the UK is already slowly converting). When cooking and backing, Americans should also get with the program and ditch those cups already and use a proper kitchen scale like the rest of the world does.

"Three cups of flour." What idiocy is that? How much is three cups of flour? It depends on the type, and on how densely you pack the cup. I've actually seen a recipe wanting a cup of apples in a cake. What? One apple in one piece? Doesn't even fit. In small pieces? Could fit, I suppose. Ground to a pulp? That way, I could actually get TWO apples into a cup.

I refuse to use American recipes.

[BetterRed]

Couldn't resist.

BR

[orlok]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

We studied the metric system in school and I do have a concept in my head of the weights and measures as compared to the pounds and inches I am more familiar with, but for some reason I have never been able to get the Celsius temperature scale to stick in my memory. When someone in another part of the world posts the temperature where they live I can tell from the context if it's hot or cold, but I don't really know how hot or cold unless I look it up in a Celsius/Fahrenheit conversion table online. Then I promptly forget again until the next time it comes up. I guess this is a vent about my personal memory deficit....

Even though I live under the Celsius system it took me a long time to adapt to it. All you really need to remember is that 30 degrees is really quite hot, and 0 degrees is freezing point. Anything in between is a variation on the theme .

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Nevertheless, I think the imperial system should be banned as (for all I know) only America still uses it while the rest of the world uses metric (the UK is already slowly converting).

Slowly converting!? Another thing we can blame Mrs Thatcher for. We'd converted nearly everything in the 1970s. And then Mrs Thatcher abolished the Metrication Board.

Sigh. So we're still stuck with draught beer and cider sold in pints, milk delivered in pints (although doorstep deliveries are way down on what they were), distances in miles and areas in acres.

But everything else is metric - temperatures, lengths, weights and volumes.

Oh, I suppose most UK people also measure their personal weight and height in stones/pounds and feet/inches. But not me!

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Oh, I suppose most UK people also measure their personal weight and height in stones/pounds and feet/inches. But not me!

I've seen a few episodes of Supersize vs. Superskinny; I don't know if it's American or UK or maybe even both, and they used stones and feet/inches for weight and length.

Wikipedia says this:

Metrication in the United Kingdom, the process of introducing the metric system of measurement in place of imperial units, has made steady progress since the mid–20th century but today remains equivocal and varies by context. Most of government, industry and commerce use metric units, but imperial units are officially used to specify journey distances, vehicle speeds and the sizes of returnable milk containers, beer and cider glasses (though fresh milk is often still sold in multiples of pints, with the metric equivalent also marked).

So it's partly metric, partly imperial, and the UK is 'making steady progress since the mid-20th century." I took that as slowly converting.

Oh, and with regard to Celsius, it fits right in with the metric system, which is mostly based on water:

100 C = boiling point of water
37 C = body temperature
30 C = hot summer day
20 C = room temperature
10 C = cold
0 C = freezing point of water

1 litre of water = 1000 ml which weighs 1 kg = 1000 grams when at a certain temperature and pressure. I don't know the official definition on top of my head.

Graphic....

[Toxaris]

And don't forget, the Celsius scale is also identical (the stepsize that is) with the Kelvin scale that is used in science.

[ekbell]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

We studied the metric system in school and I do have a concept in my head of the weights and measures as compared to the pounds and inches I am more familiar with, but for some reason I have never been able to get the Celsius temperature scale to stick in my memory. When someone in another part of the world posts the temperature where they live I can tell from the context if it's hot or cold, but I don't really know how hot or cold unless I look it up in a Celsius/Fahrenheit conversion table online. Then I promptly forget again until the next time it comes up. I guess this is a vent about my personal memory deficit....

I can never remember the lower end of the Fahrenheit scale (ie freezing point) and always have to look up temperatures when Americans complain about being cold. And then I wonder how that temperature could be considered cold, 'over here that would be considered sweater weather!'. (my twelve year old son considers any temperature approaching the freezing point sweater weather. Sunny, still and -5C included.)

In Canada we are officially converted over to the metric system. However, a fair number of people still think in pounds and ounces when cooking or weighing themselves and cooks still use cups, teaspoons and tablespoons although my cookbooks for 4-H (a department of agriculture program) does use only metric measurements. All scales and measuring cups I've seen use use both systems.

People still normally use feet and inches when discussing their height but will use metric for other lengths particularly distance (all road markers are in km) although 'must have walked at least a mile' is still preferred to 'must have walked at least 2 kilometers'.

On the other hand I can't remember the last time anyone used Fahrenheit when referring to the weather. I think it's because the freezing point is such a useful and relevant part of our lives so that we're always saying 'it's x above/below freezing'. Of course in winter it's all about the wind chill factor as in 'Wind Chill is minus twenty-two right now' (example taken from Environment Canada's current conditions for my location - there's also a snowfall warning for those people who haven't noticed the 10-25 cm of freshly fallen snow outside).

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by ekbell

I can never remember the lower end of the Fahrenheit scale (ie freezing point) and always have to look up temperatures when Americans complain about being cold. And then I wonder how that temperature could be considered cold, 'over here that would be considered sweater weather!'. (my twelve year old son considers any temperature approaching the freezing point sweater weather. Sunny, still and -5C included.)

Shorts weather!

In the kitchen, I use metric when I can (grams/kilos/millilitres/litres), and have done most of the work to convert my old recipes to metric weights v. cups and Tablespoons. But I still use F. for the oven. Which I suppose is an improvement over the UK's Gas Mark, which is just plain odd.

For smaller measurements of distance, I'm as likely to use inches and fractions as centimetres. Old habits. And when I'm buying stuff in the store, I'm still trying to convert to $/pound.

But the one that I really can't get my head around is the L/100 km. That just is wrong. The better your 'mileage', the lower the number. Hunh?