Less People Here?

kshegunov · 6 Mar 2021, 16:00

@artwaw said in Less People Here?:

"I want and you are here to help me regardless of how I treat you", so American in its heart,

Um...

Don't take it personally, I don't have anything against americans ... except the metric system that is ... ;)

sierdzio · 3 Jun 2021, 16:04

@kshegunov said in Less People Here?:

except the metric system that is ... ;)

Are we going down that rabbit hole again? :D

kshegunov · 3 Jun 2021, 16:15

@sierdzio said in Less People Here?:

Are we going down that rabbit hole again? :D

Not at all just having a little bit of fun at @mzimmers' nationality, harmless teasing, nothing more.

@mzimmers said in Less People Here?:

@artwaw said in Less People Here?:
"I want and you are here to help me regardless of how I treat you", so American in its heart,

Just so we are clear I think this is a poor choice of words referring to the US being the proud flagman of consumerism (i.e. a reference to the "client's always right").

mzimmers · 3 Jun 2021, 16:08

@kshegunov said in Less People Here?:

except the metric system that is ... ;)

True story: back in the 1970s, the US made an attempt to convert to the metric system (to the exclusion of the Imperial system. It was a disaster, largely because of consumer pushback. One of the most bitter complaints was the move in the liquor industry to replace the "fifth" (one fifth of a gallon or 25.6 oz., a popular bottle size for spirits) with the 750 ml. or 25.4 oz. bottle.

"Those damn big companies are trying to steal 0.2 oz. from us!!"

Sigh...

kshegunov · wrote on 3 Jun 2021, 16:08

I think that de jure you're in metric (or at least dual), as unfortunate as it is the actual real-world practice is what is lacking. At least in my field everybody uses the metric, american and not alike. ;)

mzimmers · 3 Jun 2021, 16:23

@kshegunov said in Less People Here?:

Just so we are clear I think this is a poor choice of words referring to the US being the proud flagman of consumerism (i.e. a reference to the "client's always right").

Interesting notion, though I'm not sure "consumerism" is the real issue -- if anything, it's "productionism" or "salesism." I'm fairly sure the saying "the customer's always right" was NOT invented by a customer.

Also, it would be interesting to know who is the anomaly in this regard. This sentiment seems to prevail throughout the New World, and the Far East at a minimum. I realize that the UK and western Europe don't embrace this philosophy, but perhaps it is they who are the exception...

kshegunov · wrote on 3 Jun 2021, 16:23

@mzimmers said in Less People Here?:

Interesting notion, though I'm not sure "consumerism" is the real issue -- if anything, it's "productionism" or "salesism."

Well, we can agree on any definition, but the idea that you need the new shiny thing and acquire more and more stuff is somewhat prevalent in the mind of the average person of the anglo-saxon world (or as you've put it - more correctly to say the new world).

I'm fairly sure the saying "the customer's always right" was NOT invented by a customer.

I'm fairly sure you're correct. Nevertheless socialist europe doesn't like that idea as much - the workers are also people and have dignity and rights being the main driving point against it.

Also, it would be interesting to know who is the anomaly in this regard. This sentiment seems to prevail throughout the New World, and the Far East at a minimum. I realize that the UK and western Europe don't embrace this philosophy, but perhaps it is they who are the exception...

Perhaps that's true, I really have no data to base any conclusion on it. But even if it were true, the old lady houses half a billion people, which I imagine is a bit more than (or at least on par with) the new world (or that specific part of the new world we are talking about.

artwaw · wrote on 3 Jun 2021, 16:37

@mzimmers said in Less People Here?:

Um...

If you find that unfair - I apologise.

@kshegunov said in Less People Here?:

Just so we are clear I think this is a poor choice of words referring to the US being the proud flagman of consumerism (i.e. a reference to the "client's always right").

Yes and no. But I agree, I might have phrased that in a more precise way. I was indeed referring to the style that seems to be prevalent across the pond, not any particular person.

@mzimmers said in Less People Here?:

I'm fairly sure the saying "the customer's always right" was NOT invented by a customer.

I am with you on that one...

@mzimmers said in Less People Here?:

This sentiment seems to prevail throughout the New World, and the Far East at a minimum. I realize that the UK and western Europe don't embrace this philosophy, but perhaps it is they who are the exception...

...but I can speak only for myself and it is my experience: from all the people I've been working with or companies I cooperated with (as a client or contractor) that unwise approach is well rooted mostly there. Of course, it is only my impression and my experience, so probably is in some way biased.

@kshegunov said in Less People Here?:

the workers are also people and have dignity and rights being the main driving point against it.

YES.

JonB · 6 Mar 2021, 16:51

Since we've gone all light-hearted now....

@kshegunov said in Less People Here?:

except the metric system that is ... ;)

At least in my field everybody uses the metric

Anybody with any sense[TM] knows that the Imperial system relates better to the everyday real world than the Metric system. An inch, foot, yard, mile, pound, pint correspond much better to human experiences. We are not all nuclear scientists like your colleagues are, measuring in units which are abstract, plus have no soul....

:)

kshegunov · 6 Mar 2021, 17:22

@JonB said in Less People Here?:

Anybody with any sense[TM] knows that the Imperial system relates better to the everyday real world than the Metric system.

We absolutely agree on that, Matt sums it up beautifully here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7x-RGfd0Yk (notice it's related to your favourite TV - BBC)

Chris Kawa · J JonB 3 Jun 2021, 16:50

@JonB I'll just leave it here :)

JonB · 6 Mar 2021, 17:29

@kshegunov & @Chris-Kawa
Brilliant! I admit I didn't know about all those other measurements. They all seem to make real-world sense to me, and I'm even more impressed by the Imperial system than I was! :)

Just for example. A pint is the natural size to drink beer in a pub. A litre means nothing, and is too big. I rest my case.

J.Hilk · wrote on 3 Jun 2021, 17:31

@JonB said in Less People Here?:

They all seem to make real-world sense to me, and I'm even more impressed by the Imperial system than I was! :)

Like the one comment from matts video adequately put it:

Imperial Pile of measurement, not system :P

kshegunov · J JonB 3 Jun 2021, 17:27

@JonB said in Less People Here?:

A pint is the natural size to drink beer in a pub. A litre means nothing, and is too big. I rest my case.

Indeed, that's a good and logical reason. ... almost as as measuring people's weight in stone, because what's more natural than equating people with rocks ... ;)
But if you're into it, the litre works excellently for rakija, you drink either one, two or three, depending on how bulgarian you feel that day ;P

JonB · 6 Mar 2021, 17:37

Look you metricians: the definition of your centimetre is:

the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second

divided by 100. Nice one. Very everyday. Great for scientists. Meaningless for the hoi polloi. I'll take my inches any day.

kshegunov · 3 Jun 2021, 17:40

@JonB said in Less People Here?:

the definition of your centimetre is

What I find curious is whether you googled the definition of the inch? ;)

JonB · 6 Mar 2021, 17:45

@kshegunov
I don't need to, if you are English you can inherently sense what an inch is.

EDIT
So I looked at your reference:

Standards for the exact length of an inch have varied in the past, but since the adoption of the international yard during the 1950s and 1960s it has been based on the metric system and defined as exactly 25.4 mm.

Typical. That is the metric inch. Not the real inch.

mzimmers · wrote on 3 Jun 2021, 17:42

@kshegunov said in Less People Here?:

What I find curious is whether you googled the definition of the inch? ;)

Why bother to google something so obvious? Everyone knows that an inch is 1/12 of a foot.

kshegunov · 6 Mar 2021, 17:46

@JonB said in Less People Here?:

I don't need to, if you are English you can inherently sense what an inch is.

Nevertheless, let me help you my very english friend: the inch is defined as exactly 25.4 mm

@mzimmers said in Less People Here?:

Why bother to google something so obvious? Everyone knows that an inch is 1/12 of a foot.

That would be a unit conversion, not a definition. Just like the centimetre is a tenth of the meter (centi- is the giveaway here).

Typical. That is the metric inch. Not the real inch.

lol.

JonB · 6 Mar 2021, 17:50

@kshegunov said in Less People Here?:

Just like the centimetre is a tenth of the meter (centi- is the giveaway here).

Another reason not to trust metric. Simplicity of the math encourages laziness of thought, leading to this kind of error :) Imperial arithmetic keeps you on your toes....