[Pondoro]

Ahhhh. The rotary and push button Princess phones. Those were the days. There was quite a satisfying rush when slamming the phone down and angrily hanging up on someone back then. Not as satisfying with a cell phone.

Background for those who never saw one - you did not own your phone, you rented it from Ma Bell, $2 or $3 per month as I recall. If it broke Ma Bell was obligated to fix it at no charge to you. So they were built like the proverbial tank. You could literally hold your (entire) phone out at arms length, drop it to the floor, and it would still work. You could slam the receiver down as hard as you wished and it would not break. In my entire young life I never saw a phone break, until they became personal property and you could buy a $10 phone at the grocery store.

 

[ScOgLiO]

The problem with the "size of a bread box" statement isn't just that it's a potentially useless size comparison for about half the living population, it's that it is an ACTUALLY useless size comparison for the ENTIRETY of the living population. Bread boxes vary in size, and they do so to a degree that renders them completely meaningless as basis for a benchmark.

I know this is not going to be popular, as most people here are American, but as someone from Europe I feel your statement applies to pretty much the whole of the Imperial system, at least in terms of its "semantics".

I mean, I realise that back when it was invented they probably thought "well, we can say this thing is a foot long, so most here will have a ballpark idea of how long it is", but hey, not all feet (or inches...) are created equal
As an outsider, this seems to defeat the purpose of assigning a common name to a unit of measure, at least now that it's precisely defined and we have more accurate ways of measuring things than to compared them to limbs or similar lol

 

[Brubacca]

I work in factory automation. Sounds fancy but I’ve worked on the sales side for years. I deals with lots of factories helping them with materials they need to run the plants.

One time a maintenance guy was complaining about having metric and imperial based machines to support. He said we should have one universal system. I replied:
“We do. It’s called the metric system and we (Those of us in the USA) refuse to use it.”

 

[Ableza]

I still don't know how much a "stone" weighs, neither in pounds nor kilos.

 

[joe]

I still don't know how much a "stone" weighs, neither in pounds nor kilos.

14 lbs is 1 stone.

 

[StimpyWan]

But, I've picked up stones in my garden, that I know weighed more than 14 lbs...!

 

[45longcolt]

Geez, what did I start this time? Sorry, Jason.

Actually, the big "A" webstore sells a surprising variety of bread boxes. Of wildly varying designs and sizes. Which got me thinking of the other anecdotal measurements we Amurricans are so fond of. Like the football field as a unit of area. Or the olympic swimming pool as a standard of volume. (Never mind that for most people, these are only as big as their screens.) The 10-gallon hat of Western movies. For time, we have the New York minute. Well, gotta go. But I'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail.

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

Oh my god, it's spreading…!

 

[FLTWS]

Maybe weights and measures should be added to the sine wave?

 

[ImagesbyMurray]

Maybe weights and measures should be added to the sine wave?

I'll raise a cubit to that!

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

I'll raise a firkin!


JC

 

[golfbravobravo]

Ok, here's the updated Sinewave (v6a), which was in fact updated back on Dec 7th after some small oversights on may part and then I neglected to upload it. Click the image for a high-res desktop wallpaper

Change log :
V6 Change Log 2021-12-06
Added : Freight Carriers (FedEx, DHL, USPS etc)
Added : Isolated Ground & Power Sockets
Added : VU Meters (Long Overdue Topic)
Added : MRIs
Added : Architecture
Added : Bond, James, Bond
Added : Classic Cars
Added : Sci Fi
Added : Woodworking
Added : Movies
Updated : Some spacing
V6a 2021-12-07
Added : Blingy Thingies (Bling Wars™)
Added : Balanced vs Single Ended
Added : Power Switches

No aeroplanes yet. I'll have to a) step up my game and 2) recruit more allies........

 

[Roy G. Biv]

Background for those who never saw one - you did not own your phone, you rented it from Ma Bell, $2 or $3 per month as I recall. If it broke Ma Bell was obligated to fix it at no charge to you. So they were built like the proverbial tank. You could literally hold your (entire) phone out at arms length, drop it to the floor, and it would still work. You could slam the receiver down as hard as you wished and it would not break. In my entire young life I never saw a phone break, until they became personal property and you could buy a $10 phone at the grocery store.

Also had to pay extra for "touch tone" well after rotary phones went out of general use.

 

[golfbravobravo]

I wonder, would the average millennial be more likely to know what a bread box is, than to know what The Absolute Sound is?

I think it depends if you have been kicked there. Once you have, age is irrelevant, it is never forgotten........

 

[golfbravobravo]

I mean I do sometimes listen to Jazz with my cats using Shiit gear...

Why are your cats using Schiit gear????