Why the heck does America still use outdated measurement and date units?

[Huntn]

Hershey is about as bad as choc can be to me.

I accept your disagreement. The trick would be to to find another bar of chocolate that I might fall for. This very well could be a case of imprinting on what you grew up with and the only way to change that would be to find a substitute that serves the same purpose. I might even argue instead of being a chocolate snob (no accusation ) since I like both Hershey and Sees which I believe is a respected chocolate at least Stateside, that I have a broader, more flexible pallet. It‘s along the same lines as being able to appreciate an excellent cup of cofee and like instant coffee too, but not as much, but for convienence. 😆

 

[dmr727]

Agreed. And America is one of the worst.
Budweiser? I’d rather have water.

Jeez...you're using Budweiser as representative of American beer?

 

[eyoungren]

Thanks for the info! Now that you mention it, I do see Aribica labeling on coffee as a selling point.

Yep, LOL!

 

[Choco Taco]

What’s wrong with freedom units?

 

[Huntn]

A heartfelt and profound amen to that.

Hershey is......not nice.

Belgium "gets" chocolate, as, indeed, does Switzerland.

And, once upon a distant time, the old UK (Quaker) chocolate companies, such as Terry's of York, Rowntrees, Fry's, and, of course, the original Cadbury's, - used to produce pretty decent chocolate.

Remember Europe had a monopoly on chocolate production, the secret formula at one point in time, it was Milton Hershey’s goal to break the monopoly and bring economical chocolate to the USA’s working class. I can’t think of anything better to use than Hershey’s semi-sweet chocolate drops for chocolate chip cookies.

 

[Huntn]

What’s wrong with freedom units?

Everything?😘

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Remember Europe has a monopoly on chocolate at one point in time, it was Milton Hershey’s goal to break the monopoly and bring economical chocolate to the USA. I can’t think of anything better to use then Hershey’s semi-sweet chocolate for chocolate chip cookies.

Each to their own.

However, "economical" may be the key word, there.

In any case, just as Folger's falls short of what one would hope to sample, savour, sip, as a cup of coffee, to my palate, Hershey's also falls very short of what chocolate should be.

Nevertheless, not all European chocolate is expensive; before they were taken over, Cadbury's and Fry's and Rowntree's all produced some very good quality, yet affordable chocolate (whereas, Terry's seemed to have been a bit more exclusive and expensive, but they produced some excellent chocolate).

 

[Apple fanboy]

Jeez...you're using Budweiser as representative of American beer?

It’s the most common one over here.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

It’s the most common one over here.

Mind you, I've also laid eyes on other horrors from that part of the world masquerading as beer.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Mind you, I've also laid eyes on other horrors from that part of the world masquerading as beer.

To be honest I so rarely drink beer (pints to keep it on topic!) these days. Think I’ve maybe had 5 pints this year, that when I do drink one, I stick with what I know.

 

[eyoungren]

Remember Europe had a monopoly on chocolate production, the secret formula at one point in time, it was Milton Hershey’s goal to break the monopoly and bring economical chocolate to the USA’s working class. I can’t think of anything better to use then Hershey’s semi-sweet chocolate drops for chocolate chip cookies.

My mother used to get mad when she went to make chocolate chip cookies. Something about the bag missing or them having all been eaten.

There weren't many actual snacks around the house when I was a kid in the 70s. I had to make do a lot.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

To be honest I so rarely drink beer (pints to keep it on topic!) these days. Think I’ve maybe had 5 pints this year, that when I do drink one, I stick with what I know.

I daresay that you can recall every single one of those five pints.

With pleasure.

 

[dmr727]

It’s the most common one over here.

I'm sure McDonalds is the most common franchise too.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I'm sure McDonalds is the most common franchise too.

Another place I don’t really frequent.
Too much fat and salt for me.

 

[ericwn]

I accept your disagreement. The trick would be to to find another bar of chocolate that I might fall for. This very well could be a case of imprinting on what you grew up with and the only way to change that would be to find a substitute that serves the same purpose. I might even argue instead of being a chocolate snob (no accusation ) since I like both Hershey and Sees which I believe is a respected chocolate at least Stateside, that I have a broader, more flexible pallet. It along the same lines as being able to appreciate an excellent cup of cofee and like instant coffee too, but not as much, but for convienence. 😆

Oh I can assure you my choc cravings like and have experienced plenty of different products. While having often been in awe about some things American, mostly because of Hollywood, tasting beers and chocolates has been rather disappointing. A simple Reese's runs circles around most Hershey products.

I drank instant coffee as a teenager when I couldn't afford a proper cup

 

[dmr727]

Another place I don’t really frequent.
Too much fat and salt for me.

I haven't had McDonald's since I was young. And I've *never* had a Budweiser (I did have a Bud Light or two in college, but it was never by choice!). Believe it or not we have some pretty incredible beer and food over here!

 

[ericwn]

I'm sure McDonalds is the most common franchise too.

Yup, people have a tendency to remember these mega corps, or more negative big events in general, and associate them somehow with the countries they come from. Once you achieve a bad rep, it's a tricky thing to rid yourself of I guess.

 

[ericwn]

I haven't had McDonald's since I was young. And I've *never* had a Budweiser (I did have a Bud Light or two in college, but it was never by choice!). Believe it or not we have some pretty incredible beer and food over here!

Well said, if anything, north America has TONS of food options to offer. There's great variety to enjoy, also in many other places.

 

[pdoherty]

Okay, first off, temperature. We all know what the three useful temperature measurements are. Only one is used in daily use, it's Celsius, and across the entire world. It is the most logical of the three, 0° is water's freezing point, 100° is its boiling point, every semi-educated person knows that. Only THREE countries use Fahrenheit exclusively, and surprise surprise, the United States is one of them. Why? Why is that necessary? Why use a system that is absolutely outdated, makes no sense whatsoever (water freezes at 32° and melts at 212°? yeah, totally makes sense), that is used by basically no one else?

One benefit of Fahrenheit over Celsius is it's more granular. Who cares that it's nice and neat at freezing or boiling when the majority of the time for regular people we're discussing indoor and outdoor temperatures (and unless you live somewhere cold 0 probably doesn't come up that much, and 100 never does). Fahrenheit has 180 increments between freezing and boiling and Celsius only has 100. Which means Fahrenheit users can discuss comfortable indoor temps like 70 degrees where in Celsius that's 21.1111 (repeating).

 

[pdoherty]

Why does it matter to you? We use what we like use and you use what you like to use. Do you see us bitching why you use the metric system?
We don't care what you system you use and we like our system.

Now go to bed since it's 1 AM (which is ironic since you should have said 01:00 )

Hear hear! The world's getting homogenized and small enough as it is, with less and less differences between countries without going out of our way to force everything to be even more the same. I like when I go to England that I have to remember to look the other way when crossing the street and when driving being on the other side of the car. Novel experiences are fun.

 

[neutrino17]

One benefit of Fahrenheit over Celsius is it's more granular. Who cares that it's nice and neat at freezing or boiling when the majority of the time for regular people we're discussing indoor and outdoor temperatures (and unless you live somewhere cold 0 probably doesn't come up that much, and 100 never does). Fahrenheit has 180 increments between freezing and boiling and Celsius only has 100. Which means Fahrenheit users can discuss comfortable indoor temps like 70 degrees where in Celsius that's 21.1111 (repeating).

I use °C for science and engineering, but I like °F for weather. It’s just an emotional thing. As you point out, there are nuances between 70, 71 or 72 degrees F. Also, when it is cold, temps in the 20s or teens feel pretty cold but there is something really important about minus F temps. My niece once said that she didn’t mind cold weather too much but she really didn’t like the minuses.

 

[eyoungren]

I use °C for science and engineering, but I like °F for weather. It’s just an emotional thing. As you point out, there are nuances between 70, 71 or 72 degrees F. Also, when it is cold, temps in the 20s or teens feel pretty cold but there is something really important about minus F temps. My niece once said that she didn’t mind cold weather too much but she really didn’t like the minuses.

Minus Xº degrees F.

With wind chill.

NO. Thank. You.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

I haven't had McDonald's since I was young. And I've *never* had a Budweiser (I did have a Bud Light or two in college, but it was never by choice!). Believe it or not we have some pretty incredible beer and food over here!

In just about every US State there are local ale and low-alcoholic beer breweries. Then there are quite a few Canadian breweries, too. I am not a beer drinker, but whenever I drank or had a taste of beer, I preferred the Pilsner flavor.

Now, the adventurous types visiting Alaska could have a taste of Alaska "salmon beer" that is brewed in Juneau, or the Alaska wild blueberry beer in Fairbanks. These aren't the usual ale and other beers brewed in Alaska, however.

During the wild blueberry season in Alaska, a gallon of freshly gathered wild blueberries could cost around $50.00. This blueberry is a lot more potent than most blueberries, and I assume that the same applies to Siberian wild blueberries (?):

The antioxidant level of Alaska's wild berries: high, higher and highest - PubMed

Alaska wild berries have extraordinarily high antioxidant levels. Though cooking lowered the antioxidant level, and adding ingredients such as sugar diluted the antioxidant concentration, products made from berries are high sources of antioxidants.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Algr]

My niece once said that she didn’t mind cold weather too much but she really didn’t like the minuses.

Yes. Generally the advantage of Imperial units is that the numbers that ordinary people use tend to be in friendly two digit ranges. The temperature outside is always a two digit number, and if it isn't, that is important to notice! The speed a car might move is also like this in MPH, but not KMPH.

Most people's heights are two words: "Five Eleven" for example, instead of "One Hundred and Eighty One". And even the unit name is half as many syllables. Miles is one syllable, kilometers is four. Pint becomes Half Liter at best, 473.176473 Milliliter at worst.

BTW, Are Knots metric? Why do they exist? And why does the UK have a different one? We need to get all those sailors and pilots on to feet and inches!

 

[eyoungren]

In just about every US State there are local ale and low-alcoholic beer breweries. Then there are quite a few Canadian breweries, too. I am not a beer drinker, but whenever I drank or had a taste of beer, I preferred the Pilsner flavor.

Now, the adventurous types visiting Alaska could have a taste of Alaska "salmon beer" that is brewed in Juneau, or the Alaska wild blueberry beer in Fairbanks. These aren't the usual ale and other beers brewed in Alaska, however.

During the wild blueberry season in Alaska, a gallon of freshly gathered wild blueberries could cost around $50.00. This blueberry is a lot more potent than most blueberries, and I assume that the same applies to Siberian wild blueberries (?):

The antioxidant level of Alaska's wild berries: high, higher and highest - PubMed

Alaska wild berries have extraordinarily high antioxidant levels. Though cooking lowered the antioxidant level, and adding ingredients such as sugar diluted the antioxidant concentration, products made from berries are high sources of antioxidants.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Phoenix and surrounding cities have been a major area for micro-breweries. The movement has cooled somewhat now, but there are still new companies starting and older ones still around. There are also a large amount of micro-breweries around here still, that continue fighting over shelf-space at my local Walmart. That's how mainstream they've become.

Some people even opened actual businesses where you could go specifically to drink. I'm not talking about a bar or a pub. These places are like coffee shops, except what they are offering is that companies brand of beer. I guess, beer shops? IDK.

As to fruit…I lived for 20 years in Southern California, a small unincorporated rural town called Cherry Valley. It's halfway between San Bernardino and Palm Springs and there used to be a reason why it was called Cherry Valley.

I love cherries, they are my favorite fruit and our house was right across the street from a cherry orchard. It's long gone now, and many of the orchards are also long gone (people from Orange county moved in during the early 2000s), but during summer as a teen I'd take a 5-gallon bucket and go picking. A 5 pound bucket will net you roughly 10-12 pounds of cherries. I more than happily paid the $4.25/pound price.

Took me about a week to knaw through 10-12 pounds of cherries.