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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 7th, 2023

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  • It has nothing to do with disliking learning. Trying to learn and use a system of measurement without being immersed in it is really hard. For years, I’ve set all my temperature measurements on my phone and thermometers to Celsius, but because I’m surrounded by people and systems that don’t use metric, I have to convert back and forth between the two. It’s a lot of mental effort for basically no gain.

    Every day, customary speed and distance units and my intuitive understanding of them are reinforced when driving and seeing street signs. I know how long a kilometer is, but if you say “My brother lives 45 kilometers away”, I’d have a difficult time truly understanding that. I wouldn’t be able to estimate how long it would take to drive there, for example.

    Another issue is cost. In my job, it would take weeks or months to update all of the documentation and code to metric. Then customers would have to approve of all those changes. A whole bunch of machinery still uses customary units too, so they would have to be replaced or updated.

    I say all of this as a metric lover and evangelist. It’s not trivial to convert an entire massive country to metric. Countries that have converted already should be hugely proud of themselves for accomplishing a difficult task.









  • Lemmino creates amazing documentaries about a wide variety of topics (DB Cooper, JFK Assassination, Jack the Ripper). He uploads very infrequently, but it’s totally worth it when he does.

    Barely Sociable is similar in style and uploads high quality pieces about various mysterious occurrences.

    Drachinifel uploads frequent, well researched content about naval history from the age of sail to the 1950s.

    Our Own Devices is a very small channel that feels similar to Technology Connections (another excellent channel). He uploads content about the history and inner workings of old devices of all sorts.

    Throttle House is the best car channel on YouTube.

    Jason Cammisa’s Revelations series on the Hagerty channel has really good deep dives into the histories of some important cars.

    Aging Wheels/Under Dunn are excellent car and/or wood project channels. Chickens make frequent appearances too.

    Mentour Pilot has excellent analysis of airline crashes.

    Jay Foreman uploads funny and informative content about maps (Map Men) and tidbits about the history of London.

    Cathode Ray Dude uploads deep dives into weird computers, computer peripherals, and old cameras. I’ve watched his half hour video about modems at least 5 times.

    Mustard uploads excellent content about crazy ideas in transportation (like the Soviet love affair with the ekranoplan).



  • I was hoping you’d say, “Those! Only different ones!”

    And then I’d say, “Just these are plenty for now!”

    The Bionicle: The Mask of Light movie is endlessly quotable. My brother was really into Bionicle as a kid, so he had (and still has) tons of sets. He watched the movies on repeat. At the time I hated them, but nostalgia is a powerful drug.

    More fun quotes include: “The Toa squabble like Guckobirds over a berry” “Well today is for quick-learning!” “…steam. Hot air, as they say!” “How did you keep the ceiling from falling on us too? Roof caves in

    I could go on…