The Other Boiling Point


  • Trolleybus Mechanic

    Oh, AP, will you never learn units:

    [url="http://news.yahoo.com/northeast-braces-temps-near-boiling-point-104346055.html"]http://news.yahoo.com/northeast-braces-temps-near-boiling-point-104346055.html[/url]

    Northeast braces for temps near boiling point

    The extreme heat that's been roasting the eastern U.S. is only expected to get worse, and residents are bracing themselves for temperatures [b]near and above boiling point[/b]

    ...

    Boston's [b]99 degrees[/b] on Friday could feel like105 degrees; Philadelphia's 102 degrees like 114 degrees and Washington, D.C.'s 103 degrees may seem the same as a melting 116 degrees.

    Comment section victory goes to commenter Rooster: "it's not the heat, it's the stupidity."

     

     



  • What's even funnier is that they think stuff vaporizes at 100, then melts at 116.



  •  Could be talking about the boiling point of ethyl bromide (101oF), methyl iodide (108oF), n-pentane (96.9oF) or diethyl ether (95oF).



  •  I'm usually stingy with insulting words, but this author is just a goddamn homeschooled retard.



  • [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]What's even funnier is that they think stuff vaporizes at 100, then melts at 116.[/quote] 

     I wager there's some freaky metamaterial that does that.



  • This is pretty funny, but to be honest, I'm just glad it wasn't a repeat of meters vs. yards.



  • @tOmcOlins said:

    This is pretty funny, but to be honest, I'm just glad it wasn't a repeat of meters vs. yards.

    Celsius vs. Fahrenheit. So it all boils down (pun unintended) to imperial units vs. metric units. Coming up next: kilograms vs. pounds.


  • 🚽 Regular

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]Coming up next: kilograms vs. pounds.[/quote] 

    That's an especially fun debate because of the fact kilograms is specifically and strictly a unit of mass whereas a pound could be a unit of mass or a unit of weight  (or a unit of currency, of course) depending on the context.



  • @RHuckster said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]Coming up next: kilograms vs. pounds.

     

    That's an especially fun debate because of the fact kilograms is specifically and strictly a unit of mass whereas a pound could be a unit of mass or a unit of weight  (or a unit of currency, of course) depending on the context.

    [/quote]

    I specially like the discussion of Euros vs. Pounds. An extract from Good Omens, by master Pratchett and Neil Gaiman:

    NOTE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND AMERICANS: One shilling = Five Pee. It helps to understand the antique finances of the Witchfinder Army if you know the original British monetary system:

    Two farthings = One Ha'penny. Two ha'pennies = One Penny. Three pennies = A Thrupenny Bit. Two Thrupences = A Sixpence. Two Sixpences = One Shilling, or Bob. Two Bob = A Florin. One Florin and one Sixpence = Half a Crown. Four Half Crowns = Ten Bob Note. Two Ten Bob Notes = One Pound (or 240 pennies). One Pound and One Shilling = One Guinea.

    The British resisted decimalized currency for a long time because they thought it was too complicated.



  • NOTE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND AMERICANS: One shilling = Five Pee. It helps to understand the antique finances of the Witchfinder Army if you know the original British monetary system:

    Two farthings = One Ha'penny. Two ha'pennies = One Penny. Three pennies = A Thrupenny Bit. Two Thrupences = A Sixpence. Two Sixpences = One Shilling, or Bob. Two Bob = A Florin. One Florin and one Sixpence = Half a Crown. Four Half Crowns = Ten Bob Note. Two Ten Bob Notes = One Pound (or 240 pennies). One Pound and One Shilling = One Guinea.

    The British resisted decimalized currency for a long time because they thought it was too complicated.

    Holy Samolian!



  • @RHuckster said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]Coming up next: kilograms vs. pounds.

     

    That's an especially fun debate because of the fact kilograms is specifically and strictly a unit of mass whereas a pound could be a unit of mass or a unit of weight  (or a unit of currency, of course) depending on the context.

    [/quote] 

    Setting that aspect of it aside, I always enjoy the part of the debate where some Yank says "I can eat a one-pound steak, but a one-kilo steak is the kind of gluttony you Brits are always accusing us of."

    Or when he says he doesn't wanted his sweet Granny trying to cook in units she's only heard of in connection with drug busts.

     



  • @da Doctah said:

    @RHuckster said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]Coming up next: kilograms vs. pounds.

     

    That's an especially fun debate because of the fact kilograms is specifically and strictly a unit of mass whereas a pound could be a unit of mass or a unit of weight  (or a unit of currency, of course) depending on the context.

     

    Setting that aspect of it aside, I always enjoy the part of the debate where some Yank says "I can eat a one-pound steak, but a one-kilo steak is the kind of gluttony you Brits are always accusing us of."

    Or when he says he doesn't wanted his sweet Granny trying to cook in units she's only heard of in connection with drug busts.

    [/quote]How many arguments do you get in with "Yanks" over this, that you "always" hear that?

  • Garbage Person

    @da Doctah said:

    "I can eat a one-pound steak, but a one-kilo steak is the kind of gluttony you Brits are always accusing us of."
    Wouldn't a kilosteak be 1000 steaks?

    METRIC IS CONFUSING!



  • @Weng said:

    Wouldn't a kibisteak be 1024 steaks?

    FTFY



  • [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]The British resisted decimalized currency for a long time because they thought it was too complicated.[/quote] 

    NOTE FOR NON-AMERICANS:

    Five pennies = One nickel; Two nickels = One dime; Two and a half dimes = One quarter; Two quarters = One half-dollar; Two half-dollars = One dollar; Five dollars = One finski; Two finskis = One sawbuck; Ten sawbucks = One Benjamin

    Granted, not as complicated as the £sd system, but if you include nicknames of money you can complicate it. (I had to confirm the names on Wikipedia, are there others?)

     



  • [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]What's even funnier is that they think stuff vaporizes at 100, then melts at 116.[/quote] 

    Literally!



  • [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]What's even funnier is that they think stuff vaporizes at 100, then melts at 116.[/quote] 

    Literally!



  • @Lorne Kates said:

    Comment section victory goes to commenter Rooster: "it's not the heat, it's the stupidity."

    Seen in a recent magazine article (either engineering or popular science, I can't remember which but they should know better):

    @reporter who shouldn't be on a technical publication said:

    The temperature rose by one degree centigrade (33.8 degrees Fahrenheit)

    Where do they get these idiots?



  • @Zemm said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]The British resisted decimalized currency for a long time because they thought it was too complicated.

     

    NOTE FOR NON-AMERICANS:

    Five pennies = One nickel; Two nickels = One dime; Two and a half dimes = One quarter; Two quarters = One half-dollar; Two half-dollars = One dollar; Five dollars = One finski; Two finskis = One sawbuck; Ten sawbucks = One Benjamin

    Granted, not as complicated as the £sd system, but if you include nicknames of money you can complicate it. (I had to confirm the names on Wikipedia, are there others?)

     

    [/quote]
    1 c-note = 100 bucks; a dime could be either 10 cents or $10,000 - it all depends on context. "A buck and a quarter" could mean $1.25 or $125, again depending on context. If you really want slang, go for a Washington ($1), Lincoln ($5), Jackson ($20), or Benjamin ($100).



  • @dohpaz42 said:

    @Zemm said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]The British resisted decimalized currency for a long time because they thought it was too complicated.

     

    NOTE FOR NON-AMERICANS:

    Five pennies = One nickel; Two nickels = One dime; Two and a half dimes = One quarter; Two quarters = One half-dollar; Two half-dollars = One dollar; Five dollars = One finski; Two finskis = One sawbuck; Ten sawbucks = One Benjamin

    Granted, not as complicated as the £sd system, but if you include nicknames of money you can complicate it. (I had to confirm the names on Wikipedia, are there others?)

     


    1 c-note = 100 bucks; a dime could be either 10 cents or $10,000 - it all depends on context. "A buck and a quarter" could mean $1.25 or $125, again depending on context. If you really want slang, go for a Washington ($1), Lincoln ($5), Jackson ($20), or Benjamin ($100).[/quote]

    Zemm's post is the first time I ever heard of a finski. The context-driven magnification of "dime" and variations of "buck" do get rather silly, though, in my opinion. (Especially since I'm pretty sure I've also heard a buck fifty used to mean $150,000.)

    You can also get into some fun at the high end of the scale once you get to, say, a billion...which probably won't confuse anyone who knows you're American, but might make some Europeans think you're even richer if they don't know where you're from (see milliard); and at the lower end of the scale, while our current coinage is in multiples of 5 and (with the exception of the nickel and possibly the dime) at least somewhat linguistically indicative of value relative to a dollar...the American use of the word "bit" for currency (two bits is a quarter) probably only makes cents (ha ha) in Americanized context. Unless there are other countries that used to chop silver dollars into pieces to make change.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @kilroo said:

    @Zemm said:
    Five dollars = One finski;

    Zemm's post is the first time I ever heard of a finski.

    More common than "finski" is, simply, fin.

    PS Can you lend me a C-Note until my brother straightens up?



  • @Zemm said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]The British resisted decimalized currency for a long time because they thought it was too complicated.
    NOTE FOR NON-AMERICANS:

    Five pennies = One nickel; Two nickels = One dime; Two and a half dimes = One quarter; Two quarters = One half-dollar; Two half-dollars = One dollar; Five dollars = One finski; Two finskis = One sawbuck; Ten sawbucks = One Benjamin

    Granted, not as complicated as the £sd system, but if you include nicknames of money you can complicate it. (I had to confirm the names on Wikipedia, are there others?)[/quote]

    You know, mock it if you want, but:

    1) Nobody uses (and most people probably haven't even heard of) "finski", "sawbuck", or "half-dollar." (Does the mint even print half-dollars anymore? I haven't seen one in decades.)

    2) Our coinage is actually optimized for "fewest coins required to make change", so there's an extremely logical reason that, for example, a quarter is 2.5 dimes.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @blakeyrat said:

    1) Nobody uses (and most people probably haven't even heard of) "finski", "sawbuck", or "half-dollar." (Does the mint even print half-dollars anymore? I haven't seen one in decades.)

    Indeed. About the only time I hear those is when joking around. Actually, the Kennedy half dollar is still being minted, but doesn't circulate much.

    @blakeyrat said:

    2) Our coinage is actually optimized for "fewest coins required to make change", so there's an extremely logical reason that, for example, a quarter is 2.5 dimes.

    What's interesting is that none of them have their actual denomination printed on them using numbers. It's stuff like, "Five Cents" or "Quarter Dollar."



  • @kilroo said:

    Zemm's post is the first time I ever heard of a finski. The context-driven magnification of "dime" and variations of "buck" do get rather silly, though, in my opinion. (Especially since I'm pretty sure I've also heard a buck fifty used to mean $150,000.)

     

    "Bill" is sometimes used for $100, often interchangably with "buck" as in "I dropped two bills on the head unit and three bucks on the woofer, and the bass was so loud my muffler fell off."

    For extra fun, people will sometimes use currency slang for body mass, as in "I weigh about a buck seventy-five."

    @kilroo said:

    Unless there are other countries that used to chop silver dollars into pieces to make change.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    2) Our coinage is actually optimized for "fewest coins required to make change", so there's an extremely logical reason that, for example, a quarter is 2.

    The ridicule is not at the number of denominations (indeed any base-100 coinage system will probably end up needing a 2.5 multiplier) but the names. Under the metricised British system, you have the penny, then the two-pence, five-pence, ten-pence, twenty-pence, fifty-pence, one-pound, and two-pound coins. (Then the five-pound note (or "fiver" if you want a nickname, although it's hardly abstract), ten-pound note ("tenner"), twenty-pound note ("twenty"), and the little-circulated fifty-pound note (frequently not accepted due to the high prevalence of forgeries – little circulation means little familiarity with what it should look like, which combined with its high value makes it an ideal note to forge).)

    I've found very few aspects of the US physical currency that I like. In fact, I can't currently think of one.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @homsar said:


    The ridicule is not at the number of denominations (indeed any base-100 coinage system will probably end up needing a 2.5 multiplier) but the names. Under the metricised British system, you have the penny, then the two-pence, five-pence, ten-pence, twenty-pence, fifty-pence, one-pound, and two-pound coins. (Then the five-pound note (or "fiver" if you want a nickname, although it's hardly abstract), ten-pound note ("tenner"), twenty-pound note ("twenty"), and the little-circulated fifty-pound note (frequently not accepted due to the high prevalence of forgeries – little circulation means little familiarity with what it should look like, which combined with its high value makes it an ideal note to forge).)

    I've found very few aspects of the US physical currency that I like. In fact, I can't currently think of one.

    Your description sounds a lot like US currency, actually, so it's not clear what you don't like, aside from maybe just exhibiting your xenophobia.

    The only somewhat valid thing I've ever really heard is that our paper bills are all the same size and colors (though some of the newer bills have slightly different coloring). But I think the different sizes are mainly a problem for blind people (who don't really seem to mind). Different size bills just seem messy and complicate things like vending machines or self serve checkout machines.



  • @homsar said:

    I've found very few aspects of the US physical currency that I like. In fact, I can't currently think of one.

    What? Something about the US that you don't like? Psh, you must be jealousk, that's all.

    @boomzilla said:

    Different size bills just seem messy and complicate things like vending machines or self serve checkout machines.

    A better alternative, imo, would be same-sized bills with different edges or internal features. That way machine feeders don't have to care, but the difference can still be tactile. Or better yet, allow the machines to feel the difference, too: like punch cards from the days of yore.



  • @boomzilla said:

    Your description sounds a lot like US currency, actually, so it's not clear what you don't like, aside from maybe just exhibiting your xenophobia.



    I should probably have said "prefer" rather than "like"; my bad.



    a) Coinage denominations are more closely spaced, meaning fewer coins required to make change. (Note that the 2p and 50p coins circulate in roughly similar amounts to the other coins. I think moving the 2.5 gap to 20-50 rather than 10-25 makes the smaller denomination coins easier to spend. Certainly I've never needed to use a Coinstar in 24 years of living in the UK; one month in the US on the other hand has given me enough loose change that I do now need to use one.)

    b) Coinage is more easily identified due to differences in size, colouring, and shape.

    c) Coinage extends to higher denominations (even numerically, without accounting for the exchange rate), so:

    i) Vending machines needn't accept notes in most cases, reducing cost of construction and avoiding having the machine reject your perfectly valid notes because they're somewhat tattered

    ii) You can reach into a pocket and pull out change to pay for most small purchases, rather than grasping at a pile of folded bills and trying to work out which ones are the ones you need.

    d) The points you raise about your notes. Our notes vary in size (although only a little, not enough to make huge problems for wallet or self-checkout manufacturers; see point ci regarding vending machines, and I would presume that the different sizes could also be used to confirm denomination in the latter case). They are also distinctively different colours (I can now sometimes identify a $5 bill based on its colour; the others I'm still stumped by)

    e) An entirely aesthetic complaint – the plating on the coinage makes them look either forged, dirty, or like there is a second coin present in a different denomination.



    So there are some things I prefer about the UK coinage that aren't (I don't think) xenophobically-motivated. I still can't think of anything I particularly like about the US circulating currency (in preference to the UK's). I have fewer objections to the circulating Euro, although the intermediate-value coins are again similarly-shaped and coloured making them similarly difficult to identify to the US coins. At least their sizes are consistent, though (increasing size = increasing value). I haven't had much experience with any other currencies, so can't really provide any other comparisons on the xenophobia front.



  • @kilroo said:

    @dohpaz42 said:
    @Zemm said:

    [quote user="Renan "C#" Sousa"]The British resisted decimalized currency for a long time because they thought it was too complicated.

     

    NOTE FOR NON-AMERICANS:

    Five pennies = One nickel; Two nickels = One dime; Two and a half dimes = One quarter; Two quarters = One half-dollar; Two half-dollars = One dollar; Five dollars = One finski; Two finskis = One sawbuck; Ten sawbucks = One Benjamin

    Granted, not as complicated as the £sd system, but if you include nicknames of money you can complicate it. (I had to confirm the names on Wikipedia, are there others?)

     

    1 c-note = 100 bucks; a dime could be either 10 cents or $10,000 - it all depends on context. "A buck and a quarter" could mean $1.25 or $125, again depending on context. If you really want slang, go for a Washington ($1), Lincoln ($5), Jackson ($20), or Benjamin ($100).

    Zemm's post is the first time I ever heard of a finski. The context-driven magnification of "dime" and variations of "buck" do get rather silly, though, in my opinion. (Especially since I'm pretty sure I've also heard a buck fifty used to mean $150,000.)

    You can also get into some fun at the high end of the scale once you get to, say, a billion...which probably won't confuse anyone who knows you're American, but might make some Europeans think you're even richer if they don't know where you're from (see milliard); and at the lower end of the scale, while our current coinage is in multiples of 5 and (with the exception of the nickel and possibly the dime) at least somewhat linguistically indicative of value relative to a dollar...the American use of the word "bit" for currency (two bits is a quarter) probably only makes cents (ha ha) in Americanized context. Unless there are other countries that used to chop silver dollars into pieces to make change [/quote]

    The "chopping them up to make change" thing is because they were originally equivalent in value to the Spanish dollar, the "pieces of eight" of pirate-lore fame, which frequently was cut into eights to make change, as the value of a Spanish dollar was 8 reales, a smaller denomination.

    In fact, even though Congress made Spanish coins no longer legal tender in the US in 1857, the New York Stock Exchange continued to value stocks in $1/8 increments until 1997, when they converted to...

    wait for it...

    $1/16 increments!  (Valuing stocks in $0.01 increments like every other good for sale in the US is actually a very recent change.)

     


  • ♿ (Parody)

    Yikes! Wall of text.

    @homsar said:

    a) Coinage denominations are more closely spaced, meaning fewer coins required to make change. (Note that the 2p and 50p coins circulate in roughly similar amounts to the other coins. I think moving the 2.5 gap to 20-50 rather than 10-25 makes the smaller denomination coins easier to spend. Certainly I've never needed to use a Coinstar in 24 years of living in the UK; one month in the US on the other hand has given me enough loose change that I do now need to use one.)

    Frankly, carrying actual cash is fairly rare for me. When I do, the change I accumulate ends up in the kids piggy banks. Anyways, inflation being what it's been over the last...40 years?...the amount of change actually used is pretty small. If there's a tip jar or something, I'll tend to at least drop any coins I get in there.

    @homsar said:

    b) Coinage is more easily identified due to differences in size, colouring, and shape.

    Hmm...coloring, maybe. The US coins are actually pretty different in size and shape, unless you come across a Susan B Anthony dollar, which is very similar to a quarter. Clearly, suffragettes are TRWTF. Except for maybe the 5 cent coin being bigger than the 10 cent coin.

    @homsar said:

    c) Coinage extends to higher denominations (even numerically, without accounting for the exchange rate), so:

    i) Vending machines needn't accept notes in most cases, reducing cost of construction and avoiding having the machine reject your perfectly valid notes because they're somewhat tattered

    ii) You can reach into a pocket and pull out change to pay for most small purchases, rather than grasping at a pile of folded bills and trying to work out which ones are the ones you need.

    Man, dollar, pound, euro, etc. coins drive me nuts. But, to each his own. In particular, I have a pretty easy time keeping track of my wallet, which does a pretty good job of keeping the bills neat and easy to get to. Loose coins, not so much, and there's no way in hell I'll start carrying a change purse.

    @homsar said:

    So there are some things I prefer about the UK coinage that aren't (I don't think) xenophobically-motivated. I still can't think of anything I particularly like about the US circulating currency (in preference to the UK's). I have fewer objections to the circulating Euro, although the intermediate-value coins are again similarly-shaped and coloured making them similarly difficult to identify to the US coins. At least their sizes are consistent, though (increasing size = increasing value). I haven't had much experience with any other currencies, so can't really provide any other comparisons on the xenophobia front.

    Yes, here you actually explained some differences, which are fairly reasonable, even though I don't share them all (personal taste and practice being what it is). I haven't really been exposed to the UK's coinage, just the occasional Canadian coin, Korean and various european coinages. I once found a 5 Won coin. Most worthless coin I've ever possessed.



  • @boomzilla said:

    Man, dollar, pound, euro, etc. coins drive me nuts. But, to each his own.
     

    Don't go to Argentina, then.  They don't even have a 1 peso bill.  $1 coins (yes, they use a $ sign for pesos) are extremely common, and the lowest-denomination bill is $2.



  • @boomzilla said:

    The US coins are actually pretty different in size and shape

    The five-cent coin seems very similarly-sized to the quarter to me, although in pulling both out of my pocket to verify this I've noticed that the quarter has ridged edges whilst the 5-cent doesn't, which is helpful to know.

    @boomzilla said:

    Yes, here you actually explained some differences, which are fairly reasonable, even though I don't share them all (personal taste and practice being what it is).

    Indeed, personal taste will always be personal taste, and I don't lay any claims to having good taste!



  • @homsar said:

    @boomzilla said:
    The US coins are actually pretty different in size and shape

    The five-cent coin seems very similarly-sized to the quarter to me, although in pulling both out of my pocket to verify this I've noticed that the quarter has ridged edges whilst the 5-cent doesn't, which is helpful to know.

     

    They aren't that close to each other, instead of comparing them visually try gripping each between the first and second knuckles of a finger and then the second and third knuckles.  In addition nickels are thicker (though that is slight and generally only noticeable with slight of hand practice).


  • 🚽 Regular

    @homsar said:

    The five-cent coin seems very similarly-sized to the quarter to me, although in pulling both out of my pocket to verify this I've noticed that the quarter has ridged edges whilst the 5-cent doesn't, which is helpful to know.
     

    You might be thinking of pennies and dimes, which are similarly sized to eachother (the dime, despite being worth more, is actually slightly smaller than the penny). Dimes have the grooves, whereas pennies do not.



  • @RHuckster said:

    You might be thinking of pennies and dimes, which are similarly sized to eachother (the dime, despite being worth more, is actually slightly smaller than the penny). Dimes have the grooves, whereas pennies do not.

    Like I said, I pulled the coins out of my pocket to check. I know which ones I was talking about. (Pennies and dimes are made easy by the difference in colour.)

    @locallunatic said:

    They aren't that close to each other, instead of comparing them visually try gripping each between the first and second knuckles of a finger and then the second and third knuckles. In addition nickels are thicker (though that is slight and generally only noticeable with slight of hand practice).

    They're close enough that I get confused; I make it only a 10 - 15% difference in diameter by eye. The knuckle thing is interesting, although my fingers now smell faintly of coin.

    @Mason Wheeler said:

    Don't go to Argentina, then. They don't even have a 1 peso bill. $1 coins (yes, they use a $ sign for pesos) are extremely common, and the lowest-denomination bill is $2.

    But the Argentine peso is only worth USD 0.25, so they effectively have a USD 0.5 bill, lower than the lowest US denomination...



  • @boomzilla said:

    Different size bills just seem messy and complicate things like vending machines or self serve checkout machines.
    I live in the eurozone, and never noticed that the machines would have any problems due to different-sized bills.
    @homsar said:
    i) Vending machines needn't accept notes in most cases, reducing cost of construction and avoiding having the machine reject your perfectly valid notes because they're somewhat tattered
    Vending machines here always took banknotes. Before we switched out currency to Euros, the most valuable coin for the longest time used to be 5 SIT, which is roughly €0.02 (shortly before we switched to euro, we also got coins for 10 and 50 SIT - €0.04 and €0.21). I never liked coins, and always preferred banknotes - and apparently I'm not the only one, since I heard rumours that Euro banknotes of lower denominations were actually requested, but declined when we were joining.
    @Mason Wheeler said:
    They don't even have a 1 peso bill.  $1 coins (yes, they use a $ sign for pesos) are extremely common, and the lowest-denomination bill is $2.
    I wish it was like this in Europe - the lowest denomination bill is €5...


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @ender said:

    @boomzilla said:
    Different size bills just seem messy and complicate things like vending machines or self serve checkout machines.

    I live in the eurozone, and never noticed that the machines would have any problems due to different-sized bills.

    Obviously, the machine would have to be able to do so. And all of the current machines in the US can't, which was really my point, though I didn't specify.

    @ender said:

    I wish it was like this in Europe - the lowest denomination bill is €5...

    <conspiracy-theorist>

    Large denomination coins are just hidden subsidies for the men's garment industry!

    </conspiracy-theorist>



  • @boomzilla said:

    Obviously, the machine would have to be able to do so. And all of the current machines in the US can't, which was really my point, though I didn't specify.

    Don't the majority of vending machines only take $1 bills? (I'm going on very limited experience here mind, so please tell me if I'm wrong.) In that case, surely the $1 would just become the one to not change size. (Admittedly that would be annoying from the point of view of making larger denominations larger, as you'd want the $1 to be a bit smaller in that case.) In the case of self-checkouts, I think most machines are built for the international market rather than being US-specific, so probably already have handling for multiple note sizes built in. (Certainly the ones I've seen appear near-identical to UK models.)

    @boomzilla said:

    Large denomination coins are just hidden subsidies for the men's garment industry!

    Small-denomination notes are just hidden subsidies for the wallet industry!



  • @homsar said:

    @boomzilla said:
    Large denomination coins are just hidden subsidies for the men's garment industry!

    Small-denomination notes are just hidden subsidies for the wallet industry!

     

    And they both support the couch cushion industry!


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @homsar said:

    @boomzilla said:
    Obviously, the machine would have to be able to do so. And all of the current machines in the US can't, which was really my point, though I didn't specify.

    Don't the majority of vending machines only take $1 bills? (I'm going on very limited experience here mind, so please tell me if I'm wrong.)

    Most take at least $5 bills, especially with how much more expensive items have become.

    @homsar said:

    @boomzilla said:
    Large denomination coins are just hidden subsidies for the men's garment industry!

    Small-denomination notes are just hidden subsidies for the wallet industry!

    Yeah, those bills sure do wear out the wallets faster.

    I always have difficulty suspending disbelief when watching TV, and the characters always have at least a couple hundred dollars in cash on them. ("Here's a wad of $100 bills, this is all I have on me.") In this age of electronic payments, do many people really still do that? OTOH, was recently watching National Lampoons Vacation, and was amused at how they were running low on cash, and needed to find a place willing to cash a check.



  • @boomzilla said:

    I always have difficulty suspending disbelief when watching TV, and the characters always have at least a couple hundred dollars in cash on them. ("Here's a wad of $100 bills, this is all I have on me.") In this age of electronic payments, do many people really still do that?

    This. 

    I can't remember the last time, other then when making a large cash-only purchase, did I have over $60-$100 on my person.

    I just don't understand the people who will go and withdraw $300.  What the hell do you need that much cash for, other than drugs and hookers... Oh, wait...



  • Here is why American moneys are superior:

    There is a vending machine in my office where a can of pop costs $.35. I can bring to the machine one dime and two quarters, and the machine which has a flakey coin reader can reject any one of those coins and the remaining coins can still be used to purchase the Diet Pepsi!

    So you see it has error correction, as this example which is entirely relevant and makes perfect sense demonstrates.

    That is why American moneys are superior.


  • 🚽 Regular

    @blakeyrat said:

    There is a vending machine in my office where a can of pop costs $.35.
     

    What the... is your office in 1985? Or does the machine just serve those useless half-sized cans?



  • @RHuckster said:

    @blakeyrat said:
    There is a vending machine in my office where a can of pop costs $.35.
    What the... is your office in 1985? Or does the machine just serve those useless half-sized cans?

    Uh, neither?

    Hell, I've worked at other companies were pop was free... what year does that correspond to on your scale?



  • @blakeyrat said:

    @RHuckster said:
    @blakeyrat said:
    There is a vending machine in my office where a can of pop costs $.35.
    What the... is your office in 1985? Or does the machine just serve those useless half-sized cans?
    Uh, neither?

    Hell, I've worked at other companies were pop was free... what year does that correspond to on your scale?

    1675

  • Garbage Person

    @RHuckster said:

    @blakeyrat said:

    There is a vending machine in my office where a can of pop costs $.35.
     

    What the... is your office in 1985? Or does the machine just serve those useless half-sized cans?

    This isn't an unusual arrangement. Company wants to provide refreshment on-hand at or below cost. The crude solution would be to buy sodas, stuff them in a fridge, and set out an honor box. Even assuming 100% honesty on the part of employees, this might lead to problems, eg when someone brings a soda with their lunch and stuffs it in the fridge. They might be called out for dishonesty if seen taking their soda without paying. Also, it's labor intensive - someone has to go buy soda and be reimbursed by the company. Depending on the size of the office, this might be a daily affair.

    Thus we enter the realm of the Enterprise Beverage Management Solution. It's quite simple - the company makes a small monthly payment to the local soda bottler to have them emplace a soda machine and keep it stocked at all times. If the company wishes the beverage to be free or below cost, they also pay for the shortfall on a per-beverage basis. If the company wishes the beverage to be at cost, there is no further financial transaction.

    It's just like any other managed service, really - and if you don't understand how those work, you shouldn't be in IT. I mean, fuck, we have managed services for indoor pot plants!


  • @boomzilla said:

    What's interesting is that none of them have their actual denomination printed on them using numbers. It's stuff like, "Five Cents" or "Quarter Dollar."

    If my memory serves me, there are at least two coins that lack any sort of sensible printed description (and one of them is the dime). For some time during my first visit to the US, I'd avoid paying with coins because I couldn't recall how much they were worth. (The next step was trying to pay for a $2 coffee with a carefully prepared $2 fistful of accumulated coins that I want to get rid of - argh, no, cashier says that's 2.17(?), because of added taxes!)

    In other news, Sweden did away with the 0.50 öre coins recently, so now there's only SEK 1, 5 and 10 coins (1 USD = ~6 SEK). Never again shall ordinary people be exposed to evil fractions!



  • It's funny that we decimalized pretty everything in the metric system, except for the f** time where we still use a system based on 12 (2*12 hours/day, 5*12 minutes/hours), 30, er 31, er no 28 except when it's 29 days a month and.... 12 months a year (damn number) .

     

     

    Other debate, car:  Liter / 100 kilometer, or miles / galon?



  • @tchize said:

    Other debate, car:  Liter / 100 kilometer, or miles / galon?

    Square metre.



  • @kilroo said:

    Zemm's post is the first time I ever heard of a finski.

    Then I can recommend an excellent movie for you: Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

    @Save Ferris said:

    It's amazing what someone will do for a Finski


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