Units of measurement and weight

Angelika Since I currently have a three-week semester break and can't spend all my time in the darkroom at the University of Berkeley (Figure 1 shows the mess that arises in the living room when I organize my works), I want to use this break to entertain you with some stories from everyday life in the "land of unlimited possibilities." I've noticed that we've never talked about the struggle (especially my struggle) with American measurement and weight units. As many of you might know, the metric system is not used here; instead, you encounter exotic units like "inches," "feet," "yards," "ounces," "gallons," etc. "Square inches" or "square feet" are particularly charming variations. It's also incomprehensible to us why exactly three "feet" should make a "yard." In everyday life, I simply have the problem that I have absolutely no idea what these measurements and weights represent. Even the question about my height can only be answered with a tired shrug. I can look it up on my driver's license: 5'8'', which is "5 feet, 8 inches," or 1.73 meters (Note from Michael: I think the lady is exaggerating a bit here).

Now you might be thinking that the whole thing can't be that difficult, since you just have to remember a few mnemonic devices for conversion. Far from it! To convert, you actually have to use more complicated mathematical operations. For example, you can convert "inches" to centimeters by multiplying the "inches" by 2.54. If you want to know what "ounces" are in grams, you have to multiply the "ounces" by 28.35. I tell you, it's madness! Admittedly, there are some units that are a bit easier to convert, like "feet" to meters (you have to divide by about 3); that's the only thing I can remember. By the way, don't be misled by the American "pounds" unit. Unfortunately, it doesn't correspond to our pound, as one might assume. It's either more or less. I've already forgotten which.

I also find it particularly amusing when Americans start dividing the "inch" into halves, quarters, or eighths and suddenly talk about a "quarter inch." This doesn't fit at all with the otherwise so practically minded American. In their language, any simplification is allowed, but they stick meticulously to the units of measurement. Only in some areas is the metric system already used (e.g., in medicine and aeronautics). Now, one last thing on this topic: Of course, temperature is not measured in Celsius but in Fahrenheit, which means I never know how warm it actually is. Water freezes here at 32 degrees. To convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, you first have to subtract 32 from the Fahrenheit and then divide by about 2. Makes sense, right? Good thing you can't rely on the weather forecast in San Francisco anyway. This is due neither to Fahrenheit nor Celsius, but simply to the fact that the weather can change by the minute. The "layered look" is therefore always recommended in San Francisco. Ah, at least you can rely on something.