• alvvayson@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    As a metric person, I can confirm.

    Indoor temperatures are basically 18-22 for most people most of the time.

    15-25 covers the whole range of indoor temperatures that people with functioning heat or A/C would see.

    For temperatures outside we commonly round to the nearest five:*

    • -5 and below: very cold winter weather
    • 0 cold winter weather
    • 5 mild winter weather
    • 10 autumn weather
    • 15 spring weather
    • 20 summer weather
    • 25 beach weather
    • 30 heatwave
    • 35 and higher heatwave in the Sahara

    The only thing I admire of the Fahrenheit scale is that it can round to the nearest 10 and still be a little bit more precise than Celsius with the nearest 5. And when discussing fever temperatures, Celsius needs half degrees and Fahrenheit does not.

    But it’s an absolutely awful scale for cooking.

      • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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        8 months ago

        Yeah, but precision really doesn’t matter for the scale of “what do I wear outside”. “The 70s” and ”20-25” both convey “short sleeves, light pants or shorts”.

        If you want precision you shouldn’t be rounding at all, and you’re probably doing something where you should use Celsius because of convention. Rounding and precision don’t really go together.

    • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      For cooking I think it’s mostly a matter of what you’re used to. Neither 145 or 63 are particularly “intuitive” numbers in my opinion, so as long as it’s clear which you’re using it doesn’t really matter.

      • alvvayson@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Of course, generations of humans cooked without thermometers or thermostats. You could cook with the Rankine scale if you get used to it .

        But let me just say, I don’t think it’s an accident France is both the originator of the Metric system and haute cuisine.

        Advanced cooking is as much engineering as it is art.

        • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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          8 months ago

          So, it actually isn’t a coincidence, but not in the way that you’re implying. :)

          After their whole “fuck the monarchy” phase, France got deep into “throw it out and replace it with something better”. Part of that was metric, and part was “OMG they’re so many unemployed royal chefs now, what if we made it so everyone could have a chance to eat like a king for a meal?”.

          Surplus chefs, a cultural tilt towards trying new things, and Frances historical position giving them access to a huge array of spices, meat, dairy and fish made for a great opportunity for culinary revolution.

          So they’re both born from the same spirit, but one didn’t cause the other. :) Thankfully they didn’t go the way of metric time, or the French revolutionary calendar, neither of which panned out.

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      In Canada the scale goes higher and lower.

      • -5 to -10: a warm day in the winter, a break from the misery
      • -10 to -20: Ugh, again?
      • -20 to -40: Wow, it’s actually really cold out!
      • -40 and below: Wow, even with all my winter gear, this is going to suck.

      Then sometimes in summer:

      • 35-40: WTF, we’re hotter than the Sahara again!