this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2026
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[–] DancingBear@midwest.social 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

5 cm is 1.9685 inches, which is about weeee big…. 🀏

Or one LLAP πŸ––

I use the metric system for almost all of my projects. I've never seen a 3d printer that used the english system and after a decade of use I really hate the english system.

[–] Aljernon@lemmy.today 8 points 1 day ago
[–] gustofwind@lemmy.world 113 points 2 days ago

You’ve unlocked: the number 10

[–] Rcklsabndn@sh.itjust.works 22 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I always thought it was cheeky that a lot of pistols in Fallout take 10mm ammo.

[–] higgsboson@dubvee.org 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

10mm ammo is a real thing, tho

And is expensive as fuck. As is the downgrade, .40 cal.

Maybe it's changed since I last had to purchase any, but it was twice as expensive as .45 bullets, and the guns always seemed subpar to other calibers anyway.

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[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Tbf 10mm Auto is a real caliber (that the FBI tried to use but "it hurted their wrists" so .40SW was invented.)

https://www.ammunitiondepot.com/3212-magtech-10mm-180-gr-fmj.html

[–] Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk 6 points 2 days ago (2 children)

SW stands for Soft Wankers.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Sore wrists

[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

LOL it might as well since their weak ass wrists couldn't take it!

(For those who are wondering it's of course actually "Smith & Wesson.")

[–] Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk 3 points 2 days ago

Ah, yes, that also makes sense.

[–] FartMaster69@lemmy.dbzer0.com 86 points 2 days ago (3 children)
[–] Botzo@lemmy.world 32 points 2 days ago (2 children)

.40 S&W and 10mm auto are both 10mm rounds!

[–] LadyMeow@lemmy.blahaj.zone 22 points 2 days ago (3 children)

.40 S&W and 10mm auto are both 10mm rounds!

I don’t trust you, stranger number man! And the above… well that just proves there’s a conspiracy!

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[–] doingthestuff@lemy.lol 14 points 2 days ago

Here's the funny thing. A 9mm is closer to a cm. The rim is 9.96mm.

[–] marcos@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Can US people imagine their size in a whim?

[–] P00ptart@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

Probably not. It's a fairly rare round outside of fallout.

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[–] Harvey656@lemmy.world 29 points 2 days ago (6 children)

Centimeters are on the American ruler...

[–] SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 32 points 2 days ago (4 children)

We also put inches on ours, yet not a single soul has ever used that side. I think it's only to constantly remind us we are superior ;)

[–] HK65@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Screens are measured in inches

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[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

Yeah Stormy said it was only a centimeter

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[–] speckofrust@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

A system of measurement in which something like 15/16 of an inch is seen as a sensible way to measure a small distance. Not much else to say.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 2 points 1 day ago

I love love love that we use ounces for both weight and volume 🀩 I love love love that we use volume for measuring things like sour cream in recipes but weight in the store! America number 1!!! πŸ‡¨πŸ‡±

[–] RyanDownyJr@lemmy.world 46 points 2 days ago (2 children)

"Anything but the metric system"... Well kinda

[–] Penguin_1024@piefed.zip 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The metric system, but with extra steps.

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[–] Legisign@europe.pub 15 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I wonder, when they get a grown-up president again, will they finally also begin to move to the 21st century?

[–] jali67@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 days ago

You’re being way too optimistic

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[–] BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip 15 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Why don't they just round that guy's votes up to 60?

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[–] HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

As an American mechanical engineer, i do more unit conversions between metric and standard/ uscs than many people do in a lifetime

Hell just today I designed a custom spring in both as i need it asap and have to settle for the inch

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 17 points 2 days ago (6 children)

We occasionally get engineering diagrams from clients in the US and they're always going on about screws that are 2/3 of an inch long. It's not just that you're not using metric you're using a weird fraction and not a decimal.

It's super confusing when you get into high precision stuff because then they start going on about 128th of an inch. Just tell me how big you want it, stop telling me what fraction of a different measurement it is. Surely there is something below inch that you could use. I still wouldn't know what you were talking about, but at least it would look less stupid when you wrote it down.

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[–] Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 days ago (8 children)

Canadian engineer here. Although we use the metric system in principle, in reality we use feet and inches for everything. There are lots of benefits to using base 12 for measurements.

The number 12 has six factors, which are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12. It is the smallest number to have six factors, the largest number to have at least half of the numbers below it as divisors, and is only slightly larger than 10. (The numbers 18 and 20 also have six factors but are much larger.) Ten, in contrast, only has four factors, which are 1, 2, 5, and 10.

I get the Europeans hate it though because only the people who live near Chernobyl can count to 12 on their fingers.

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The thing is, we just use whole numbers. If you get under 1, then you move down by one SI prefix et voilΓ , you have whole numbers again

I've never thought of counting on fingers as a good reason for using it for units. But since our numeric system is base 10 (likely because of having 10 fingers indeed), it's easier to have our unit systems as base 10 too. If we all learned to think in base 12 from ground up, having base 12 units would make a lot more sense too

[–] froh42@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Btw you can count to 12 on your fingers with one hand. Starting from the end of the index finger tap each segment of the "remaining" four fingers with your thumb.

I heard someone claim that's how Babylonians invented and used the base 12 system in the first place.

[–] yata@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

The thing is that outside of North America people aren't terrified to death of decimals. We actually use them and find the process simple. So those factors of yours are completely irrelevant to us.

[–] Aljernon@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duodecimal

Sounds like your terrified of duodecimals. Base 12 number systems are better at somethings than base 10 and a number of mathematicians believe it's a superior number system all round and easier to teach to young people. And metric would work equally well in theory with either base 10 or base 12.

[–] GamingChairModel@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

There are lots of benefits to using base 12 for measurements.

12 is better than 10, I'll give you that. But 100 is better than 144, and 1000 is way better than 1728.

And that doesn't even get to 0.1 versus 1/12, or 0.01 versus 1/144.

So 12 might be a better standalone number, but it's a terrible base to work in.

[–] definitemaybe@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

But 144 is better than 100, for the exact same reason that 12 is better than 10?

There's a reason measured angles go to 360ths, then subdivided by 60 or even by 60 again.

100 is as terrible a base as 10, and you run into it all the time if you're designing something in metric; you can't divide by 3 evenly.

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[–] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 18 points 2 days ago (6 children)
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