Comments on: Unusable Butter http://alignedleft.com/blog/2008/03/unusable-butter/ Exploring digital culture and dynamic media Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:11:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: michael http://alignedleft.com/blog/2008/03/unusable-butter/#comment-155 michael Sun, 23 Mar 2008 09:16:12 +0000 http://alignedleft.com/blog/2008/03/unusable-butter/#comment-155 <p>For the curious, that stick of butter compels one to get out a notebook and revisit dimensional analysis. But it would have been much easier to simply put just two equivalencies on the wrapper rather than three:</p> <p>1 Tbs = 1/16 cup 1 lb = 32 Tbs</p> <p>You only need two equivalencies to figure out the tablespoons/cups/pounds relationship. But the wrapper gives you three, trying to print what they believe to be the most commonly referenced recipe quantities.</p> <p>Regarding Karen's comment about weight vs. volume measurements, it's true that butter could be measured in either, but sticky or gooey substances are better off measured volumetrically. Think of the tablespoon lines on the stick of butter: Much easier to simply cut cold butter on the markers with a knife than to cut little bits of butter repeatedly onto a scale until you get the right mass.</p> <p>And, as long as we're being really picky about things, the countries that don't measure volumetrically use mass, not weight as Karen suggests, as the unit of measure.</p> For the curious, that stick of butter compels one to get out a notebook and revisit dimensional analysis. But it would have been much easier to simply put just two equivalencies on the wrapper rather than three:

1 Tbs = 1/16 cup 1 lb = 32 Tbs

You only need two equivalencies to figure out the tablespoons/cups/pounds relationship. But the wrapper gives you three, trying to print what they believe to be the most commonly referenced recipe quantities.

Regarding Karen’s comment about weight vs. volume measurements, it’s true that butter could be measured in either, but sticky or gooey substances are better off measured volumetrically. Think of the tablespoon lines on the stick of butter: Much easier to simply cut cold butter on the markers with a knife than to cut little bits of butter repeatedly onto a scale until you get the right mass.

And, as long as we’re being really picky about things, the countries that don’t measure volumetrically use mass, not weight as Karen suggests, as the unit of measure.

]]> By: Karen http://alignedleft.com/blog/2008/03/unusable-butter/#comment-146 Karen Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:20:39 +0000 http://alignedleft.com/blog/2008/03/unusable-butter/#comment-146 <p>A+ in arithmetic.</p> <p>Household hint: "A pint equals a pound the world round." You say you know that there are 16 Tbs in a cup. So if you can remember that 2 cups equal a pint, the butter-pound thing should make sense.</p> <p>There are places in the world (usually metric ones) where cooking measurements are done in weight, not volume. FYI</p> A+ in arithmetic.

Household hint: “A pint equals a pound the world round.” You say you know that there are 16 Tbs in a cup. So if you can remember that 2 cups equal a pint, the butter-pound thing should make sense.

There are places in the world (usually metric ones) where cooking measurements are done in weight, not volume. FYI

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