The American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending all liquid medicine for children be measured in milliliters instead of the traditional teaspoons and tablespoons.
"Metric dosing is the most precise way to dose medications and prevent overdoses," said Dr. Ian Paul, lead author of a new policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Accidental medication overdoses send more than 70,000 children to U.S. emergency rooms each year, according to background information with the statement, which is published online March 30 in the journal Pediatrics.
Using only milliliters "eliminates at least some significant sources of dosing confusion and errors," he added.
Currently, some over-the-counter medications include metric dosing instructions along with a measuring device marked in teaspoons, the academy noted.
Previous research has found that parents who use only milliliters when giving kids medicine make fewer errors than parents who use teaspoons or tablespoons, the statement said.
NASA uses metric units, although Lockheed Martin used pound force seconds instead of newton seconds in calculations with the Mars Climate Orbiter, causing it to burn up in the Martian atmosphere.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday March 31 2015, @02:50PM
Note this will probably lead to the little chart on baby tylenol bottles containing Kg/Pounds vs mL. This will be an improvement from Kg/Lbs vs mL/teaspoon/ozs but its still not perfect.
Also, in before someone posts "there will be a magic smartphone app that'll fix the whole problem" I suppose some start up will sell a thing that plugs into your stereotypical most recent model iphone to hold syringes full of baby tylenol, or presumably heroin, to perfectly dose recipients.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by wantkitteh on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:00PM
American Academy of Pediatrics say "ambiguous measurements cause incorrect doses". <sarcasm>No shit Sherlock!</sarcasm>
(Score: 3, Insightful) by FatPhil on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:09PM
Idiocracy in 500 years and counting...
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 4, Touché) by Nerdfest on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:18PM
You're awfully optimistic.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday March 31 2015, @04:39PM
But he question is - are they actually ambiguous? Or are we just trying to work around abject stupidity?
It's objectively ambiguous since people have tablespoons and teaspoons in their silverware drawer as well as with their measuring cups. If there were common kitchen tools also called millileters you would have the same exact problem.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by KiloByte on Tuesday March 31 2015, @07:37PM
The problem is, some teaspoons I have are over twice as big as small ones, same with tablespoons. Using them for measuring anything is worthless.
Ceterum censeo systemd esse delendam.
(Score: 1) by Pr. L Muishkin on Tuesday March 31 2015, @10:43PM
I'd say not. SI measurements are agreed globally to the point where standard measuring jugs, cups, etc, (cheap plastic crap at that,) which I know are widely available and used in European countries are the same measurements adhered to by the drug companies, albeit to much higher accuracies. When the drug companies recommend a dosage they are doing so based on research and testing based on SI measurements which then have to be converted for the American measurement system. While I am convinced that most American homes will posses similar standard measuring gear, I wonder how many people in America would know to give a dosage of a tablespoon with the standard measurement or just the first silverware tablespoon which came to hand considering that there might be a large difference between these.
I wonder, do children’s drugs come packaged with some form of plastic measuring spoon/cup with clear markings in America? As far back as thirty years ago this has been the norm in the UK, perhaps a quirk of our poor but necessary NHS. Perhaps the best result of that being, giving a parent/guardian a specific measuring device to use and accept before all others also highlights the danger of getting it wrong. Considering how much prescription medication can cost in America, I'd hope this is not an expense the drug companies feel they can do without shouldering. If however this is down to ignorance on the part of the parent, (as happens often enough over here too,) then I have no other suggestions that have not been put better elsewhere.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Vanderhoth on Tuesday March 31 2015, @04:42PM
Problem is "table" spoon and "tea" spoon are names that mean two things.
There's the silverware "tea" and "table" spoons, and the baking "tea" and "table" spoons
In a way it is stupidity, or laziness at least, because all parents should know when you read "1 tsp" on a medicine bottle it's referring to the "baking" measurement.
There's the "tea" spoon you use for "tea", which is actual closer to one baking tablespoon and a "table" spoon used for dinner, which is about 1.5 to 2 "baking" table spoons.
When it says one tea spoon, a lot of people reach in their silverware drawer instead of their baking drawer. Silverware comes in a variety of sizes so measurements aren't consistent for and frequently a silverware teaspoon is considerably more than the intended dosage.
"Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe
(Score: 3, Informative) by PizzaRollPlinkett on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:01PM
Let's just panic. How do we have any kids left?
They eat dirt.
http://www.livescience.com/16072-pica-hospitalizations-increase-eating-disorders.html [livescience.com]
They eat laundry pods.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/11/10/study-kids-are-eating-those-laundry-detergent-pods-and-theyre-dangerous/ [washingtonpost.com]
And now they overdose on cough syrup.
I'm starting to believe the media manufacturers these crises to have something to talk about. We didn't have laundry pods when I was growing up, but we sure had dirt. Yum-o! I could eat me some dirt. The best kind had worms in it. High in protein. And look at how I turned out. I'm a model Internet citizen. Who would never make fun of a health crisis invented by the media to scare parents. Oh, wait, maybe I'm not the best example.
(E-mail me if you want a pizza roll!)
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:45PM
> a health crisis invented by the media
I don't buy the fabrication theory: They don't really have anything to sell by pointing out the advantage of metric...
If tylenol just "happens" to have a new ad campaign starting tomorrow with their new "advanced children safety markings (metric)", then I'll totally agree.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Buck Feta on Tuesday March 31 2015, @04:14PM
> They don't really have anything to sell by pointing out the advantage of metric...
They sell ad time on their sensationalist news programs.
- fractious political commentary goes here -
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @07:08PM
Honestly, it is cheap ass manufacturers AND parents. The ones I was forced to take as a kid had little cups that came with (usually part of the cap) or my parents had a vile with the little numbers printed on them in ml AND tsp. It was not that hard to 'get right'. In fact it was so easy I could dose myself at the age of 8. They probably still have the thing.
About 10 seconds of searching reveals this
http://www.amazon.com/Disposable-plastic-graduated-medicine-capacity/dp/B000GCOHVA [amazon.com]
and
http://www.amazon.com/Globe-Scientific-CryoClear-3006-100-Polypropylene/dp/B00E3KEWGG [amazon.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @11:48PM
kids-are-eating-those-laundry-detergent-pods
The pods are small packets of concentrated detergent in a water-soluble sack
We didn't have laundry pods when I was growing up
You must be incredibly ancient.
Salvo, a brand of laundry detergent manufactured by Procter and Gamble in the 1950s and 1960s [wikipedia.org]
They looked like oversized SweetTarts [pinimg.com]
Pranksters would throw them in public fountains.
-- gewg_
(Score: 3, Informative) by FatPhil on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:01PM
Then again, if parents manage to harm their offspring because of ignorance, then at least the good Mister Darwin has something positive to say about the consequences. And lets face it, the fitness function has got rather flabby in recent decades.
There's a Louis CK "of course ..., but maybe" going through my mind presently...
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by wantkitteh on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:09PM
In 15 seconds I've found conversion factors for "UK Teaspoons to ml" of 5.92ml and 3.55ml. Sounds like they do.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:25PM
This evidence doesn't convince me that people do.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:36PM
"the top 7 hits are contextless"
I still think you miss the point. The point is that it's still confusing and even your post seems to suggest so. We should have one metric system to minimize confusion, heck, that was the whole idea behind having the metric system. Not a system where one has to guess, based on context or lack thereof, how many teaspoons is in a tablespoon and how many mL that amounts to.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by wantkitteh on Tuesday March 31 2015, @04:22PM
When we're talking about people consuming something, be it medicine or otherwise, they'll go with what they know. If it says "teaspoon" on the packet, they'll grab whatever they think is a teaspoon.
(Score: 3, Funny) by darkfeline on Tuesday March 31 2015, @06:30PM
I personally use a ladle as a teaspoon. What can I say, I really love drinking tea.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2, Informative) by splodus on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:30PM
I think every bottle of medicine I've bought in the UK has come with one of those measuring spoons. These days they have two ends, one is 5ml and the other is 2.5ml. Recently though most have come with a measuring syringe, graduated in 1ml (no needle on the end of course :)
When I was little most people used a random teaspoon from the drawer, but for the most part I think the biggest inaccuracy was in guessing how much to give based on age and weight.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:40PM
for the most part I think the biggest inaccuracy was in guessing how much to give based on ... weight.
I suspect this is a big problem with the obesity epidemic, if the gravitational field of the largest kids is now like four times the skinniest kids. I seen some sights on my kids playground...
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday March 31 2015, @07:50PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:34PM
Liquid medicines, esp. for children, in the United States have for several years included a little syringe in the box with measurement markings on the side. As long as you use the syringe that came with the medicine, the units (teaspoons, ml, whatever) will always be in agreement with the dosage schedule on the box, and the syringe will measure out a much more precise dose than some little spoon. It's a solved problem.
But to answer your question, in the U.S., if someone is converting "spoons" to mL, they are defined thus: 1 teaspoon is 5 mL, 1 tablespoon is 15 mL. Just using mL rather than "spoons" avoids any hazy ideas the patient or parent have altogether, and lately the dosages have been expressed simply in mL. That is the trend.
I remember as a kid (I'm old) the dosages would be, say, 1/2 teaspoon, 1 teaspoon, 1-1/2 teaspoon, but now it's expressed as 2.5 ml, 5 ml, 7.5 ml.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @04:00PM
From the summary:
So no, the units will not always be in agreement with the dosage schedule on the box.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @05:11PM
To have a mismatched syringe and dosing schedule on the box *is* pretty lame. I have personally *never* encountered such a thing, and it would surprise me if any but the sketchiest dollar store generic medicines were packaged this way. It makes you wonder how carefully the manufacturer looked after the other aspects of drug manufacture.
I am all for the Academy of Pediatrics coming out with their recommendation. My point is that the vast majority of drugs already adhere to it, making this if not a "solved" problem, a "90% solved problem." And I think those sketchy drugs that don't already comply with the matched syringe/dosing will have problems adhering to it even after the recommendation.
(Score: 2) by JNCF on Tuesday March 31 2015, @05:09PM
Nobody actually uses a random teaspoon from their cutlery drawer for important medication, do they?
I'm not sure what you mean by "important" - I doubt I've ever taken any medicine that saved my life - but I definitely have childhood memories of my mom giving me medication measured with silverware.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Tuesday March 31 2015, @05:47PM
To paraphrase the great Charles Babbage, "I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such [an answer]." Let me see if I can follow the logic here...
- The UK uses Metric
- They drink tea in the UK
- Therefore, teaspoons are metric?
Both Google and Bing seem to agree that 1 US tsp = 4.92mL.
However, the average American does not know the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon, and that is on top of the fact that they are often (incorrectly) abbreviated the same way. So even if we are not switching over the entire country to metric, I am all for banning the use of tsp and Tsp as a measurement.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday March 31 2015, @07:52PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 01 2015, @03:50AM
I bet you think Americans up for a spot of tea and crumpets, too.
I bet if I handed the average American a spoon at random, they couldn't tell me if it was a teaspoon or not. BTW my mother left me a set of "teaspoons": long-handled small spoons for stirring tall glasses of iced tea, which probably hold about 2ml if I keep my hand real steady.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:03PM
Would be a website address on the bottle.
So rather than sparse compressed data they could be more verbose, have animated videos of dosage levels, show photo's of how much liquid that is on an actual spoon like they would have at home, or a physical image of a syringe with the correct amount so you can see the increments on the needle and the liquid inside. Perhaps images of what each side effect may look like with corresponding treatment.
Some of the molecules in these drugs don't just have an effect then wash out, they perform permanent molecular changes to the host that they are applied to, live damage, kidney damage, neuron damage.
Its only about a 50,000 dollar one time investment per drug to get a team to build a website like that and most of it would be in the graphics/presentation rather than anything to do with difficult code or logic, each individual drug takes several millions in research already, and they pay millions more in marketing the drug but spend little time creating a solid reference with good data.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:54PM
So American medicine does not come with a sheet of paper explaining in detail how to take the medicine, when to take it, when not to take it, what to do if you took too much of it, what to do if you forgot to take it, and so on?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @05:52PM
It does indeed, however some people cannot read, some people are mentally handicapped due to illness or have impaired cognition from medication itself.
Simplicity, like as unto a child when matters are so very grave is vital and it is that absolute titanium verbosity that shows they truly care about the vulnerable and that they are not placing data like they would for a computer because that is not what this is being applied to.
Children actually do take this stuff, think about a religious family who would be particularly sheltered, or a recent immigrant family who may not be able to read etc. There are very good reasons to spend a fraction of the advertising budget on full functional verbose data sharing because it is part of medical care to be ethical, think of the patient on their terms.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by kaszz on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:58PM
Or they could just specify the dose in milliliters and be done with it. Works without electricity and internet using only a flashlight.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @05:22PM
Err ... where do you get that flashlight that works without electricity?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @05:37PM
Same place you get milliliter spoons.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Snotnose on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:13PM
I wish he'd succeeded in making this country go metric. Instead, he forced this country to either drive 55 or risk a ticket for 20 years.
sigh.
Of course I'm against DEI. Donald, Eric, and Ivanka.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @04:24PM
That was Nixon.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday March 31 2015, @06:17PM
No, it was Carter. Look it up.
Of course I'm against DEI. Donald, Eric, and Ivanka.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday March 31 2015, @06:12PM
For what it's worth, I also think he was right about putting solar panels up on the White House too (Ronald Reagan promptly took them down upon taking office because he didn't want to look like some kind of hippie).
But we have a strange ambiguity in the US: Some things, like medicine and illegal drugs, are sold mostly in metric. Some things, like most foodstuffs, are sold mostly in imperial. And some things are sold in both: Standard carbonated beverage units are 8 fl oz, 12 fl oz, 1 liter, 20 fl oz, 2 liters.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @09:45PM
Maybe products that are sold to the world in general are mostly in metric, and products for the specific markets of USA, Myanmar and Liberia are denoted in Liberian/Burmese/Imperial teaspoons?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 01 2015, @12:41AM
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I like the nice round 10 oz. per pound of English measurement. Besides, what self-respecting nerd could possibly object to hexadecimal in the kitchen.
(Score: 2) by TLA on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:19PM
I will press.
I will fight this with every twenty eight grams of my be - oh, I can't do this!
Excuse me, I think I need to reboot my horse. - NCommander
(Score: 4, Funny) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:43PM
How about: "You'll have to pry my imperial measurement from my cold dead 101.6 millimetreses."
(Score: 1) by inertnet on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:56PM
America is a republic, get rid of that emperor already.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday March 31 2015, @09:45PM
The last emperor of the United States, Norton I (Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico) died in 1880, and we've been in an interregnum ever since.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:49PM
The problem is not in using non-metric units. The problem is in using different units in the description and the provided measurement device:
People read "take 5 [units]", take the measurement device provided with the medicine, and use that for measuring 5 [units] under the reasonable (but apparently often wrong) tacit assumption that the measurement device provided with the medicine uses the very same units of measurements as the instructions. If the instructions and the supplied measurement device used the same units, It would not matter much whether they measured in milliliters, teaspoons, or a made-up unit of measurement. Especially if they combined it with a warning to use nothing else but the supplied measurement device.
Demanding everything to be measured in milliliters would of course be a solution to that problem. Another solution would be to simply require that instructions and supplied measurement device use the same units.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday March 31 2015, @04:01PM
Perhaps some lawsuits from over dosage could solve that?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by theluggage on Tuesday March 31 2015, @06:04PM
The problem is not in using non-metric units. The problem is in using different units in the description and the provided measurement device:
True, but metric makes it easier to pick one unit that lets you use integers for everything, and stick to it.
Especially if they combined it with a warning to use nothing else but the supplied measurement device.
Unfortunately, our "forget logic - cover your ass" society has done a brilliant job of crying wolf and training people to ignore warnings.
Another solution would be to simply require that instructions and supplied measurement device use the same units.
Or, a solution that might actually work, is to stop worrying, embrace the idiocracy, and package liquid medicines for children in one-dose squeezy capsules that you snap off the tip and squirt into their mouth (made from something that dissolves in the gut).
(Score: 4, Funny) by pyg on Tuesday March 31 2015, @03:53PM
Mandatory Metric Measurements May Mediate Medical Mishaps.
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Tuesday March 31 2015, @04:10PM
That's brilliant mate. Wish I had thought of it.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @05:19PM
Glad you didn't think of it. Otherwise we would have had another one of those awful alliterative headlines.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Tuesday March 31 2015, @05:36PM
I was going to suggest a similar alliterative change, though i was going to work "'Murika" in there somehow.
Alliterative Acronyms Are Always Awful, Avoid And Abstain As Appropriate.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 3, Informative) by kaszz on Tuesday March 31 2015, @04:21PM
When I read about these teaspoons and tablespoons. It sounds like some absent-minded kitchen cook not modern medicine. Perhaps that's why United States is 34nd in infant deaths (1st is Singapore).
The definition for say teaspoon varies between culinary use 4.9 mL, nutritional labeling 5 mL, cutlery very between 2.5 - 6 mL etc. Japan has the same name and of course yet another definition. In some cases the definition varies between US and UK. Or liquid or dry or if an older definition is in use due to tradition.
All in all.. get rid of this definition roulette..!
Enter the modern world.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @04:31PM
thirty-fouthnd?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @05:47PM
I would guess that Kassz's first language is not English. I could be wrong, but this is a mistake that a native speaker almost never makes, but speakers of a English as a second language often do (even when their written English is very good).
I put this down to the English system making very little sense.I did not see a problem with the system until I saw many intelligent people just get it wrong.
A simple system would be if there was a single common suffix (th).
This would mean moving to oneth, twoth and threeth. Not as fluent
but more logical than the current system that makes no sense.
The small pseudo-code below does shows one way of getting it correct each time:
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Tuesday March 31 2015, @06:41PM
All natural languages make little sense, unfortunately (both written and spoken). Thankfully, humans are able to parse the meaning of even extremely butchered language.
Tourist: "wah-re ah-pot" "wah-re" *flaps arms* "ah-pot" *points to luggage*
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @06:43PM
eightth
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @08:16PM
My point was really just for the suffix in the numeric form. My experience is that people generally get the correct suffix when writing out words (possible because a spell checker will pick it up more consistently and people are less likely to write 1st by hand). Also the eigtth example given looks wrong, the rules of English and suffixes tell you there should be a single 't'
My experience comes from seeing people at MSc level (in a STEM subject) getting this wrong especially with 11th to 13th. These where people who where capable of fluent conversation (albeit with slight limitation in vocab and colloquialism). Many of the people who made this mistake had a better level of formal written English than I. Possible because they where less likely to slip into informal structures, or put colloquialisms in.
(Score: 1) by soylentsandor on Tuesday March 31 2015, @07:00PM
As a programmer, I must say I like the German convention of using a period instead of anything pronunciation-related. Thus, the above function could be reduced to:
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hubie on Tuesday March 31 2015, @06:50PM
If one is taking medicine at home with a potency where the difference in dosing between 2.5 mL and 6 mL is life-threatening, then it is probably not medicine that is supposed to be dosed at home.
Also, if one is clueless enough in the kitchen where one does not know the difference between a kitchen teaspoon (tsp) and a tablespoon (Tbsp), then the problem is not one of units but the person dispensing the medicine. For decades, liquid children's medicine has come with a dosing cup, and lately the cup has been replaced with a syringe. The dosing cup was always marked with both teaspoons and mL, or simply mL, and the syringes are marked in mL. If you've lost the measuring cup, then a kitchen teaspoon is an adequate replacement if your dose is described in teaspoons; if you're using a tablespoon in place of a teaspoon, again, this isn't a units issue but an end-user issue.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday March 31 2015, @07:24PM
The problem is the whole system is fucked up. Dosage should be specified in mL (metric) and perhaps a quick table to translate to tablespoon etc when precision isn't that important. The main problem is inconsistencies and risk of confusion.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @07:00PM
The failure was one of management and systems engineering. A project that big has a shitload of requirements that flow down to other requirements. One of the very first top-level requirements should have been the program definitions for units and everything else. The fact that a subcontractor could deliver something that supposedly met requirements in the wrong units means that a system engineer and/or contracts officer was not doing their job. One could easily say MO failed because everyone but Lockheed used the wrong units. The "right" units better have been specified somewhere, and if not, then it was a failure at the program level. If it was specified, then it was a failure at the subsystem level. Which units used is irrelevant.
(Score: 4, Funny) by AlHunt on Tuesday March 31 2015, @07:14PM
We were doing just fine with inches, pounds, ounces, miles and all their pals. Along come the elitist metric-fanbois and want to turn us all into a bunch of euro-weenies with their centi-this and milli-that. Now my rulers have a bunch of hashmarked bullshit along the once-pristine other side, my measuring cups are all similarly littered with a bunch of meaningless shit, my speedometer has another string of gobbledygook on it. Hell, even my car tires used to be clear and simple F78-15. I understood that. Now it''s some kind of hieroglyphic god damned algebra equation and I have to solve for X to know how much air to put in the damn things.
Now, children are dying because of the metric system.
Get off my lawn and take your metri-crap with you.