A Different Measure

A Different Measure was Originally Posted on January 23, 2007 by lavarock

We need new scales to measure things.

You often hear the statement that “On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate it an 11″. Should 10 become 12 or maybe 14 (to give us some leeway for inflation)?

In school we created lettered grades with “A” being the best. Yet we give “A+” so I’m not sure what “A” needs to become to give us more room. Perhaps the Exclamation Mark?

The credit reporting people give typical range for credit scores between 375 and 900, with 375 indicating a poor credit risk, and 900 indicating a high liklihood that any credit extended will be repaid as agreed. However there is a lot of disagreement as to what the bottom and top numbers of that range truly are. The average credit score in the US is around 680. So, there is room on either side of that range for inflation I guess. Based on that scale, Oprah (the richest woman in the US) should rank what? A 1250? Actually HAVING money does not make your score go up, it is how fast you pay back money borrowed. It used to be said that without a credit card, the credit companies had no way to measure you, and thus credit card companies and mortgage companies had no idea what kind of credit risk you were.

As I have said before, a 2 by 4 is generally (there are different reasons and milling processes) that are not 2 inch by 4 inch.

A Quarter-Pounder hamburger is not a quarter pound; it WAS before cooking, but then why quote that price? It USED to be a cow and many hundreds of pounds before cooking…

Hot dogs come easily packaged in 10’s perhaps because 10 weigh a pound. Buns come in 12’s because Bakers like dozens and equal parts thereof. Perhaps their pans are pre-made. In any event, to not have buns or dogs left over, you need 4 packages of hotdogs and 5 packages of buns. There are exceptions, for example, go to COSTCO and get like 50 hotdogs in a package. Or, there are the companies that sell hotdogs already in the bun.

Ask someone how bright a light is and they quote it in watts. Light is not measured in watts but in lumens. Yes, a light bulb may use 100 watts of electricity, but I have a printer that uses 100 watts yet gives off no light at all. Want to switch to florescent bulbs? Compare lumens with an incandescent bulb and you will see that the fluorescent gives off the same number of lumens at a greatly reduced wattage.

Since I’m repeating bits of previous blog entries, let me repeat the following:

Here in Hawaii, we have blenders who buy Kona coffee and blend it with foreign (non-US) coffee. They call it a “Kona Blend”, which many people take to be a primarily Kona product. Unfortunately, the blends contain 10% Kona and 90% foreign coffee. We farmers are going to the legislature to have that changed and hopefully, enforceable US-wide. You can imagine that the blenders (who triple the price of the product) don’t want that to happen.

If you want to read the Hawaii County Council’s resolution, here is a link. http://www.konacoffeefarmers.org/Files/KonaCoffee-Resolution-Final.doc

Speaking of coffee, want 100%, go to http://ItsKona.Com where I am offering FREE SHIPPING!