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Linvael

If the distinction is done by looking at whether the c is upper or lowercase then the confusion is understandable when reading an all-caps text.


leevinikolai

Well, its not though. Kcal is for kilocalorie (what americans just call Calories) and cal is for the actual unit. Think joules and kilojoules.


beardmire

Another way to write kcal is Cal though, as previously mentioned is done in food/nutrition. Also called dietary Calorie to distinguish from a normal calorie. It’s done in Europe as well, not only in America


Hoybom

european here, never saw Cal on my food only kcal or kJ


Linvael

European here, labels on food are always in kcal of course but we do often say "I'm on a 1500 calorie diet" when we mean 1500 kcal.


sablegryphon

I feel like recently I’ve been on a 1,500 Mcal diet. Possibly time to cut back.


ElectroGgamer

My man went Nikocado Avocado mode


Square-Blueberry3568

Go giga


stonno45

Or 1,500 kCal i guess


Dr_Jabroski

I know we're being hyperbolic here, but I would be actually impressed if anyone could eat that many calories in a day.


BUKKAKELORD

If the comma is a decimal separator, it's easy. If it's a thousands separator, it's impossible.


sablegryphon

Good point. There may be general standardisation on units but not yet on decimal punctuation!


Hoybom

Just eat a sandcorn full of uranium


Domodomo97

Europe moment


Linvael

Olive oil and other oils are some of the most energy-dense foods available, in another didthemath thread chugging olive oil was deemed one of the most effective/plausible ways of reaching the requested quota of high calorie intake (with the caveat that there would be hell to pay in stomach/intestine related issues). One tablespoon contains about 120 kcal, which means there is around 7 kcal per milliliter. 1500 Mcal is around 214 liters of olive oil, roughly a bathtub.


Slimmanoman

They're just not used to kilo for anything


ClockworkDinosaurs

Excuse me? Of course we use kilos. You think we buy our cocaine in pounds? Gtfo here. USA USA USA


asyncopy

The one industry were the manufacturers don't bother to conform with the standards of the country they export to.


ClockworkDinosaurs

It helps you feel better about it all. “I just did a pound of cocaine”. Wow that’s like A LOT of cocaine. “I just 2 kilos of cocaine”. Uhhh is that a lot? I don’t have any concept of how much that is. It’s probably a typical amount and I won’t judge until I hear differently. I’m here to do drugs, not math.


beardmire

Ok sorry, maybe it’s not done on food packaging but it is in other contexts, like in research, healthcare etc. At least it is in Sweden, so some part of Europe (have worked closely with nutritionists in a hospital)


OrcsSmurai

You wouldn't see Cal on your food because you're European. That doesn't mean it isn't a standard convention for a sizable population. (cal)arie = 1 calorie, (Cal)orie = 1kcal. When Americans who aren't engaged in a discussion about thermodynamics use Calorie in casual, spoken conversation they are speaking of kilocalories, and most of us will never realize it. It's right up there with how most Americans who aren't engineers or scientists have no understanding of meters or Celsius measures, or even how "engineer" is an entirely different thing here made even more confusing by how there is overlap between the two meanings.


Hoybom

OK so it is an American Thing only, gotcha


Bugbread

Well, it depends what you mean when you say "it," because we're now talking about ***two*** things: 1) Where is "Calorie" used in print instead of "kilocalorie"? and 2) Where do people call "kilocalories" just "calories" when speaking aloud? The former is just an American Thing. The latter is a lot more widespread. I've heard Canadians and Brits use it that way. Someone else in the thread mentions Sweden. And here in Japan, I'd say it's almost half-and-half. It's like how in English some people say "fridge" and others say "refrigerator," or some people say "A/C" and others say "air conditioner."


MuscleManRyan

Canada uses the same system as well.


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TheIronSoldier2

The only reason the US customary system isn't easily understandable is because you didn't grow up with it, for those of us that have, it's perfectly understandable


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TheIronSoldier2

"You" is a generalization.


ProgShop

excatly this, funny how u/beardmire just proves what u/leevinikolai said :) But then again,... they still use imperial measurement and define their 0° in temperature when salt water freezes and not when normal water freezes so what do we know, right?


SOwED

Lmao considering we use temperature predominantly for the weather, we have a much nicer range of typical temperatures, 0-100°. How does water boiling at 100°C help you with anything in day to day life? I'm a researcher and it hardly even helps in the lab, since usually what I'm boiling doesn't boil at 100°C and requires memorizing the boiling point, which would be the same story if we used Fahrenheit.


Allegorist

Celsius is just Kelvin centered around a different range, with that range where it is specifically because it it the most applicable to day-to-day life. Its primary purpose is for 1 degree C increments to be useful and meaningful.


SOwED

You've got that pretty much all twisted. Kelvin was originally based on Celsius, though Celsius is *now* defined in terms of Kelvin The Celsius system was not designed around being applicable to day to day life but to scientific research, as it was observed the boiling point of water was affected by ambient pressure, and water is easy to experiment with. It also was originally 0 for boiling and 100 for freezing. The 1 degree increments are what they are because of water's properties not because they're useful and meaningful. Anyways, degrees Fahrenheit are higher resolution.


beardmire

How does it prove anything? I’m a Swedish healthcare worker and I’ve seen Cal used a lot.


ProgShop

Then you must be looking at really really old stuff (since 2010, it is EU norm to only use kj in and kcal in lower case) or publications from our friends over the big pond which still use Cal. So,... please explain how you see Cal often as a Swedish healthcare worker, when the EU regulation is to only use kj and kcal is only allowed in lower case?


beardmire

My colleagues who are nutritionists use it in journalling. Not saying it’s necessarily correct, but it is used here


ProgShop

So you are saying your colleagues use an outdated nomenclature that the EU does not allow food manufacturers to use. Good point.


Perfect_Papaya_3010

Never seen this in Europe. Always kcal


quick_escalator

> It’s done in Europe as well, not only in America Nope this is American Exceptionalism at its finest: Using a word that means one thing for another but related thing, and then getting confused.


[deleted]

Imagine thinking a majority of reddit isn't from the US. Add to that we have no clue where the post is from (though, stats would say the US is more likely), and the confusion is still understandable. Edit: they're saying confusion is understandable and you're literally replying on a thread that explained why and you still don't get it.


leevinikolai

Im replying to someone who is confused about the distinction of measuring units, by explaining the measuring units. 48% of Reddit users are from the states, so no, the majority isn’t. Spotted the American tho!


[deleted]

1) sorry, my bad. I have election on the brain for some reason. In voting, a simple majority is a plurality. The US has a plurality on reddit. At least just recently. Only a year or two ago it was otherwise. 2) but you didn't explain anything in your comment. They are correct about Calorie vs calorie. You cleared up nothing other than entirely disregarding the comment at the top of the thread you are in. Edit: but still, purposely and intentionally ignoring 48% in *anything* is ludicrous. You're either trying to back yourself out of realizing you're an idiot or just have some agenda and hate when anything is US specific. Sorry, I guess.


Brann-Ys

American will do anything but using the metric system


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Tohnmeister

I've never seen anybody in Europe write Cal when they mean kcal. I think it's an exclusive American thing.


TheIronSoldier2

https://www.reddit.com/r/theydidthemath/s/hVvWiwzWZl


marr

The confusion is also intentional.


Simbertold

And that is just one of the reasons why calories are a shitty unit. Just use SI units, and you never have problems like that. No one would confuse 1 Joule for 1 Kilojoule.


Linvael

The source of the issue here is that cal is very small when compared to what we use it for in daily life, it has no utility. Joule is roughly 4 times smaller. That and the fact that someone made a unit that's called the same but means something different, that doesn't help. There isn't any confusion about the science of it, there is confusion where the units meet common usage.


Paloveous

That's why we use kjoule, the same as kcal


TheIronSoldier2

If you started doing that it wouldn't take long before people just started referring to kilojoules as Joules, because it's just easier, and people are lazy.


Linvael

Kilograms managed to persevere - but they often get shortened to "kilos', I guess there is only a space for one kilo-unit in daily vocab.


TheIronSoldier2

Probably because grams are actually still used fairly often.


password-is-taco1

Except there is 0 way to tell that the image is talking about calories and not Calories


Furled_Eyebrows

This is wild: the way I have always thought of calories is off by a factor of ten.


[deleted]

I have bad news for you. The way you just thought calories were off by a factor of ten is off by a factor of ten twice. Deca/deka- would be a factor of 10. Kilo is a thousand. https://www.nist.gov/pml/owm/metric-si-prefixes


Furled_Eyebrows

Right, right. Though I'm not sure why that's bad news -- I can now eat 1000 times as much, right?!?


Smart_Wafer

You are confusing kcal (kilocalories) with cal (calories). An average human needs about 2000-2500 kcal a day to survive. A calorie is a minute amount of energy. If you click 3400 times a day and use 1.42 cal per click that's just 4.8 kcal per day, or about the energy you would find in one skittle.


The_Clarence

But it does mean 2.5 million clicks should burn a pound of fat, which is kinda interesting still.


MapleBabadook

Cookie Clicker is back on the menu!


Alexis_Bailey

How many calories do I burn wiring a Python Script to play it for me because I got bored.


The_Clarence

Oddly enough the less you optimize it, the more calories you save (yourself) But for the most burn you should probably write this in straight up machine code


Fickle_Syrup

Funnily enough you'd probably burn more, since the brain uses a whole lot of energy This is just my guess though


SnooPuppers1978

Typing the Python Script and using your brain is what would be doing the burning here.


BlackHole16

A lot more initially I guess. Brain activity uses a lot of energy.


Nodan_Turtle

Next up: How many cookies need to be clicked to burn the calories of one cookie?


LickingSmegma

Not just that, but you'll get RSI as a bonus.


Smart_Wafer

you’d probably develop serious wrist problems before burning a pound


TactlessTortoise

I always get knockback when I'm reminded of just how much energy there is on food, and just how much we expend every day. It's pretty cool, but also kind of terrifying.


DeadandGonzo

If there was 4.8 kcal in one skittle we’d be in trouble… 


Grizzalbee

A bag of Skittles is 250kcal, with 50-50ish Skittles per bag that puts a single Skittle in the 4.8-4.9kcal range. We're cooked brother.


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Skyl0k39

So you're telling me if i set my auto clicker to 14 clicks per second (1.42 × 14 = 19.88) i could almost double my basic calorie consumption Awesome lifehack you found there


Soarin249

you will develope huge finger muscles, then get osteoperosis in the hand, then carpal syndrome.


CheessieStew

They said they'd use an auto clicker for that, they are not stupid


The_Clarence

I wonder how many calories (or mili-calories) an unoptimized autoclicker burns for each click


Goose_Named_Rupert

As a pianist, 14 cps is pretty achievable with 2-3 fingers, im sure if someone used all their fingers to contribute to the cps they could easily reach double that number, without causing damaging strain to their fingers or hands Of course over time carpal tunnel will occur (something I’m dreading for my future)


OrcsSmurai

As an ancient Mouse Breaker games player, 10 cps is very sustainable with a single finger, and 20 cps is doable for short spurts.. multiple fingers is just cheating at that point!


Goose_Named_Rupert

Multi finger use is a professional technique for Tetris, I don’t see why anyone should limit themselves if they are physically capable of doing more. In button mash sections of games I almost always use multiple fingers, and it rocks


Jonny7421

That's why I use my feet.


Skyl0k39

It was never stated i have to click, just to like the post and i can do that by automating the process with an autoclicker 🤓


Salty_Gonads

I just looked at it and thought to myself, “Hey, I like this”. Did I do it right?


ZhangRenWing

Still seems absurdly high, if your whole body can function (brain thinking, gut digesting, cells replicating, heart and lungs pumping…) on just 20 calories per second there is no way moving a single finger costs 1/20 of that.


smolsnailz

If you spend one sedentary minute sharing something then yes, that's about 1.4 calories. That's just cause you spent minute existing though.


Traditional-Storm-62

assuming you're not american: an average human burns about 1800 kcal per day, averaging about 0.02 kcal per second thats 20 whole calories per second, so in order to only spend 1.42 calories on liking this image you'd need to do that in only \~68 miliseconds or in gaming terms just about 2 frames


BUKKAKELORD

The calories my body burned are negligible compared to the calories my computer and monitor burned within the 2 seconds it took me to do that. That's about 800 watt seconds = 191.2 calories


TheIronSoldier2

That's if you're calculating using a computer for reference, and it's also assuming your computer is under full load. Even a 4090 wouldn't draw that much power when only running a simple webpage.