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Using Euro coins as weights (2004)

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180 points Tomte | 3 comments | 20 Oct 24 10:18 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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ojhughes ◴[20 Oct 24 12:51 UTC] No.41895043[source]▶
Weed dealers would commonly use a 1p coin to weigh an 1/8 oz of hash
replies(1): >>41895094 #
rwmj ◴[20 Oct 24 13:01 UTC] No.41895094[source]▶
Google tells me a 1p coin weighs 0.1257 oz, so nearly exactly 1/8 oz.

I knew someone who got caught by the metropolitan police with a fairly ordinary amount of weed (which probably wouldn't have attracted anything more than a warning), but also with a set of weights. I think he got a suspended sentence in the end. Using coins and something innocuous which could be used as a balance would seem to make sense.

replies(1): >>41895813 #
masfuerte ◴[20 Oct 24 15:08 UTC] No.41895813[source]▶
This has always puzzled me. Why would you make a coin that is very nearly, but not quite, 1/8 oz? It's not a nice round metric weight either.
replies(1): >>41896423 #
pessimizer ◴[20 Oct 24 16:21 UTC] No.41896423[source]▶
Metric only has an advantage for precision measurements that have to be operated on arbitrarily, not for dividing things. You're usually dividing things in halves, far less often into thirds and even more rarely into fifths. 1/8 oz is an ounce that has been divided in half three times. Or you can think of it as a pound that has been divided in half seven times.
replies(1): >>41897456 #
1. masfuerte ◴[20 Oct 24 18:31 UTC] No.41897456[source]▶
I understand why they might have chosen 1/8 oz. I don't understand why they chose not quite 1/8 oz. That's the puzzle.
replies(2): >>41900346 #>>41902625 #
2. avidiax ◴[21 Oct 24 03:07 UTC] No.41900346[source]▶
Could it be that it is meant to be 1/8th ounce nominally, but there is some lacquer or varnish that takes the weight up slightly?
3. ojhughes ◴[21 Oct 24 10:29 UTC] No.41902625[source]▶
It's so that big Dave can sell his 8ths a little bit under weight