Cally
@callys.bsky.social
SFF reader, model rocketeer, tabletop gamer. She/her.
Note: lots of people call US measures "Imperial", but that's incorrect. If it was correct the American gallon and the British gallon would be the same size. The correct term for the weird US measurement system is "US Customary". Clunky, but there it is.
January 13, 2026 at 1:35 AM
Note: lots of people call US measures "Imperial", but that's incorrect. If it was correct the American gallon and the British gallon would be the same size. The correct term for the weird US measurement system is "US Customary". Clunky, but there it is.
The thing is, just like tea spoons and table spoons, the amount an actual salt spoon holds can vary. Unlike a unit of measure (US Customary) teaspoon (tsp or t), tablespoon (TBSP or T), or saltspoon (ssp). Just like a cup can hold any amount of ounces, but a US Customary measuring cup is 8 ounces.
January 13, 2026 at 1:32 AM
The thing is, just like tea spoons and table spoons, the amount an actual salt spoon holds can vary. Unlike a unit of measure (US Customary) teaspoon (tsp or t), tablespoon (TBSP or T), or saltspoon (ssp). Just like a cup can hold any amount of ounces, but a US Customary measuring cup is 8 ounces.
(Arrrgggh. Just spotted the extraneous apostrophe. Oh well.)
January 13, 2026 at 1:00 AM
(Arrrgggh. Just spotted the extraneous apostrophe. Oh well.)
Here's a longer thread I wrote explaining more thoroughly about why a large chunk of the US looks like a chessboard from the sky:
bsky.app/profile/call...
bsky.app/profile/call...
By popular demand, a thread where Cally geeks out about how land is surveyed in most of the US, and why when you look down from a plane at the Midwest and Great Plains you see a whole bunch of squares.
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January 13, 2026 at 12:42 AM
Here's a longer thread I wrote explaining more thoroughly about why a large chunk of the US looks like a chessboard from the sky:
bsky.app/profile/call...
bsky.app/profile/call...
So if I'm drawing up a plat of a piece of land on a township corner, and the surveyor says "found a disk" (or nail or whatever) that's supposed to be at the corner, I get to look it up to see WHICH corner it is, because sometimes the SW corner of Township A is 20 feet from the SE corner of Twp B.
January 13, 2026 at 12:37 AM
So if I'm drawing up a plat of a piece of land on a township corner, and the surveyor says "found a disk" (or nail or whatever) that's supposed to be at the corner, I get to look it up to see WHICH corner it is, because sometimes the SW corner of Township A is 20 feet from the SE corner of Twp B.
The problem with putting a grid of mile squares across thousands of miles of land is that the earth is spherical. (And also surveyors make mistakes and/or are drunk, and are measuring with compasses and literal chains). The corners don't always meet. The township maps tell you what the offsets are.
January 13, 2026 at 12:37 AM
The problem with putting a grid of mile squares across thousands of miles of land is that the earth is spherical. (And also surveyors make mistakes and/or are drunk, and are measuring with compasses and literal chains). The corners don't always meet. The township maps tell you what the offsets are.
It was divided into mile-across squares, called sections, each within 6*6 mile squares called (survey) townships. Not to be confused with political townships whose territory isn't alway exactly a survey township because, well, politics.
January 13, 2026 at 12:37 AM
It was divided into mile-across squares, called sections, each within 6*6 mile squares called (survey) townships. Not to be confused with political townships whose territory isn't alway exactly a survey township because, well, politics.
It's online, actually. One of several tools I use in the course of my work as a survey and civil engineering drafter. You need the Federal township survey because the whole country west of the Ohio River and not including acknowledged Native land and already settled by white folks land was divided.
January 13, 2026 at 12:37 AM
It's online, actually. One of several tools I use in the course of my work as a survey and civil engineering drafter. You need the Federal township survey because the whole country west of the Ohio River and not including acknowledged Native land and already settled by white folks land was divided.
Oh, yes, We have a few old salt cellars in the family. My mother, vacationing in Mexico, bought some lovely tiny silver spoons to replace the missing saltspoons. (Yes, I know. So did she. But they worked great as saltspoons.) I've never measured to see if they were 1/4 tsp, but I doubt it.
January 12, 2026 at 10:54 PM
Oh, yes, We have a few old salt cellars in the family. My mother, vacationing in Mexico, bought some lovely tiny silver spoons to replace the missing saltspoons. (Yes, I know. So did she. But they worked great as saltspoons.) I've never measured to see if they were 1/4 tsp, but I doubt it.
On the other hand, when "add 2 chopped onions" is only there in the directions text, you have to read the whole recipe to find out that you needed to buy the onions. Which can be a problem if you're in the middle of making something and missed it....
But I can see how list-first can be frustrating!
But I can see how list-first can be frustrating!
January 12, 2026 at 10:35 PM
On the other hand, when "add 2 chopped onions" is only there in the directions text, you have to read the whole recipe to find out that you needed to buy the onions. Which can be a problem if you're in the middle of making something and missed it....
But I can see how list-first can be frustrating!
But I can see how list-first can be frustrating!
I've got a friend who wrote up her mother's recipes by either intercepting everything as she added it or starting from a measured container of, say, sugar, and then measuring it afterwards to find out how much she'd used....
My own mother was anosmic, so her cooking was usually terrible, alas.
My own mother was anosmic, so her cooking was usually terrible, alas.
January 12, 2026 at 10:29 PM
I've got a friend who wrote up her mother's recipes by either intercepting everything as she added it or starting from a measured container of, say, sugar, and then measuring it afterwards to find out how much she'd used....
My own mother was anosmic, so her cooking was usually terrible, alas.
My own mother was anosmic, so her cooking was usually terrible, alas.
It should also be noted that, thanks to its HUGE success as a cookbook, Farmer's "Boston Cooking School Cookbook" (later Fanny Farmer's Cookbook) helped standardize the whole "give a list of all the ingredients, and THEN explain what do do with them" style of cookbook writing.
January 12, 2026 at 10:20 PM
It should also be noted that, thanks to its HUGE success as a cookbook, Farmer's "Boston Cooking School Cookbook" (later Fanny Farmer's Cookbook) helped standardize the whole "give a list of all the ingredients, and THEN explain what do do with them" style of cookbook writing.
I was about to be concerned by the whole "pewter" thing, but then I saw they were lead-free. Whew. They're very cute; I wonder how accurate they are?
January 12, 2026 at 10:12 PM
I was about to be concerned by the whole "pewter" thing, but then I saw they were lead-free. Whew. They're very cute; I wonder how accurate they are?
I don't think so; the other measures were the usual US Customary Units: teaspoon, tablespoon, cup, pint, peck, bushel and so on. The millimeter thing was kind of a jolt. I guess they imported the "Speck" from France?
January 12, 2026 at 10:08 PM
I don't think so; the other measures were the usual US Customary Units: teaspoon, tablespoon, cup, pint, peck, bushel and so on. The millimeter thing was kind of a jolt. I guess they imported the "Speck" from France?
Did you know that Fanny Farmer was a disabled woman? Her legs were paralyzed when she was 16 by a "paralytic stroke". After some years she was able to walk again, but her legs were always weak.
She studied at the Boston Cooking School, eventually ran it, and published THE cookbook of her time.
She studied at the Boston Cooking School, eventually ran it, and published THE cookbook of her time.
January 12, 2026 at 10:04 PM
Did you know that Fanny Farmer was a disabled woman? Her legs were paralyzed when she was 16 by a "paralytic stroke". After some years she was able to walk again, but her legs were always weak.
She studied at the Boston Cooking School, eventually ran it, and published THE cookbook of her time.
She studied at the Boston Cooking School, eventually ran it, and published THE cookbook of her time.
Apparently people used to measure with "rounded measurements" and also whatever spoon they had in hand, so results from sharing recipes were very hit-and-miss. Standardized measures, measured level to the rim, were pretty groundbreaking.
And I bet they made a lot of money selling standard spoons!
And I bet they made a lot of money selling standard spoons!
January 12, 2026 at 10:00 PM
Apparently people used to measure with "rounded measurements" and also whatever spoon they had in hand, so results from sharing recipes were very hit-and-miss. Standardized measures, measured level to the rim, were pretty groundbreaking.
And I bet they made a lot of money selling standard spoons!
And I bet they made a lot of money selling standard spoons!
Yeah, I've seen the novelty measuring spoons, but I don't trust them to have any basis in Fanny Farmer's measurement system.
According to an old time radio show I listened to once, Fanny Farmer and the Boston Cooking School basically invented or certainly at least popularized "level measurements".
According to an old time radio show I listened to once, Fanny Farmer and the Boston Cooking School basically invented or certainly at least popularized "level measurements".
January 12, 2026 at 10:00 PM
Yeah, I've seen the novelty measuring spoons, but I don't trust them to have any basis in Fanny Farmer's measurement system.
According to an old time radio show I listened to once, Fanny Farmer and the Boston Cooking School basically invented or certainly at least popularized "level measurements".
According to an old time radio show I listened to once, Fanny Farmer and the Boston Cooking School basically invented or certainly at least popularized "level measurements".
I've tried to verify this, and found "speck = sp" in a few places, but not the actual quantity, so I'll just have to go with what that old book said. (Sorry, I don't remember the name of the book; I was proofreading it for Project Gutenberg some years back.)
January 12, 2026 at 9:54 PM
I've tried to verify this, and found "speck = sp" in a few places, but not the actual quantity, so I'll just have to go with what that old book said. (Sorry, I don't remember the name of the book; I was proofreading it for Project Gutenberg some years back.)
I learned about the saltspoon from a home economics textbook from around 1910 or so, and verified it afterwards with more modern texts. The home ec book also had a measure called the "speck" which was "enough material to cover a square a millimeter on a side", abbreviation "sp".
January 12, 2026 at 9:54 PM
I learned about the saltspoon from a home economics textbook from around 1910 or so, and verified it afterwards with more modern texts. The home ec book also had a measure called the "speck" which was "enough material to cover a square a millimeter on a side", abbreviation "sp".
You may be amused to learn that there is an actual, official (though seldom used) name for the quantity "1/4 of a teaspoon". It's name? The "saltspoon". (The abbreviation for saltspoon is "ssp")
So there IS a measure for 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and it's the saltspoon.
So there IS a measure for 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and it's the saltspoon.
January 12, 2026 at 9:44 PM
You may be amused to learn that there is an actual, official (though seldom used) name for the quantity "1/4 of a teaspoon". It's name? The "saltspoon". (The abbreviation for saltspoon is "ssp")
So there IS a measure for 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and it's the saltspoon.
So there IS a measure for 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and it's the saltspoon.
Probably a good idea to drive it around the block several times, hitting the brakes fairly often. When my car was essentially trapped in my driveway by a combination of license plate cams and sec of state screwups for a year, I didn't, and ended up with expensive brake jobs. Unused brakes rust.
January 12, 2026 at 5:53 PM
Probably a good idea to drive it around the block several times, hitting the brakes fairly often. When my car was essentially trapped in my driveway by a combination of license plate cams and sec of state screwups for a year, I didn't, and ended up with expensive brake jobs. Unused brakes rust.
If someone wants it and doesn't read German, they can find English language rules and English language labels for the cards here:
boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/11...
boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/11...
Star Trek: Catan
Explorers in the Final Frontier trade, settle, and build where no one has gone before
boardgamegeek.com
January 10, 2026 at 3:40 AM
If someone wants it and doesn't read German, they can find English language rules and English language labels for the cards here:
boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/11...
boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/11...
Oh yes, you do NOT mess with the Kitchen Chair Of "I Shoveled This Spot".
January 9, 2026 at 7:09 PM
Oh yes, you do NOT mess with the Kitchen Chair Of "I Shoveled This Spot".
I've seen that same yelling white guy ad, and he's saying "Illinois". I bet they shot that scene approximately 50 times....
January 9, 2026 at 6:46 PM
I've seen that same yelling white guy ad, and he's saying "Illinois". I bet they shot that scene approximately 50 times....