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June 17

0.44 litre beer cans

I have noticed that beer cans available in Finland come in three sizes: 0.5 l, 0.44 l and 0.33 l. Whereas the biggest and smallest size are used by mainstream breweries, the middle size seems to be used by microbreweries and artisan breweries only. Some microbreweries and artisan breweries also use the small 0.33 l size. What is so special about the 0.44 l can size? JIP | Talk 23:43, 17 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Possible hint: 0.44 l equal 15 oz (rounded). Cheers ⌘ 23:59, 17 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

With oz being the fluid ounce (not the identically abbreviated ounce), an obscure unit outside of the US. Fgf10 (talk) 00:05, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I've often wondered about this - standard big beer cans in Britain have been 440 ml for as long as I can remember. It's just over 15 fl oz Imperial, just under 15 fl oz American - but of course Americans don't drink proper beer. Beer in a pub of course comes in pints, which are 20 fl oz (mnemonic: a pint of water weighs a pound and a quarter. American pints are 16 American fl oz, hence the American saying "a pint's a pound the whole world round", where "whole world round" means "in the USA"). So = 440ml is a likely metric version of 15 fl oz, but why the hell would you sell beer in containers of 15 fl oz in the first place? DuncanHill (talk) 00:54, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

not "proper beer" - you mean, like making love in a canoe? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:03, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"whole world round" meant the Empire and America - but then the British change and now we are blamed for keeping the same. This has gotten familiar.

Section Drink can § Capacity in countries tells us that 440 ml is commonly used for lager and cider in the UK, and that the South African "promotional size" is 440 ml, but gives no explanation for any of the varying standard sizes in different countries. --Lambiam 07:14, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

15 fl oz = ¾ pint (UK). No idea why you'd sell drink in that measure though. Mjroots (talk) 07:53, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Probably pint-sized cans were found to be impracticably large, but half-pint cans (which were the normal size in my 1970s youth) were too small for drinkers used to pint glasses. BTW, there was a fad for enormous 4 or 7 pint cans intended for parties, started by the Watney's Party Four and Party Seven, introduced in 1964 and 1968 respectively, but these had died out by the 1980s. Alansplodge (talk) 11:01, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The answer is here; Beer Packaging in Cans (pp. 532-533). It's a bit technical, but the diameter of the can was fixed in 1974 at 2 and 9/16ths inches or "2-09" in the US where the canning machines were made, because of production requirements, and UK average contents and metrication legislation, coupled with a need for "headspace" inside the can caused a change from 16 oz to 440 ml in 1983. Alansplodge (talk) 11:15, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

What I still find confusing is that it's not just British or American breweries who are packing their beer in 0.44 l cans. Fat Lizard for example, is a fully Finnish brewery (they are located in Espoo, southern Finland) and packs all their beers in 0.44 l cans. JIP | Talk 12:03, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Anglophilia? Xuxl (talk) 13:07, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps they bought their canning machines from America too? Alansplodge (talk) 14:09, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Just a guess, but the former Metal Box Company (the remnants of which are now called Novar plc), a British company that specialised in tin can manufacture, "expanded its business abroad by establishing facilities or subsidiaries in many countries" in the 1970s, so the use of UK can-sizes may date from that period. Alansplodge (talk) 14:46, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

(e/c) Certainly possible, but even if they didn't, the effect would show up in other ways: from the size and folding of the cases that hold them to the bottling equipment itself. If there's a well-ingrained set of standards, you're going to need a good reason to deviate from that. Matt Deres (talk) 14:49, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

User:Alansplodge, that doesn't explain why Fat Lizard uses cans where the entire top of the can comes off while every single other brewery I've seen cans from have normal lids on the cans. JIP | Talk 15:11, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Oh yes, our Fat Lizard article says: "A signature feature of the company's beer cans is that the entire top of the can can be torn off". It's a mystery. Alansplodge (talk) 15:32, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Intentionally or otherwise, that repeats a joke from a 1980s Miller Lite TV commercial. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:01, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Could you explain the joke? I haven't seen any Miller Lite TV commercials. JIP | Talk 21:11, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

From 1977, actually:[1] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:10, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It sure brings a smile to see that ad again Bugs. Whoever the ad agency was for Miller beer they produced several years worth of funny commercials. MarnetteD|Talk 22:15, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

So that's how Miller Lite cans are supposed to be opened? =) I'm glad Fat Lizard cans are easier to open. JIP | Talk 01:16, 19 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

June 18

Check the correctness of the translation

[2] - you can check the correctness of the translation from here [3] --Vyacheslav84 (talk) 13:17, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Vyacheslav84 This desk is intended for general knowledge questions. You would probably do better to ask at Wikipedia:Translators_available#Russian-to-English.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 14:06, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. --Vyacheslav84 (talk) 14:38, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Curiosity

Hi, I am making a huge effort but without satisfactory results. Do any of you, an expert or better still a Cleveland citizen who remembers, or has voted with this system, know when the city started adopting punch card systems? Am I wrong to venture perhaps in the seventies? The system, the Votomatic if I'm not mistaken, was retired about twenty years ago, again in Cleveland, and its county. After exhausting unfortunate searches I am here; can someone help me to remove my great curiosity? Thank you very much. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.41.99.203 (talk) 20:41, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

According to a Cincinnati Enquirer article dated November 4, 1974, Hamilton County, Ohio, was going to use the Votomatic for the first time in that month's election. There are other articles about various places in Ohio adopting the system in that decade too, e.g. Clinton and Fairfield Counties in November 1976, Logan in November 1977. So it seems you're in the right ballpark. I'm not seeing anything specifically about Cleveland in newspapers.com, though. Clarityfiend (talk) 22:20, 18 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

June 20

Elucidation: incurable curiosity, thank you very much as always!

Hi guys. Regarding my incurable curiosity (I ask forgiveness!) On punch cards, in the early days (sixties and seventies) when the ballots were read by computers, the mainfraime ones (I always refer to an electoral context) which then printed the results, well, How were the returns transmitted to the Secretary of State and to the Networks for the dissemination of partial and total data? Thanks a lot.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.41.101.86 (talk) 16:23, 20 June 2021‎ (UTC)[reply]

This article mentions the types of computers each network had and some general background. Rmhermen (talk) 03:05, 21 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

June 22

Different weights of cotton

I often buy cotton T-shirts, many of which are labelled as being "100% cotton". I have no reason to doubt that they are indeed 100% cotton, but what I have noticed is that the weight/thickness/heaviness of the cotton varies considerably from shirt to shirt. No doubt this is due to differences in the manufacturing process. That's fine, I'm not interested in why certain cotton shirts are thicker than others. My question is whether there is some kind of universal grading system for cotton, which measures its heaviness and can be used to differentiate between thicker and thinner shirts, for example. --Viennese Waltz 07:56, 22 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thread count is applicable to woven fabrics. Courses and wales are used for knitted fabrics like T-shirt material. 41.165.67.114 (talk) 09:22, 22 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Topic bans

This is rather humbling, but I have lost track of where the list of topic bans is. Can someone point me to it? Thank you. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 08:08, 22 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Do a search for "Baseball Bugs" and you'll find loads of them, lol. --Viennese Waltz 08:09, 22 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

[insert rimshot here] I think I have 3 topic bans. I used to have a link on my talk page, but I lost track of it. I know what they are, though. 0:) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 08:15, 22 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Can't you just find the link by going through the history of your talk page? --Viennese Waltz 08:29, 22 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Never mind, I think I found it for you: Wikipedia:Editing restrictions. --Viennese Waltz 08:36, 22 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

That's the one. Thank you most kindly. :) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 08:47, 22 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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