Read the whole article because it’s hilarious.

  • frezik@midwest.social
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    2 months ago

    To them, I’d point out the NIST warehouse of standardized materials:

    https://shop.nist.gov/

    $1,143 for 510 grams of Peanut Butter. $734 for 25 grams of Portland Cement. $1,107 for 100 grams of “Infant/Adult Nutritional Formula I (milk-based)”.

    Is the US government ripping people off? No. It’s because when you get one, it is guaranteed to be the standard for whatever it says on the package, and it’s been made that way to exacting levels of detail. Unless you’re a laboratory using these materials, you don’t need to bother NIST with your grocery list.

    Personally, I love this shit. It takes a whole lot of effort to make something to such standards. Doubly so when it’s not just one thing, but a combination of many smaller things that each has to be individually verified to work as part of a whole.