Submitted via IRC for Bytram
US finally giving boot to official foot measurement
Change is afoot for the official measuring stick used to size up big places in America.
The reason? There are actually two different definitions of the 12-inch measurement known as a foot.
Some land surveyors use what's known as the U.S. survey foot. Others use the definition that's more accepted by the broader world: the international foot.
The difference between them is so tiny that you can't see it with the naked eye on a 12-inch ruler. But over big distances, it matters. So, to reduce the chance for errors and confusion, the federal government has announced it's finally giving the boot to the survey foot.
The international foot is the smaller one—adding about an eighth of an inch of difference when measuring a mile. That means the United States is 28.3 feet wider when measured using the international foot instead of the survey foot.
The change started in 1959, when the federal government mandated that everyone use the international foot but allowed surveyors to keep to the old U.S. survey foot for a while. That temporary reprieve has lasted 60 years, but it will finally end in 2022, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology announced in October.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 15 2019, @11:10PM (5 children)
Can't remember the last time a President made the country bigger. And bigger is greater. So he really did #MAGA
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 15 2019, @11:55PM (1 child)
How much did Russia influence this? Impeach!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @02:01AM
You've got it wrong, impeachment isn't about what the Russians did. Trump's request for them to hack his opponents was criminal enough, but those really are some of the lesser crimes he has committed.
But you were just being silly, doubt you're ready to integrate Trump's betrayals into your world view.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday December 16 2019, @04:23PM (2 children)
Most people would call it cheating to claim that the country is actually bigger just because you changed the units of measurement.
By that argument any US president could claim that his private member is of an acceptable size simply by altering the units of measurements to, let's just call it, "Trump inches".
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Monday December 16 2019, @06:43PM (1 child)
Well it's an improvement over simply lying about imaginary floors to make a building taller!
Trump Tower is actually 10 floors shorter than Donald Trump says it is [businessinsider.com]
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday December 16 2019, @07:56PM
No, Trump doesn't lie, he just uses alternative counting. :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.