The US Survey Foot Returns

WE THOUGHT IT WAS OVER. AFTER 60 YEARS OF STRUGGLE, THE US SURVEY FOOT WAS DEAD, DEPRECATED BY NIST IN 2023. WE THOUGHT ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS COULD REST EASY, FREE OF THE HEADACHES OF HAVING TWO CONFLICTING DEFINITIONS OF THE FOOT THAT DIFFER BY 610 NANOMETERS. INTERNATIONAL FOOT: 0.304800000 m US SURVEY FOOT: 0.304800609...m BUT I BRING DIRE NEWS: SOMEONE HAS STARTED USING THE US SURVEY FOOT AGAIN. WHY!? WE DON'T KNOW. SOME PEOPLE JUST WANT TO DRAG THE WORLD 610nm CLOSER TO MADNESS. WHAT CAN WE DO!? A NIST TEAM IS ALREADY IN THE AIR. WE WILL CAPTURE THE SCOFFLAW AND END THIS NIGHTMARE. 8,000 MILES AWAY WE'VE REACHED THE COORDINATES OF THE TARGET'S DEVICE. THERE'S NO ONE HERE. HOW!? 8,000.014 MILES AWAY

A stick-figure comic depicts engineers reacting to the return of the deprecated US survey foot, while a NIST team searches for the person using it. The joke is that the tiny 610-nanometer difference between the international foot and US survey foot causes an absurdly dramatic chase, with the target appearing 0.014 miles away because of the measurement discrepancy. It is used as a reaction to pointless standards disputes, technical pedantry, or an unexpectedly small but maddening error.

• @memstash32 / 235 2024-03-25