One of the problems (but just one) with using the Imperial or 'English' system of measurements rather than the metric system like most of the rest of the world, is that the units of the Imperial system are so poorly defined.

The value of a pound, for example, differed throughout history, at one point being defined as the weight of 9,600 wheat grains. It ranged anywhere from 350 to about 465 grams. Even more confusingly, the pound is both a unit of mass and a unit of force, two entirely different things.

Similarly, the foot was literally, if randomly, defined as the length of a king's foot, and also varied with both place and time (and monarch), ranging anywhere from 295 to 340 mm.

Then there's the fact that there are, even today, different meanings to the same term such as a 'long' ton, a 'short' ton, and a tonne - all different.

So... Today comes the news that the U.S. is officially changing from the 'U.S. Survey Foot' to the 'International Foot'. The International foot is about 1/8th of an inch shorter than the US foot, meaning that the U.S. just got 28.3 'feet' wider. We'll need to adjust driving distances and times accordingly, i.e. not at all.

AZBuck