Smoot

Smoot is a non-standard unit of measure that is the result of a fun frat. It is named after Oliver R. Smoot, the unit that was used in October 1958 during a Verbindungsgelöbnisses for Lambda Chi Alpha at MIT with his body as a measure of the Harvard Bridge. A Smoot is therefore equal to its size and measures 67 inches ( 1.7018 m). The length of the bridge was determined to be " 364.4 Smoots plus / minus an ear ." Even today, the measurement process can be seen on the bridge tracks. So are located on the ground typically every 10 Smoots markings, which are renewed every year. In between, there are a few other special markings, such as the 69 - Smoot- brand (instead of the 70 - Smoot- brand ) or the 182.2 - Smoot- brand, with the words " Halfway to Hell" and one on the MIT pointing arrow is decorated. In addition, each graduating class adds its own Smoot brand.

The marks are accepted by the public. During renovation work in 1980, the Cambridge Police Department even demanded, that would care to get the marks, as these had proved to be very useful for determining the position of traffic accidents.

Even Google's services know Smoot. So the Google calculator provides for example on the request 10 meters in smoots the answer 5.87613116 Smoot and Google Earth can be set as a unit Smoot.