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Greetings Earthlings!

It's a real surprise that I find myself working for a surveying concern as a Rodman.  Yeah, it's pretty much grunt work, but the pay is better than living like a slave.  Being raised as a son of Science, I can get right into what is needed, and being an Artist, I can understand how things need to be carefully measured out.

Still, you have to understand these guys are Engineers and Scientists.  You can't get into this kind of stuff without having at least one thing that just doesn't make any sense at all.  It's come to my attention there is some confusion as to what Metric means in conparison to British/American units.  Speaking as the son of a Geologist, there shouldn't be.  Metric is the pre ordained measurement of a certain length, determined by the size of the planet, 1/10,000,000 of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator through some place in France.

From http://www.france-property-and-information.com/metric-system-and-history.htm

The word 'meter' is from the Greek word 'metron', which means 'a measure'. At the time the metric system was being defined, there were two competing approaches to the definition of the length of the meter. The initial suggestion was that it be the length of 'a pendulum having a half-period of one second'. The alternative approach was to set it to one ten-millionth of 'the length of the earth's meridian along a quadrant'. Specifically, one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the equator, along the meridian running near Dunkirk in France. The French Academy of Science, which was tasked with developing the metric system, decided on the latter approach in 1991 (on the basis that the former approach does not give a consistent measure, as slight variations in the earth's gravity from one place to another would result in different values).

This distance was calculated (with a slight error, as the flattening of the earth due to its rotation was not taken into account), and a brass bar of metal was cast to this length. This metal bar was then used as the standard. Since then, although the length has remained constant, several changes have been made to the definition in order to increase the precision of the measurement. First this involved replacing the brass bar by a platinum bar (and subsequently a platinum-iridium bar) and specifying the conditions (e.g. temperature) under which the bar is stored. Later, for even greater precision, the definition was changed to reflect constant physical phenomenon rather than a metal rod. The following table summarises the major changes. The definition used since 1983 is accurate to within 2.5*10^-11.

A converted Foot is defined as being .3048 m.  Now according to the information that I can find from the GREATEST INFORMATION DELIVERY SYSTEM EVER DEVISED, the Internet, I find there is a discrepancy in the definition of a Foot in the American system of standards.  There are two feet in the way we look at things.  One bigger than the other.  The reason it's not general knowledge is the difference can't be seen by the human eye.

The original foot is according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_(unit_of_length))   based on the British Imperial foot, or (all the engineers in the group let out the proverbial sigh) exactly .3048 meters.  However, there seems to have been a Planetary treaty signed with the Venusians in the 19th century describing a Meter as being 39.37 inches.  That changed the way we measure things by .000000609601219 m.  Something like 61 Ten millionths.  This is called a Surveyors foot, which to my relief is not a foot problem, but a problem surveyors have with Feet.

Because the treaty lasted for so long, we have been measuring things with this foot problem while lawmakers and (another collective sigh) Engineers have re-described how things should be measured, and most of the documents we have are in the old treaty instead of the treaty we have with the Martians today.

Now being from Outer space, I'm partial to the Venusian problem.  See, if you have to measure things across Millions of Miles (in history 1000 paces that Roman soldiers would march), that little 10 millionth makes a lot of difference.  But I know how you Earthlings are, you still measure things in feet, so If it's just a few miles, I suppose you could get away with the formula 

Variant  times .3048 to convert feet in tenths/hundreths to Meters.  ([value] ft * .3048 = [value] m)

In Feet tolerance is within .01 .  In Metric, tolerance seems to be in .001m, or Millimeters.  Just so you can yawn and pick your nose, there's just a little more than 3 millimeters in a hundreth.  There's about 30 cm in a foot, and theres something like 3 feet and 3 inches in a meter.

Just to be annoying, there are 10 decimeters in a meter, 10 centimeters in a decimeter, and 10 millimeters in a centimeter, or Deci like dime, cent like pennies, and mill like 10ths of a cent I used to earn without benefits like dental.  Everything works on 10.  There are 1000 Cubic Centimeters in a Liter, and around 4 Liters in a gallon.  If you need to discuss these conversions with me I will listen to the best of my ability.

Yes, I'm still trying to figure out how to translate the terminology into the abstracts I understand, still trying to relate the actions we're taking to what the job needs, and Gosh-Darn it guys, there are still a lot of new things to me.  Remember, I'm Jung and easily Fruedend (and a much better writer than a talker.)...