What's an Acre?

Come for the archaic units of measure, stay for the metric throwdown! The concept of an acre is so enigmatic that in a podcast titled “What’s an Acre?”, we still got it wrong. An acre is 4,840 square yards and not feet as we say repeatedly in this podcast: Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Acre: Unit of measurement.” Updated February 9, 2024. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/acre-unit-of-measurement Believe it or not, the measurement of a chain is still used in the world: National Wildfire Coordinating Group. “Chain, Pace, Walking a Chain.” https://www.nwcg.gov/course/ffm/vert-horiz-and-slope/46-chain-pace-walking-a-chain Mack did not make up the name Edmund Gunter: National Museum of American History. “Surveyor’s Chain.” https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/nmah_761634 Want to deep dive into the vara and other Spanish units of measure: Reyes-Martinez, Marcos A. “The Vara: A Standard of Length With a Not-So-Standard History.” October 11, 2019. National Institute of Standards and Technology. https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/vara-standard-length-not-so-standard-history Anne misspoke, they are not the Daughters of the Alamo, they are in fact: The Daughters of the Republic of Texas. https://drtinfo.org/ If, like Steve and Mack, you can’t remember your Texas history: Barker, Eugene C. “Austin, Stephen Fuller (1793–1836).” Updated February 25, 2021. Texas State Historical Association. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/austin-stephen-fuller According to this very serious deep dive into the cubit, it’s still in use in some locations: Stone, Mark. H. “The Cubit: A History and Measurement Commentary.” January 30, 2014. Journal of Anthropology. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/janthro/2014/489757/ The Constitution, article 1, section 8, clause 5: “...To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures...” https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/articles/article-i#article-section-8 “One platinum bar in France” would be a great name for a novel: National Institute of Standards and Technology. “Meter.” Updated June 2, 2021. https://www.nist.gov/si-redefinition/meter Here’s a brief overview of the metric system that notes that the second is actually considered the metric unit of time: U.S. Metric Association. “Origin of the Metric System.” Updated October 22, 2019. https://usma.org/origin-of-the-metric-system A little about time and the sexagesimal system: Lombardi, Michael A. “Why is a minute divided into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes, yet there are only 24 hours in a day?” March 5, 2007. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-time-division-days-hours-minutes/ Here’s someone talking more eloquently and authoritatively about the metric system than us: Benham, Elizabeth. “Busting Myths about the Metric System.” October 6, 2020. National Institute of Standards and Technology. https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/busting-myths-about-metric-system Let’s talk about temperature: Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Temperature.” Updated February 13, 2024. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/temperature Steve’s favorite book: Daniel Immerwahr. How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States. (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2019). Seeking economic advantage is one reason people change the primary language they use: Tesch, Noah. “Why Do Languages Die?” February 19, 2016. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/story/why-do-languages-die Definition of commerce: Merriam-Webster. “Commerce.” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commerce Not familiar with nautical miles and knots: National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration. “What is the difference between a nautical mile and a knot?” National Ocean Service. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/nautical-mile-knot How to make a Black Velvet: https://www.liquor.com/recipes/black-velvet/ How to make a Boilermaker: https://www.liquor.com/recipes/boilermaker/ What Steve is reading: Ray Bradbury. The Illustrated Man. (Simon &Schuster, 1951). Ray Bradbury. The Martian Chronicles. (Simon &Schuster, 1950). What Mack is reading: Annie Jacobsen. Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America. (Little, Brown, and Company, 2014). Walter Lord. A Night to Remember. (Griffin, 1955). Did the U.S. military consider using gas weapons in World War II? The National World War II Museum: New Orleans. “Should We Use Poison Gas?” May 5, 2018. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/wwii-polls/roper-polls-poison-gas Factors in the decision to drop the atomic bomb: National Park Service. “Harry Truman’s Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb.” January 11, 2023. https://www.nps.gov/articles/trumanatomicbomb.htm What Anne is watching: Yamazaki, Takashi, director. Godzilla Minus One. 2023; Toho Studios Co. Ltd. 2 hours, 4 minutes. If you are disappointed that Steven didn’t go into the Whiskey Rebellion: History.com Editors. “Whiskey Rebellion.” Updated June 21, 2023. History. https://www.history.com/topics/early-us/whiskey-rebellion You’re on your own for the measurements, but here’s the song “A Bushel and a Peck”: https://youtu.be/YoVt12EyzKw?si=whrkDHRnCGsziVaD Here’s a lot about barrels: Gerali, Francesco. “Barrel (Unit of Measurement).” 2019. Engineering and Technology History Wiki. https://ethw.org/Barrel_(Unit_of_Measurement) Here’s why a pint is, in fact, not a pound the world round: Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Pint.” April 29, 2004. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/pint And we truly love and appreciate our tens of listeners. But you already knew that.