_ October 20, 2011
(Note from October 22, 2011: This page was a bad idea when I wrote it; I’m going to leave it here, because it’s part of the development of what I do on the Internet. It’s documentation of one of my mistakes.
Related pages after this date are:
1. Newblog2011: 10/21/11 Smoot Update
1. Newblog2011: 10/22/11 Purple Smoot)
Copyright L. Kochman, October 22, 2011 @ 10:30 a.m.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Newblog2011: 10/20/11 Smoot Point?
On October 7, 2011, on a Weebly blog page called “So far, today,” I wrote that something had been painted on the overpass from Cambridge to Boston that said “364.4 smoots + - 1 ear,” and that I found that threatening in light of something I’d previously written about, when a homeless woman had threatened to bite my ear off.
I only walked on the one side of the overpass from Cambridge to Boston on the day that I wrote that page. I took the notes and then, when I got to a computer, I went online to find out what a “smoot” was.
Here’s the search result and then an excerpt from an article from an MIT homepage from 2005, that still shows up on the first page of a Google search on the word “smoot” today, October 20, 2011:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. MIT - a salute to Smoot
web.mit.edu/spotlight/smoot-salute/Cached - Similar
You +1'd this publicly. Undo
Dec 19, 2005 – Smoot makes his mark in standards and measurements ... Oliver Smoot, MIT class of 1962, is retiring from his chairmanship of the American ...
Oliver Smoot, MIT class of 1962, is retiring from his chairmanship of the American National Standards Institute. He lent his name, and not coincidentally also his height, to a unit of measurement which is now part of history.
As almost every MIT student knows, a smoot is a unit of length equal to five feet seven inches. Most students also know that the length of the Mass. Ave. bridge between MIT and Boston is precisely 364.4 smoots and one ear.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 20, 2011
Here’s another search result and excerpt from an online article about the smoot. The words in italics are as transcribed by the person who created the website; that page is mostly an article referenced, as noted, by the website’s creator.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. The Smoot as a unit of length
aether.lbl.gov/www/personnel/smoot/smoot-measure.htmlCached - Similar
You +1'd this publicly. Undo
Since I (George Smoot) was a n MIT student and then graduate (class of 1966 and 1970), many people have asked if I was the Smoot used to measure the ...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This apparently appeared in "People Weekly", April 24, 1989, v. 31, p. 93+
Harvard Bridge spans the Charles River linking Boston and Cambridge. In 1958 Lambda Chi Alpha took 5' 7" MIT freshman pledge Oliver R. Smoot, Jr. and rolled him head over heels the entire length of the bridge. Every ten smoots they calibrated the bridge, painting marks. The bridge was found to be exactly 364.4 smoots plus an ear. Successive pledge classes repainted the markings………
There are a couple of pictures of Oliver R. Smoot, of MIT students ready to redo measurements with Stephen Smoot, and of a plaque that reads:
"This plaque place in honor of THE SMOOT which joined the angstrom, meter and light year as standards of length, when in October 1958 the span of this bridge was measured, using the body of Oliver Reed Smoot, M.I.T. '62 and found to be precisely 364.4 smoots and one ear. Commemorated at out 25th reunion June 6, 1987 M.I.T. Class of 1962"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 20, 2011
In the past couple of days, I saw a plaque on one end of the overpass that said “364.4 smoots + - 1 ear.”
Yesterday, I made a mistake and accidentally published a list of things that I needed to do online. One of them was to look up the smoot issue to answer the question of whether it’s always been a plus and a minus sign or not.
Here’s what Wikipedia says, today, October 20, 2011 about the smoot, next to a picture of one set of smoot markings from the past, with a caption that says “Note that it says only “ + 1 ear”:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One smoot is equal to Oliver Smoot's height at the time of the prank (five feet and seven inches ~1.70 m).[1] The bridge's length was measured to be 364.4 smoots (620.1 m) plus or minus one ear, with the "plus or minus" intended to express uncertainty of measurement.[2] Over the years the "or minus" portion has gone astray in many citations, including the markings at the site itself, but has now been enshrined in stone by Smoot's college class.[3]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 20, 2011
‘Tis a mystery. I’m fine with having made a mistake; I’d rather that than have either of my ears threatened and history being rewritten at MIT in order to support a fascist regime.
I have to say, though, that at least the MIT article from 2005 seems somewhat convincing. Also, in the past couple of days, I took a recording of myself reading what was on the plaque at the entrance to the overpass, where it now says “+ - 1 ear.” I made that recording with the intention of looking up the smoot point again. I know that people follow me around and watch and listen to what I do, so the question is How Creepy Is It? What really happened?
Copyright, with noted exceptions, L. Kochman, October 20, 2011 @ 12:38 p.m./addition October 22, 2011 @ 10:30 a.m.
(Note from October 22, 2011: This page was a bad idea when I wrote it; I’m going to leave it here, because it’s part of the development of what I do on the Internet. It’s documentation of one of my mistakes.
Related pages after this date are:
1. Newblog2011: 10/21/11 Smoot Update
1. Newblog2011: 10/22/11 Purple Smoot)
Copyright L. Kochman, October 22, 2011 @ 10:30 a.m.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Newblog2011: 10/20/11 Smoot Point?
On October 7, 2011, on a Weebly blog page called “So far, today,” I wrote that something had been painted on the overpass from Cambridge to Boston that said “364.4 smoots + - 1 ear,” and that I found that threatening in light of something I’d previously written about, when a homeless woman had threatened to bite my ear off.
I only walked on the one side of the overpass from Cambridge to Boston on the day that I wrote that page. I took the notes and then, when I got to a computer, I went online to find out what a “smoot” was.
Here’s the search result and then an excerpt from an article from an MIT homepage from 2005, that still shows up on the first page of a Google search on the word “smoot” today, October 20, 2011:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. MIT - a salute to Smoot
web.mit.edu/spotlight/smoot-salute/Cached - Similar
You +1'd this publicly. Undo
Dec 19, 2005 – Smoot makes his mark in standards and measurements ... Oliver Smoot, MIT class of 1962, is retiring from his chairmanship of the American ...
Oliver Smoot, MIT class of 1962, is retiring from his chairmanship of the American National Standards Institute. He lent his name, and not coincidentally also his height, to a unit of measurement which is now part of history.
As almost every MIT student knows, a smoot is a unit of length equal to five feet seven inches. Most students also know that the length of the Mass. Ave. bridge between MIT and Boston is precisely 364.4 smoots and one ear.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 20, 2011
Here’s another search result and excerpt from an online article about the smoot. The words in italics are as transcribed by the person who created the website; that page is mostly an article referenced, as noted, by the website’s creator.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. The Smoot as a unit of length
aether.lbl.gov/www/personnel/smoot/smoot-measure.htmlCached - Similar
You +1'd this publicly. Undo
Since I (George Smoot) was a n MIT student and then graduate (class of 1966 and 1970), many people have asked if I was the Smoot used to measure the ...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This apparently appeared in "People Weekly", April 24, 1989, v. 31, p. 93+
Harvard Bridge spans the Charles River linking Boston and Cambridge. In 1958 Lambda Chi Alpha took 5' 7" MIT freshman pledge Oliver R. Smoot, Jr. and rolled him head over heels the entire length of the bridge. Every ten smoots they calibrated the bridge, painting marks. The bridge was found to be exactly 364.4 smoots plus an ear. Successive pledge classes repainted the markings………
There are a couple of pictures of Oliver R. Smoot, of MIT students ready to redo measurements with Stephen Smoot, and of a plaque that reads:
"This plaque place in honor of THE SMOOT which joined the angstrom, meter and light year as standards of length, when in October 1958 the span of this bridge was measured, using the body of Oliver Reed Smoot, M.I.T. '62 and found to be precisely 364.4 smoots and one ear. Commemorated at out 25th reunion June 6, 1987 M.I.T. Class of 1962"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 20, 2011
In the past couple of days, I saw a plaque on one end of the overpass that said “364.4 smoots + - 1 ear.”
Yesterday, I made a mistake and accidentally published a list of things that I needed to do online. One of them was to look up the smoot issue to answer the question of whether it’s always been a plus and a minus sign or not.
Here’s what Wikipedia says, today, October 20, 2011 about the smoot, next to a picture of one set of smoot markings from the past, with a caption that says “Note that it says only “ + 1 ear”:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One smoot is equal to Oliver Smoot's height at the time of the prank (five feet and seven inches ~1.70 m).[1] The bridge's length was measured to be 364.4 smoots (620.1 m) plus or minus one ear, with the "plus or minus" intended to express uncertainty of measurement.[2] Over the years the "or minus" portion has gone astray in many citations, including the markings at the site itself, but has now been enshrined in stone by Smoot's college class.[3]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 20, 2011
‘Tis a mystery. I’m fine with having made a mistake; I’d rather that than have either of my ears threatened and history being rewritten at MIT in order to support a fascist regime.
I have to say, though, that at least the MIT article from 2005 seems somewhat convincing. Also, in the past couple of days, I took a recording of myself reading what was on the plaque at the entrance to the overpass, where it now says “+ - 1 ear.” I made that recording with the intention of looking up the smoot point again. I know that people follow me around and watch and listen to what I do, so the question is How Creepy Is It? What really happened?
Copyright, with noted exceptions, L. Kochman, October 20, 2011 @ 12:38 p.m./addition October 22, 2011 @ 10:30 a.m.