Leonard,

Regarding your statement of yesterday, September 20th.

"The [statute] mile was adapted from the roman [mile
of] 5000 ft. eventually reaching the present 5280 ft.
It was gradually fudged to achieve a nice fit with
other units like the yard and [statute] furlong."

The above is wrong.

The Common Weights & Measure System is the only
accurate and only complete weights & measures system
that mankind has at present.

If you insist on using an inaccurate, incomplete, and
"fudged" weights & measures scheme, then you can either
attempt to use the Napoleon Emperor's Republic of
Europe Weights & Measures Scheme, or make up a similar
deviant scheme yourself.

babylon/assyria cube = (6x10)x(6x10)x(6x10) = 216,000
egypt/arabic cube = 10 x 10 x 10 = 1000
216 = 6 x 6 x 6
1000 = 10 x 10 x 10
1.216 = ((10x10x10) -:- 1000) + ((6x6x6) -:- 1000)

Earth Equator = 1.216 x 108000000 ft. = 131,328,000 ft.
1 sextant Eq. = 1.216 x 18,000,000 ft. = 21,888,000 ft.
1 degree Eq. = 1.216 x 300,000 ft. = 364,800 ft.
1 minute Eq. = 1.216 x 5000 ft. = 6080 ft., or naut.ml.
1 second Eq. = 1.216 x 1000 in. = 1216 in.
1/10 second Eq. = 1.216 x 100 in. = 121.6 in.
1/100 second Eq. = 1.216 x 10 in. = 12.16 in.
1/1000 second Eq. = 1.216 x 1 INCH = 1.216 INCH

1 fl.oz. (1.8 cu.in.) =/> 1.216x1.216x1.216in.=1.8cu.in
1 avdp.oz. wine = 437 1/2 gr. = 1.800 cu.in.
1 avdp.oz. distilled water = 437 1/2 gr. = 1.728 cu.in.
1 avdp.oz. distilled water = 1.2x1.2x1.2in.=1.728 cu.in

1 militia mile = 5000 ft.
1 nautical mile = 6080 ft.

The above two linear miles cannot be triangulated.
Therefore until 1592, the Kingdom of England & Wales
like every other country in the world, used 2, 3, 4, 5,
6 or more different miles for land measure.

In the year of 1592 the England Parliament passed an
act laying down that only one mile would be used for
all land measure, irrespective of whether that measure
was linear or superficial. And just to make crystal
clear what the act meant, the statute mile for
superficial measure was laid down as 66 ft. x 5280 ft.,
and the statute mile for linear measure was laid down
as 5280 ft.

The decision is an obvious one: if you are going to
make only one mile legal for all land measure in any
jurisdiction. It does not matter whether that
jurisdiction is:

Kingdom of England & Wales
Democratic Socialist Peoples' Labour Republic of White
----- Russia

If you make it statutory that only one mile is legal
for all land measure, then you automatically eliminate
both linear miles of 5000 ft. and 6080 ft., because
they cannot be triangulated.

If you limit your choices for a dual purpose statute
mile to 5000 ft. or more, and 6080 ft. or less, you are
left with only five choices:

superficial mile of 63 ft. x 5040 ft.
superficial mile of 66 ft. x 5280 ft. (stat.ml.)
superficial mile of 69 ft. x 5520 ft.
superficial mile of 72 ft. x 5760 ft.
superficial mile of 75 ft. x 6000 ft.

linear mile of 5040 ft.
linear mile of 5280 ft. (stat.ml.)
linear mile of 5520 ft.
linear mile of 5760 ft.
linear mile of 6000 ft.

However three of the choices have odd numbers and
additionally the fathom cannot be fitted into them.
So there are only two practical choices:

66 ft. x 5280 ft. (stat.ml.)
72 ft. x 5760 ft.

As the 1592 Act has automatically abolished the linear
land/militia/infantry/foot/roman mile of 5000 ft., any
dual purpose mile replacement must be required to be as
close to 5000 ft. as possible. 5280 ft. is a great
deal closer to 5000 ft. than 5760 ft. is.

The above is why the superficial land statute mile is
66 ft. x 5280 ft.

The above is why the linear land statute mile is
5280 ft.

There can be no other choice if you insist on having
only one mile for land linear/superficial measure, for
whatever jurisdiction. It is irrelevant whether that
jurisdiction is:

Nationalist Socialist Peoples' Labour Party Third
----- Empire of Germany
Democratic Socialist Peoples' Labour Republic of Little
----- Russia
United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland
Great & Sovereign State of North Carolina
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Bokassa Emperor's Republic of Central Africa

Need further help? See site:

http://www.weights-and-measures.com

And topics:

Common Linear Measure
Common Nautical Measure
Common Surveyors' Measure
Common Superficial Measure

Mr. Cole, I am being most serious when I say this: Are you a Mason? I don't quite grasp what you are talking about, and find it practically impossible to penetrate your eccentric air.

In short: :-?