Ed Helms

Never would I have guessed those.

No, of course not.

Gun to my head, I couldn't have found those two.

And I'm not disappointed in you.

I didn't expect you to know those things.

Okay, I'll take it.

So we're the only three.

Yeah.

So now, if it were up to Thomas Jefferson, we would have incorporated the metric system long, long ago.

However, according to legend, the fault lay at the feet of neither Jefferson nor Joseph Dombay, but pirates.

All right, before we go any further, here's why measurement standards actually matter.

A shared system of measurement is the quiet backbone of civilization.

It's how trade functions, science agrees on reality, and buildings don't mysteriously end up a few inches too short.

Historically, though, measurements were a mess because they were often based on local customs, a king's body part or whatever some royal person thought a foot should be that year.

Back in 1495, King Henry VII of England tried to bring some order to the chaos by standardizing units like the bushel, peck, gallon and court.

That would eventually become the imperial system that we use today, feet, pounds and all that stuff.

Fast forward a few centuries and the 13 colonies.

win their independence from Great Britain, but they still need Britain as a trading partner.

So America stuck with the imperial system.

The problem was everyone used it differently.