Buzz
As humans, we have an inherent need to bring order to chaos. We sort people into categories like race and gender, create lists to rank everything—such as top 10s—and endlessly compare things. Over time, we’ve invented various units of measurement to help us quantify the world. While most are practical, some are unexpectedly quirky.
10. The Smoot
It may sound like an invented term, but the 'smoot' is a legitimate unit of measurement, particularly significant in Massachusetts where it first emerged. In 1958, a 1.7-meter (5.5-foot) tall college student named Oliver Smoot volunteered to measure the length of the 620-meter (2,000-foot) Harvard Bridge, which connects Boston and Cambridge. By repeatedly lying down on the bridge with chalk marking his position, it was concluded that the bridge measured 364.4 smoots (and an ear). What started as a lighthearted prank turned into a local legend: when the bridge was renovated in the 1980s, police requested the smoot markings to be repainted because they used them to track accidents, and today, Google lets you calculate or measure anything in smoots.
9. The Big Mac Index
The Big Mac Index isn't just what you might imagine—a collection of burger snapshots. Since 1986, The Economist has used it as a tool to compare national economies. The index is based on the cost of a McDonald’s Big Mac. For instance, in January 2012, you could buy 23 Big Macs in Ukraine and Hong Kong for $50 USD, but only seven in Norway and Switzerland. Some governments consider this so significant that Argentina faced accusations of price-fixing their Big Mac prices to boost their ranking on the index.
8. Waffle House Method
Waffle House takes pride in a few things, with the most notable being its signature waffles. But there’s another aspect that stands out: customers can count on getting a meal at any hour, even during a natural disaster. That’s why FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) uses Waffle House as a benchmark to gauge the impact of a hurricane. If the restaurant remains open, things are likely fine. If it’s closed, however, according to one FEMA official, “that’s when you get to work.”
7. Moment
Next time someone asks you for a “moment” and you offer a vague response, don’t think you’re dodging specifics. The term actually refers to a medieval unit of time. A moment equates to about one and a half minutes. To make it even more puzzling, a moment can be divided into twelve ounces, each lasting 7.5 seconds.
6. Schmidt Sting Pain Index
The Schmidt Sting Pain Index, created by Justin Schmidt, an entomologist at the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, is a scale used to assess the severity of insect stings. On this scale, a rating of 0 means no pain at all, while a 2 signifies a sharp sting, like that of a bee or wasp. Wondering about a 4? Schmidt himself describes it as a level of pain where “you might as well just lie down and scream.” The index is particularly trustworthy, as Schmidt endured hundreds of stings to develop it. Among the most painful is the Tarantula Hawk wasp, known for its high pain score.
5. Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale
In 1967, Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe introduced a scale designed to assess the stress levels in people’s lives. The scale includes forty-three events, ranging from festive occasions like Christmas and family conflicts to more intense experiences like divorce and the death of a spouse. Events are assigned scores based on their stressfulness, and higher scores correlate with a greater likelihood of health issues. For example, dealing with a difficult boss scores a 23, while losing a spouse scores a devastating 100. Interestingly, a vacation (13) is considered more stressful than Christmas (12) or a minor legal issue (11). A score above 300 suggests a high risk for illness. However, with a spouse's death already rated at 100, it's hard to imagine an event topping the 300 mark.
4. Jolie
This scale has nothing to do with measuring large lips, though that may be a common misconception. Rather, it’s a measure of the positive impact that celebrities like Angelina Jolie have had by bringing attention to international aid efforts. As a result of her efforts, countless people have benefited, and we now have a unit to quantify this impact: the Jolie. First introduced by Paul Salopek, a Jolie measures the amount of aid a country receives when a celebrity highlights its situation. For instance, in 2005, the Democratic Republic of Congo received $11 worth of aid per capita, while Darfur—due to Jolie's advocacy—received $300 per capita. Therefore, a Jolie represents a 27-fold increase in aid for a given region.
3. Micromort
Micromorts assess the increased likelihood of death caused by engaging in everyday activities. One micromort represents a one-in-a-million chance of death. Some examples of actions that add a micromort to your risk include living for five years near a nuclear power plant, spending one hour in a coal mine, drinking Miami’s water for a year, or living in New York for just two days. The monetary worth of one micromort is $50, which is the amount a person would spend to lower the risks associated with these activities.
2. Scoville Scale
The Scoville Scale is designed to measure the level of capsaicin in chilis, which is essential for understanding the fiery sensation in your mouth. Unlike the Schmidt Scale, the inventor of the Scoville Scale did not sample each pepper by eating it. Instead, he extracted the oil that contains the heat and determined how many times it needed to be diluted with a sugar-water mixture before the heat was no longer detectable. The greater the number of dilutions required, the higher the Scoville rating. For instance, the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion’s oil needs to be diluted between 1.5 million and 2 million times before it is bearable to eat, thus giving it its Scoville score. Interestingly, law enforcement-grade pepper spray shares the same Scoville rating as the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion.
1. Muta Scale
It’s no shock that wrestlers frequently endure heavy beating during their matches, often leading to significant blood loss. In extreme cases, the blood loss can be substantial. The Muta Scale is a system used by fans to gauge the exact amount of blood a wrestler loses during a fight. A rating of 0.1 Muta corresponds to a minor scratch, while 1.0 Muta represents the bloodshed the Great Muta— a famous Japanese wrestler— experienced during a 1992 New Japan Pro Wrestling event. How much blood was that? So much that it’s remembered as the most blood-drenched match in wrestling history.
