January 31, 2024
#2888: US Survey Foot explain
[Closeup on Cueball.]
Cueball: We thought it was over. After 60 years of struggle, the US survey foot was dead, deprecated by NIST in 2023.
[Cueball is shown to be talking to Ponytail, Hairy, and Megan. He has a presentation behind him.]
Cueball: We thought architects and engineers could rest easy, free of the headaches of having two conflicting definitions of the foot that differ by 610 nanometers.
International foot: 0.304 800 000 m
US survey foot [crossed over in gray] R.I.P.: 0.304 800 609… m
[Cueball points at an image of Black Hat with unreadable writing above it.]
Cueball: But I bring dire news:
Cueball: Someone has started using the US survey foot again.
[Closeup on Cueball again.]
Off-panel voice: Why!?
Cueball: We don’t know.
Cueball: Some people just want to drag the world 610nm closer to madness.
[Farther view of Cueball only. He clenches a fist.]
Off-panel voice: What can we do!?
Cueball: A NIST team is already in the air. We will capture the scofflaw and end this nightmare.
[Two helicopters flying, with mountains in the background.]
Caption: 8,000 miles away
[Two operatives in a forest by a pond with NIST helmets. One talks on a walkie-talkie.]
Operative: We’ve reached the coordinates of the target’s device. There’s no one here.
Voice from walkie-talkie: How!?
Caption: 8,000.016 miles away
[Black Hat walking elsewhere in the forest, apparently by the same pond. He is holding something resembling a phone.]
Black Hat: ♫ ♪