Where are Christo and Jeanne-Claude When You Need Them? How About High School Math?

The metric system just took another hit today, in this article discussing a Swiss ski resort's effort to preserve an alpine glacier from the lately steroidal summer thaw by blanketing it in some sort of synthetic, fleece-like material.

The article is rife with more fuzzy math than you can shake a stick at (e.g., 1% annual reduction = 100-year lifespan, while 5% annual reduction = 50-year lifespan), but the most offensive thing is obviously wrong, obviously deliberate, and thus reprehensible as a journalistic shortcut, if not as a cultural practice -- and I quote:

"A thin protective layer of artificial textiles, including polyester, was laid over an area of 3-4,000 square meters (yards). The fleece-like material, hard to distinguish with the naked eye from snow, will reflect the rays of the sun."

I'm sorry, did you just equate meters and yards? It's not even all that close!!!

In fact, the first reference this search produced is a clearinghouse of straightforward area conversions.

This site indicates that 3,000 to 4,000 square meters is equal to 3587.97 to 4783.96 square yards.

Lazy. Pathetic.