Remember back in 1999, when the brain trust at Lockheed Martin provided navigational data to the 135 million dollar Mars orbiter in standard units rather than the pre-defined metric ones? Basically the orbiter got way, way, way to close to Mars atmosphere and the resultant guidance issues flung the hapless space craft on a trajectory towards the sun instead of a geo-synchronous orbit around the red planet.

Well, the days of metric mishaps are still alive and well as I found out yesterday when I assembled my first custom designed, homemade beer mug. It seems that while my calculations were all done in the pre-approved international metric standard, my borrowed, mega-mansion toolset was apparently calibrated with the British standard. Shitty death!!

While no space craft were lost and 135 million dollars weren’t wasted, my prototype mug emerged from the woodshop with slightly disproportional dimension. The similarly shaped, but appropriately sized sequel on the right hand side reflects what the original should have looked like. Damn you Lockheed!

More to follow, end of line….