Using length of the shark from the movie “JAWS” as the base unit, everything in the universe can be measured in terms of JAWS. The JAWS system was first proposed by Writer/Director/Podcaster Kevin Smith of Smodcast.com as a superior method of visualizing distances:
From Smodcast #206 (1:04:00)
‘A newlywed bride who saw her husband killed by a shark in the Seychelles yesterday described the moment.. he had been snorkeling around 20 meters out to sea…’ How many JAWS away is this Scott? … If it’s 60 feet you’re saying, and JAWS was 25. Ok, so 25 foot is 1 JAWS and another 25 is 50 feet and then another one would be 75; too far. So then it’s like [two] JAWS and a JAWS without a tail, away from the shore.
- Twitter Hilites
@manitouislander
Been converting everything to Jaws. Last road trip= 6752 Jaws’. It’s a brave new world!@obscuremetaphor
The days of metric and imperial are numbered.@thetypeman
A homerun to dead center at Fenway Park would be over 16.8 Jaws!@thepobolycwm
my highlight of the olympics will be watching the athletes running the 13.1 jaws@michaeltucker93
Well then, I’m gonna go inform girls that it is truly 0 Jaws big. Not even a fraction.@ShoreFlicks
If you’re in NJ next month we’re showing JAWS on the beach in Spring Lake & Asbury. Our screen is .64 JAWS wide.
Earlier this month I set out to institutionalize the JAWS measurement system. From that concept emerged JAWSConverter.com
From the web site:
1 JAWS is roughly equivalent to 25 feet (7.5 meters). The JAWS system is best used for measuring the expanse between two travel-able points, such as the distance one must swim to reach the safety of shore while pursued by a man-eating shark.
I tweeted the link to @ThatKevinSmith, who responded:
KevinSmith @ThatKevinSmith
Holy. Shit. This is so AWESOME!
Many thanks, sir!
Minutes later JAWS Converter exploded on twitter, receiving over 3,500 unique visitors and 8,000 measurement conversions in 2 days time. Not bad for a novelty web site. Some of the best tweets are posted to the right. The following week I updated JAWS Converter to include weight measurement, comparing pounds and kilograms to a 3 ton shark. Check out JAWS Converter and start measuring your world in terms of sharks!