The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. Its international symbol is ac.

The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land. One international acre is equal to 4046.8564224 square metres.

During the middle ages, an acre was the amount of land that could be plowed in one day with an ox.^[1]

Description[link]

The acre is related to the square mile, with 640 acres making up one square mile. One mile is 5280 feet (1760 yards). Divisions of land area were typically based on the square mile, and fractions thereof. If the square mile is divided into quarters, each quarter has a side length of ¹⁄₂ mile (880 yards) and is ¹⁄₄ square mile in area, or 160 acres. These subunits would typically then again be divided into quarters, with each side being ¹⁄₄ mile long, and being ¹⁄₁₆ of a square mile in area, or 40 acres. In the United States, farmland was typically divided as such, and the phrase "the back 40" would refer to the 40 acre parcel to the back of the farm. Most of the US midwest is on square mile grids for surveying purposes.

One acre equals 4,840 square yards, 43,560 square feet^[2] or about 4,047 square metres (0.405 hectares) (see below). While all modern variants of the acre contain 4,840 square yards, there are alternative definitions of a yard, so the exact size of an acre depends on which yard it is based on. Originally, an acre was understood as a selion of land sized at one furlong (660 ft) long and one chain (66 ft) wide; this may have also been understood as an approximation of the amount of land an ox could plough in one day. A square enclosing one acre is approximately 69.57 yards, or 208 feet 9 inches (63.63 metres) on a side. As a unit of measure, an acre has no prescribed shape; any perimeter enclosing 43,560 square feet is an acre in size.

The acre is often used to express areas of land in the United States and in countries where the Imperial System is still in use. As of 2010^[update], the acre is not used officially in the United Kingdom. In the metric system, the hectare is commonly used for the same purpose. An acre is approximately 40% of a hectare.

Perhaps the easiest way to envisage an acre is as a rectangle measuring 88 yards by 55 yards (¹⁄₁₀ of 880 yards by ¹⁄₁₆ of 880 yards), approximately the size of a standard American football field. To be more exact, one acre is 90.75 percent of a 100 yards (91.44 metres) long by 53.33 yards (48.76 metres) wide American football field (without the end zones). The full field, including the end zones, covers approximately 1.32 acres (0.53 ha). The acre is also approximately 56.68 percent of a 105 metres (344.49 feet) long by 68 metres (223.10 feet) wide Association football (soccer) pitch. It may also be remembered as 44,000 square feet, less 1%; or as the product of 66 × 660.

International acre[link]

In 1958, the United States and countries of the Commonwealth of Nations defined the length of the international yard to be 0.9144 metres.^[3] Consequently, the international acre is exactly 4,046.8564224 square metres. Since the difference between the U.S. and International acre is only approximately 0.016 square metres (24.8 square inches), it is usually not important which one is being discussed.

U.S. survey acre[link]

The U.S. survey acre is approximately 4,046.872 609 874 252 square metres; its exact value (4046 ^13,525,426⁄_15,499,969 m²) is based on an inch defined by 1 metre = 39.37 inches exactly, as established by the Mendenhall Order. Surveyors in the United States use both international and survey feet, and consequently, both varieties of acre.^[4] Areas are seldom stated to sufficient accuracy for the different definitions to be detectable.

South Asia[link]

In India, especially in South India, residential plots are measured in cents or decimel, which is one hundredth of an acre, or 435.60 square feet (40.469 m²). In Sri Lanka the division of an acre into 160 perches or 4 roods is common.^{[citation needed]}

Equivalence to other units of area[link]

1 international acre is equal to the following metric units:

• 4,046.8564224 square metres
• 0.40468564224 hectare (A square with 100 m sides has an area of 1 hectare.)

1 United States survey acre is equal to:

• 4,046.87261 square metres
• 0.404687261 hectare

1 acre (both variants) is equal to the following customary units:

• 66 feet × 660 feet (43,560 square feet)
• 1 chain × 10 chains (1 chain = 66 feet = 22 yards = 4 rods = 100 links)
• 1 acre is approximately 208.71 feet × 208.71 feet (a square)
• 4,840 square yards
• 160 perches. A perch is equal to a square rod (1 square rod is 0.00625 acre)
• 10 square chains
• 4 roods
• A chain by a furlong (chain 22 yards, furlong 220 yards)
• ¹⁄₆₄₀ (0.0015625) square mile (1 square mile is equal to 640 acres)

Historical origin[link]

Farm-derived units of measurement:

1. The rod is a historical unit of length equal to 5½ yards. It may have originated from the typical length of a mediaeval ox-goad.
2. The furlong (meaning furrow length) was the distance a team of oxen could plough without resting. This was standardised to be exactly 40 rods.
3. An acre was the amount of land tillable by one man behind one ox in one day. Traditional acres were long and narrow due to the difficulty in turning the plough.
4. An oxgang was the amount of land tillable by one ox in a ploughing season. This could vary from village to village, but was typically around 15 acres.
5. A virgate was the amount of land tillable by two oxen in a ploughing season.
6. A carucate was the amount of land tillable by a team of eight oxen in a ploughing season. This was equal to 8 oxgangs or 4 virgates.

The word acre is derived from Old English æcer originally meaning "open field", cognate to west coast Norwegian ækre and Swedish åker, German Acker, Dutch akker, Latin ager, and Greek αγρός (agros).

The acre was approximately the amount of land tillable by one man behind an ox in one day. This explains one definition as the area of a rectangle with sides of length one chain and one furlong. A long narrow strip of land is more efficient to plough than a square plot, since the plough does not have to be turned so often. The word "furlong" itself derives from the fact that it is one furrow long.

Before the enactment of the metric system, many countries in Europe used their own official acres. These were differently sized in different countries, for instance, the historical French acre was 4,221 square metres, whereas in Germany as many variants of "acre" existed as there were German states.

Statutory values for the acre were enacted in England, and, subsequently, the United Kingdom, by acts of:

• Edward I,
• Edward III,
• Henry VIII,
• George IV and
• Queen Victoria – the British Weights and Measures Act of 1878 defined it as containing 4,840 square yards.

Historically, the size of farms and landed estates in the United Kingdom was usually expressed in acres (or acres, roods, and perches), even if the number of acres was so large that it might conveniently have been expressed in square miles. For example, a certain landowner might have been said to own 32,000 acres of land, not 50 square miles of land.

Other acres[link]

• Customary acre - The customary acre was a measure of roughly similar size to the acre described above, but it was subject to considerable local variation similar to the variation found in carucates, virgates, bovates, nooks, and farundels. However, there were more ancient measures that were also farthingales. These may have been multiples of the customary acre, rather than the statute acre.
• Builder's acre - In U.S. construction and real estate development, an area of 40,000 square feet. Used to simplify math and for marketing, it is nearly 10% smaller than a survey acre.
• Scottish acre, one of a number of obsolete Scottish units of measurement
• Irish acre = 7,840 square yards
• Cheshire acre = 10,240 square yards^[5]
• Roman acre = 1,260 square metres
• God's Acre – a synonym for a churchyard.^[6]

See also[link]

• Anthropic units
• Conversion of units
• Acre-foot
• Spanish customary units
• Quarter acre
• French arpent—also used in Louisiana as length and area unit of measure
• a Morgen ("morning") of land is usually set at ²⁄₃ of a Tagwerk ("day work") of ploughing with an ox

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Acre (land measure).

• The Units of Measurement Regulations 1995 (United Kingdom)
• Cockeyed.com presents "How much is inside an acre?"

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2007)

This article may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (August 2007)

Lisa Douglas (née Gronyitz) was the leading female character in the 1960s CBS situation comedy Green Acres.

Lisa (portrayed by actress Eva Gabor), a glamorous Hungarian immigrant, was the wife of Oliver Wendell Douglas, a successful New York City attorney who had long harbored the dream of moving to the Midwest and operating a farm. Lisa had no desire to leave New York and live in an unsophisticated rural area; however, out of loyalty and duty to her husband she accompanied him on his quest nonetheless. Ironically, (or inexplicably) Lisa got along wonderfully with her mother in-law, Eunice Douglas (Eleanor Audley) whom she called "Mother". She and her mother-in-law were in agreement not to move to the hinterlands.

Once Mr. and Mrs. Douglas arrived in tiny Hooterville, however, Lisa found herself fitting in with the zany, outlandish residents of the area and their absurd ways (in fact, much more than her husband did). Lisa had no trouble accepting that the "son" of a neighbor couple was, in fact, a pig, that one of the two "brothers" hired as contractors to remodel their dilapidated farmhouse was female, or absurd events such a crown suddenly appearing on her husband's head every time that he ate margarine (a satire of a then-current advertisement for Lever Brothers' Imperial Margarine) or her finding the credits for the current episode of the program appearing on the eggs laid by her hens. She also seemed to tolerate Oliver's interminable speeches about the nobility and greatness of the American farmer, who caused the crops to come "shooting up out of the ground" (she called this his "shoosting speech"). (Her mangling of the English language was reminiscent of an earlier sitcom character, Ricky Ricardo of I Love Lucy.) In contrast, Oliver was in denial of the fact (apparent to all) that his "American Dream" was, for him at least, a nightmare.

Lisa was another example of the television cliché that a beautiful woman was almost invariably an incompetent cook, a characteristic which she shared with Elly May Clampett of The Beverly Hillbillies, another show featuring absurd rural characters which was also being produced at the same time and by the same production company. Her hotcakes, for example (the only thing she knew how to cook), had the consistency (and edibility) of rubber. In one episode, Oliver makes use of her "new method" hotcakes turning them into headgaskets for a broken truck. She also was the embodiment of the cliché that beautiful women are dim and daffy, like Gracie Allen, though in some ways she was much smarter than her husband.

In one episode, Lisa asks a visitor drinking coffee if he'd like another cup. He says yes and she takes the cup, throws it out the window, gets another cup and then pours coffee into it.

Lisa seemed to recognize that her husband was an incompetent failure as a farmer but was determined to accept that this was a phase that he was going through and to see him through it to its conclusion. While Oliver was always regarded by the Hootervillians as somewhat strange, Lisa fit right in with them and was befriended by almost all of them in short order. In fact, she developed a motherly relationship with Eb Dawson, the hired hand. Although she would gladly have returned to New York in a minute had he requested it, it was she, and not he, who seemed to have found genuine happiness.

In an episode, Lisa said that she did a good impression of Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eva Gabor's sister.

In the first few episodes of "Green Acres" Lisa was actually sensible and Oliver was the "whacky" comedy relief. Lisa had no trouble dealing with Mr. Haney and was responsible and logical. This soon changed and Oliver became the straight level headed lead while Lisa adopted a more zany character.

Ken Block
Ken Block in 2008.
Nationality	American
Born	(1967-11-21) 21 November 1967 (age 44) Long Beach, California
2012 Rally America
Debut season	2005
Current team	Monster World Rally Team
Best finish	2nd Overall in Rally America in 2006 and 2008
Awards
2004[1] 2005[1] 2009	• One of the most influential people (#17) in Sports Business Journal • Ad Age's Marketing 50 • One of the Fast 50 in Fast Company Magazine • 40 Under 40 Awards, Sports Business Journal • Rally America's Rookie of the Year • Gymkhana 2 was 2009's #4 most viewed viral video

Ken Block (born November 21, 1967, in Long Beach, California)^[2] is a professional rally driver with the Monster World Rally Team. Block is also one of the co-founders and recently appointed Chief Brand Officer of DC Shoes.^[1] Block has also competed in many action sports events including skateboarding, snowboarding, and motocross.

Rallying[link]

2005[link]

In 2005, Ken Block began his national rallying career with the Vermont SportsCar team.^[3] Vermont SportsCar prepared a 2005 Subaru WRX STi for Block to compete. His first event of the rallying season was Sno*Drift, where he ended up finishing seventh overall and fifth in the Group N class.^[4] During the 2005 season, Block had five top five finishes and placed third overall in the Group N class and fourth overall in the Rally America National Championship.^[3] At the end of his first rallying year, Ken Block had won the Rally America Rookie of the Year award.^[5]

2006[link]

In 2006, Ken Block along with his DC rally teammate Travis Pastrana signed a new sponsorship deal with Subaru.^[3] Through this deal with Subaru, the teammates became known as "Subaru Rally Team USA."^[3] With the new rally season, Block also got a brand new Vermont SportsCar prepped 2006 Subaru WRX STi.^[3] He competed in the first ever X Games rally event at X Games XII.^[3] In the competition, Block ended up finishing third to take the bronze.^[3] He went on to compete in the 2006 Rally America National Championship, where he finished second overall.^[3]

2007[link]

In 2007, Ken Block competed in the X Games XIII rally event, where he placed second overall and won a silver medal.^[5] In the 2007 Rally America National Championship, Block finished third overall.^[5] During this season, Block also entered in a few rounds of the World Rally Championship; Rally Mexico and Rally New Zealand.^[4] In Rally New Zealand, Block recorded two top-five stage times in the Group N class.^[4] At the end of 2007, Block had achieved 19 podiums and 8 overall victories in rally events.^[1]

2008[link]

In 2008, Block was provided with a brand new rally prepped 2008 Subaru WRX STi to compete. Block decided to compete in the Rallye Baie-des Chaleurs of the Canadian Rally Championship to gain some experience with his new 2008 rally car and prepare for the World Rally Championships later this year.^[6] Block gained his first Canadian rally win at the event.^[6] This was only the second event for the new car.^[6] Block and his co-driver were unable to get any championship points at the event due to not having a Canadian competition license.^[6] Block competed in the Rally New York USA competition and finished in first place.^[7] In the X Games XIV rally competition, Block finished tied for third place with Dave Mirra.^[8] This occurrence was due to both competitors having issues with their car. Block, who made it to the semi-finals of the event, had a radiator problem after landing the car awkwardly on a jump. With both bronze place competitors in damaged cars unable to compete, the medals were awarded to both of them.^[8]

Block competed in the 2008 Rally America National championship, which concluded on October 17, 2008. In the event, he finished second overall with a strong victory in the last event. In the Lake Superior Performance Rally stage, Block finished over one minute ahead of his next closest competitor and secured the second overall position.^[9] Next up for Block this rally season is three World Rally Championship events.^[4]

2009[link]

Block appeared in a segment of motoring show Top Gear.^[10]

2010[link]

Ken Block testing Ford Fiesta for the 2010 Rally America season

Block driving a Ford Focus RS WRC at the 2010 Rallye de France

On January 6, 2010 the Monster World Rally Team announced Ken as their driver for selected rounds of the World Rally Championship, in which he will be campaigning the Monster/Ford Racing Focus RS WRC 08. His car will be prepared and run by the North of England based M-Sport, who also prepare the official Ford WRC cars. He will be simultaneously running in his sixth season of the Rally America Championship in an open class Ford Fiesta, as well as his fifth X-games. Ken will also be the first ever American driver to campaign for the World Rally Championship. On February 27, Block won the Rally in the 100 Acre Wood (Rally America) for the 5th consecutive time. This broke the record held by John Buffum.^[11] Ken is currently being trained by former Ford factory driver Markko Märtin. At the Spain rally, he won his first 2 points in World Rally Championship.

2011[link]

On March 23, Block and his co-driver Alex Gelsomino were taken to hospital, having rolled their Ford Fiesta RS WRC during the shakedown stage of the 2011 Rally de Portugal in Faro, Portugal.^[12] A representative of the Monster World Rally team later stated that both men were fine.^[13]

Complete Rally America results[link]

(key)

Complete WRC results[link]

* Season in progress.

PWRC results[link]

Other motorsport activities[link]

On October 15, 2009, it was reported that Block was close to a deal to join the World Rally Championship in a new Ford team. Long time co-driver Alex Gelsomino is also reportedly involved in the deal. Former Subaru WRC driver Chris Atkinson has been reported to be lined up as Block's team-mate in the all-new Monster Energy Drink Ford World Rally Team.^[14]

In 2005, Ken Block along with his DC Shoes associates participated in the Gumball 3000 Rally. For the event they sent out three modified 2004 Subaru WRX STi's sponsored by DC Shoes.^[15][16]

In 2006, Ken Block competed in the One Lap of America competition along with Brian Scotto. They were teamed up in a 2006 Subaru WRX STi and finished forty-fifth overall.^[17]

In 2006, for the Discovery Channel show Stunt Junkies, Ken Block jumped his Subaru WRX STi rally car 171 feet (52 m) and a max height of 25 feet (7.6 m).^[3] The whole episode was dedicated to Ken Block attempting this stunt.

In 2007, Ken Block joined the DC Shoes Snowboarding team at New Zealand's Snow Park.^[3] Block did massive jumps and assisted in snowboarding tricks while driving his rally car on the mountain alongside the snowboarders. The session made the cover of the December 2007 issue of Snowboarder Magazine and closed out the MTN.LAB 1.5 DVD.^[3]

In 2009, for the BBC show Top Gear, Ken took James May out for Gymkhana-style driving at Block's stunt course at Inyokern Airport, an operational California airport, also starring Ricky Carmichael, whom Ken describes as 'a good friend'.

In 2010, for the BBC show Top Gear, Ken took the feature car from the previous episode (a Reliant Robin) for a lap of the Top Gear test track. He rolled the car and was unable to complete a lap but was unhurt.

On January 6, 2010, the announcement is made as Ken joins up with Ford and begins his WRC career driving both a Ford Fiesta and Focus RS WRC.

On August 24, 2010, Block released the first of a three part Gymkhana 3 video release featuring his new Ford Fiesta.^[18]

Ken Block also holds the world record for the world's fastest snow cat, a modified Subaru STI called a Trax STI.^{[citation needed]}

On September 14, 2010, Block's third Gymkhana video, featuring a Ford Fiesta, was released on YouTube.^[19] The video got more than seven million views in its first week.

On August 16, 2011, the fourth Gymkhana video, The Hollywood Megamercial was released on YouTube, featuring Block driving around the Universal Studios backlot.^[20]

Involvement In Colin McRae: Dirt 2 and Dirt 3[link]

Ken Block is featured as a driver in Codemasters Colin McRae: Dirt 2, along with his Subaru Rally Team USA Impreza.
In Dirt 3 he is seen as a driver and Gymkhana teacher, his Monster World Rally Team vehicles are available in the game.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ken Block

• Ken Block's Official site
• Monster World Rally Team
• Rally Results and News
• Subaru Rally Team USA
• Rally America Website
• Ken Block Official Merchandise Store
• Ken Block Interview
• Gymkhana racing improved by Ken Block, Video, ~4min
• dirt2game.com