I was talking on Friday with two people who've been to Italy recently and saw the leaning tower of Pisa. One of them was surprised at how short it was: "about 30 feet tall", she said. Then the other person, who'd also seen it, agreed that it was surprisingly short, and said it was "only about as tall as the Washington Monument".

"Wait," I said. "You just said it's 30 feet tall; and you just said it's as tall as the Washington monument, which has got to be at least 100 yards tall. And you agreed with each other."

And they both shook their heads, and said, "No, the Washington Monument isn't anywhere near 100 yards tall." We all live near Washington DC, and have seen the Washington Monument many times.

I said that the Washington Monument must be taller than that. One of them said that it was just as tiring to walk to the top of the Leaning Tower as to walk to the top of the Washington Monument; which was odd, since the WM stairs have been closed since before he was born.

They finally agreed that both structures were about 30 yards tall.

The Leaning Tower is 183 feet tall, and the Washington Monument is 555 feet tall.

WTF?