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Hmm...

880 yards in half a mile,
that's 1760 yards in a full mile
a yard is 3 feet long,
so a mile is 5280 feet.

Why do Americans cling to such an awkward measurement system?

Not sure about the USA, but here in NZ an inch is defined as exactly 25.4 mm.
So since a foot is 12 inches, a foot is 304.8 mm
so a mile is exactly 1,609,344 mm, or 1,609.344 metres, or 1.609344 km

Metric is a lot easier to deal with than the American Imperial System!

What do you actually mean by the width of the USA (see below!)?
I think 2,892 miles is the width most appropriate here, as we want the land to be contiguous (ignoring lakes & rivers!).

2,892 * 1,609,344 mm = 4,654,222,848 mm
4,654,222,848 mm / 78000 = 59,669.53 mm
59,669.53 / 304.8 =195.77

So there would be about 200 feet or about 60 metres person.

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/usstates/uslandst.htm
[...]
Horizontal Width: 2,680 miles
[...]

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_width_of_the_US_from_coast_to_coast
[...]
        The precise distance depends on the exact latitude where you make the measurement but it is approximately 3,000 miles.

        It is roughly 3,400 miles at its widest point

        From Virgina Beach, Va. to San Jose, Ca. it is about 2,990 miles. From Jacksonville, Fl. to Aberdeen, Wa. it is 3,087 miles. From Augusta, Maine to Los Angeles, Ca it is 3,148 miles. This gives you an average of 3,075 miles.
[...]

http://www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/how-wide-is-the-united-states-in-miles-from-point-arena-california-to-west-quoddy-head-maine
[...]
The width of the United States depends on whether Alaska or Hawaii is included.

Measured from the farthest points west and east in the conterminous United States, meaning the 48 states that have a common boundary, which are West Quoddy Head, Maine, and Point Arena, California, the United States is 2,892 miles (4,656 km) wide.

Measured between the farthest points between the eastern United States and Alaska, Soldier Key, Florida, and Cape Wrangell, Alaska, the distance is 5,503 miles (8,860 km).

From Soldier Key, Florida, to Kure Island, Hawaii, the distance is 5,859 miles (9,433 km).
[...]

Intellectual Property? Like we give a shit. Here's one fine example from U.S. history.

http://www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/why-did-president-thomas-jefferson-smuggle-rice-out-of-italy

During their early years, the United States freely ignored existing European patents and copyrights as we saw fit. Developing our economy took precedence over some Old World kvetching about theft of ideas.

If you have knowledge, let others light their candles with it. - Margaret Fuller

To press China on theft of IP would require a truthful accounting of the cost. Look no further than the BSA for the depth of deception on the "cost of software piracy". There is no way China would accept valuation numbers like $200 per pirated copy of Windows 7.

It is my fervent wish that the BSA get just what they ask for -- the ability to absolutely prevent people from using their client's software without payment. Think of how many copies of Windows would be installed in China if it was *IMPOSSIBLE* to pirate. Think of a number close to zero.

There would be an utter explosion of growth in FOSS software. If Microsoft wanted to sell Windows and Office they'd have to lower the price to what the market would actually bear -- somewhere most likely around 10% of current prices.

Congress uses those inflated numbers every year to justify all sorts of bullshit. They value of bogus "IP" valuations far outweigh Chinese IP theft.

No in Jurassic Park they didn't make Males.

Correct. It's hard to believe that somebody actually tried to correct you on that after you had corrected GP...

Females can in theory spontaneously reproduce... Males cannot.

Well, in mammals that's true... the Y chromosome causes male development. Birds (and lizards, I think) are the opposite, though... the male has two identical sex chromosomes, whereas the females have a dissimilar pair. Who knows, maybe that makes a difference?

With regards to rooster-to-hen transitions, apparently some of them have laid eggs: every now and then, a disease may cause a rooster to change its gender and become a hen, or vice-versa. Some of these roosters-turned-hens have actually laid eggs. Whether or not those eggs could be fertilized remains a mystery, but I don't see any reason why they could not.

Hen-to-rooster transitions, apparently, are sterile: The hen does not completely change into a rooster, however ... while the hen will no longer lay eggs, she won't be fathering any offspring, either

So... you never know.

just cuz im in my nitpick mood, the origin of the word meteorology is already astronomical. It was believed that meteors were part of earths weather system. So I think this new field should be called meteorology, and the old field should be called Geoweatherology... or Global Warming

... oh yeah http://www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/why-is-the-study-of-weather-called-meteorology-and-where-did-the-term-come-from

No offence intended, but there's very little on the page you cite that is at all accurate. Aristotle didn't invent the term, it doesn't come from Latin, and it's nothing to do with meteors. Greek meteoros means "in the sky", so "meteorology" simply means "the study of stuff in the sky". Aristotle's use of the word is just a fitting title for a work about weather, not a new coinage or anything like that.

tl;dr: don't nitpick about ancient languages that you don't know.

1. 3. We are developing the ability to forecast "space weather", thus leading to a new field, astrometeorology

just cuz im in my nitpick mood, the origin of the word meteorology is already astronomical. It was believed that meteors were part of earths weather system. So I think this new field should be called meteorology, and the old field should be called Geoweatherology... or Global Warming

... oh yeah http://www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/why-is-the-study-of-weather-called-meteorology-and-where-did-the-term-come-from

Not quite that far. The galaxy is about 50,000 ly across, and the earth is a bit more than halfway from the center. So, we're only around 25,000 ly away from this beast.

The radius of the Milky Way is 50,000 light years, but in total it's 100,000 light years across.

But, you're right, the Sun is about 26,000 light years from the center, not the 40-50 I stated earlier.

http://www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/how-big-is-the-milky-way

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way

http://members.fcac.org/~sol/chview/chv5.htm