But, but … it's slightly unfair to judge things according to that yardstick, because the episodes everybody remembers tend to be the off-kilter ones that you can't do every week.
The gold total was Britain's best since it won 56 in the 1908 Games, also held in London, though that is hardly a fair yardstick because only 26 nations competed in those century-ago Games, in sports that included tug of war and shooting using live deer as targets.
"I will be using them [Bournemouth] as a yardstick because they should be going up this season," he said.
Duran was seen as a yardstick, because in his previous fight he had taken Hagler the full 15-round distance.
Hillary Clinton, of course, is measured on a different yardstick, because her best performance possible is a lot better than Trump could ever manage.
"But it is also humorous and I see humour as something moral, because it invokes the yardstick of goodness in order to be funny, as though to laugh is sometimes the last thing left to us.
The truth is important because it's the yardstick by which we measure our reality, and Ben Stein -- or anyone else -- trying to pass off spectacular whimsy as legitimate fact is, yes, damaging.
Sandra L. Thurman, who directs the White House Office on National AIDS Policy, said in an interview that "the report is important because it gives us a yardstick to measure our progress and to take a hard look at our current investments at C.D.C".
A stunning achievement, by any yardstick, but has it overtaken its sell-by date?
Measured by a more reasonable yardstick, however, it has seen solid successes.
