I just feel the need to say the yard and meter weren’t randomly established distances. They were chosen. Meter being the earth’s circumference divided by 40 million (or rather the distance from the pole to the equator divided by 10 million). Useful for map making and navigating.

And the yard being the distance from the nose to the thumb of some British monarch, Henry I, I think. Useful for buildings and making sure things are within reach for the average person