[SeekAndFind]

Here's a question to ponder :

A pound is supposed to be .45359237 of a kilogram, of course. But if the Congress can permit Mr. Bernanke to use his judgment in deciding what a dollar is worth, why shouldn’t he — or some other PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology — be able to decide from day to day what a kilogram is worth?

[Red Badger]

My Fiat weight not much more than that............

[bert]

A kilo is the weight of a standard export pack of cocaine

If shorted, death occurs, if long, death occurs

[KarlInOhio]

Is the Chrysler pound a relabeled import of the Fiat kilogram?

[Bean Counter]

A gram here, a gram there, pretty soon you’re talking about some serious grammage....

[STYRO]

...”the official cylinder may be losing mass....”
...spoken like a true scientist. Or, it may not be. I suspect there is a program (which will be very expensive) which will open the official kilo, and determine if it really is losing mass...or not. After all, our methods of weighing things has improved since the official kilo was put into the domes. Most likely it will have a different mass than the last time. Who will know if the mass changed, or the scales changed?

[Rashputin]

This is all a smokescreen. Clinton added the average price of a hooker performing a specified task to the “shopping basket of goods” used to calculate the inflation rate. They desperately need to allow the redefinition of time in order to hide the real inflation rate.

[Stosh]

The standard kilogram, if memory serves, is stored in Paris, which means that the fate of the entire international measurement system is in the hands of the French.

Now doesn’t that make everyone feel better?

[jimt]

...why shouldn’t he — or some other PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology — be able to decide from day to day what a kilogram is worth?

Because a lot of laws of physics revolve around the value.

For example, a 1 slug mass (32.2xxxx pounds) accelerates at 1 feet per second squared when acted upon by a 1 pound force. (Sorry for the traditional units - I don't think in metric.)

If the unit of mass varied, all the other relationships would vary, and the mass above would accelerate faster or slower than the definition.

It's kind of like: what if 2+2=3 ?

[Yo-Yo]

If the only standard for a Kilogram is the physical hunk of metal in Paris, then how do researchers know that it is losing mass? Perhaps it is the calibration of their scales drifting instead.

(Usually the tagline is enough, but in this case:) /sarc

[omega4412]

This is an enumerated power: Article I, Section 8: "The Congress shall have Power To...fix the Standard of Weights and Measures"

Admittedly, when you buy a pound of hamburger you don't need to know the mass to 12 significant figures. But advances in measurement have real-world consequences. GPS depends on extremely accurate time measurements by atomic clocks.

[count-your-change]

I questioned a local expert on what a kilo was worth and he said,

“bess you jus be payin up wut I ax, fool! els my stick be talking fo me. now be tippin outa here fo I do you.”

I don’t think he had a PhD, but who can tell these days?