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    <aside>
      <p><a href="/blog.shtml">Blog, Updates, and Pre-Takes</a></p>

<ul class="index">


  <li>
      <date>November 18, 2021</date>
  	<a href="/blog/2021-11-18_public_understanding.shtml">&quot;If you would converse with me, you must first define your terms.&quot</a>
</li>

<li>
      <date>April 16, 2020</date>
    <a href="/blog/2020-04-16_BehindScenes.shtml">Behind the Scenes of Kilofilm, But No Surprises</a></li>
	</li>
    <li>
      <date>October 26, 2019</date>
    <a href="/blog/2019-10-30_WhosFairest.shtml">Who's the fairest of them all?</a></li>
	</li>
    <li>
      <date>November 18, 2018</date>
      <a href="https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/718179"  target="_blank">Reporting, Live from Versailles!
    Today I'm in Versailles, France, to film the vote on the proposed redefinition of the kilogram. [UI News Bureau]</a></li>


  <li>
    <date>April 13, 2018</date>
    <a href="/blog/2018-04-10_MassFingerprint.shtml">How much does a fingerprint weigh? Enough to concern metrologists and museum curators.</a></li>
  <li>
    <date>December 31, 2017</date>
    <a href="/blog/2017-12-31_constants.shtml">299792458 Step Aside, Here Comes—662607015!</a></li>
  <li>
    <date>August 1, 2017</date>
  <a href="/blog/2017-08-01_colonial_wm.shtml">How much is Georgia currency worth in New Jersey?</a></li>

  <li>
    <date>October 23, 2016</date>
    <a href="/blog/2016-10-22_metrication.shtml">Metrication in 1790s France: When people got what they asked for, but not what they wanted</a></li>


   <li>
    <date>July 31, 2016</date>
    <a href="/blog/2016-07-31_cyphering.shtml">Colonial measures and Education in Early America</a></li>
   <li>
    <date>November 28, 2014</date>
    <a href="/blog/2014-11-20_relics_decimal_time.shtml" title="Relics of Decimal Time">Relics of Decimal Time from 1793-1795</a></li>
  <li>
    <date>World Metrolopgy Day 2015</date>
    <a href="https://vimeo.com/128598681" title="Link to Viemo">This is not a toy: a LEGO tabletop watt balance (Part 1) (on Vimeo)</a></li>
  <li>
    <date>March 18, 2016</date>
    <a href="/blog/2016-03-18_kilogram_migration.shtml">Stop-motion animation and the kilogram migration</a>
    </li>
  <li>
    <date>World Metrolopgy Day 2016</date>
    <a href="https://vimeo.com/167492608" title="Link to Vimeo">This is not a toy: a LEGO tabletop watt balance (Part 2) (on Vimeo)</a></li>
  <li>
    <date>May 28, 2013</date>
    <a href="/blog/2013-05-28_science_tourism_city_of_light.shtml" title="News Gazette article" >Losing Weight: Science and Tourism in the City of Light</a></li>
  <li>
    <date>February 1, 2015</date>
    <a href="/blog/2015-02-01_stamps_kilogram.shtml">SI Stamp story: Kilogram </a></li>
  <li>
    <date>March 2, 2015</date>
    <a href="/blog/2015-03-01_stamps_ipk.shtml">SI Stamp story:  IPK</a></li>
  <li>
    <date>April 3, 2015</date>
    <a href="/blog/2015-04-01_stamps_ampere.shtml">SI Stamp story:  Ampere</a></li>
  <li>
    <date>APS March Meeting 2013</date>
    <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qsVNKJMphk" title="Youtube link">Robert Crease's talk &quot;Dreams of a Final System: Origins of the Quest for an Absolute Standard&quot; (on YouTube)</a></li>
  <li>
    <date>June 4, 2015</date>
    <a href="/blog/2015-06-01_stamps_candela.shtml">SI Stamp story:  Candela</a></li>
  <li>
    <date>July 5, 2015</date>
    <a href="/blog/2015-07-01_stamps_meter.shtml">SI Stamp story:  Meter</a></li>
  <li>
    <date>August 7, 2015</date>
    <a href="/blog/2015-08-01_stamps_second.shtml">SI Stamp story:  Second</a></li>
  <li>
    <date>September 7, 2015</date>
    <a href="/blog/2015-09-01_stamps_kelvin.shtml">SI Stamp story:  Kelvin</a></li>
  <li>
    <date>October 8, 2015</date>
    <a href="/blog/2015-10-01_stamps_mole.shtml">SI Stamp story:  Mole</a></li>
</ul><a href="2016-07-31_cyphering.shtml"></a>

    </aside>
    <section id="main">
      <h1>Blog, Updates, and Pre-Takes</h1>
      <p>I have collected a lot of footage and background materials in making this film. Not all will make it into the final edit, but I still find it interesting and wanted to share it with you, and prototype (pun intended) ideas. Some of the material is below. Enjoy! </p>

      
     <h2>
     <date>
     July 15, 2023
     </date>
     &quot;What was the weather in Paris on May 20, 1875? And why do I need to know? &quot;</h2>
     <p>
     I have noticed that documentary films will often include a bird's-eye view of maps, and surround the edges of the maps with clouds. Pretty! I had an impulse to add clouds around the edges of my stop-motion bird's-eye view of a map of France in the 1780s, in the sequence about the Treaty of the Meter.
     </p>
     <a href="/blog/2023-07-15_historic_weather.shtml">Continue reading &quot;What was the weather on the day the Treaty of the Meter was signed&quot;</a>

     <figure>
     <a href="/blog/2023-07-15_historic_weather.shtml"><img src="/blog/2023-07-15_historic_weather_images/header_slivinski.png"  alt="History weather image from Dr. Laura Slivinski" /></a> 
     </figure>
 
 
 
      <h2><date>November 18, 2021</date>
  &quot;If you would converse with me, you must first define your terms&quot.&quot;
  </h2>

    <p> I confess that I never thought about definitions often, until I started working on this film project.</p>
    <p>There are many words which mean different things to different people, and depending on context. The word &quot;uncertainty&quot; comes to mind first,
      but two words which are used interchangeably are &quot;precision&quot; and &quot;accuracy.&quot; Most dictionaries use one to describe the other.
  </p>
    <p>In metrological context, the words do not have the same meaning. Then, how could these words apply to the redefinition of the kilogram?

</p>
    <a href="/blog/2021-11-18_public_understanding.shtml">Continue reading &quot;If you would converse with me, you must first define your terms&quot;</a>

      <figure><a href="https://stateoftheunit.com/blog/2021-11-18_public_understanding.shtml" target="_blank">
      <img src="/images/Hayakawa_AbstractionLadder_banner.jpg" alt="Hayakawas Abstraction Ladder" /></a>

      </figure>


        <h2><date>April 4, 2020</date>
	Behind the Scenes, But No Surprises</h2>

<p>The &quot;Kilofilm&quot; is coming together. I am glad. <em>The State of the Unit </em>is in a showable state, and Professor Gabe Spalding and his students at
  Illinois Wesleyan University have helped me a lot the past month.</p>

    <a href="/blog/2020-04-16_BehindScenes.shtml">Continue reading &quot;Behind the Scenes of Kilofilm, But No Surprises&quot;</a>

<figure><a href="http://stateoftheunit.com/blog/2020-04-16_BehindScenes.shtml" target="_blank">
<img src="/blog/2020-04/2020_04_BehindScenes_Masthead.jpg" alt="Researching the film" /></a>
</figure>




        <h2>
		<date>
			October 26, 2019 </date>
 Who's the fairest of them all?</h2>
<p>Of course you've heard that the kilogram is losing weight. But how much? A commonly-published quantity is
  50 micrograms or "about the weight of a fingerprint." Says who?</p>

 <a href="/blog/2019-10-30_WhosFairest.shtml">Continue reading &quot;Who's the fairest of them all?&quot;</a>

<figure><a href="http://stateoftheunit.com/blog/2019-10-30_WhosFairest.shtml" target="_blank">
<img src="/blog/191026_Kickstarter/3gram-IMG_6358_masthead.jpg" alt="Old scales and new ones" /></a>
</figure>






   <h2>
		<date>
			April 13, 2018</date>
 How much does a fingerprint weigh?</h2>
<p>Of course you've heard that the kilogram is losing weight. But how much? A commonly-published quantity is 50 micrograms or "about the weight of a fingerprint." Says who?</p>

 <a href="/blog/2018-04-10_MassFingerprint.shtml">Continue reading &quot;How much does a fingerprint weight?&quot;</a>


<figure><a href="http://stateoftheunit.com/blog/2018-04-10_MassFingerprint.shtml" target="_blank">
<img src="/blog/2018_04_Gloves_Masthead.jpg" alt="values of fundamental constants of physics" /></a>
</figure>




    <h2>
		<date>
			December 31, 2017</date>
  299792458 Step Aside, Here Comes—662607015!</h2>
<p>662607015 is a number to remember. Somewhere there is now a lucky person, born in in Louisiana, lucky because the digits of his/her Social Security number match the exact value of the Planck constant...</p>

 <a href="/blog/2017-12-31_constants.shtml">Continue reading &quot;299792458 Step Aside, Here Comes—662607015!&quot;</a></li>


<figure><a href="http://stateoftheunit.com/blog/2017-12-31_constants.shtml" target="_blank">
<img src="/blog/171231_Constants/Masthead_Constants.png" alt="values of fundamental constants of physics" /></a>
</figure>



    <h2>
		<date>
			August 1, 2017</date>
  How much is  Georgia currency worth in New Jersey?</h2>
<p>With Brexit, the Scottish Independence Referendum and other moves toward new countries and new governments, I have been thinking about nation states. Weights and measures, like currency, help form a nation state. </p>
<p>&quot;Money and nations go hand in hand,&quot; says Mervyn King in <em>The End of Alchemy</em>, his recent book about economics and banking. French Revolutionaries might say that nations hold hands with weights and measures...</p>

 <a href="/blog/2017-08-01_colonial_wm.shtml">Continue reading &quot;How much is Georgia currency worth in New Jersey?&quot;</a></li>



<figure><a href="http://stateoftheunit.com/blog/2017-08-01_colonial_wm.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/blog/2017-08-01_colonial_wm.jpg" alt="Nicolas Pike's textbook published in 1788" /></a>
</figure>


    <h2>
		<date>
			October 23, 2016
		</date>
		Metrication in 1790s France: When people got what they asked for, but not what they wanted
	</h2>
	<p>
		Facing a national crisis exacerbated by debt from helping the American Colonies fight a war of independence, political gridlock, and a failed harvest, King Louis XVI did something his ancestors had not done since 1614---called together the national governing body, Estates-General...<a href="http://stateoftheunit.com//blog/2016-10-22_metrication.shtml">Continue reading &quot;Metrication in 1790s France&quot;</a></p>
          <figure><a href="http://stateoftheunit.com//blog/2016-10-22_metrication.shtml"><img src="/blog/metrication/Metrication_0001.jpg"  alt="Photo of 1795 metric instruction book from the collection of Michael Trott" />
        </a></figure>


    	<h2>
		<date>
			July 31, 2016
		</date>
		Colonial measures and education in Early America
  </h2>

	<p>
		I was happy and lucky to find two experts in Colonial and Early American mathematics education: Nerida Ellerton and Ken Clements, both math professors at Illinois State University. In addition to their regular teaching and advising, Nerida and Ken have studied and compared 500+ cyphering books.	</p>
        <figure><a href="http://stateoftheunit.com/blog/2016-07-31_cyphering.shtml" target="_blank"><img src="/blog/160731_Ellerton/IMG_9691.jpg"  alt="Photo of cyphering book from the collection of Nerida Ellerton and Ken Clements" />
		</a>	<figcaption>"Practical Questions" is an apt heading. The first question is "Bought 25 lb of coffee for 5 dollars what is that a pound? Answer 20 cents" This cyphering book is one written by a girl student—about 20% of the cyphering books studied these professors were written by girls. The cover is blue fabric, reinforced with newspaper.
		</figcaption>
	</figure>
	<p>
		Cyphering books are self-written reference books; students would solve problems on slates, and  after reaching the correct answer, students would record the full problem in their own, more permanent cyphering book...<a href="http://stateoftheunit.com/blog/2016-07-31_cyphering.shtml" title="Colonial and Early American math education">Continue reading Colonial and Early American math education</a></p>

      <h2>
        <date>November 20, 2014</date>
        <a href="/blog/2014-11-20_relics_decimal_time.shtml" title="Relics of Decimal Time">Relics of Decimal Time from 1793-1795</a> </h2>
      <figure> <img  src="http://kilofilm.nfshost.com/wp-content/uploads/Decimal_Clock_Face.png" alt="Decimal_Clock_Face"   />
        <figcaption> Decimal clocks from the French Revolution at the Musée des Arts et Métiers -- count 'em: 10 hours!</figcaption>
      </figure>
      <p> The collection of scientific instruments at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris, France includes a few decimal clocks and pocketwatches. When filming the kilogram and meter standards, I learned about decimal time from Dr. Lalande, who is a curator of scientific instruments at the Musée. His section includes some decimal clocks made in the 1790s. Some of the timepieces show 10 hours and their subdivisions only; others also include duodecimal time markings... <a href="/blog/2014-11-20_relics_decimal_time.shtml" title="Relics of Decimal Time">Continue reading Relics of Decimal Time from 1793-1795</a></p>
      <h2>
        <date>May 20, 2016</date>
        <a href="">BYOWB: Build Your Own Watt Balance, Part 1</a></h2>
      <figure><a href="https://vimeo.com/128598681"><img src="images/BYOWB_PosterFrame.jpg" alt="Leon Chao at NIST"/></a>
        <figcaption>Leon Chao at NIST gives a tour of NIST 5L, their Lego watt balance.</figcaption>
      </figure>
      <p> To celebrate World Metrology Day 2015, I made this video &#8220;<a href="https://vimeo.com/128598681">Build Your Own Watt Balance</a>&#8221; to introduce a do-it-yourself “tabletop” watt balance, built by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, who also built the NIST 4 watt balance. <a href="https://vimeo.com/128598681">Watch it on Vimeo</a></p>
      </p>
    </section>
    <section id="main">
      <h2>
        <date>March 18, 2016</date>
        <a href="/blog/2016-03-18_kilogram_migration.shtml">Stop Motion</a></h2>
      <figure><img src="images/Replicas_IMG_9143_Small.jpg"/>
        <figcaption> Homemade miniature replicas of the temoins and IPK </figcaption>
      </figure>
      <p>I am working on some stop-motion animation footage, to show what I call the "Migration of the Kilograms" — when in 1889 kilograms were assigned to the 17 countries who signed the Metre Convention of 1875. I made some replicas of that batch of kilograms. Here you see a miniature of Kilogram 8/41...<a href="blog/2016-03-18_kilogram_migration.shtml">Continue reading about Kilogram 8/41</a></p>
    </section>
    <section id="main">
      <h2>
        <date>May 28, 2013</date>
        <a href="/blog/2013-05-28_science_tourism_city_of_light.shtml">Losing weight: Science and tourism in the City of Light</a></h2>
      <figure><img src="/blog/news_gazette/20130523-132847-pic-867289510.jpg"  alt=""/>
        <figcaption>A Vélib' station near the Petit Palais. Did you know that right-turners have priority over straight traffic in Paris? I didn't, either, so please review road protocol and bring your helmet.</figcaption>
      </figure>
      <p>After staying in Paris for several months, I found myself doing what I normally do in Champaign-Urbana: riding a bike and working on a science documentary. The two activities are related, but not in a way I'd imagined.</p><p>

I traveled to Paris to visit the kilogram, the subject of my film. A "kilogram" is more than an idea; there are kilogram standards in government labs and commercial plants around the world. But the French created the original kilogram and meter in response to the Revolutionaries' insistence on equality in all things. <a href="/blog/2013-05-28_science_tourism_city_of_light.shtml">Continue reading why I think Vélibs are like kilograms</a>

      </p>    </section>
    <section id="main">
      <h2>
        <date>June 4, 2015</date>
        <a href="blog/2015-06-01_stamps_candela.shtml">SI Stamp Stories: Candela</a></h2>
      <figure><img src="/images/stamps/candela-683.jpg" alt="Candela"/>
        <figcaption> Homemade miniature replicas of the temoins and IPK </figcaption>
      </figure>
      <p>Fireflies are efficient sources of light, meaning that 70-90% of the energy (from the chemical reaction in their lanterns is emitted) as light, rather than heat. How much light does one firefly make? That's not an easy question to answer, and firefly researchers seem to focus more on the blink patterns and spectral distribution. The blink patterns can help identify an insect among the 2,000 species of fireflies.... <a href="blog/2015-06-01_stamps_candela.shtml">Continue reading about flashy fireflights</a>
    </section>

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