New Scientist video round-up - August 8, 2008

[Leafshinoby]

YEH 4,5/5 in votes, Fukings kill me already!! I just saw those three videos seperately from each other!! That ugly man in the start would prob. like some creddit !!, Why couldn't they make this video first!! It seem like their only spamming videos and want people to hate that narrator !!

[misfits748]

He's bald.

[amozoness6]

PLEASE KILL THAT NARRATOR!

Good gracious, her voice is incredibly annoying.

[daalsij]

HAHA OMG I KNOW AY

I HATE THAT NARRATOR

[1337c0w]

hahaha spurting out of black smokers

[brianhuh2]

lol @ "gushes out into the ocean"

[boxa888]

it still uses motors lol, how else do they make the things turn lol

[Avalikia]

Down with metric!

[reeferdk]

Imperial is for rednecks...

[Avalikia]

Metric is for people too dumb to do math that isn't base 10.

[reeferdk]

Metric makes sence at least and don't consist of limb sizes from the 17th century...

[Avalikia]

Oh, and having a system of measurement based on the width of a finger makes sense?

[mcresearch]

Which system is based on the width of a finger?

[Avalikia]

Metric, of course. Or at least it used to be. In more recent times the exact measurements have been standardized so they no longer reflect how they used to be measured in either imperial or metric (which is why a foot is so much longer than a real foot - unless you're a freak).

[mcresearch]

The imperial system was based on arbitrary body measurements. It is a mixture of systems adapted over the centuries. It is fully implemented nowadays only in the US. Most English speaking countries have converted partially or completely to metric.

The metric system was originally based on the earth. one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator was deemed to be one measure (metre in French). It was also standardized using water. A 1 cm cube of water weighs a gram.

[Avalikia]

No, it was based on a *miscalculated* measure of the distance between the equator and north pole (a finger was used to measure a centimeter until it was standarized). Which makes it almost as arbitrary as the imperial system and much less user-friendly because there are fewer choices in exactly how to measure something because each measure differs by an order of magnitude while imperial offers intermediate options. And it's every bit as standardized today as metric is.

[mcresearch]

You can't just make this stuff up you know. The metric system was devised precisely to get away from arbitrary and uncoordinated measurement systems. Centi refers to one hundredth part, meter refers to the original 'measure'. Come on, do you think it's right to misrepresent facts so you can make a point?

People without rulers may have used their fingers etc. but that doesn't mean that the system was based on body measurements.

[ubuntututorials]

I like metric because it works in units of 1, 10, 100, etc. while in Imperial you have to remember lots of different measurements - there are 12 inches in a foot, 3 feet in a yard, 220 yards in a furlong, 8 furlongs in a mile, etc. And the metre is defined as the distance in which light travels in 1/299,792,458 of a second.

[Jmcenanly]

The Beijing pool looks like something out of a science-fiction movie.

[cornmuffins]

cool

[tardesnegras]

tenth!

[LittleTruckingBozo]

Did she say "Here in the vomit comet?"

[sl9guitar]

its a plane that nasa uses to simulate zero-gravity on earth.

[LittleTruckingBozo]

LOL I love the name of the plane.

[nepalihercules]

pussy

[sheikah7]

i saw a special about the swimming center. they made a big deal about the probability of a fire starting inside the building, so they made the plastic material using a special compound that does not catch fire, but simply melts away. i liked the idea of using natural light in the building and the fact the the building was solar-heated.

(lol at the narrator saying 'vomit comet'.X3)

[zueq]

hello daived,

look man no hard feelings if you shave atleast before showing your face cuz you look like an Italian Gangsta

[CurryCurry]

very interesting.