andrewducker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
andrewducker) wrote2011-11-03 11:00 am
andrewducker) wrote2011-11-03 11:00 am
Entry tags:
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Interesting Links for 3-11-2011
- Israel rushes settlement growth in retaliation on Palestinian membership of Unesco
- Gay couples allowed to host civil ceremonies in churches in England and Wales
- Forty years on the Daily Mail is still bitter about decimalisation
- Agincourt, Hasting, WWII and other great British myths
- Trance stare led researchers to discover a genuine hypnotic state
- Aging slowed in mice. Best result I've seen in longevity research.
- By ape standards, humans are completely insane.
- This Is Probably the Weirdest, Goofiest Video NASA Ever Made
- Being bullied? Just act less gay, advise teachers
- Legalizing medical marijuana does not increase use among youth
- NASA studying ways to make tractor beams a reality
- Autistic people superior in multiple areas: Scientists must stop emphasizing autistics' shortcomings, expert urges (Another paper I'd love to read)
- New platform to give you access to your movies on every device is, unsurprisingly, more frustrating than torrenting.
- Amazon Prime’s new killer app: Kindle books by subscription. (very limited though)
- From March 2012 all Mac Apps installed from the App Store will be sandboxed. No more plugins...
no subject
Yes, crowns and farthings, ounces and stone, (and that funny pound thing that Americans use), yards and miles sound nice, but they're completely impractical to use, and totally inconsistent with each other, making it difficult to switch between scales for no good reason.
Heck, let's not forget that even the same unit doesn't always mean the same thing: which weighs more, a pound of gold or a pound of feathers. Did you say they're the same? Wrong! Did you say a pound of gold is heavier? Wrong! Does this strange, fondly remembered, but highly inconsistent measuring system help us when trying to do science, or buy groceries? Hell no! it confuses us and leads space ships blowing up when NASA play at being engineers. Also, we eat too much meat, so half a kg of mince is probably healthier for you than a pound anyway. Do those extra 68 ml of beer in a pint (an extra 14%) really make all the difference? I'm off to walk my lunch off a speed of 10,752 furlongs per fortnight.
We think we liked them, because that's what we're used to, and damnit if none of us can stand change. The huge number of posts people make here about trying to change attitudes and improve the world for everyone, and yet things seem to change at a glacial pace, is testament to that.
Long live Système international d'unités. Even if it is French.
no subject
no subject
I think having a base-12 money system and a base-10 counting system was probably not the best way to set things up.
Duodecimal for the win!