The Lounge

First of all im not sure where to post this so feel free to move it. My question is WHY doesn't the United States use the metric system?? I mean they teach us cetain way when the whole rest of the world is using the metric system. And when you get to high school they use the metric system in all of the science classes you take, so why not just teach us that to begin with? Why do we have to always be different? Its just idiotic and confusing.

Does anyone watch this show? It's friggin great! Sometimes it's hard to tell if it serious or not. Everytime I've watched the show it makes me laugh. O'REILLY: Now, you are a wealthy guy, now and you have a house in the Hamptons, and you go to Nobu and all these swell places. What's that about? I don't do that. STERN: What, sure you do. O'REILLY: No, I don't. STERN: What do you do? You don't have a nice house now? O'REILLY: I have an OK house, but it's nothing like yours. STERN: You don't talk about — I live in an apartment in Manhattan. O'REILLY: Oh, come on. An apartment. You live in a big high-rise. It's... (CROSSTALK) O'REILLY: I live in a nice house…

I`ve decided to Bite-The-Bullet and go a Little further with my Chem studies, in particular the parts that involve Physics (Thermodynamics specificaly). I`ve got more questions than answers, I keep having to read the same stuff over and over again to try make sense of all the symbols and formula I`m totaly sick of Delta this that and the other:-( In effect I`m totaly brain fried at the moment. I`m sure I`m not the only one to have experienced this, how did YOU manage this and cope with it? my only real drive is that I want to know more, was this enough for YOU also? I must admit, unlike much on my knowledge, THIS is NOT comming easily to me, I can`t e…

May have asked this before.... Anyway, do any current theories predict "hyperspace" or "subspace" like phenomenons/dimensions? I was wondering if energy could be extracted from them, but that would probably violate conservation of energy; because bringing in new energy would enable you to create new mass (E=mc2). I thought it wouldn't violate it because you were using it, but acually it would just be changing into mechanical motin and conservation of energy would still be violated, unless you could send it back to "hyperspace" or "subspace". Your thoughts? (How do we know conservation…

I was watching Simpsons last night, and Homer orders the smiley face breakfast, with a bacon smile, he then asks for an additional bacon moustache and a bacon hat and bacon sideburns... This sparked a memory, when I ordered bacon with my breakfast in Mexico, and in fact most of the countries in Central and South America (and in the supermarkets), all we got was streaky bacon. In Australia you can get rashes that are nearly a foot long, as well as middle back, streaky, a whole myriad of different bacon. The same in the UK, except for the foot long rashes I found at Coles in Oz. In the States, I ordered bagels, Philadelphia and bacon, lo and behold we got streaky bacon,…

Watch this video done completely in reverse. Stay with it cause it gets really good. This person is an artist. http://www.break.com/movies/balancing_point_in_reverse.html Bee

Hi all, just to say I know I haven't been online a lot recently. But then again it seems to have been quieter recently anyway. But don't worry, I still remember you! Not much time, going away on holiday, training/playing for my clan in Halo League matches, work, web design/production, graphics design/production and I've started driving lessons! See you all around, in the virtual sense!

Would gas and oil companies be able to get rid of the patents somehow? What exactly would be their motive? Can something like that be covered up so well?

Mel Gibson Tirade I gave the benefit of the doubt to Gibson for the Passion of the Christ, but I think the latest tirade puts in serious doubt his purpose for showing the Jews in such a bad light in the film.

I've never seen such an awesome visual representation of memes in action than Digg Swarm: http://labs.digg.com/swarm/ The presentation probably helps the fact, but to me it looks so incredibly biological and alive. And it's just a graphical representation of information...

is it just me or has there been a decline in the number of new posts recently

How is it even physically possible to misplace (read: lose) a copy of the CRC Handbook?! It's only... like... the LARGEST book known to MANKIND! Seriously! Ah! !!! Grrr... I think this is almost as funny as it is annoying!

i heard of a series of exhibitions lately, they display real, preserved, partially dissected human bodies using "plastination", they basically replace the water in the cells with perspex. http://www.bodyworlds.com/index.html what do you think?

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/07/24/spacewalk.for.sale.ap/index.html Assuming money wasn't an issue, would you be interested in going for a day-trip to space or would you prefer to stay on firmly planted on Earth? This is a public poll.

I didn't know what section to throw this in, but are any of you guys worried about the security of our satellites? I guess I noticed just how much of our everyday life has to do with satellites. Cell phones, television, etc.. The way I've seen computer viruses becoming much more sophisticated lately, and it doesn't seem like the government is on the ball when it comes to keeping updated. Maybe I'm just being paranoid.

What will happen to the body if someone wants their body to be set in motion in space towards another galaxy? Will the body decompose during transit? The temperatures are low, so the body will be kept frozen right? Who knows in several million years the body might end up in an alien planet!

Ninemsn and Toyota are running a competition in Oz with the first prize being a sub-orbital flight. The only link I can find is the one to enter and entry is only available to citizens of Australia and New Zealand.( So to the rest of you. ) The prize includes air travel to launch point, accomodation and meals. Plus one sub orbital flight to at least 100 kilometres above the Earth. Honestly, I could just about wet myself at the mere thought of winning. And yes, I'm entering as many times as the rules allow.

Hello ladies and gentelmen, I'm new to the forum, and very unskilled in the ways of physics (at least in relation to someone who's well schooled in it.) I'm currently writing a science fiction novel that I'm attempting to base as realistically as possible on actual physics. Lately I've found in my research that this is more difficult than anticipated. I've discovered that currently, the world of physics (and science in general) is in quite a mess with differentiations between the theories at its core. Quantum mechanics, string theory and relativity to name a few are intrinsic to todays understanding of what and how everything works, and although Quantum mechanic…

Anyone know anthing about the Ionic Breeze from "Sharper Image"? We bought one once and didn't like it for some reason; apparently it cycled the air too slowly. So does it work (or any of Sharper Image products for that matter), or is it just another fad type thing?

You all knew it was coming eventually... Here's mine "Why shouldn't I rub blood all over my body and swim naked in shark infested waters?" "Sure, I'll get that supersized" "If the liquid is clear, that means it's safe to drink!"

What's your favorite animal and why? Just wondering... As for me, it's the red-eyed tree frog because of it's huge red eyes, and it just looks cool.

In my job I have the opportunity to do a lot of traveling. On the 20th of this month I will be heading out to one of our corporate offices in Sandwich, UK. I'll be going from the 20th to the 24th and should have a little bit of free time to see the area. I know we have a lot of members at the forums here from the United Kingdom, so if any of you know of any good places to get some food or to visit post them here with some details about how to get there. I fly from the East Coast here on Sunday and due to the travel time and time zone differences it will wind up taking up the entire day. But I do plan on seeing the area when I'm not working as this is my first trip ou…

I have noticed that when it come down to entertainment and art, making a good movie is pretty much based on what the majority of people want. I am not saying that it's a bad thing, but I find there are alot of interesting ideas that never get out there. Take the movie Matrix, to me that movie was medicore. The concept of simulated life could of been far more interesting if it didn't focus on the special effects. There are existing movies out there that do really bad popularity wise but I find really good. Like take for example "The Professional". It's mainly action but the relationship in it was very interesting. Lord of War I hear did pretty bad too, but I found…

Someone posted the "life number" poll not too long ago, and it seemed a lot like pseudo-science, but I am now wondering how we would all fit into the Meyers-Briggs type test, something that has more support in the psychologist community (whether or not psychology is pseudo-science is something I won't get in to...). If you don't know about it, there's an explanation and the test. There's only enough room for 15 poll options, and there are 16 types, so I combined ESFP and ESFJ because I thought that those would be the ones with the fewest people here . I'm INTJ. Only 2.1% of the population, yeah baby! I'm betting we will have a lot of 'T's and a lot of 'I's.

I found a sequince oif numbers/letters in the back of the book I just finished. If you have read this book and didn't notice this then check. It is crazy. At first thought, the fibbionci sequence, then I noticed the letters. 1 V 1 U and 2 L's