Video: The Drunk History of Nikola Tesla, Father of Western Technology

Too drunk history

OK so i knew PopSci was losing it when they got rid of ppx but now this? This is just disgusting the cursing and the drinking? Is this a joke? Seriously, drunk history? Nikola Tesla was an incredible man who made great discoveries that we still enjoy. But who allowed them to post this? PopSci I used to love you, huge ppx fan, but now i am just down to the magazine and I am thinking about dropping my subscription due to the lack of Science and Information in the magazine. Please check yourself again before posting videos like this and please take a look at every other aspect of the magazine and at the roots of the magazine. Return to an informative magazine about science, please.

@ mexican... Get over yourself man. There is only so much new info popsci can post. A little entertainment is perfectly acceptable. Plus I think it's really funny. Although I do agree that popsci is loosing it's edge there's no point in getting into a hissy-fit about it :p

@A_Rock: You're right man, we really need more of our culture to cater to the drunken jackass demographic. That is what sells these days, afterall.

Well, it's science related and the video series Drunk History is (at least slightly) popular, so wouldn't that be exactly the kind of thing Popular Science should cover? Are science and comedy mutually exclusive? Granted, a bit of a stronger warning regarding the adult language might be in order, but really, at least it's not another story about UAVs. I swear those are featured in at least 2 out of every 3 issues.

In the end, if you don't agree, then you have the right to say so (although I think a less bitter, whiney tone would go over better, but that's just my opinion). Then, go away.
www.tendances-de-mode.com/en/

The link is broken =(

Link not broken - Funny or die website took the video down - Both Gizmodo and Popsci reported on the video and now both sites are left in the lurch....

Funny or Die seems to have chosen option #2.

You what Paul? I think I'll follow him out the door. Scientific American manages to stay in business, while fact checking their articles and without writing them as if their readers were elementary school dropouts.

the internets are serious business!!!!
You are complaining about FREE content not being up to your standards.. Do you think this will be printed in an actual issue of Popsci? God/Allah/Buddah/No-One forbid that a science website has a sense of humor! Some of you need to lighten up: I dont think this site was ever set up to be some kind of MENSA summit.

@Kickstand27 Yet we are one of MENSA's favorite websites nonetheless!

http://www.popsci.com/announcements/article/2010-03/we-are-one-mensas-top-50-sites-web

Well, "concurring opinion." They've missed the really funny stuff. Tesla was way more weird than any drunken or drug-addled slacker could ever imagine, and he did wild shit before breakfast (for which, but you knew that, he mentally calculated the exact cubic volume, or he wouldn't eat it) that no pissant jackass would ever have the balls to try.

So yeah, I like wild and crazy stuff (which is why I've been in awe of Tesla since I read about him in Boys' Life 45 years ago), but this here doesn't touch the wild and crazy like Tesla had. The guy had huge teslacoils.

Or, shorter: bdZAAAAAAAAP.
Now, you try it.

Ah, the familiar YouTube Lockout! But Big Brother isn't everywhere quite yet, although it certainly seems like the government is doing everything inhumanly possible to accomplish that end. The vid is still up here: www.funnyordie.com/videos/68f23e244b/drunk-history-vol-1-featuring-michael-cera-from-drunk-history-michael-cera-derekwaters-and-jeremykonner

And, no, I'm not a spambot; nor do I have the least interest in the ultimate success or failure of whatever site this vid is still up at. (Damn, ending a sentence with TWO prepositions!) I simply Googled "Drunk History". As you may if you suspect this address.

Oh, CRAP! I got the wrong "Drunk History", and consequently my link is wrong. Which I would have, like, known if I had read the comment two or three above mine and seen that "Funny or Die" had pulled it. Oh, the shame.

@ John Mahoney.. even with the posting of stuff that isnt completely dry, ultra serious science?! Implausible! ;)

I've enjoyed this publication since i was a child, keep up the good work!

I support all those in favor of PopSci growing up and doing a better, more scientific job. That would make it more popular, not less popular. The trouble is, imo, the editors and writers just don't believe the words Science and Popular really fit together. So they should resign and move on, not stay and give up trying.

While I too like the idea of Drunk History, it doesn't belong on a site called "Popular Science", which ought to have the sense to realize it needs to maintain a family-friendly site, or put content warnings in place. I'd prefer F-F because learning about Science is never something to be warned against!

John Mahoney's annoying comment about PopSci being a fav of Mensa members has only reminded me, once again, to never try starting a Mensa group in my home town. I don't think he understands our PoV, given that our PoV is pretty sensible. But John Mahoney is a PopSci writer, so his comment doesn't bode well. He should perhaps pay a lot more attention to the fact that his employer's website has this glaring issue of a non-playing video being linked from the site.

Perhaps I'm not the first to privately question the basic integrity of the motivations and goals of the P.S. staff?

And why doesn't someone update the main page? The video isn't there anymore! Maybe I should send PopSci an email.

So let me get this straight, when he was alive, he was discredited by the dominant industrial complex of his day, since his technology was not only more efficient, but would put any of his competition to shame, and now a personal attack on a dead man's character? Give it a break peeps, he will always be considered a genius, so matter what garbage is spewed about him.

Well I sent that email yesterday, to no avail so far. I guess PopSci doesn't update the world wide web on weekends. I'll give them another 24 hours to get their site straightened. But I must ask: why didn't the "Ed" who logged on long enough to tell us he was lucky enough to have seen it himself (4 times!!! lucky s.o.b.) take that *golden* opp. to fix that glaring error???

I'll take this opportunity to inform others where better science-journalism can regularly be found:

New Scientist (perhaps the best site for 'popular' science)
-------------
www.newscientist.com/

Scientific American (no longer in bed with Shell Oil!)
-------------------
www.scientificamerican.com/

Ars Technica (lots of computer stuff, lots of science too)
------------
arstechnica.com

Bad Astronomy (often funny, always slightly sad)
-------------
www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.html

Bad Science (funnier, also sadder)
-----------
www.badscience.net/

They don't update their site on Mondays either, or they just don't care. Which is more likely? Guesses below, thx.

I got an "out of office" automated reply when I sent the last email. The auto-reply bot probably ate the msg (baaad bot!), so I'll try again now.

This is today's email to PopSci. Yesterday's msg. was just the same, but excluded the first and last paragraphs. Some people won't act until publicly embarrassed...

To: letters@popsci.com
From: [user email adr]
Subject: SERIOUS broken link (renders entire story MOOT)

I sent this on Sunday and got an out-of-office auto-reply. The site has not been corrected so I assume that email got lost. Here it is again.

You linked to a YouTube video featuring Drunk History's take on Tesla but the video has been removed from YouTube. Some of your staff are already aware of it (John Mahoney and 'Ed'), yet the article that is missing the video is still linked from the main page, labelled: "Video: The Drunk History of Nikola Tesla, Father of Western Technology" But the **V-I-D-E-O** isn't there!

BTW, I feel strongly that PS should remain resolutely Family-Friendly and that it was inappropriate to link to that video on this site. Putting content warnings would amount to warning people not to watch science videos, and would therefore obviously also be inappropriate.

You should also speed up your response times to notices such as this.

[initials]

wow you should switch to decaf there or something.

Someone must speak up if we want Popsci to regain its science egde. After all, if all we want is entertainment, there is always People magazine....

I like to think that the people who come to Popsci, come for informative articles, written in an entertaining style; not fluff pieces and other stuff more appropriate to Maxim magazine.

Mexican fisher you tell it like it is!!

bah I meant science EDGE!! LOL oh well there goes my perfect spelling star!

I'm out of here. I am hereby abandoning this website and removing it from my bookmarks. I'm going to contact PopSci to ask them to delete my account so my user name "Popular Scientist" might become available soon, depending on whether accounts can be deleted, and so on.

I sent 2 emails and those guys just don't seem to care about a nonsensical link being on their main page for a WEEK. That's just insulting and it isn't good enough for me. These people don't care about science or the public's comprehension of it any more than those other idiots who made the documentary that "proves" the moon landing was a hoax (though they knew themselves it wasn't a hoax and that all their "evidence" was HIGHLY disingenuous or actually fabricated - that is just beyond pure evil; it's TRAILER PARK evil at least).