Lifesaving chickens, brain training, and British railway design.
16th January 2023
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Hello!
This week, the Australia tour continues, in rural New South Wales! Videos about biology and the natural sciences tend to underperform a little, but if you're on the fence about watching the chickens that save lives, I'd encourage you to click it. If only because I get bitten at one point. (I hate that I have to spoil that gag in the thumbnail, but that's the YouTube game these days.)
This week, the Australia tour continues, in rural New South Wales! Videos about biology and the natural sciences tend to underperform a little, but if you're on the fence about watching the chickens that save lives, I'd encourage you to click it. If only because I get bitten at one point. (I hate that I have to spoil that gag in the thumbnail, but that's the YouTube game these days.)
And Lateral continues! Full episodes are on the web site, but if you haven't yet seen the highlight of Devin "LegalEagle" Stone ask Simone Giertz, Cleo Abram and me about a bizarre legal defence, I'd recommend it.
What else have I found on YouTube this week? I've been able to catch up on a few things that are on my watch-later list:
- Actual neuroscientist Alie from Neuro Transmissions breaks down the dubious claims of "brain training" apps.
- I finally got around to watching "24 hours with MrBeast". (Some profanity.) It's an astonishing look into the opening of the first physical location of the hundred-million-subscriber YouTuber's burger franchise. The sheer scale of the operation — from security to crowd management — is incredible. I'd love to see a similar behind-the-scenes on regular video production: for me, the details
are far more interesting than the spectacle.
- Hit it, Joe! (starts at 0:54) You may have seen the first couple of minutes of this demonstration of the American Fotoplayer. Here, it's followed by the rest of the TV show, with a full interview and demonstration.
Away from the world of video this week:
- The Pac-Man Dossier is an unbelievably comprehensive
guide to Pac-Man: how the ghosts behave, the best strategy, everything. Did I read it all? No. Am I glad it exists for people who want to do that? Absolutely.
- NASA is using GoPros on board the Artemis mission... and they're configured to use SuperView mode. I can see why, it's the widest viewing angle, but the pictures look so much better when someone undoes the distortion.
- And second: the British Rail 'double arrow' symbol is an important part of British identity, so when I heard it was being redesigned, I was a bit worried: but I needn't have been. The job was
given to a graphic designer who has a hobby site all about the railway's corporate identity, and his thread on the redesign is a fascinating rundown of what's been changed and why. (There's also a long-read article about it all.)
- I found a story that feels more like a sidetrack in a William Gibson novel than actual news. I'm not sure I fully believe it myself, and I'm wary about even linking to it, because it feels like reaching the edges of reality. There might be another meta-layer on top of this where it's revealed it's all a hoax. Or that actually it was real but pretending to be a hoax. And so on, and so on. But with all that caveat: here's how E-girl influencers are trying to get Gen Z into the military (Pinup photos, baffling content, questioning of reality.) I do not understand all the words in that article, and I'm okay with that.
And finally: "guy at a party who only knows one line of tiny dancer".
All the best,
— Tom
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